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Schnauzer

Schnauzer

Pretty Sure You are Wrong
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I brought this up at the start of the season and I will do the same at its conclusion. I have seen a marked improvement in the student section in recent years in terms of size and participation. I was getting worried in the Coach Kill years as the Brewster regime and/or the move to campus actually brought smaller student sections than what we saw in the Metrodome, off campus. I probably paid too close attention to it and was too bothered by it but a vibrant student section is one of the reasons why I enjoy big time college football.

I think the biggest turning point was the 2019 Penn State game, but in general it seems like heading over the bank for Gopher football is very much a cool thing to do among the students now. This is sooooo important because it builds memories and sells future season ticket packages. The overall attendance is sort of luke warm and has fallen off a bit. But the student section has been improving.

Aside from the eye test, just looking at the number of kids in the second deck end zone seats - I am seeing a LOT of evidence in social media. As the first game neared: I saw a lot of tik toks with coeds walking through the "fits" they intended to wear to opening night. Then after a full season of lots of tik toks from students having a good time at tailgates and the games, after Saturday's Axe win my feed was wall to wall student-perspective videos of the great time they had as well as lots more with sentimental themes of "can't believe I just went to my last game as a student, I am going to miss this so much."

Really fun to see. So much of college life is following each other around like sheep and it gets pretty dreary in athletic venues when attending games there falls off the radar of students. I cringe a little bit when the field gets stormed over a win over a team we have beaten 6 times in a row, or over a team as dreadful as Wisconsin was this season. But, I am learning to accept that. Perhaps it becomes "our thing" and kids definitely don't want to miss out on the opportunity, as exhibited by the huge crowd of students sticking it out in a game played in a frozen snow storm.
 

Schnauzer said:
I brought this up at the start of the season and I will do the same at its conclusion. I have seen a marked improvement in the student section in recent years in terms of size and participation. I was getting worried in the Coach Kill years as the Brewster regime and/or the move to campus actually brought smaller student sections than what we saw in the Metrodome, off campus. I probably paid too close attention to it and was too bothered by it but a vibrant student section is one of the reasons why I enjoy big time college football.

I think the biggest turning point was the 2019 Penn State game, but in general it seems like heading over the bank for Gopher football is very much a cool thing to do among the students now. This is sooooo important because it builds memories and sells future season ticket packages. The overall attendance is sort of luke warm and has fallen off a bit. But the student section has been improving.

Aside from the eye test, just looking at the number of kids in the second deck end zone seats - I am seeing a LOT of evidence in social media. As the first game neared: I saw a lot of tik toks with coeds walking through the "fits" they intended to wear to opening night. Then after a full season of lots of tik toks from students having a good time at tailgates and the games, after Saturday's Axe win my feed was wall to wall student-perspective videos of the great time they had as well as lots more with sentimental themes of "can't believe I just went to my last game as a student, I am going to miss this so much."

Really fun to see. So much of college life is following each other around like sheep and it gets pretty dreary in athletic venues when attending games there falls off the radar of students. I cringe a little bit when the field gets stormed over a win over a team we have beaten 6 times in a row, or over a team as dreadful as Wisconsin was this season. But, I am learning to accept that. Perhaps it becomes "our thing" and kids definitely don't want to miss out on the opportunity, as exhibited by the huge crowd of students sticking it out in a game played in a frozen snow storm.
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I would also add to keep the kids coming back, they are going to have to fix the Wi-Fi situation as a game day experience, especially with the B1G tendency to have 5 minute commercials after every kickoff and change of possession.
 

Coming out of COVID also helped, as I think students were more than ready to do stuff outside their dorms and apartments. That's when I noticed the extra pick up.

Saturday's student section was as good as its ever been, given the weather and Thanksgiving break. It was full and energetic. It was a great atmosphere.
 

Another positive I noticed, usually for the Axe game it seems like there is a lot of red in the student section. While there of course was still some this year, it felt like less than in past years. I could be wrong but it seemed that way from the eye test.
 

Schnauzer said:
I cringe a little bit when the field gets stormed over a win over a team we have beaten 6 times in a row, or over a team as dreadful as Wisconsin was this season. But, I am learning to accept that. Perhaps it becomes "our thing" and kids definitely don't want to miss out on the opportunity, as exhibited by the huge crowd of students sticking it out in a game played in a frozen snow storm.
Click to expand...
I guess students storming the field makes sense in terms that this was only their second time beating Wisconsin in the Bank EVER, and with the last one having been in 2021 even the seniors would not have seen us beat Wisconsin at home, or win a non-Nebraska rivalry game at home, or win on Senior Day at all. So the more thought I give it the more it makes sense to me that students would want to storm the field.
 
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Gophers1992 said:
Another positive I noticed, usually for the Axe game it seems like there is a lot of red in the student section. While there of course was still some this year, it felt like less than in past years. I could be wrong but it seemed that way from the eye test.
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yes, and the real head scratcher was some of that red rushed the field on Saturday. Go figure.
 






From what I deciphered from TV it wasn’t really a true rush the field, in my opinion. Just looked like it started a few people leaked over when the axe got close, it did grow from there, but not a true field “rush”.

