So they Vikings (who seem to listen to their fanbase) are requesting more tailgating

[norman dale]

Viking executives listening to their fanbase and requesting that the City of Minneapolis to expand the area where tailgating is allowed in downtown. Hmmm..... I wonder if the Vikings used the Carlson School of Management to develop and administer the survery? Is there is any chance the Vikings broach the subject of having a tailgating experience for their fans while the new stadium is being built? This may be the one chance the University could piggyback itself to the bloodlust for bacchanalia of the younger Vikings fanbase and allow private lots owners around the U to allow tailgating.

Tailgaters take heart: The Vikings have your back.

In an effort to address the rapidly dwindling number of tailgating spots surrounding their new stadium, the team will ask city officials to consider expanding the downtown tailgating zone. They also will discuss allowing private lot owners to open up to tailgaters.

The request, expected today at a meeting of the city's Stadium Implementation Committee, is in response to growing concerns among some season ticket holders that a $400 million office, retail and housing development planned for five downtown blocks near the new stadium will gobble up prime tailgating spots in three surface parking lots.

Team officials decided to make the recommendation after surveying more than 21,000 single-game or season-ticket holders earlier this spring. Nearly two thirds of the roughly 3,000 ticket holders responding said it was "very important" to be able to tailgate at the new stadium.

But more than half said they would prefer not to park or tailgate at lots far away and use a shuttle service to get to and from the stadium.

Nearly three out of four ticket holders said they might consider sharing tailgating space at a park or plaza nearby.

"It's a hot button issue with our fans," said Lester Bagley, a Vikings vice president. For many, he added, "it's about being in the vicinity of the stadium, to put down their beverage and walk to the game so they can pull into their seat when the game is about to tee off."

The $400 million development by Ryan Cos. calls for acquiring five blocks owned by the Star Tribune, three of which now provide more than 800 parking spots for potential tailgaters.

Chuck Lutz, a city development official, said the city plans to meet with the Vikings next week to explore additional tailgating options downtown.

The team’s tailgating tradition took a big hit in the early 1980s after the team moved from Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, which offered thousands of surface parking spaces.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/blogs/217015171.html

 

[Go4]

the vikes cater to their fan base very well. the gophers could learn a thing or two about marketing and knowing what the fans want from them. people don't want to hear it, but its true. if maturi understood the importance of tailgating and actually having fun before and after a game, we wouldn't have taken a step back in pre-game atmosphere from the dome like we did. we can't ever get back the first four years of the new stadium. looks like the vikes are learning from our mistakes.

 

[Ole]

the vikes cater to their fan base very well. the gophers could learn a thing or two about marketing and knowing what the fans want from them. people don't want to hear it, but its true. if maturi understood the importance of tailgating and actually having fun before and after a game, we wouldn't have taken a step back in pre-game atmosphere from the dome like we did. we can't ever get back the first four years of the new stadium. looks like the vikes are learning from our mistakes.

Of all his sins, this was the worst Maturi ever committed. Absolutely wasted a new stadium by catering to the status quo and bending over for everyone but the athletics dept, the football team, and the young and energetic fans.

I've said it before, the U needs to wage a war against the city in the court of public opinion. The general public won't support the damn hippy doofus neighborhood groups like the city will, and anything that turns the U campus into a legit partying gameday atmosphere is worth whatever potential backlash the city can muster.

 

[station19]

Though I like to bash Maturi as much as anyone, a lot of this is not his fault. Unlike the Vikes the AD has to deal with an administration that isn't pro sports and pro drinking. It also seems quit evident the city of MPLS is more inclined to work with the pro sport teams than the U.

 

[Ole]

Though I like to bash Maturi as much as anyone, a lot of this is not his fault. Unlike the Vikes the AD has to deal with an administration that isn't pro sports and pro drinking. It also seems quit evident the city of MPLS is more inclined to work with the pro sport teams than the U.

Going to bat for the fans and the athletics dept was something Maturi never did when it came to the admin or the city. He was a yes man and a coward.
It's something I'll never forget or forgive among a myriad of other things he did/didn't do.
He was SO destructive to the image of gopher athletics.

