Maturi said U is meeting about improving student section at football games

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While raising the price of the tickets will lower demand for the tickets I think it would help in this case. It will keep the students with only marginal interest in the Gophers out. I also like the idea of overselling but I would guess there would be some serious fire code issues with that. The young alumi idea is also good. The simplest way for getting kids to come is to often and win big. Also having higher quality OCC teams come in(i.e. USC, UNC, and Texas) will help as well.

With some of the "newness" of the stadium worn off it will be interesting to see what happens to attendence. My guess(both for the students and in general) lower demand but better attendence.
 

MrGopher said:
Raising ticket prices so much is NOT a good idea. Do you pay tuition at the U? Did you pay mandatory stadium fees every semester? I can guarantee you tuition will go up another considerable amount just this year alone. And they have gone up every year for quite a while. I'm talking about thousands of dollars here.

If you raise ticket prices, overselling the student section will not be possible. Then, not only will the seats not be filled, they will not be sold!!

After the first year, there will be far fewer of the folks who bought tickets just because of the novelty of a new stadium. The real football fans will stay. Raising prices is not necessary to eliminate the folks who don't care enough to show up to every game.

And I don't know what kind of drunk you were/are in college, SirBill, but $70 a week on booze by any kind of average is quite a stretch.
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not really, 70 bucks is nothing after tips and some apps. plus add in a round or two of shots for you and your friends and all of a sudden BAM, you just spent a hundo, and it's only 3 in the afternoon!
 

I'm not sure what the answer is but they have to figure something out. As a season ticket holder whose seats are close to the student section, I was thoroughly embarrassed by how empty the student section was this year. It was discraceful IMO.
 

SMU GOPHS FAN said:
I'm not sure what the answer is but they have to figure something out. As a season ticket holder whose seats are close to the student section, I was thoroughly embarrassed by how empty the student section was this year. It was discraceful IMO.
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completely agree, I'm in 232 and it felt like we were sitting next to the open end, it was kind of eerie and sad last year at times looking at the student section
 

gophmeister said:
I think students won't like the whole pick up each week thing, but it sounds like the only solution. I think one of the big problems this past fall, were the students who bought tickets with the intent of scalping them. craiglist had tons of student tickets for sale each week. It was kind of disappointing.
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The tickets that are not picked up could be offered to high school football players for, as an example, $10 or even $5. The U would know by Wednesday how many tickets were not picked up. The high school coach would have to call and make reservations by Friday noon. Coaches get in free.

This is one part of how you seal the boarders. If a kid is coming to games all through High School he is more likely to want to play for the Gophers.
 


I'd give the tickets away for free if that would have the student section full. I'd raise the prices if that meant that disinterested students wouldn't bother to get tickets. Some people have claimed that no students wanted them, because they asked their friends and their friends didn't want them either. But your circle of friends is rarely typical of the larger population. If you're not interested in attending Gopher games, chances are your friends aren't interested in it either.

With the steep discount for student tickets, they just aren't worthwhile for people to make a great effort to try to resell them. There has to be a way of getting tickets into the hands of students who want them. Perhaps they could hve a ticket exchange of some sort. Or there could be incentives for attending games, attend all the games and some or all of what you paid is refunded?

One possibility is to reduce the number of student tickets, this could be done by converting the sections in the upper corners to regular seating. They could be converted back to student tickets if the student demand picks up.
 

RodentRampage said:
One possibility is to reduce the number of student tickets, this could be done by converting the sections in the upper corners to regular seating. They could be converted back to student tickets if the student demand picks up.
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I believe the bill that was passed by the state to build the stadium requires 10,000 tickets allotted to the students. If they wanted to sell tickets that weren't purchased by the students to new alumni or the general public, they'd have to wait until the week before the game.
 

diefirma said:
The tickets that are not picked up could be offered to high school football players for, as an example, $10 or even $5. The U would know by Wednesday how many tickets were not picked up. The high school coach would have to call and make reservations by Friday noon. Coaches get in free.

