Lack of TV/Attendance

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MinnyGopherfan

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People are talking about the lack of attendance at games so far, and I blame it a lot on the inability to watch the team on TV. Does the general sporting public even know the Gophers are playing? Sure, hard-core fans do. But what about the rest of them? The Big Ten has turned these non-conference games essentially into exhibition games in fans minds, unless it is one of the few big-time opponents on the schedule. You can't watch them on TV? They must not be important. I've watched all 7 Timberwolves games, but haven't been able to see the Gophers in either exhibition or the other non-conference games. You used to be able to see most of the non-conference games on Midwest Sports Channel and even the exhibitions. Without that outlet, fans won't get engaged until the Big Ten season starts. That's when they start coming on TV regularly. And unfortunately, that's when the season is almost half over.
 


Unfortunately the BTN has determined its nightly football shows are more important this time of year rather than a few doubleheaders durin the week.

That said the year before the BTN 7 of the 14 non conference games were on channels the majority get. One was on ESPNU and the other was on the mtn. Five games had zero TV.
 

Disagree

Gold Vision said:
Agree 100%.
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I disagree 100%. The lack of attendence so far is a result of less season ticket holders not the lack of TV exposure. Being able to watch them play against Mankato of SW Baptist I highly doubt would have increased any impulse buyers.

The only reason I went to the Mankato and American games is because they were NOT on TV.
 

I could not agree more!! This is just crazy the lack of TV. This is really hurting the overall intersts in this team. And yes when fans see them on tv first they like what the see then the buy tickets. FSN we got to see all the games and the stands were packed! Same soft schedule!

MinnyGopherfan said:
People are talking about the lack of attendance at games so far, and I blame it a lot on the inability to watch the team on TV. Does the general sporting public even know the Gophers are playing? Sure, hard-core fans do. But what about the rest of them? The Big Ten has turned these non-conference games essentially into exhibition games in fans minds, unless it is one of the few big-time opponents on the schedule. You can't watch them on TV? They must not be important. I've watched all 7 Timberwolves games, but haven't been able to see the Gophers in either exhibition or the other non-conference games. You used to be able to see most of the non-conference games on Midwest Sports Channel and even the exhibitions. Without that outlet, fans won't get engaged until the Big Ten season starts. That's when they start coming on TV regularly. And unfortunately, that's when the season is almost half over.
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It would be nice if the Big Ten's media deals allowed games not produced by BTN or the ESPN channels to be returned to the schools to set up local TV arrangements. FSN would likely have jumped at the chance to air Gopher basketball. Locally produced games would also give the U of M a chance to really push single game ticket sales, mini packs, and other special deals in a way that can't be done on BTN or ESPN games.
 

Sports_Realist said:
It would be nice if the Big Ten's media deals allowed games not produced by BTN or the ESPN channels to be returned to the schools to set up local TV arrangements. FSN would likely have jumped at the chance to air Gopher basketball. Locally produced games would also give the U of M a chance to really push single game ticket sales, mini packs, and other special deals in a way that can't be done on BTN or ESPN games.
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Ruesse was mentioning this the other day. One of the things he mentioned was FOX owns 49% of BTN. Why can't FSN pick up these games? As he said...they're just showing crap anyway, why not carry a Gopher Game.

Has anyone ever heard an official publicly address this issue?....Delaney, Teague....hell Maturi is still around, right? How about one of our local media peps do a story on this and look for some answers.
 

Low attendance is mainly because the Gophers have played the Little Sisters of the Poor for the past two weeks. Get some good competition into the Barn and it will be filled up. The media would promote the games better and the students would come to watch.
I read someone on GH talk about how packed the Barn was in the 70s. However, that was before the Twolves were in the market. With the economic recession and a Twolves team worth paying attention to, it means that the Gophers are going to get less publicity and less fan support.
 

I very much agree that the weak non conference schedules depress ticket sales or cause ticket holders to skip the games. Years back you could count on getting some schools from power conferences to Williams Arena while fewer games were played out of the Big Ten, meaning fewer cakewalk games.

Looking at a few past schedules, in 1991-92 Iowa State and Memphis (then Memphis State and featuring Penny Hardaway) came to town. In 1996-97 the Gophers hosted Nebraska, West Virginia, and St. John's (the New York version). Oregon, Seton Hall, and Cincinnati all came in during the 1998-98. Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Texas Tech visited in 2002-03. As recently as 2006-07, the Gophers played Clemson, Iowa State, and Arizona State at home. After that, the number of top flight schools coming to Minnesota fell off. None in 2007-08. Just Virginia in 2008-09. None in 2009-10. Only Virginia again in 2010-11. A slight step up in 2011-12 with USC and Virginia Tech. None in this season.