 

[station19]

Going to bat for the fans and the athletics dept was something Maturi never did when it came to the admin or the city. He was a yes man and a coward.
It's something I'll never forget or forgive among a myriad of other things he did/didn't do.
He was SO destructive to the image of gopher athletics.

And I agree with you on this. Just saying he had a few more obstacles than the Vikes do.

Looking back, one of the saddest parts of the 'Maturi era' was what was once considered a great achievement. The 'Tubby Smith like hire'.

 

[imthewalrus]

And I agree with you on this. Just saying he had a few more obstacles than the Vikes do.

Looking back, one of the saddest parts of the 'Maturi era' was what was once considered a great achievement. The 'Tubby Smith like hire'.

I warned you about the former ad and the administration...and you continue to complain about that administration and that ad so much after the fact. Well, I guess it's better that you eventually woke up. There is no need for your profuse apologies at this time. It is all the reward that I could have ever asked just seeing that some of you now echo what I warned you about so long ago... Sometimes people just like to crucify the person providing the necessary contrasts to the masses, It would appear...

; 0 )

 

[Killjoy]

I warned you about the former ad and the administration...and you continue to complain about that administration and that ad so much after the fact. Well, I guess it's better that you eventually woke up. There is no need for your profuse apologies at this time. It is all the reward that I could have ever asked just seeing that some of you now echo what I warned you about so long ago... Sometimes people just like to crucify the person providing the necessary contrasts to the masses, It would appear...

; 0 )

Delusion and Confusion the name is wren.

 

[station19]

I warned you about the former ad and the administration...and you continue to complain about that administration and that ad so much after the fact. Well, I guess it's better that you eventually woke up. There is no need for your profuse apologies at this time. It is all the reward that I could have ever asked just seeing that some of you now echo what I warned you about so long ago... Sometimes people just like to crucify the person providing the necessary contrasts to the masses, It would appear...

; 0 )

And some people like to say, I told you so.

 

[imthewalrus]

And some people like to say, I told you so.

Well...with all the names I was called for contrasting those who could do nothing but praise macturi, I would say that an occasional "I told you so..." is most certainly called for. I have not brought that fact up very many times. And, believe me, there is "...no joy in Mudville..." coming from me when I see all the far-reaching, long-lasting negative things macturi (with prexy b's blessing and under his direction) inflicted upon the Football Program and my Golden Gopher Football Team. That has been very sad for me ALL THIS TIME and it is exactly what I was so concerned about back then.

Perhaps it has been even more painful for me to have had brewball, the Game Day Environment Issues, and all the wast that occurred with the EXTENDED contracts followed almost immediately with the BUY OUTS of those contracts. The management of the Athletics Department has been a real point of shame for the University of Minnesota and has done SO MUCH long-term damage.

It really is sad...

; 0 (

 

[Sports_Realist]

My impression is the city of Minneapolis is more willing to work with the Vikings on tailgating because it would take place downtown in lots mainly surrounded by office buildings. Granted the residential population of downtown is growing and continues to do so. However, the urban setting is psychologically different for a city council person or government worker considering the issue than campus which is in close proximity to more conventional residential neighborhoods with single family homes and smaller apartment buildings. I think the city doesn't want to promote drinking so close to these areas as well as by student housing whose occupants should theoretically be studying (yeah, I know) and are largely below drinking age (yeah, I know).

 

[station19]

Well...with all the names I was called for contrasting those who could do nothing but praise macturi, I would say that an occasional "I told you so..." is most certainly called for. I have not brought that fact up very many times. And, believe me, there is "...no joy in Mudville..." coming from me when I see all the far-reaching, long-lasting negative things macturi (with prexy b's blessing and under his direction) inflicted upon the Football Program and my Golden Gopher Football Team. That has been very sad for me ALL THIS TIME and it is exactly what I was so concerned about back then.

Perhaps it has been even more painful for me to have had brewball, the Game Day Environment Issues, and all the wast that occurred with the EXTENDED contracts followed almost immediately with the BUY OUTS of those contracts. The management of the Athletics Department has been a real point of shame for the University of Minnesota and has done SO MUCH long-term damage.

It really is sad...

; 0 (

There is nothing in your post that I dissagree with.

In all honesty I really don't remember when and all of what you said, or what others replied to you.

I do remember all the MaCturi's and prexy's though.