This is one part of how you seal the boarders. If a kid is coming to games all through High School he is more likely to want to play for the Gophers.
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That is an idea. Give them away to HS students for free if you have to (or is that a recruiting violation?) Having a ticket exchange is all fine in theory, but if a student is too lazy to get up and drag themselves to the game, are they going to be bothered with a ticket exchange if all they get back is the $13 or so that games ticket is worth? No.

That's why you have to take it out of thier hands. If you don't bother to pick your ticket up for this week's game, we're giving it away for you. And if you don't bother to pick your ticket up for two games in a year, your ticket is cacelled and will be sold to someone who actually wants it.

There might be some truth to the idea that a lot of the most 'casual' students will not renew this year since the new-stadium buzz is gone. But you still have a lot of students who want tickets to the Iowa/USC, OSU and and PSU games but won't be bothered for the other 3.
 

I drop $70/night on the weekends. What they should do it oversell the section, only allow so many and when the student section fills up, standing room only.

But I would agree.... a better more consistent team would help to build the tradition of Saturdays for the students. They haven't had tradition there forever, so that should be the focus.
 



I'd also like to say that when the students did decide to show up for the games and packed the section, that building was rocking and made for an unbelievable experience.
 

SMU GOPHS FAN said:
I'd also like to say that when the students did decide to show up for the games and packed the section, that building was rocking and made for an unbelievable experience.
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Sorry to be copying your statements SMU, but I totally agree with this also. Sitting where we sit it was fantastic when the section was full. It felt for the first time that the U had a distinct college atmosphere and homefield advantage, it was every bit the feeling that so many of us college football fans love. There is nothing I want more than to have a solid, winning program and a raucous student section and an intense gameday atmosphere every single game, they probably go hand in hand.
 

I know in the past they had had times where they gave free tickets to football players in the state. It's not a recruiting violation, because it didn't target recruits - even a benchwarmer for a 9 man team who would be lucky to be a backup at Macalaster could get tickers.

An half empty student section really makes the U look bad. We have to do something to keep it full. Maybe rush tickets that could be sold after the second quarter to fill unused seats. That would require a clause in the ticket agreement that if you're not there by the start of the second quarter, you might not be able to get in.
 

I like the idea of overselling, if the U can do it without code issues. Sell 2000 first come first serve tickets the day of the game.

I really like the idea of making students pick up their tickets. 2 no shows and somebody else gets them. You might have to raise prices slightly, or up the price of the resold tickets by a buck or 2 to cover the admin cost of cancelling and refunding.

No real problem with raising the prices, but not sure what the increase is.

I would like to think that last years freshman class had a much better experience than any other over the last 28 years and with even a slight improvement by the our team would keep them coming back. Hopefully this years class gets to campus and is excited about getting tickets. Give it a few years and we will have removed that Metrodome flavor from our mouths. I'm sure that many of Last years seniors had already given up on the gameday experience on campus. In 4/5 years there will not be a student in the stands that remembers the dome:). I know for me personally, the feeling that the stadium was going to be half red for the wisco game and there was nothing minnesota fans were willing to do about it, has disappeared a bit. There were a lot of WI fans there but not like in the past. I think this years Freshman will never know what it was like in the dome for the Wi and IA games, and not knowing how embarassing it could be to be at home and be out cheered by 20,000 opposing fans will help.

I also think this years home schedule is huge. There are a lot of teams coming to TCF that even casual college football fans want to see. A win or two in the big games, or even exciting well played games will help and the students will be there for those games.
 



This is a no brainer cut back the upper deck section

The student section is granted far to much space for what they actually need. Your not going to solve the problem of them all cramming into the lower deck when these are general admission seats. Reallistically overselling the section would be hard to pull off because you do not knowthe exact number of extra butts you put in there. Don't make it such a hassle to get into the games either, that process has to be re-thought.

This should be a no brainer to open up the corner sections to general seating and leave only the center section for students in that upper deck endzone. Problem solvedm get's rid of most of the empty space. There were a lot of people looking for tickets that thought the game's were sold out. It will not solve more visiting fan's getting in but that is better than leaving an wide open space that is so noticable on TV.
 

