Future Thursday Night Games?

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nemosgold

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If the Gopers follow through with having Thursday night NC games to fight the fair as stated on WCCO they may lose one long time season ticket holder. Norwood is NOT thinking of outstate fans.
 

nemosgold said:
If the Gopers follow through with having Thursday night NC games to fight the fair as stated on WCCO they may lose one long time season ticket holder. Norwood is NOT thinking of outstate fans.
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The games are scheduled for the team, not one fan. And don't tell me you can't find time to go on a Thursday opener, what with vacation time, etc.
 

We don't want to lose any fans, but with that first game around Labor Day week-end every year it creates a problem. I am sure there are many fans that would like that one last long week-end to spend with he family and head to the lake. It will cause problems for many people. I am not a big fan of opening on the road every year. The team needs to get off to a good start every year and having the home crowd behind them is a step in the right direction. Next season I have to go to Cape Cod for a wedding on Sept. 28th. That just happens to be the home game with the pig eye's. I don't want to miss that game, but I will have to and then I will be at the other 6 home games and maybe catch one or two road games to make up for it.
 

I think there will be a lot more people in my situation. Taking a vacation day at that time of year is not an option in my occupation.

Friday:HS Football
Saturday:College Football
Sunday:NFL Footall
 

You are absolutely right to think the way you do, nemosgold.

You really only have two options:
1) Buy season tickets, go to that Thursday night game, lose your job, and your family goes on food stamps, your wife leaves you and your children become a badger fans.
2) Don't buy season tickets, get horribly depressed, don't go to work, lose your job, your wife leaves you, and your children become Hawkeye fans.

Whatever you do, you should absolutely NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT: buying season tickets, give the tickets to that first game to a friend, one of us, Tix for Tots, etc., or just sell them on stubhub, and then just watch that first non-conf game on TV, and go to all the rest of the games just like you normally would.

I almost regret outlining that last part above in fear that you might actually go through with it. :rolleyes:
 


i believe the whole opening game on thursday night thing was a product of the fact the U of M had that old parking contract with the state fair to use the U's parking around the stadiums for state fair park & ride. thus requiring them to open on the road the first game the last few years since we moved to TCF stadium in 2009. my understanding is that contract expires after this season and going forward the gophers will be able to open their season at home if that is how the schedule comes together for that particular season.

said another way, i don't think we will continue to see this opening game on thursday night phenomenon we have seen since 2009. i would expect to see the season opening on saturday's going forward as of next season.
 

One of the disadvantages of being swallowed up in a pro-sports market is that we have to work around the state fair. Do you think the Vikings would work around the state fair? Laughable. It is depressing, sad, and an indication of how Minnesotans view our major college football team. Even worse, the AD that just showed up in town might not try to fight this. A damning statement, to be sure.
 

josh087 said:
One of the disadvantages of being swallowed up in a pro-sports market is that we have to work around the state fair. Do you think the Vikings would work around the state fair? Laughable. It is depressing, sad, and an indication of how Minnesotans view our major college football team. Even worse, the AD that just showed up in town might not try to fight this. A damning statement, to be sure.
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Yeah, if it's inevitable, I wish they could somehow set it up so it'd be like the first day of school or the day the students are moving in. I think it could be kind of a fun event on an early night game if it was part of move-in day.
 

josh087 said:
One of the disadvantages of being swallowed up in a pro-sports market is that we have to work around the state fair. Do you think the Vikings would work around the state fair? Laughable. It is depressing, sad, and an indication of how Minnesotans view our major college football team. Even worse, the AD that just showed up in town might not try to fight this. A damning statement, to be sure.
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Dead on. How about marketing a fair ticket and Gopher ticket for a Saturday game? You might fill the stadium busing people from the fair to the stadium. Set up shuttles from downtown bars. There are more answers to the problem than just playing on Thursdays. Most college campuses have parking issues EVERY SATURDAY, not just the Saturday of the fair.
 



josh087 said:
One of the disadvantages of being swallowed up in a pro-sports market is that we have to work around the state fair. Do you think the Vikings would work around the state fair? Laughable. It is depressing, sad, and an indication of how Minnesotans view our major college football team. Even worse, the AD that just showed up in town might not try to fight this. A damning statement, to be sure.
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What does 'being swallowed up in a pro-sports market' have to do with the U having to work around the State Fair?
 

Two Things:

1. In the past, all of the Thursday openers were ON THE ROAD. Did I miss something about Teague saying it is a possibility to do it at home? If so, I actually like the Thursday evening opener. Night game, more national exposure, etc...

2. Who gives a crap about the State Fair as it relates to Gopher Football? I understand the Fair lots are used for some parking, but come on. I am with Josh, this is a sad indication of how the state views the Gophers. I think plenty of people would take the day off to make it a Fair/Gophers double header.
 

josh087 said:
One of the disadvantages of being swallowed up in a pro-sports market is that we have to work around the state fair. Do you think the Vikings would work around the state fair? Laughable. It is depressing, sad, and an indication of how Minnesotans view our major college football team. Even worse, the AD that just showed up in town might not try to fight this. A damning statement, to be sure.
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At some point in the near future, the State Fair will have a single-day attendance of over 250,000. The state fair makes the Vikings looks like a sad, little cult of purple-wearing losers. As brands, the appeal of the State Fair is easily 10x as large.