 

[Iceland12]

My impression is the city of Minneapolis is more willing to work with the Vikings on tailgating because it would take place downtown in lots mainly surrounded by office buildings. Granted the residential population of downtown is growing and continues to do so. However, the urban setting is psychologically different for a city council person or government worker considering the issue than campus which is in close proximity to more conventional residential neighborhoods with single family homes and smaller apartment buildings. I think the city doesn't want to promote drinking so close to these areas as well as by student housing whose occupants should theoretically be studying (yeah, I know) and are largely below drinking age (yeah, I know).

Close, but also and maybe even more likely, the City Of Minneapolis was highly p.o. that the University of Minnesota didn't align themselves with the Vikings and share a stadium in Downtown Minneapolis! You might even throw in the big money people in town that never contributed a dime to build TCF in with them. Seems like everybody outside of Gopher Football Boards that is, knows that's been the major reason for the lack of cooperation with the U. They didn't want TCF built in the first place.

You could probably throw in the fact that the U for the last 40 years at least, has only drawn 50,000 plus 8 times, two of which were the opening years of the Dome and TCF. Oh and 8 times they went under 40,000 in those years. Those numbers include "papering the house" with thousands for Non-Conference games.

The Vikings? In the 30 years they've been in the Dome they've been over 60,000 14 times, every year since 1998 in fact. Oh, and another 14 times over 55,000. Does anybody think that they could have put 70,000 in those seats for some years if they had them?

Now throw-in the fact that's there are a whole bunch of people in the State who have no loyalty, maybe even an anti-loyalty to the Gophers but who are still Vikings fans. Plus the Vikings TV ratings that absolutely shatter the Gophers and you might being to see why the U isn't getting all the cooperation and state money that the Vikings get.

Oh, but now that we've got a new A.D. all of that will go away.

Hopefully, with the Vikings in-line to get their Downtown Minneapolis Stadium and a new Mayor coming in for Minneapolis maybe this antagonism will disappear. The "thawing" of private parking around TCF might point to this.

Now if only someone will start to listen to Ole's plea of letting as many 18 and 19 year olds get "bleep" faced whether the actually go into the game or not and then tOSU and Michigan better watch their back!

 

[dpodoll68]

The funny thing is that Wren thinks incessantly bashing Maturi made him some type of lone voice in the wilderness.

The even funnier thing is that virtually 100% of the people on this board have zero clue of what being an athletic director entails (myself included) and thus have zero basis for judgment.

 

[Ole]

Close, but also and maybe even more likely, the City Of Minneapolis was highly p.o. that the University of Minnesota didn't align themselves with the Vikings and share a stadium in Downtown Minneapolis! You might even throw in the big money people in town that never contributed a dime to build TCF in with them too. Seems like everybody outside of Gopher Football Boards that is, knows that's been the major reason for the lack of cooperation with the U. They didn't want TCF built in the first place.

You could probably throw in the fact that the U for the last 40 years at least, has only drawn 50,000 plus 8 times, two of which were the opening years of the Dome and TCF. Oh and 8 times they went under 40,000 in those years and those numbers include "papering the house" with thousands of Non-Conference games nearly every year.

The Vikings? In the 30 years they've been in the Dome they've been over 60,000 14 times, every year since 1998 in fact. Oh, and another 14 times over 55,000. Does anybody think that they could have put 70,000 in those seats for some years if they had them?

Now throw-in the fact that's there are a whole bunch of people in the State who have no loyalty, maybe even an anti-loyalty to the Gophers but who are still Vikings fans. Plus the Vikings TV ratings that absolutely shatter the Gophers and you might being to see why the U isn't getting all the cooperation and state money that the Vikings get.

Oh, but now that we've got a new A.D. all of that will go away.

Hopefully, with the Vikings in-line to get their Downtown Minneapolis Stadium and a new Mayor coming in for Minneapolis maybe this antagonism will disappear. The "thawing" of private parking around TCF might point to this.

Now if only someone will start to listen to Ole's plea of letting as many 18 and 19 year olds get "bleep" faced whether the actually go into the game or not and then tOSU and Michigan better watch their back!

You're right, in essence the Vikings own the state and the city. They have the city council's balls on their mantle. See exhibit A when Ramsey County stepped up to provide a first class plan for the new vikings stadium and the city lost their minds coming up with a way to keep the Vikings downtown.

