Dave Lee can't stop talking about Gopher football... attendance.

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Schnauzer

Schnauzer

Pretty Sure You are Wrong
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As I was brushing my teeth this morning at 6:40, Sid Joined Dave Lee for his morning ritual. I don't listen to this closely and I don't hear every sports segment on the Elderly Neighbor. However, it caught my attention this morning when Dave placed a Gopher football related topic on the tee for Sid to swing at.

Of course it was the new WCCO Gopher Football talking point: Attendance. Dave's point was basically "What in the world, why weren't there any people at the game on Saturday?"

Sid started to mumble some sort of response. When it wasn't along the lines of what Dave was looking for, he pressed "What about marketing?" Sid was confused and responded "Marketing? The attenance issue starts with the students and there were more students in the band on Saturday than in the stands." He continued on that theme with a comment that there aren't younger people at the games and someone told him the average age of an in-stadium gopher fan is 65. But Dave also continued to steer him with "Yeah, but what about the new marketing program they started last year?" Sid responded "Marketing?..." Then Dave launched his punch line: "Yeah, I thought that marketing change... to a different radio station... was supposed to attract a younger demographic." Sid just got more confused at that point and they moved on. The idea that the switch in radio broadcast prior to a 3-9 season would somehow fill the stands with 20-something aged maniacs is a funny one to me. Connecting the dots between radio broadcast and attendance on Saturday? I think this was an incredible reach on Dave Lee's part.

Like I said, I don't hear a ton of Dave Lee or his segments with Sid but from what I have heard of them... I get the feeling the loss of Gopher football really pisses him off. Nothing a little Tommy Football or an interview of a Hamline coach can't cure.
 


HUH?.........WHAT?

Let me tell ya about Starkey
 

The student section makes up 15% of the total seats. Where were the adults? They had a 4 day weekend and the dorms were empty. It was a bad weather day. I flew in from So. Cal and took in the game with my Son who is a freshman. Had a great time. I will be at the MSU game next year as well, regardless of weather or team record. BTW, paid attendance was 41,000 plus, so the program won.
 

Well duh, nobody has to go to the game anymore now that they can sit at home and not have to listen Dave Lee do the play-by-play.
 



Schnauzer, I heard the segment on the way to work this morning and boy did Dave Lee sound bitter and unprofessional.

The U clearly made the right move.

Go Gophers!!
 

popeyoung5 said:
The student section makes up 15% of the total seats. Where were the adults? They had a 4 day weekend and the dorms were empty. It was a bad weather day. I flew in from So. Cal and took in the game with my Son who is a freshman. Had a great time. I will be at the MSU game next year as well, regardless of weather or team record. BTW, paid attendance was 41,000 plus, so the program won.
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Really? What is your definition of a bad weather day? It did not rain after some scattered morning drizzle. It did not snow. It was windy with a high of 50 and a low of 36. Granted, the high occurred overnight, but the kickoff temp was 42 degrees. The averages for November 26th are a high of 34 and a low of 20. How is that bad weather?
 

It's not just the students not showing up for games. There were a TON of empty seats on the home side, chair-backs, bleachers, you name it. These are also the same seats that had a TON of Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin fans sitting in them. I get that they may be corporate tickets given to clients/employees, but a school has to think about that as a potential consequence of selling tickets to corporate accounts, especially when the team is 3-9 (which is really the bottom line).

That said, while the stadium was half-full Saturday, I will say that it was kind of nice to be at TCF with pretty much only Gopher fans in attendance.

Regardless, I have a blast going to the games, tailgating, etc, etc. That said, it's sure going to be fun when we're rolling!
 



We just have to start winning and getting some tradition. Takes time.
 



