Shooter: Gophers football attendance has decreased for a second straight season, averaging 46,519

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Per Shooter:

>> Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck told a Dunkers club gathering before the season that this would be his best team in his nine seasons at Minnesota. The Gophers finished the regular season 7-5.

Meanwhile, Gophers football attendance has decreased for a second straight season, averaging 46,519 for its seven games this year in 50,085-capacity Huntington Bank Stadium.

The Gophers’ highest attendance average in history was 62,954 in 1957 at Memorial Stadium. The Metrodome years topped out at 60,985 in 1985; and the Huntington Bank Stadium high is 52,355 in 2015.

During Fleck’s nine seasons at Minnesota, home attendance — excluding the abbreviated COVID 2020 season — has averaged 45,257.

www.twincities.com

Charley Walters: Who will absorb blame for Vikings’ nose dive?

Most likely general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who signed a four-year contract extension in May.
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

Go Gophers!!
 

A giant “so what”, Shooter. I attend as part of that 47K, and more importantly - I’d rather average 47K with our awesome student section, outdoors, on campus, tenfold over previous arrangements.

One other bone - again on Shooter . . . why no parentheses showing capacity of each of those other venues. And then let me selectively pick out a year from either or both to list average attendance there. To infer that there is a precipitous drop currently, or that either of the other two were better than the great venue and gameday experience of our current home, is just throwing red meat to the legion of Eeyores in this market that parrot this.
 


beatles said:
We didn’t have the most exciting home schedule either.
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Nebraska and Wisconsin are good draws. Agree rest of schedule was not great. It’s just who MN is, the demand for 60k plus is not there no matter if they are good or not.
 



Vikings' average game-day ticket price $100-$250. University of MN FB game-day average ticket price $20-$70. We really have to get a better marketing program.
 

Did he really say this would be his best team in 9 years. I don’t think he said that.
Do we have a second source other than shooter
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Nebraska and Wisconsin are good draws. Agree rest of schedule was not great. It’s just who MN is, the demand for 60k plus is not there no matter if they are good or not.
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Yes but with Wisconsin being bad and the weather, it wasn't a great draw this time.
 




Whytetale said:
Vikings' average game-day ticket price $100-$250. University of MN FB game-day average ticket price $20-$70. We really have to get a better marketing program.
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This!!!! Program is respectable. Not a top program but not a bottom program. Popular opinion around the Metro is that the Gophers are terrible. Thats marketing.
 


Lou Brown said:
This!!!! Program is respectable. Not a top program but not a bottom program. Popular opinion around the Metro is that the Gophers are terrible. Thats marketing.
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The U is generally ass at marketing its sports and football was winning one game from probably flipping the script a bit in 2019 but they choked it away and got tagged with the same old gophers that people have been saying for decades.

We rehash this same argument every year but it’s going to be interesting to see what happens. Huge rise in viewership with legalized gambling (which is becoming a large problem on college campuses). If that changes, does the reported viewership have staying power?

They’ve made choices strategically, imo, to engage more casual fans but been killing the actual dedicated to the school fan because tv revenue is good. Eventually that bottom falls out financially for the lower pack, even if they compete in the same league (see EPL for a prime example). They’ll always have some fans, but realistically no chance to compete over the long haul except in rare circumstances

The U has prioritized taking money at higher rates for the ones they know they have (season ticket holders, long time donors) than filling seats and being as aggressive about “making fans” out of more casual people. They’ve done some good things with recent grad tickets, but things like season tickets for gopher hockey used to be a waiting list and now Mariucci is half to 3/4 full. Unsure how many sellouts we had this year for football (if any), but it’s pretty uncommon we sellout the stadium. The U needs to figure that part out of where the balance is of butts in seats (and making long term donors) vs trying to just “keep the books right” as much as they can over the short term
 

Some guy said:
Did he really say this would be his best team in 9 years. I don’t think he said that.
Do we have a second source other than shooter
Click to expand...
There was this - although it does not state he said it was his best team:

P.J. Fleck confident Minnesota can vie for CFP spot in 2025​



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https://www.espn.com/college-footba...j-fleck-confident-minnesota-vie-cfp-spot-2025

Since going 11-2 and finishing No. 10 nationally in 2019, Minnesota has been a consistent bowl team -- and champion -- but hasn't legitimately challenged for the College Football Playoff.

Coach P.J. Fleck thinks that's about to change.

