PJ Fleck Interview new - Sunday 2-10-19 + Mark Coyle interview

[die hard gopher]

"There's one player out there as a transfer who will be eligible next year"

Is he talking about Dew-Treadway or someone else?

I just realized that because Grimes redshirted last year, if he were to be granted immediate eligibility he'd have 3 years to play 3. I was originally under the impression he'd have two years to play regardless because he didn't RS.

That fact along with the fact that Grimes was robbed at gunpoint outside his apartment while at USC makes that comment by PJ make way more sense now. I thought he either misspoke and meant he'll be able to play after next year or he was referring to either Clemmons or Schad, two other transfers. But it all makes sense now and sounds like they may be expecting Grimes to have immediate eligibility and have 3 to play 3.

 

[LakerFan]

Speaking of this....anyone want to start a volleyball club with me? Those places are raking in the money.

Real money is in dance studios. Lessons, events, costumes, basically unlimited revenue stream you can hook a kid for group, small group, duet, solo, in different categories Tap, hip-hop, classical, etc.....

I used to think the money was in Hockey, but that's just expensive, people owning rinks don't make much, costs too much to maintain the ice and they just pass that along.

 

[MennoSota]

Where people come out when doing the cost-benefit analysis is the real issue. You originally said no families of four would buy tickets because of the cost. That's not true. There are tens of thousands of families across the region that could afford the tickets as they are currently priced. The problem is that they are choosing not to do so.

I accept your correction.
I believe UMN could build the market by concentrating on all the pee wee football squads across the State and encourage these squads to come to games and be recognized at halftime. Make the group rates cheap and do these promotions for the lighter weight pre conference games. Fill up the stands in what otherwise will be an empty house. You bring in some revenue and you get kids hooked to Gopher football.
It ain't rocket science. The St Paul Saints have been doing it for years. Even the Twins have a few nights for the Metro Baseball League to bring teams over and walk the warning track before the game. It promotes good will and community.
Sadly, the marketing staff at UMN seems oblivious to such a promotion and community building.

 

[2nd Degree Gopher]

I accept your correction.
I believe UMN could build the market by concentrating on all the pee wee football squads across the State and encourage these squads to come to games and be recognized at halftime. Make the group rates cheap and do these promotions for the lighter weight pre conference games. Fill up the stands in what otherwise will be an empty house. You bring in some revenue and you get kids hooked to Gopher football.
It ain't rocket science. The St Paul Saints have been doing it for years. Even the Twins have a few nights for the Metro Baseball League to bring teams over and walk the warning track before the game. It promotes good will and community.
Sadly, the marketing staff at UMN seems oblivious to such a promotion and community building.

I like the idea of giving the tickets to youth football teams and agree that the promotion people need to be more creative in getting butts in the seats. The revenue generated today from such efforts is minimal, but if just 1% of those kids become ticket-buying fans 10-20 years down the road, the U is better off than they would be by leaving the seats empty.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Speaking of this....anyone want to start a volleyball club with me? Those places are raking in the money.

Not sure how tongue in cheek this was ... but are you just basing this on the costs for having a player on a team? Yeah, they're not cheap! But they have to maintain the facilities, pay the coaches and the staff, pay tournament fees, etc.

I don't know for any kind of fact ... but I bet you could look at Northern Lights in Burnsville, the top club in the state (one of the best in the nation as well), and I doubt that the people who own that are getting rich off it.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

this is probably a discussion for another thread - but, FWIW, we always come back to the same old sticking point.

for whatever reason - and every person can have their own reason - a major portion of the sporting public has decided that the cost of attending a Gopher football game is not worth the entertainment value received.

You can't hold a gun to people's heads and force them to buy tickets. (well, you could try, but I suspect that would create some legal issues...)

And getting mad at people who don't choose to buy tickets solves nothing. This is on the U of MN - Coyle, the marketing people, the game-day staff, and the FB team. to increase attendance, somehow, some way, they have to convince people that attending a Gopher FB game is worth the cost of the tickets (and related costs of parking, food, etc.) Bottom line - two ways to approach problem - lower the cost of attending game - OR make the games and game-day experience more entertaining. if they're not willing to do #1, then they have to figure how how to do #2.