The Vikings have expressed massive jelously over the appeal of the State Fair many times over the years. Norwood Teague probably understands that Gopher Football, as a product, has to be reubuilt to the level where it has the sort of mass-appeal as the State Fair (there was a time when it did). Gopher Football and the State Fair should have the same target audience.

College football is more than just a sports product. It should be an experience that is more approximate to the State Fair than to "Pro football Sunday". This all starts by complementing the State Fair rather than inadvertently competing with it.
 

josh087 said:
One of the disadvantages of being swallowed up in a pro-sports market is that we have to work around the state fair. Do you think the Vikings would work around the state fair? Laughable. It is depressing, sad, and an indication of how Minnesotans view our major college football team. Even worse, the AD that just showed up in town might not try to fight this. A damning statement, to be sure.
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Isn't the only reason that the Gophers have to worry about the state fair is because U parking is used by the State Fair, and the St Paul tailgate lots would not be availble (obviously used by the State Fair). I dont think it has anything to do with the pro sports or Minnesota taking any priority. We are in a major metro urban area where space is limited. That is the only reason.
 



The Vikings and pro sports in general have nothing to do with the State Fair. The State Fair would be a rival for people's time and attention regardless of whether or not the Vikings existed. Would the Vikings bend around the State Fair? They already do. Or rather, the NFL as a whole doesn't try to compete with Labor Day. It isn't chance that the NFL season doesn't start until the weekend after Labor Day. The Gophers didn't play Labor Day football games until the late 90's. The Gophers played their first Labor Day weekend game in 1994, and have been playing on Labor Day weekend every year since 1997. It's been around for about 15 years, it isn't exactly some ancient tradition.
 

supadupafly said:
i believe the whole opening game on thursday night thing was a product of the fact the U of M had that old parking contract with the state fair to use the U's parking around the stadiums for state fair park & ride. thus requiring them to open on the road the first game the last few years since we moved to TCF stadium in 2009. my understanding is that contract expires after this season and going forward the gophers will be able to open their season at home if that is how the schedule comes together for that particular season.

said another way, i don't think we will continue to see this opening game on thursday night phenomenon we have seen since 2009. i would expect to see the season opening on saturday's going forward as of next season.
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Am I crazy or do we not open at home for at least the next four years til 2016? Why would he change that? The whole State Fair deal is done from my understanding so I'm not even sure why this is being brought up. Maybe I haven't been following, is Teague planning on changing the schedule?
 


Here are the opening games the next 4 years. All at HOME

8/31/2013 UNLV
8/30/2014 Eastern Illinois
9/5/2015 South Dakota State
9/3/2016 New Mexico State
 


The Minnesota State Fair is the biggest state fair in the country. The Texas State Fair has a larger total attendance, but it goes on for much longer. On a per-day basis, the Minnesota State Fair is the largest. We will never how the Badgers or Hawkeyes would deal with their state's state fairs. Neither of those schools compete with their state fairs. They are held in different cities; Wisconsin's is held in Milwaukee, and Iowa's is held in Des Moines. They also are considerably smaller, while Minnesota's has an attendance of over 1,700,000, the Iowa State Fair has an attenance of about 1,000,000, and the Wisconsin State Fair has an attendance of about 911,000. And while the Minnesota State Fair is held on Labor Day weekend, thus competing with the Gophers, the Iowa and Wisconsin state fairs are held in early August. Minnesota is still holding county fairs while these two states are holding their state fairs.

This doesn't have anything to do with the Vikings. The Vikings did set the date of the State Fair to Labor Day weekend, they did not place it in the Twin Cities, and didn't make it the largest state fair around. We can't simply assume how Wisconsin or Iowa would deal with a large state fair in their respective cities during Labor Day weekend. Are you trying to claim that if it weren't for the Vikings, demand for Gophers tickets would be so great the people would flock to the stadium regardless of whether the State Fair was going on? Since the Gophers didn't play on Labor Day weekend until decades after the Vikings arrived, it is just speculation.
 

I cannot imagine the traffic going to the St. Paul lot on a Thursday night game. It will be an absolute nightmare fighting the fairgoers if a person leaves after work. If you take half a day it won't be so bad.

Saturday won't be much better, but you can get there early. Not looking forward to it either way.
 

Can't we work this into the Minnesota State Fair schedule somehow?

I'm thinking a pre- or post-game concert... Something like that?

I realize the "state fair" isn't a public entity but surely both organizations could benefit from a partnership of sorts.
 

I love the idea of the Thursday night home opener becoming a tradition. If the calendar lines up, it should fall during Welcome Week and should be the activity the week revolves around. There may be some people that can't make the game due to work and other commitments, but c'est la vie.
 

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