The Gophers are coming off an 8-5 season in which four losses came by seven points or fewer, including a 26-25 home setback to Penn State, who went on to reach the Big Ten championship game and the CFP semifinals. In 2019, Minnesota won each of its first four games by seven points or fewer and finished 6-1 in one-score games.

"If we were 6-1 in the seven one-possession games [in 2024], we would have won 11 games," Fleck told ESPN on Wednesday. "We're not far. We're right there. This isn't a pipe dream."

The 12-team CFP has created more opportunities for teams like Minnesota, which hasn't won a Big Ten championship since 1967. That season, it shared the title with Indiana, which made a historic run to the CFP last fall.

"We're not as far off as maybe what our brand and logo and name think we are, what people perceive that as," Fleck said. "The reason you stay at a program is to change people's thoughts, perceptions and ideas of the brand you're in. That's why you stay."
 



Lou Brown said:
This!!!! Program is respectable. Not a top program but not a bottom program. Popular opinion around the Metro is that the Gophers are terrible. Thats marketing.
Click to expand...
How about a statewide pulltab marketing campaign? It worked for the Vikings.
 

I think getting beat bad on the road in 3 games and kind of a half assed game against Cal hurts home attendance. Especially the non competitiveness of the 3 beatdowns.
 

Some guy said:
Did he really say this would be his best team in 9 years. I don’t think he said that.
Do we have a second source other than shooter
Click to expand...
He said something to that affect. Fleck puts out a lot of general statements.

Best team could mean player led team. It could mean well rounded, it could mean a lot of things. We would need some context.

I simple search says that he said something to that affect and that it pointed to the players

After Wisconsin: "But when you look at what we're doing, continue to change and elevate the standard and the expectation the program. I said that earlier in the year, that doesn't mean it's going to happen because you have a high standard. Everybody has a high standard, look around the country. But we're striving for that every single day that we're here. Our coaches are working their tail ends off to create that for everybody, our fans, our administration, our players, the experiences and moments and memories."

I think it was a player led team in his reference. No way his thought this team was better than last year's with all the NFL talent.
 


Lou Brown said:
This!!!! Program is respectable. Not a top program but not a bottom program. Popular opinion around the Metro is that the Gophers are terrible. Thats marketing.
Click to expand...
"Program is Respectable"

I simply can't understand why that isn't working.
 


gopherbadgerman said:
Nebraska and Wisconsin are good draws. Agree rest of schedule was not great. It’s just who MN is, the demand for 60k plus is not there no matter if they are good or not.
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If you had all the data, I think it would be obvious that the biggest factor driving the change is waaaaaay fewer visiting fans. In the 60’s - 80’s visiting fans used to look at the trip to Minneapolis like they do a trip to a bowl game now.

It has been shocking how few Badger, Husker and Hawkeye fans there have been at the Bank after 2020. An obvious huge drop-off.

The games are more fun live than I ever remember them being. So people are really missing out.

Obviously, the “telivisification” of college football is another factor. But a huge % of the population is basically dead to the real world at this point, doom-scrolling all day on their phone everyday too.
 

Goldmember said:
If you had all the data, I think it would be obvious that the biggest factor driving the change is waaaaaay fewer visiting fans. In the 60’s - 80’s visiting fans used to look at the trip to Minneapolis like they do a trip to a bowl game now.

It has been shocking how few Badger, Husker and Hawkeye fans there have been at the Bank after 2020. An obvious huge drop-off.

The games are more fun live than I ever remember them being. So people are really missing out.

Obviously, the “telivisification” of college football is another factor. But a huge % of the population is basically dead to the real world at this point, doom-scrolling all day on their phone everyday too.
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I don't know about ever, but I do agree that those not attending are really missing out.
 

Tech Machine said:
I think getting beat bad on the road in 3 games and kind of a half assed game against Cal hurts home attendance. Especially the non competitiveness of the 3 beatdowns.
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Early season is so important. The Cal loss hurt, the first B1G loss hurts.

ESPN Attendance
  • Buffalo 47,774 on Thursday of Labor Day
  • Northwestern State, HS Band and Family Day 42,447 (Not sure all the HS are part of that number and ticketed)
  • Rutgers 46,234 coming off loss to CAL and bye
  • Purdue 49,254 Homecoming after blowout to tOSU
  • Nebraska 48,549 #25 Rival and MEA Friday game
  • MSU 45,339 Off Iowa drubbing
  • Wisconsin 46,038 Off back to back losses and Thanksgiving weekend.