Dave, Maxie, and Steve Thompson should first look it the mirror. What is the market share of CBS Minnesota? I don't have arbitron numbers or whatever they use, but I cannot think of an hour let alone the day where CBS Minnesota holds a favorable share in all listeners. If you focus on the 18-45 segment they are nowhere. Dave did as much as anyone to kill off potential season ticket holders. Remember the Stadium radios where you could listen to Dave's call in the Stadium. Going to the game was reason enough to escape his broadcast. And gosh if you have a smart phone you can down load a radio ap and listen to the game on you phone, if you have to.

This is sour grapes, plain and simply. Its not flattering for a radio station to send talent out to bash a former property, and its misguided. Their problem truely is with Learfield, KFAN, and KSTP. If Dave wants to focus on what Learfield and KFAN have done, they have put time, talent, and on air personalities behind the Gophers. That was never true at the Evil Neighbor. Those with short memories may not rember the bashing Maxie, Dark, and Thompson used to add each week.

No Dave, Maxie, and Steve people behind glass studios should not throw stones.
 



They did the same thing when they low balled the Twins and they left. They're bitter ex-wives made even more so by how far down they had to reach for their present spouse. Lee read about the attendance Saturday, "See, I told you she was just a slut!"

Wonder how often they call the Football Offices during the middle of the night and hang-up?
 


Hey here's a question.. I'm sure no radio personalities or TV news anchors are willing to point this out or admit it, but who was at the Vikings/Bears game last year? Even with the huge amount of fan support in shoveling snow, first outdoor home game in years, big stage on MNF, and very reasonable temperature (read: ~20 degrees F during the game, NOT below 0 or horribly windy/rainy/icy), and a large contingency of Bears fans (yes, I was there so I know), the stadium was maybe 75% full. Upper deck corners near the scoreboard had tons of room, the student section area (upper deck) was mostly empty, and keep in mind people were overdressed for the occasion, which took up more room than a normal weather day would (making the stadium seem fuller than it really was).

Bad teams, bad weather don't bring out the people. Obviously the UMN marketing group could do a better job getting butts in seats, but the stadium won't be full and rockin' every single game when the team is not doing well, we're not playing a rival, and the weather is really crummy.
 

I hear Dave Lee is a good racquetball player. My eight and eleven year olds have a blast at Gopher football games- including the Illini/Gopher game. We rarely tailgate. When we can't make it to Gopher Football Weekends, we have trouble finding "Gopher fans only" right here on GopherHole that are interested in or willing to buy our season tickets at face value or below. I'm sure that's a well worn thread.
 

#2Gopher said:
We just have to start winning and getting some tradition. Takes time.
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Agree... If we build it they still don't come - but start winning and they will definitely be there.
 

WCCO could have done the MIAC/NSIC good by covering local football better and having a game or two of the week. Instead they went with St. Thomas and pissed every other school in the MIAC off, likely turning off more listeners.
 

offthewindow said:
I hear Dave Lee is a good racquetball player. My eight and eleven year olds have a blast at Gopher football games- including the Illini/Gopher game. We rarely tailgate. When we can't make it to Gopher Football Weekends, we have trouble finding "Gopher fans only" right here on GopherHole that are interested in or willing to buy our season tickets at face value or below. I'm sure that's a well worn thread.
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Yes, selling tickets to people who already have tickets can be a daunting task.
 


MaxyJR1 said:
WCCO could have done the MIAC/NSIC good by covering local football better and having a game or two of the week. Instead they went with St. Thomas and pissed every other school in the MIAC off, likely turning off more listeners.
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Honestly more people in the twin cities would listen to Macalester vs St Thomas than bethel vs St Olaf. The game of the week has been the one St Thomas is playing in every game for the last 2 years.
 

offthewindow said:
I hear Dave Lee is a good racquetball player. My eight and eleven year olds have a blast at Gopher football games- including the Illini/Gopher game. We rarely tailgate. When we can't make it to Gopher Football Weekends, we have trouble finding "Gopher fans only" right here on GopherHole that are interested in or willing to buy our season tickets at face value or below. I'm sure that's a well worn thread.
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I'll buy all your season tickets at well below face value. Then you buy all my season tickets at face value. Do we have a deal?
 

