Reusse's Reasons for Gopher Attendance Problems

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I was there. It was a great crowd...till it wasn't... I got physically sick that night....
 

A decrease in attendance does correlate with the opening of US Bank Stadium, but I haven't seen any evidence that this was a cause. US Bank Stadium only has about 2500 more seats than the Metrodome had, so even if 2500 people switched from Gophers tickets to Vikings, it wouldn't make a huge difference. I have no idea how many people had both Vikings and Gophers season tickets, and without that data, it's hard to claim that the drop in attendance is due to dual ticket holders dropping the Gophers.

Minnesota is hardly the only team that plays football on cool fall days, so I don't think that's a significant factor. I think the U raised the ticket price way above demand. This year, I think the pizza tickets really lowered the perceived value of tickets. It also made more expensive tickets look like less of a value. For the Fresno State game, I had tickets in the front row of the upper deck, for the price of pizza that I was going to eat anyway. Those chairback seats are better seats, sure, but compared to tickets that are basically free, they don't seem like such a good deal. It will be interesting to see how many tickets are sold for the Northwestern game.
 

t-docious said:
FWIW, some within the program mentioned this was actually Kill who pushed most for this to help raise dollars for facilities, and he let Teague take all the heat, especially after the mega tongue incident...
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Maybe, but the scholarship seating is supposedly not intended to pay for the facilities.
 

RodentRampage said:
A decrease in attendance does correlate with the opening of US Bank Stadium, but I haven't seen any evidence that this was a cause. US Bank Stadium only has about 2500 more seats than the Metrodome had, so even if 2500 people switched from Gophers tickets to Vikings, it wouldn't make a huge difference. I have no idea how many people had both Vikings and Gophers season tickets, and without that data, it's hard to claim that the drop in attendance is due to dual ticket holders dropping the Gophers.

Minnesota is hardly the only team that plays football on cool fall days, so I don't think that's a significant factor. I think the U raised the ticket price way above demand. This year, I think the pizza tickets really lowered the perceived value of tickets. It also made more expensive tickets look like less of a value. For the Fresno State game, I had tickets in the front row of the upper deck, for the price of pizza that I was going to eat anyway. Those chairback seats are better seats, sure, but compared to tickets that are basically free, they don't seem like such a good deal. It will be interesting to see how many tickets are sold for the Northwestern game.
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Pretty sure Reusse's point about the Vikings is that fans and more importantly corporations are forking out way more dollars for the PSLs, tickets, & suites that there is less to go around for Gopher football.

It has had an an impact on all the other pro & University sports. Next year add to the Loons with a shiny new stadium and it becomes even more difficult.
 



Not saying it would totally solve the problem, but bringing in some big name non-conference opponents would help. And in this case, I think the name matters more than the ranking. For example, a home game against USC or UCLA would sell tickets even if neither of them are that good this year.
 

bizzle22 said:
Not saying it would totally solve the problem, but bringing in some big name non-conference opponents would help. And in this case, I think the name matters more than the ranking. For example, a home game against USC or UCLA would sell tickets even if neither of them are that good this year.
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For this year specifically, the Non-conference & Big 10 schedule have impacted overall sales, I am quite sure. When it was announced 4-5 years ago you could see it. Other than Iowa, there was no brand recognition at all, unless some fans were confused about Miami of Ohio thinking the Hurricanes were coming to the Bank. It impacted Season tix and Pick Your Pack.
 

Ope3 said:
For this year specifically, the Non-conference & Big 10 schedule have impacted overall sales, I am quite sure. When it was announced 4-5 years ago you could see it. Other than Iowa, there was no brand recognition at all, unless some fans were confused about Miami of Ohio thinking the Hurricanes were coming to the Bank. It impacted Season tix and Pick Your Pack.
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I think this is undervalued as a reason. A home schedule of New Mexico State, Fresno, Miami OH, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue and Northwestern sucks. It just does. No casual or on the fence fan is going to jump on season tickets to that when they can easily buy single game tickets to the 2-3 games they want to see for a fraction of the cost.

Since it seems we are stuck with Nebraska/Wisconsin being on the same cycle, they need to go out and get some home-and-home non-conference games that have a home game on the Iowa/crap cycle to balance it out.
 

howeda7 said:
I think this is undervalued as a reason. A home schedule of New Mexico State, Fresno, Miami OH, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue and Northwestern sucks. It just does. No casual or on the fence fan is going to jump on season tickets to that when they can easily buy single game tickets to the 2-3 games they want to see for a fraction of the cost.

Since it seems we are stuck with Nebraska/Wisconsin being on the same cycle, they need to go out and get some home-and-home non-conference games that have a home game on the Iowa/crap cycle to balance it out.
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This years schedule, among other things was exactly why I dropped me tickets. And of course knowing that Gopher season tickets aren't in demand makes for an easy transition back to season tickets.
 



I go to every game and it doesn't matter who they are playing.
 


Ope3 said:
For this year specifically, the Non-conference & Big 10 schedule have impacted overall sales, I am quite sure. When it was announced 4-5 years ago you could see it. Other than Iowa, there was no brand recognition at all.
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Well then, next year's lineup should pack 'em in: South Dakota St., Georgia Southern, Illinois, Nebraska, Maryland ...

Of course, it won't hurt to finish with Penn St. and Wisconsin. :D

JTG
 

rockford said:
Well then, next year's lineup should pack 'em in: South Dakota St., Georgia Southern, Illinois, Nebraska, Maryland ...

Of course, it won't hurt to finish with Penn St. and Wisconsin. :D

JTG
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Correct, Penn St, Nebraska & Wisconsin means there are 2 additional attractive games compared to this year. I would also venture that So Dakota St will have more visiting fans than New Mexico St, Fresno St & Miami (OH) combined. The extra Big 10 game also helps, not just with season tix but also with 2-3 game packages.
 



I actually don't mind a strictly regional game like sdsu. Maybe not every year, but not a bad thing.

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rockford said:
Of course, it won't hurt to finish with Penn St. and Wisconsin. :D

JTG
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It will probably be too cold to get a large crowd. Like the Ohio State game four years ago.

Cold weather trumps both good win-loss record and attractive opponent.
 

howeda7 said:
Since it seems we are stuck with Nebraska/Wisconsin being on the same cycle, they need to go out and get some home-and-home non-conference games that have a home game on the Iowa/crap cycle to balance it out.
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This is a great point, and we have addressed this issue (at least somewhat) on future schedules.

2020: BYU (OK, meh but still a huge brand name)
2022: Colorado
2024: North Carolina

2020 also has Michigan at home, but 2022/2024 don't have a marquee Big Ten East team coming in.
 

rockford said:
I actually don't mind a strictly regional game like sdsu. Maybe not every year, but not a bad thing.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
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I actually agree with you. I'm using old language, but even though SDSU is 1AA and Georgia Southern is 1A I am a heck-of-a-lot more excited about SDSU than I am of Georgia Southern. It is fun to see former MSHSL players that I maybe saw play on Friday nights but haven't gotten a chance to watch them in college.

I think the UND, NDSU, USD, SDSU's of the world have a little chip on their shoulder when they play us but if we can't beat them (which we haven't) we have other issues as well.

I think no matter how it gets sliced up, the elephant in the room is simply the scholarship donations. Unfortunately it is a lot harder to get fans back that used to have tickets because they have found something to do, new traditions of how they watch the game, etc. I had a buddy that had two tickets next to me, dropped them strictly because of the added fees and said he was going to buy tickets to each game separately. First year he went to 2-3 games, second year went to a game, and I haven't seen him in or around TCF Bank Stadium since.
 

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