I still have a right to expect the U to provide a college gameday atmosphere.
There's no excuse for some of the policies they've come up with except that there are people in power with NO CLUE what college sports are like in the rest of the country.

Those 18 and 19 year olds are already getting bleepfaced.
They would on a nice fall Saturday even if the U had no football team.

Get those kids near the stadium come hell or high water, and watch the gameday atmosphere improve, watch the student section fill up, and eventually watch people taking an interest in a niche sporting event not even the Vikings can compete with.

Those bleepfaced kids bring energy to the table, something this fanbase needs in spades.
In time college kids' energy to party and get crazy can morph into passion for the team and for the event of the game every week, and then you have the best of all worlds.

You may ok with the status quot, I am not.

 

[RodentRampage]

If the Vikings get this, the U should be able to piggyback onto this to get more tailgating opportunities as well, unless it is so tightly written that it could only apply to tailgating that takes place downtown. The Vikings have considerable leverage to get what they want, it looks like a good opportunity for the U to get what they want out of the way, and let the Vikings do the heavy lifting.

 

[Iceland12]

You're right, in essence the Vikings own the state and the city. They have the city council's balls on their mantle. See exhibit A when Ramsey County stepped up to provide a first class plan for the new vikings stadium and the city lost their minds coming up with a way to keep the Vikings downtown.

I still have a right to expect the U to provide a college gameday atmosphere.
There's no excuse for some of the policies they've come up with except that there are people in power with NO CLUE what college sports are like in the rest of the country.

Those 18 and 19 year olds are already getting bleepfaced.
They would on a nice fall Saturday even if the U had no football team.

Get those kids near the stadium come hell or high water, and watch the gameday atmosphere improve, watch the student section fill up, and eventually watch people taking an interest in a niche sporting event not even the Vikings can compete with.

Those bleepfaced kids bring energy to the table, something this fanbase needs in spades.
In time college kids' energy to party and get crazy can morph into passion for the team and for the event of the game every week, and then you have the best of all worlds.

You may ok with the status quo, I am not.

What I'm not okay with is their Won/Loss record. That's the only thing that will make a real difference in attendance. Screw the "it's all Marketing" talk. Marketing can get you in to see/use a product. If the product ends-up being awful you don't keep coming back, can't speak for you personally, but the vast majority of people don't. There's been a litany of Gopher games with packed houses. the Gophers lost nearly every one of them.

That's why the "status quo" sucks.

As for your "get them in the stadium or not" see Minnesota Kicks. Wiki it if you need to. Their parking lots were jammed tight with people. How many of those happy, partying drunks paid to go in and see those games? Capacity by the way was right around 49,000.

Oh and yes, it's an OLD reference. If you think that kids are stupider today, well we just disagree.

 

[Iceland12]

If the Vikings get this, the U should be able to piggyback onto this to get more tailgating opportunities as well, unless it is so tightly written that it could only apply to tailgating that takes place downtown. The Vikings have considerable leverage to get what they want, it looks like a good opportunity for the U to get what they want out of the way, and let the Vikings do the heavy lifting.

Now that's something we all should hope for.

 

[Ole]

What I'm not okay with is their Won/Loss record. That's the only thing that will make a real difference in attendance. Screw the "it's all Marketing" talk. Marketing can get you in to see/use a product. If the product ends-up being awful you don't keep coming back, can't speak for you personally, but the vast majority of people don't. There's been a litany of Gopher games with packed houses. the Gophers lost nearly every one of them.

That's why the "status quo" sucks.

As for your "get them in the stadium or not" see Minnesota Kicks. Wiki it if you need to. Their parking lots were jammed tight with people. How many of those happy, partying drunks paid to go in and see those games? Capacity by the way was right around 49,000.

Oh and yes, it's an OLD reference. If you think that kids are stupider today, well we just disagree.

I don't disagree that in order to "hook" them you need to win.
I also don't believe a marginally successful season would change things.
A 9 win season, for example would be epic for this program in it's recent history.
I still believe we'd have trouble filling the student section and the stadium in general to non marquee opponents.
There has simply been no effort to expand the fanbase. None. Nada.

