Bob Collins: Gophers sports fans are sending a message

[BleedGopher]

per Collins:

It’s welcome week at the University of Minnesota. Last evening, bands of roving future leaders checked out the campus and got tours from their veteran peers. There’s little that’s more inspiring than watching a bunch of kids who are excited about the future.

So, on Wednesday night they all assembled for a pep rally at the stadium named after a bank.

Behold, the Class of ’22!

For many, it’ll be the last time they see the inside of the place.

Football? So yesterday. Increasingly, so irrelevant.

Ticket revenue for all Gophers sports is down 28 percent in the last three years. Most of the decline is in football, men’s hockey, and men’s basketball.

It’s not just Minnesota; college football attendance is mostly down everywhere.

Sports charlatans have built palaces on the backs of taxpayers in the promise that’ll lead to future success. It almost never has. So perhaps the tide is turning and fans have a legitimate point.

The responsibility isn’t on the fans anymore and they deserve no editorial guilt trips. It’s on the university to prove things are different.

https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2018/08/gophers-sports-fans-are-sending-a-message/

Go Gophers!!

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

Man, Bob Collins. If I recall he has been pretty anti Gopher football in the past.
The comments are worse. If you have time post some positive ones there

 

[caliGopher]

per Collins:

It’s welcome week at the University of Minnesota. Last evening, bands of roving future leaders checked out the campus and got tours from their veteran peers. There’s little that’s more inspiring than watching a bunch of kids who are excited about the future.

So, on Wednesday night they all assembled for a pep rally at the stadium named after a bank.

Behold, the Class of ’22!

For many, it’ll be the last time they see the inside of the place.

Football? So yesterday. Increasingly, so irrelevant.

Ticket revenue for all Gophers sports is down 28 percent in the last three years. Most of the decline is in football, men’s hockey, and men’s basketball.

It’s not just Minnesota; college football attendance is mostly down everywhere.

Sports charlatans have built palaces on the backs of taxpayers in the promise that’ll lead to future success. It almost never has. So perhaps the tide is turning and fans have a legitimate point.

The responsibility isn’t on the fans anymore and they deserve no editorial guilt trips. It’s on the university to prove things are different.

https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2018/08/gophers-sports-fans-are-sending-a-message/

Go Gophers!!

Gee, thanks Bob. No agenda there. You have a point, but the "fans" of the University of Minnesota have been making this statement for decades. So does that mean Minnesotan's are trendsetters? Ahead of the curve? Or just bad Fans.

There is much to say about the problems with the University, but the biggest one is the scandavian disdain for attention - positive or negative. And no matter what, winning will not cure all that ails us. In the early 00's we had a dominate hockey program that won back to back national titles, and yet the stands would be 25-40% empty on any given night because the corporate seats went unused. The excuse? Traffic, parking, etc. Minnesotans always have an excuse, but that doesn't change the fact that the fans have been being forced out for a long time in the arms race that is college sports. Opinions like yours, Bob, forced the decision in 1961 to de-emphasize sports to show we were different. How's that worked out for changing the marketplace? How's that worked out for our revenue streams?

 

[swingman]

The whole revenue is down is inaccurate for football....the added revenue generated from the premium seat donations cancels out any reduction in number of tickets sold. In 114, we pay $300 per seat in donation....it used to be zero. Single game seats now bring $150 for premium games.

114 is 25% empty, but prices are almost 100% higher than they were when you factor in the donations.

If they get $150 for those unsold season seats vs Iowa, and $100 for Purdue or NW, they get more revenue for those seast than they did before the donation-era, even if it sits empty the other four weeks.