I believe there were alot of students last year that bought tickets on a whim that didn't fully understand the rules....I think alot of them thought they were going to be able to scalp their tickets.

I think the U should do what Alabama has implemented and keep track of each student ticket and make sure each is using it up to a certain threshold. I believe Alabama takes away tickets if students do not attend a certain number of games.
Keep in mind they allow students to transfer tickets to other students with a valid student ID.

It's pathetic that it has to come to this. It will be interesting how the students respond this season. Hopefully all the no shows have graduated on!

And the argument about fielding a good team is absolute garbage. The student section wasn't full for the Wisconsin game and the Gophers were looking pretty darn good record wise and on the field.
 

SirWilliam said:
For those of you who don't like the idea of raising student ticket prices...how about this option-

$70- students
$105- 1st year alums
$140- 2nd year alums

Alums would be getting one great discount instead of being put on a ticket waiting list...or buying single game tickets at $50/per game.

What do other Universities charge for their student sections and what are their capacities would be a starting point. I am quite certain that the U is not at the top of the Big Ten in terms of student ticket prices.
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I really like this idea and the idea of the fan that mentioned having students prepay then pick up by Tuesday or Wednesday of the game week. Add these to the idea of giving preferential pricing or giveaways to HS students and this IMO could really work without raising student prices! To help with the fire marshall issue, the new graduate alumni tickets could be controlled by issuing special ID's and based on Tuesday/ Wednesday pickup numbers their tickets would determine whether or not they would sit in the student section or in temporary seating. If the temp section stayed full, then talk about officially expanding the stadium.

BTW I would also like to have the seniors "adopt" A HS area/ school district and those students could be given special sheets at the game with said players number on it and they would be the special section for the team overall and especially for said player.

Another Idea that I mentioned to the coaching staff in the past would be to either have the AD department or a booster club sponsor posters and weight lifting charts (instructions on how to do lifts, blank spaces for the HS program to list their records, etc) and ad a phrase like lift/ train like a Gopher on them along with posters for the Highschool in general, such as one having all of those on the team that have graduated taking a picture in equipment and the graduation cap an the phrase " This is the most important piece of headgear they'll ever wear" or something to that effect. Of course this would be a PSA for children to study.

Promote, Promote, Promote!!!!!!
 

There is a ticket exchange on facebook, the only rule is you can't sell a single game's ticket for over the value of the season tickets ($70). It has been around for a couple of years now.
 

$7/ticket is WAY cheap. I believe Wisconsin student tickets were in the $11-$15 range, compared to $39 for non-student season ticket holders.
 


Whatever happened to people being fans and showing loyalty to their school regardless of the win/loss column? The attitude and mentality of many people in this state is a vacuum. It sucks.
 

frozengopher said:
Whatever happened to people being fans and showing loyalty to their school regardless of the win/loss column? The attitude and mentality of many people in this state is a vacuum. It sucks.
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- Assuming that gopherphan, Demi and Gopher Fish are fans or from this state may be pushing it. Just look at the profile in the Gopherhole Poll. Oh yeah, they aren't there. :D

- They "View all posts" feature is quite educational.Taking a look at their posts won't bring you to the conclusion that they are fans either. Though one guy seems like a basketball fan. He would also seem to rather have the Gophers lose every game then win them. That would bring him closer to his goal of the U losing money and firing Maturi.

- Demi's post make Pantherhawk seem like more of a Gopher Fan then he is.

All three of these guys are hoping that the anti-celebration penalty goes through. They are PRAYING that it then would cost the Gophers victories against Iowa and Wisconsin.:horse:
 

Winning will make the students come in droves. You can't deny that this is the all encompassing solution.
 

Rog said:
Make recent graduates eligible for student tickets. no more than one or two years out of school.

this would allow those just starting out in the world to develope a continuing fan base and to ease the cost which usually is for new grads.
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+1 I say up to 5 years out of school. This is an investment in the future as well. People who are able to get cheap student sections in their first years out of school are going to buy regular season tics as their incomes increase. Recent grads will jump at this opportunity and fill a lot of openings that exist now.
 