I shot Joel Maturi an email in mid 2010 complaining that the weak non conference schedules provided season ticket holders with poor value for money. His response was that the U of M had to maximize revenues by playing as many games at home as possible with the exception of those neutral site tourneys that pay big money. To have as many home games as possible, that meant paying guarantees to mid majors and minor teams to ensure one and dones at the expense of playing a home and home with an SEC or Big 12 team and losing a home date in the process. Essentially he said that unless it's the Big Ten/ACC challenge, visits from major conference teams will be rare. Time will tell if Teague feels the same way.
 



Sports_Realist said:
I very much agree that the weak non conference schedules depress ticket sales or cause ticket holders to skip the games. Years back you could count on getting some schools from power conferences to Williams Arena while fewer games were played out of the Big Ten, meaning fewer cakewalk games.

Looking at a few past schedules, in 1991-92 Iowa State and Memphis (then Memphis State and featuring Penny Hardaway) came to town. In 1996-97 the Gophers hosted Nebraska, West Virginia, and St. John's (the New York version). Oregon, Seton Hall, and Cincinnati all came in during the 1998-98. Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Texas Tech visited in 2002-03. As recently as 2006-07, the Gophers played Clemson, Iowa State, and Arizona State at home. After that, the number of top flight schools coming to Minnesota fell off. None in 2007-08. Just Virginia in 2008-09. None in 2009-10. Only Virginia again in 2010-11. A slight step up in 2011-12 with USC and Virginia Tech. None in this season.

I shot Joel Maturi an email in mid 2010 complaining that the weak non conference schedules provided season ticket holders with poor value for money. His response was that the U of M had to maximize revenues by playing as many games at home as possible with the exception of those neutral site tourneys that pay big money. To have as many home games as possible, that meant paying guarantees to mid majors and minor teams to ensure one and dones at the expense of playing a home and home with an SEC or Big 12 team and losing a home date in the process. Essentially he said that unless it's the Big Ten/ACC challenge, visits from major conference teams will be rare. Time will tell if Teague feels the same way.
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Well, we know where Teague stands on football scheduling, let's hope that he has a different opinion for hoops.

Go Gophers!!
 

With no TV or virtually no TV revenue for the first two games I would think playing quality opponents (even if they are a home/away series) would compensate for the lost revenue of the away game. But, apparently Maturi would have disagreed with that thought. Is TV revenue much lower in November and December for college basketball due to football? In any case, it sure would be nice to play a better schedule than the first two opponents.
 

I agree, lack of TV exposure means they are out of site out of mind, unless you go to the games you have no idea the non conference schedule is happening, it was much better prior to the BTN for basketball.
 

jovs said:
I agree, lack of TV exposure means they are out of site out of mind, unless you go to the games you have no idea the non conference schedule is happening, it was much better prior to the BTN for basketball.
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THIS^

Why won't any of the powers publicly address this issue?

The production costs are already covered. I would think any local station could off-set online subscription fees with advertising.
 



BleedGopher said:
Well, we know where Teague stands on football scheduling, let's hope that he has a different opinion for hoops.
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Touche, Bleed. If Teague didn't stand up to Jerry Kill about scheduling a home-and-home or two vs. quality/similar ilk opponents -- to at acknowledge a smidgeon of respect for loyal season-ticket holders -- does anyone really think he'll stand up to Tubby about it?
 

Sports_Realist said:
in 1991-92 Iowa State and Memphis (then Memphis State and featuring Penny Hardaway) came to town.
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False. We played at Memphis State in the fall of '91.

Sports_Realist said:
In 1996-97 the Gophers hosted Nebraska, West Virginia, and St. John's (the New York version).
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False. We played AT Nebraska and hosted West Virginia at a neutral site (Target Center). ;)
 

SelectionSunday said:
Touche, Bleed. If Teague didn't stand up to Jerry Kill about (home-and-home) scheduling, does anyone really think he'll stand up to Tubby about it?
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NO.

The poor attendance hasn't happened overnight and isn't due to any one specific reason. It's a lot of things IMO. Years of lousy home schedules. No NCAA wins this century. A coach who is a good coach and great person but does nothing to promote any enthusiasm or excitement. No sense of goals to win a BT championship or even expectations to be a top three or four conference team. Loss of season ticket holders after a somewhat ill timed premium seating program. A lousy marketing department. An attitude from the athletic department that reeks of revenue being more important than the product fans get to see. No student excitement and no attitude shown by the U of M to get them excited.

I am the biggest Gopher fan in the world and I am bored with the program. I won't miss a game but I am bored. We do have a good team and certainly the Big 10 season is something to look forward to.
 

tinyarch said:
With no TV or virtually no TV revenue for the first two games I would think playing quality opponents
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The Gophers could play every game on the road and would still receive the same amount of tv revenue as Michigan State or Wisconsin or Northwestern.
 


bga1 said:
NO.