My idea is obvious, make it fun for young people, who typically are louder, bring more friends, and have long term potential as passionate fans. They also drink and party. That's what college kids do.
If there's a better idea, then make your case.
Winning just won't do it unless you're talking a Rose Bowl run, and honestly even then I'm not sure things would change because the fanbase is tapped out.
It's actually probably shrinking with the amount of 70+ year olds that still fill the stadium.

BTW I checked the Kicks. 20-30000 for a soccer game is pretty damn good. It's soccer. Nobody cares in this country, an they still outsold alot of pro teams in this town.

 

[Killjoy]

The funny thing is that Wren thinks incessantly bashing Maturi made him some type of lone voice in the wilderness.

The even funnier thing is that virtually 100% of the people on this board have zero clue of what being an athletic director entails (myself included) and thus have zero basis for judgment.

This could be the most honest and insightful post of the year. Well done!

 

[Iceland12]

I don't disagree that in order to "hook" them you need to win.
I also don't believe a marginally successful season would change things.
A 9 win season, for example would be epic for this program in it's recent history.
I still believe we'd have trouble filling the student section and the stadium in general to non marquee opponents.
There has simply been no effort to expand the fanbase. None. Nada.

My idea is obvious, make it fun for young people, who typically are louder, bring more friends, and have long term potential as passionate fans. They also drink and party. That's what college kids do.
If there's a better idea, then make your case.
Winning just won't do it unless you're talking a Rose Bowl run, and honestly even then I'm not sure things would change because the fanbase is tapped out.
It's actually probably shrinking with the amount of 70+ year olds that still fill the stadium.

BTW I checked the Kicks. 20-30000 for a soccer game is pretty damn good. It's soccer. Nobody cares in this country, an they still outsold alot of pro teams in this town.

Fair enough, but the problem was they had tens of thousands of people in the parking lot, most of which never went in to see the games. Notice the big drop-off in attendance in 1980 and 1981? When it dropped from 24- 32,000 down to 16-18,000? That's when they stared requiring a ticket to the game to get into the parking lot.

The line used back then was that the Kicks were a great success until people started making them go in and watch soccer.

Let's get this clear, completely agree with you on the need to have students in TCF. The louder, the happier the better. Just disagree that staging a relatively unsupervised drunk will get it done. You, seemingly at least, place a very high priority on getting more places to party cheap on campus. If that gets some more students into TCF great, but you want the party first and foremost.

I did too, when I was going to school and a few years before and after. Just don't care about it anymore.

Winning? Yeah, that will/does get it done when you look at the number of seats they have to fill in TCF. That was the whole idea behind the number. Even now they need what, 3 to 6,000 more per game and they've hit capacity? For most the Big Ten games at least. That in turn will drive people, maybe even students to buy Season Tickets. That in turn helps fill-up the Non-Conference games.

Look, if they needed to sell 16 -18,000 tickets a game to fill TCF the way they needed to do, almost constantly at the Dome then yes, they'd need more elaborate plans and ticket giveaways to do it. Three things come to mind right away when that comes up.

1. They DON"T need to sell 17,000 more tickets, they need to sell 5 -6,000 to fill it up. A chunk of those are the Premium Seats too, and students don't buy those.
2. At the Dome they DID have a whole bunch of tickets specials. Hell, we had 10 tickets a year at the Dome. 4 Downstairs and 6 upstairs. Why did we only keep the 4 Downstairs? Because we could no longer spend $1100 or so and get the 6 tickets upstairs!
3. The Dome DID have tailgating. Nearly the same as the Vikings did. The Gophers still had to beg, borrow and give away thousands of seats and still didn't sell it out. The excuse then was that it was just so darn far, but unless the students going to the U now are vastly different than before or than students around the country, going that distance to get to a party shouldn't have been insurmountable.

Nope, I'm open-minded about most things, maybe to many, but the idea that just giving more underaged people a place to drink will somehow fill-up TCF? No, that just won't work.

 

[Iceland12]

This could be the most honest and insightful post of the year. Well done!

Damn right.

 

[Ole]

Fair enough, but the problem was they had tens of thousands of people in the parking lot, most of which never went in to see the games. Notice the big drop-off in attendance in 1980 and 1981? When it dropped from 24- 32,000 down to 16-18,000? That's when they stared requiring a ticket to the game to get into the parking lot.