Thought I'd give it a try and create a little less whining on GH about selling to visiting fans.
 

sonnygarcia said:
Start winning and people will come, simple as that.
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This is obviously true, but this isn't the problem.

The problem is that the U has been obsessed with marketing Gopher football to the marginal customer. And these people do exactly what you would expect. They will pay up to face-value for tickets when the team is winning. Nothing more. They become bored and disinterested quickly. And if the team is losing, they ignore the product entirely and cease to be a customer at all.

Winning helps introduce bandwagon customers to the product. But without a flawless marketing and brand strategy, they simply move-anlong with the very first loss. And the cost of marketing to this group is so costly that on the rare occasion you are selling to them, it is usually at a loss.

The funny part is... marketing isn't really all that complicated. You just have to start seeing the difference between a "customer" and merely a "sale".
 



RailBaronYarr said:
Hey here's a question.. I'm sure no radio personalities or TV news anchors are willing to point this out or admit it, but who was at the Vikings/Bears game last year? Even with the huge amount of fan support in shoveling snow, first outdoor home game in years, big stage on MNF, and very reasonable temperature (read: ~20 degrees F during the game, NOT below 0 or horribly windy/rainy/icy), and a large contingency of Bears fans (yes, I was there so I know), the stadium was maybe 75% full. Upper deck corners near the scoreboard had tons of room, the student section area (upper deck) was mostly empty, and keep in mind people were overdressed for the occasion, which took up more room than a normal weather day would (making the stadium seem fuller than it really was).

Bad teams, bad weather don't bring out the people. Obviously the UMN marketing group could do a better job getting butts in seats, but the stadium won't be full and rockin' every single game when the team is not doing well, we're not playing a rival, and the weather is really crummy.
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I disagree with using the Bears/Vikings game as an example though. My buddy and I were at the game last Saturday talking about how fun it would be if it started snowing. We then talked about how we regretted not going to the Bears/Vikings game. That was a weird situation with the Dome collapsing, TCF holding 15,000 fewer seats than the Dome, first come first serve basis in terms of seating, and about 4" of snow that started falling about 2:30 in the afternoon. Personally we were scared off because we didn't think we would get let into the stadium, no one had any idea how many people were going to show up.
 

Goldmember said:
This is obviously true, but this isn't the problem.

The problem is that the U has been obsessed with marketing Gopher football to the marginal customer. And these people do exactly what you would expect. They will pay up to face-value for tickets when the team is winning. Nothing more. They become bored and disinterested quickly. And if the team is losing, they ignore the product entirely and cease to be a customer at all.

Winning helps introduce bandwagon customers to the product. But without a flawless marketing and brand strategy, they simply move-anlong with the very first loss. And the cost of marketing to this group is so costly that on the rare occasion you are selling to them, it is usually at a loss.

The funny part is... marketing isn't really all that complicated. You just have to start seeing the difference between a "customer" and merely a "sale".
Click to expand...
Yep. +1000.
 

Goldmember said:
This is obviously true, but this isn't the problem.

The problem is that the U has been obsessed with marketing Gopher football to the marginal customer. And these people do exactly what you would expect. They will pay up to face-value for tickets when the team is winning. Nothing more. They become bored and disinterested quickly. And if the team is losing, they ignore the product entirely and cease to be a customer at all.

Winning helps introduce bandwagon customers to the product. But without a flawless marketing and brand strategy, they simply move-anlong with the very first loss. And the cost of marketing to this group is so costly that on the rare occasion you are selling to them, it is usually at a loss.

The funny part is... marketing isn't really all that complicated. You just have to start seeing the difference between a "customer" and merely a "sale".
Click to expand...

Since it isn't all that complicated why don't you explain to us what the difference is, and what that flawless marketing strategy would be.
 

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