The poor attendance hasn't happened overnight and isn't due to any one specific reason. It's a lot of things IMO. Years of lousy home schedules. No NCAA wins this century. A coach who is a good coach and great person but does nothing to promote any enthusiasm or excitement. No sense of goals to win a BT championship or even expectations to be a top three or four conference team. Loss of season ticket holders after a somewhat ill timed premium seating program. A lousy marketing department. An attitude from the athletic department that reeks of revenue being more important than the product fans get to see. No student excitement and no attitude shown by the U of M to get them excited.

I am the biggest Gopher fan in the world and I am bored with the program. I won't miss a game but I am bored. We do have a good team and certainly the Big 10 season is something to look forward to.
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I'll say it again what I've said before, once you lose a season ticket holder it is incredibly difficult to get them back. I had two examples illustrating this last night. The first was the guy sitting next to us in our seats. They were a long time football season ticket holder and with the new basketball seating pricing, they decided to spend $250 per ticket to keep their basketball seats but gave up the football tickets which they'd had for 25 years. I asked if he missed attending the games and he said "you know what, I thought I'd miss it a lot more, but we had plenty of other things to keep us busy." He said he'd listen to the games on the radio and he missed the stadium, but he has no interest in getting tickets again.

Then I have a good friend who is a die-hard Gopher fan and who posts on this board, who was a long time season ticket holder for both for years and years. He slowly stopped getting full season tickets, then shared them and then said he'd "buy them on the street for less" - well he didn't get to a single football game this year and no basketball games yet either. Even though he is on this board quite a bit, he didn't even know who we were playing last night and sent me a text asking during the second half.

bga1 is right that this program absolutely needs a significant shot in the arm of enthusiasm. The crowd was painful last night and even when we jumped out to a nice lead or forced Tenn St. to call a time-out, you could hear a pin drop. I hope like heck that we magically get an additional 7-8K for the Michigan State game, but until then, I hope that we don't have any recruits attending these games as it won't help our cause.

Go Gophers!!
 

Long term retention of fans is dependent on winning and / or atmosphere. That said, winning needs to come first and we have not won much (hoops or football) lately. Gopher Points, poor time re-seating, TV exposure are not the problem.. as they are things that would come and go (in various forms) for any program. Winning. Plain and simple.

We need a good year this year, followed by scheduling a marquee home game next winter and the barn will come back. That said, until then.. we can just wait until BT play, when the atmosphere will come alive on a game by game basis.
 

"Electricity" feel is rare

My 12-yeard-old nephew, who went to the game with me last night, is already a die-hard Gopher fan, both football and basketball. He loves going to Gopher games. But even he last night noticed the small crowd.

Unfortunately, I had to tell him this is what the basketball crowds will be like until the Big Ten season, and even then the energy of the building won't be what it used to be for conference games. I told him there was a time not too long ago (though it's starting to feel like an eternity) when Williams Arena was pretty much rockin' every night, no matter the opponent, when there was a certain electricity or aura you could feel as soon as you entered the building. Told him we'll be lucky if that happens 2 or maybe 3 times (Wisconsin, MSU, OSU) a season now.

Somehow we need to get back to that, but I fear it's going to require something really special (how about winning the Battle 4 Atlantis?) to start getting The Barn back to where it's considered an "in" place to be.
 

This mostly has to do with the fact that season tickets prices got bumped, and single game tickets to see the scrubs play are $35. That is way to expensive to see Tennessee State. The U is showing that they care far more about the money than they do the atmosphere. Make ticket prices in line with the rest of the Big Ten and people might start showing up.
 

SelectionSunday said:
My 12-yeard-old nephew, who went to the game with me last night, is already a die-hard Gopher fan, both football and basketball. He loves going to Gopher games. But even he last night noticed the small crowd.

Unfortunately, I had to tell him this is what the basketball crowds will be like until the Big Ten season, and even then the energy of the building won't be what it used to be for conference games. I told him there was a time not too long ago (though it's starting to feel like an eternity) when Williams Arena was pretty much rockin' every night, no matter the opponent, when there was a certain electricity or aura you could feel as soon as you entered the building. Told him we'll be lucky if that happens 2 or maybe 3 times (Wisconsin, MSU, OSU) a season now.

Somehow we need to get back to that, but I fear it's going to require something really special (how about winning the Battle 4 Atlantis?) to start getting The Barn back to where it's considered an "in" place to be.
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I wonder if it is done forever almost everywhere. College basketball is not what it used to be, and with all the focus on March, only the diehards are playing close attention in November and December. I am not sure if the intense environment can be created with just diehards. We need the casual fan to be there, too, and the casual fan is not paying attention until late January.

I have no idea what attendance is like at other places, but my gut tells me it is probably down in most areas. Lots of competition for limited entertainment dollars in most places and a bad economy make it tough for everyone. Because of that I think the days of the routine rabid arenas are coming to an end. They will get cranked up for the big games, but cash based scheduling makes those more and more rare, too.
 

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