Besides, I don’t really see anything wrong with that, anywhere.
 

ergopher said:
I guess students storming the field makes sense in terms that this was only their second time beating Wisconsin in the Bank EVER, and with the last one having been in 2021 even the seniors would not have seen us beat Wisconsin at home, or win a non-Nebraska rivalry game at home, or win on Senior Day at all. So the more thought I give it the more it makes sense to me that students would want to storm the field.
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We don't need to justify fun. Storm if Bucky is a 0-win team.
Make a snow angel, give a badger fan the finger, who cares?
 


Tech Machine said:
From what I deciphered from TV it wasn’t really a true rush the field, in my opinion. Just looked like it started a few people leaked over when the axe got close, it did grow from there, but not a true field “rush”.

Besides, I don’t really see anything wrong with that, anywhere.
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I would call it a field mingling...
 



Totally agree on The Students this season. Probably didn't hurt that it was all Ws at home even if some weren't pretty. Winning is not only just better but especially so in person.

As a season tix holder I am ready to be more creative with students who actually graduate with some kind of phased entry to season tix status. Looked it up and it was $116 for the season for student season tix. Meanwhile the lowest tier season tix is $310 without a seating fee on top of it. Since we're basically talking about a $200 spread, I could see something like this post-grad structure for these $310 seats:

Year 1 Post Grad = $170
Year 2 Post Grad = $210
Year 3 Post Grad = $270
Year 4 Post Grad (and beyond for this tier) = $310

Someone in the Athletic Department with a minor in Business Administration would have to run the numbers for just how many seats in this tier are actually "empty" on game days...not slotted for season tix or taken on the open market...to see what revenue might be lost. Assuming the seat were sold at $310 for each game, then the loss in revenue for that seat would be $280 for the three years. Would be some interesting math to be sure.

One altruistic side to this would be if there is any willingness for current season tix holders to sponsor a recent grad under this approach with some kind of perk to the sponsor...say, some number of Gopher Points to your own personal score. I don't see sponsorship as a binding commitment...and a case could be made the sponsor $$$ should be going to other University endeavors (with NIL now in the mix I look at the athletes a little different now)...but as just another donation opportunity to close any revenue gap that might fall here. I can see covering the difference at some tier myself knowing it would be getting a new person in the seat (and I won't care about means testing).

Anywho, the AD should be thinking about these things and hope he is.

Back to the OP, yes, the kids were alright this season. Ski U Youth!
 

Good topic. Would love a student to comment on it.

  • A couple $2,000 scholarships given each game is cool
  • Lots of tradition and engagement throughout the game
  • Social media and tix toc. It's cool to show you are at hip places
  • Young people are drinking less. More make it to game and then don't crash out
  • PJ Fleck mentions them repeatedly when in front of a microphone
  • Having quality MN kids on the roster helps
  • 24-11 at home since COVID
  • $116 for the season (Granted they were $21 when I was a freshmen 30 years ago)
 


BilldGopher said:
Totally agree on The Students this season. Probably didn't hurt that it was all Ws at home even if some weren't pretty. Winning is not only just better but especially so in person.

As a season tix holder I am ready to be more creative with students who actually graduate with some kind of phased entry to season tix status. Looked it up and it was $116 for the season for student season tix. Meanwhile the lowest tier season tix is $310 without a seating fee on top of it. Since we're basically talking about a $200 spread, I could see something like this post-grad structure for these $310 seats:

Year 1 Post Grad = $170
Year 2 Post Grad = $210
Year 3 Post Grad = $270
Year 4 Post Grad (and beyond for this tier) = $310

Someone in the Athletic Department with a minor in Business Administration would have to run the numbers for just how many seats in this tier are actually "empty" on game days...not slotted for season tix or taken on the open market...to see what revenue might be lost. Assuming the seat were sold at $310 for each game, then the loss in revenue for that seat would be $280 for the three years. Would be some interesting math to be sure.

One altruistic side to this would be if there is any willingness for current season tix holders to sponsor a recent grad under this approach with some kind of perk to the sponsor...say, some number of Gopher Points to your own personal score. I don't see sponsorship as a binding commitment...and a case could be made the sponsor $$$ should be going to other University endeavors (with NIL now in the mix I look at the athletes a little different now)...but as just another donation opportunity to close any revenue gap that might fall here. I can see covering the difference at some tier myself knowing it would be getting a new person in the seat (and I won't care about means testing).

Anywho, the AD should be thinking about these things and hope he is.

Back to the OP, yes, the kids were alright this season. Ski U Youth!
Click to expand...
gophersports.com

Recent Grad Tickets - Official Minnesota Golden Gopher Tickets - University of Minnesota Athletics

Minnesota Golden Gopher Recent Grad Season Tickets FOOTBALL RECENT GRAD TICKETS Receive a minimum discount of 36% off the general public season ticket price!...
gophersports.com gophersports.com

They do recent grad tickets for the big sports for the first 5 years
 

$192 for Basketball and football. $7 per event isn't bad. Looks like they also package Football, Basketball and Hockey together and that allotment is sold out.
 

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