Average 46,519
Conference Games: 47,082 93% of Capacity
FBS Games: 47,198

50,805 Capacity. 92% Total Capacity for 7 games
 

Goldmember said:
If you had all the data, I think it would be obvious that the biggest factor driving the change is waaaaaay fewer visiting fans. In the 60’s - 80’s visiting fans used to look at the trip to Minneapolis like they do a trip to a bowl game now.

It has been shocking how few Badger, Husker and Hawkeye fans there have been at the Bank after 2020. An obvious huge drop-off.

The games are more fun live than I ever remember them being. So people are really missing out.

Obviously, the “telivisification” of college football is another factor. But a huge % of the population is basically dead to the real world at this point, doom-scrolling all day on their phone everyday too.
Click to expand...
think this probably the bigger part. i can now see deluxe views, it's "free" because i've already paid, and i can watch on my time with fastforwarding through the 3:30 commercial breaks after basically every possession. Same for traveling fans it's just way easier than trekking up and in an era of tightening belts, your road trip up from Lincoln is probably going to be a pretty easy one to cut when we just curb stomp them anyway.

It's sad, but this is also another problem of the superconferences and lack of regionality (ditto for in things like college hockey with the death of the WCHA) and is a massive advantage the SEC will always have. They are just waaaaaaaaaaaay closer to each other and then you can add your rivals to where everything is within about a 3-4 state area. We're traveling to Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington as well as Rutgers, MD, and PSU. We at least have it easier being central, but the coastal schools are flying 1500-2500 miles multiple times a year. Just no financially reasonable way fans can do it in the same way
 

Goldmember said:
It has been shocking how few Badger, Husker and Hawkeye fans there have been at the Bank after 2020. An obvious huge drop-off.

The games are more fun live than I ever remember them being. So people are really missing out.
Click to expand...
The games have been great, the tailgate lots have been lively. I have absolutely no complaints about the game day atmosphere and turnout. It's a million times better than the dome and Brewster era. I dont exactly remember the Kill/claeys era being any better than now. I lazily attribute these slightly lower attendance numbers to post-covid inflation. The casual fan is a tough sell in this market and if the gophers slip up early (Cal, Bowling Green, North Carolina, etc..) they are immediately checked out.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
There was this - although it does not state he said it was his best team:

P.J. Fleck confident Minnesota can vie for CFP spot in 2025​



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https://www.espn.com/college-footba...j-fleck-confident-minnesota-vie-cfp-spot-2025

Since going 11-2 and finishing No. 10 nationally in 2019, Minnesota has been a consistent bowl team -- and champion -- but hasn't legitimately challenged for the College Football Playoff.

Coach P.J. Fleck thinks that's about to change.

The Gophers are coming off an 8-5 season in which four losses came by seven points or fewer, including a 26-25 home setback to Penn State, who went on to reach the Big Ten championship game and the CFP semifinals. In 2019, Minnesota won each of its first four games by seven points or fewer and finished 6-1 in one-score games.

"If we were 6-1 in the seven one-possession games [in 2024], we would have won 11 games," Fleck told ESPN on Wednesday. "We're not far. We're right there. This isn't a pipe dream."

The 12-team CFP has created more opportunities for teams like Minnesota, which hasn't won a Big Ten championship since 1967. That season, it shared the title with Indiana, which made a historic run to the CFP last fall.

"We're not as far off as maybe what our brand and logo and name think we are, what people perceive that as," Fleck said. "The reason you stay at a program is to change people's thoughts, perceptions and ideas of the brand you're in. That's why you stay."
Click to expand...
Most of this is coach speak. He didn't give a timeline, just a general "we're close". It looks like someone else interpreted this as now and injected 2025.

Happens a lot, especially now with all the "writers" floating around out there in the sports landscape.
 

A coach is always going to oversell a bit, he has to for his players. What is he supposed to say, if we win six, I’ll be ecstatic.
P.S.: Coach Fleck is a natural overseller as well.
 

Word said:
Yes but with Wisconsin being bad and the weather, it wasn't a great draw this time.
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As someone who attended the game, it still very much was a great draw. Especially for the students who were on Thanksgiving break. The attendance was basically right at the average so the weather and WIsco having a down year didn't impact it much at all.
 

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