 

[Word]

Not sure how tongue in cheek this was ... but are you just basing this on the costs for having a player on a team? Yeah, they're not cheap! But they have to maintain the facilities, pay the coaches and the staff, pay tournament fees, etc.

I don't know for any kind of fact ... but I bet you could look at Northern Lights in Burnsville, the top club in the state (one of the best in the nation as well), and I doubt that the people who own that are getting rich off it.

Only half tongue in cheek, but I don't need to derail the thread with further talk.

 

[Gophers_4life]

this is probably a discussion for another thread - but, FWIW, we always come back to the same old sticking point.

for whatever reason - and every person can have their own reason - a major portion of the sporting public has decided that the cost of attending a Gopher football game is not worth the entertainment value received.

You can't hold a gun to people's heads and force them to buy tickets. (well, you could try, but I suspect that would create some legal issues...)

And getting mad at people who don't choose to buy tickets solves nothing. This is on the U of MN - Coyle, the marketing people, the game-day staff, and the FB team. to increase attendance, somehow, some way, they have to convince people that attending a Gopher FB game is worth the cost of the tickets (and related costs of parking, food, etc.) Bottom line - two ways to approach problem - lower the cost of attending game - OR make the games and game-day experience more entertaining. if they're not willing to do #1, then they have to figure how how to do #2.

I've given the correct analysis here several times: there is currently no incentive for new people to buy Gopher football tickets, if they don't have something else drawing them down to the stadium, which at this time is limited to tailgating. So you have to have one (pay for one), or know someone who does (and get invited). The viewing experience at home, in the comfort of your own living room, is more than comparable to most seats in the stadium except those which will cost you very dearly.

If they ever want to consistently (ie, when the team isn't winning 9+ games per season) sell out the stadium, then going there has to be a "thing". It can't just be a place where you go to watch a Gopher football game.

At these big SEC mega stadiums and mega-mega tailgating events ... I'm sure well over half the people there don't even care (that much) about the game. It's more an excuse to be at the event.

 

[Spoofin]

Not sure how tongue in cheek this was ... but are you just basing this on the costs for having a player on a team? Yeah, they're not cheap! But they have to maintain the facilities, pay the coaches and the staff, pay tournament fees, etc.

I don't know for any kind of fact ... but I bet you could look at Northern Lights in Burnsville, the top club in the state (one of the best in the nation as well), and I doubt that the people who own that are getting rich off it.

I used to think the same with my daughter in gymnastics. Lots of money spent and I kept figuring it was all those fees/costs the club has. Then I wondered why there were 4 gyms within a 10-mile radius. I’d bet the owners of Northern Lights are getting rich off of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

this is probably a discussion for another thread - but, FWIW, we always come back to the same old sticking point.

for whatever reason - and every person can have their own reason - a major portion of the sporting public has decided that the cost of attending a Gopher football game is not worth the entertainment value received.

You can't hold a gun to people's heads and force them to buy tickets. (well, you could try, but I suspect that would create some legal issues...)

And getting mad at people who don't choose to buy tickets solves nothing. This is on the U of MN - Coyle, the marketing people, the game-day staff, and the FB team. to increase attendance, somehow, some way, they have to convince people that attending a Gopher FB game is worth the cost of the tickets (and related costs of parking, food, etc.) Bottom line - two ways to approach problem - lower the cost of attending game - OR make the games and game-day experience more entertaining. if they're not willing to do #1, then they have to figure how how to do #2.

I would argue that ... they maybe didn't even think of the cost

 

[highwayman]

Take the home games off TV. Do that and maybe 70% of the posters on this site would actually go to games.

 

[Gophers_4life]

As much as having a full stadium would be nice, and perhaps add a few million extra dollars to the bottom line, heck even if it was an additional $10M in revenue ......... taking games off TV isn't on the table and shouldn't even be discussed, not that anyone seriously wants to do that. $50M per year comes into the Minnesota athletic dept from the Big Ten, due to various TV contracts.