JoeDirt said:
Sorry to be copying your statements SMU, but I totally agree with this also. Sitting where we sit it was fantastic when the section was full. It felt for the first time that the U had a distinct college atmosphere and homefield advantage, it was every bit the feeling that so many of us college football fans love. There is nothing I want more than to have a solid, winning program and a raucous student section and an intense gameday atmosphere every single game, they probably go hand in hand.
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+1
 

AhliBobwa said:
+1 I say up to 5 years out of school. This is an investment in the future as well. People who are able to get cheap student sections in their first years out of school are going to buy regular season tics as their incomes increase. Recent grads will jump at this opportunity and fill a lot of openings that exist now.
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5 Years is waaaaaayyy to long. 2 years maximum.
 

from experience, I know that the number of "seats" per bleacher is not how many people actually crammed into those rows. There were a good two or three more people in each row around me at every game.

So overselling the section would definitely help, because the students will make room. Especially on the lower deck, and especially in the cold.
 

frozengopher said:
Whatever happened to people being fans and showing loyalty to their school regardless of the win/loss column? The attitude and mentality of many people in this state is a vacuum. It sucks.
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A lot of people are loyal. But there are lots more students who just don't care about sports in general. And there are a lot who do but have never cheered for the Gophs and could care less about how they do. In my experience here, I honestly doubt that there are 10,000 students that I would classify as real Gopher football fans. It's hard to expect loyalty from people who were never loyal to being with.
 

I love the raising ticket prices argument and the relation to alcohol, because the % of kids that actually spend that much money a weekend on booze is low. Most kids spend under $20 a weekend on booze, and a large group of the students are not even 21 yet so they don't go to the bars.

I just say they let any gopher fan in with a ticket, if the person is wearing opposing team colors then ask for an ID, it'll be our "little" secret...
 

If I hear the "need a better product" comment again I believe my head may spin off of my shoulders and explode. What is it about a .500 football team that deserves an empty stadium? If people really believe a "better product" is needed, does the team really need to go 10-2 or better every year to fill the student section? Or, if "better product" just means a bit better, how can that make such a huge difference when an awesome new stadium with a .500 team resulted in FEWER students than similar records in the dome, off of campus?

As someone else stated so well, the team was looking very good heading into the Wisconsin game this past fall and that game against the biggest rival was played out before a lot of empty seats.

Anyway you stack it, the "better product" argument takes a back seat well behind many other REAL factors that are keeping the students away from the games.
 

Schnauzer said:
If I hear the "need a better product" comment again I believe my head may spin off of my shoulders and explode. What is it about a .500 football team that deserves an empty stadium? If people really believe a "better product" is needed, does the team really need to go 10-2 or better every year to fill the student section? Or, if "better product" just means a bit better, how can that make such a huge difference when an awesome new stadium with a .500 team resulted in FEWER students than similar records in the dome, off of campus?

As someone else stated so well, the team was looking very good heading into the Wisconsin game this past fall and that game against the biggest rival was played out before a lot of empty seats.

Anyway you stack it, the "better product" argument takes a back seat well behind many other REAL factors that are keeping the students away from the games.
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My take on the better product argument is this....

Students (in fact everyone who chooses to attend or not attend) have a multitude of choices they can do at any given time. When its game time, what else could they be doing? sleeping? drinking? studying? home for the weekend? movies? swimming? a millioin things... I believe that the better product on the field means the whole experience... not just a teams win/loss record... Are they going to enjoy going to the game more than the sex they could be having??? More than the studying? What about the whole game experience makes going to the game a better product that gets bought and attended than whatever else is possible?

I will admit, I have gone to some games just because I already "bought" the ticket and I didn't want the money I spent to go to waste... Terrible I know, but its a fact... If the students spent a lot more on tickets, the ones who "bought" them would be more inclined to use them than a free or nearly free ticket... perceived value is huge!
 

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