 

[pjgopher19]

My season tickets remain double what they were just a few years ago because of the two-step "contributions." They did cancel the third step, but they should have cut back on step two, as well. Tickets are too expensive for the market, given all the other metro sports offerings.

If they would do away with the donation part of the season tickets, I would add two more season tickets for a total of four season tickets.


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[dpodoll68]

If they would do away with the donation part of the season tickets, I would add two more season tickets for a total of four season tickets.

There are thousands of tickets available with zero donation component.

Also - someone would buy more of something if the price were lowered? Alert the media!

 

[Gophers_4life]

There are thousands of tickets available with zero donation component.

Same old intellectually dishonest tactic. Someone is very clearly talking about a particular thing, of a particular quality, and you try to move the goalposts by switching the discussion to a different thing, usually of much lower quality, and pretending that's exactly the same thing.

Same old tactic. Gets old, and doesn't help solve the problem.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Same old intellectually dishonest tactic. Someone is very clearly talking about a particular thing, of a particular quality, and you try to move the goalposts by switching the discussion to a different thing, usually of much lower quality, and pretending that's exactly the same thing.

Same old tactic. Gets old, and doesn't help solve the problem.

You're on a message board, you're not solving the problem.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

I've given the correct analysis here several times: there is currently no incentive for new people to buy Gopher football tickets, if they don't have something else drawing them down to the stadium, which at this time is limited to tailgating. So you have to have one (pay for one), or know someone who does (and get invited). The viewing experience at home, in the comfort of your own living room, is more than comparable to most seats in the stadium except those which will cost you very dearly.

If they ever want to consistently (ie, when the team isn't winning 9+ games per season) sell out the stadium, then going there has to be a "thing". It can't just be a place where you go to watch a Gopher football game.

At these big SEC mega stadiums and mega-mega tailgating events ... I'm sure well over half the people there don't even care (that much) about the game. It's more an excuse to be at the event.

They just need to win enough to create a buzz around the program. It has to be sustained and it has to pull in the average joes.

Adding more "things" isn't really the answer. We will never consistently sell out our stadium if we aren't winning, regardless of any other "thing" you hope to add.

 

[Gophers_4life]

They just need to win enough to create a buzz around the program. It has to be sustained and it has to pull in the average joes.

It's too bad you admit defeat. This sentiment resigns the Gophers to <=80% capacity for most games, most season, if the weather is decent. <=70% capacity if the weather is horrible and/or the team is horrible.

Zero reason they can't sell out even though the team isn't winning the division.


Perfect examples are teams like Mississippi State. Will never win the division (Alabama, Auburn, etc.). Still sell out. And not even the main flagship school in the state.

You'll reply that doesn't count because southerners love college football more and there aren't pro sports competition. But you're wrong. It sells out because it's an event. Not because every single person there cares about football. Sorry, you're just wrong. But I'm afraid your defeatist attitude is contagious.


Hell, what about IOWA State, for cripes sakes. Yeah they've finally got a winner now, but I'm pretty sure they have solid fan support even before that.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Even if I'm dead wrong .... fine .... but why not give it a try???

Bob's defeatist sentiment is already exactly what we have now! "Well we just can't sell tickets until they win, aw shucks"

Why not try something? Give it a shot?

 

[PMWinSTP]

They just need to win enough to create a buzz around the program. It has to be sustained and it has to pull in the average joes.

Adding more "things" isn't really the answer. We will never consistently sell out our stadium if we aren't winning, regardless of any other "thing" you hope to add.

Spot on. Just win. Beating a dead horse here...said many times by many...there are just too many options for the sports entertainment $$ for the casual fan. Add to that all the other non-sports entertainment $$ options...

 

[Gophers_4life]

Spot on. Just win. Beating a dead horse here...said many times by many...there are just too many options for the sports entertainment $$ for the casual fan. Add to that all the other non-sports entertainment $$ options...

Same old defeatist BS. Just an excuse to keep from trying something.

At a MINIMUM .... you've got all the people (and it's at least hundreds of thousands) in the metro alone who watch Gophers football on TV, as a base of people you could go after to buy tickets. At a MINIMUM.

Nope, just keep doing exactly the same thing, and keep getting exactly the same results. When it doesn't work, blame something else.

 

[PMWinSTP]

It's too bad you admit defeat. This sentiment resigns the Gophers to <=80% capacity for most games, most season, if the weather is decent. <=70% capacity if the weather is horrible and/or the team is horrible.

Zero reason they can't sell out even though the team isn't winning the division.


Perfect examples are teams like Mississippi State. Will never win the division (Alabama, Auburn, etc.). Still sell out. And not even the main flagship school in the state.

You'll reply that doesn't count because southerners love college football more and there aren't pro sports competition. But you're wrong. It sells out because it's an event. Not because every single person there cares about football. Sorry, you're just wrong. But I'm afraid your defeatist attitude is contagious.


Hell, what about IOWA State, for cripes sakes. Yeah they've finally got a winner now, but I'm pretty sure they have solid fan support even before that.

They are the only big thing in their cities, so yeah, I would expect the attendance to be higher.

 

[Gophers_4life]

They are the only big thing in their cities, so yeah

Their cities are tiny. So what you meant is state, well HALF the state, because both of these states have two flagship public schools. Minnesota only has one for the whole state, not to mention no other DI football teams of any kind (Miss and Iowa both have other DI teams).

That said, I already disproved this excuse. There are hundreds of thousands of people who tune in to watch Gopher football on TV. There you go. There's your leads. What can you offer those people, to get them off the couch????

 

[Clark W. Griswold]

Try what? Every great idea that has been brought up on this message board has been tried:
-Seats without donations
-Incentives for STHs (discounts, experiences/events, ticket presales)
-Better tailgating, they close the street between TCF and the arenas and have vendors.

At the end of the day all these extra things (other than the non-donation seats) are virtually meaningless. Either you want to be at a live college football game or you don't. If you need someone's help to have fun tailgating before a game then you and your family/friends are boring.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Either you want to be at a live college football game or you don't. If you need someone's help to have fun tailgating before a game then you and your family/friends are boring.

"If you're not already a Gopher ticket buyer, then F YOU!!! We don't want your money!!!"


Are you head of marketing at a Fortune 500 company??? This is brilliant stuff!

 

[Clark W. Griswold]

"If you're not already a Gopher ticket buyer, then F YOU!!! We don't want your money!!!"


Are you head of marketing at a Fortune 500 company??? This is brilliant stuff!

nope, and I know I can't compete with your great ideas like - make tailgating better. I'm sure the athletic dept. watches all of your posts for gems like this. My point was all of the ideas from here are being or have been tried.

 

[Gophers_4life]

My point was all of the ideas from here are being or have been tried.

Highly doubtful. You're just on the defeatist bandwagon, like everyone else.

If the U cares about football attendance, it will send people south to Iowa St to ask them what they do to make their home gameday experience something that gets people in Des Moines off the couch. Maybe learn a thing or two, who knows.

 

[PhillyGopher]

You're on a message board, you're not solving the problem.

I'd settle for not causing additional problems

 

[Clark W. Griswold]

Highly doubtful. You're just on the defeatist bandwagon, like everyone else.

If the U cares about football attendance, it will send people south to Iowa St to ask them what they do to make their home gameday experience something that gets people in Des Moines off the couch. Maybe learn a thing or two, who knows.

If only we all had the same go get em attitude that you do. You're truly inspirational. If you ever came to a game I'd buy you a beer, but the damn traffic and other hassles of attending a game will most likely keep you on your couch.

 

[STPGopher]

You'll have to get more of your Edina buddies to pony up. Between Eden Prairie, Plymouth and Minnetonka you should fill up that stadium full of cake eaters.

Don't sleep on the East Metro. I sit next to a family of four.