The line used back then was that the Kicks were a great success until people started making them go in and watch soccer.

Let's get this clear, completely agree with you on the need to have students in TCF. The louder, the happier the better. Just disagree that staging a relatively unsupervised drunk will get it done. You, seemingly at least, place a very high priority on getting more places to party cheap on campus. If that gets some more students into TCF great, but you want the party first and foremost.

I did too, when I was going to school and a few years before and after. Just don't care about it anymore.

Winning? Yeah, that will/does get it done when you look at the number of seats they have to fill in TCF. That was the whole idea behind the number. Even now they need what, 3 to 6,000 more per game and they've hit capacity? For most the Big Ten games at least. That in turn will drive people, maybe even students to buy Season Tickets. That in turn helps fill-up the Non-Conference games.

Look, if they needed to sell 16 -18,000 tickets a game to fill TCF the way they needed to do, almost constantly at the Dome then yes, they'd need more elaborate plans and ticket giveaways to do it. Three things come to mind right away when that comes up.

1. They DON"T need to sell 17,000 more tickets, they need to sell 5 -6,000 to fill it up. A chunk of those are the Premium Seats too, and students don't buy those.
2. At the Dome they DID have a whole bunch of tickets specials. Hell, we had 10 tickets a year at the Dome. 4 Downstairs and 6 upstairs. Why did we only keep the 4 Downstairs? Because we could no longer spend $1100 or so and get the 6 tickets upstairs!
3. The Dome DID have tailgating. Nearly the same as the Vikings did. The Gophers still had to beg, borrow and give away thousands of seats and still didn't sell it out. The excuse then was that it was just so darn far, but unless the students going to the U now are vastly different than before or than students around the country, going that distance to get to a party shouldn't have been insurmountable.

Nope, I'm open-minded about most things, maybe to many, but the idea that just giving more underaged people a place to drink will somehow fill-up TCF? No, that just won't work.

I wouldn't pay to watch soccer either, JMO.
The difference is though, that this is the students' campus. It's their university.
The tailgate lots near the dome were much easier to access for students than the ones at the U are. They were private lots and pay lots, first come first serve. Pile 9 kids in a car with a grill and 3 cubes of Milwaukee's best each chip in a 5 spot and you were within eyeshot of the dome. You can't do that now.

I know the U cannot allow a free for all.
I just bristle at the idea that there's nothing that can be done and the people in charge are just baffled at the lack of student ticket sales and gameday attendance. Giving away tickets is fine, but eventually you need to cater to the younger crowd and develop campuswide traditions on gameday.
I see reluctance to loosen the reigns, even a little bit from the people in power and empower the students and young fans.
I also continue to see people pull in late to prime tailgate lots, I don't get that. What a waste. I see open spaces galore that could be rented out or divided up for gathering. There's no creativity, and no vision beyond
1)build a new stadium
2)?
3)Profit
In the mean time you do have students holing up in garages and basements, MAYBE they walk down to the stadium if their friends are, but it's just not a popular event for them yet, now several years in. It needs to be.

 

[hyaluronic]

Let's get this clear, completely agree with you on the need to have students in TCF. The louder, the happier the better. Just disagree that staging a relatively unsupervised drunk will get it done. You, seemingly at least, place a very high priority on getting more places to party cheap on campus. If that gets some more students into TCF great, but you want the party first and foremost.

I did too, when I was going to school and a few years before and after. Just don't care about it anymore.

This is exactly the point - the age demographic you want filling up the student section does care about the pre-game festivities. In many cases, it may be the driving factor.

Case in point: me. I started at the U in 2000, and because I love football, I bought season tickets. Our team was okay, but at that point in time, I did not have a lot of friends who enjoyed going to the game, or partaking in the pre-game festivities. To that point in my life, I had been more of a pro football fan, lost interest in the team, and continued my ways of caring about mostly the Vikings.

Come 2001, I did not renew my season tickets.

In 2002, I had friends who were die hard about the pre and post game experience. A couple of them were actual die-hard fans, but the majority of the group would make it to the games. I picked up season tickets for this year, since I figured I would make it to most games. I made it to every game.

2003 is probably what cemented me as a life-long, hard-core Gopher football fan. We had a really good team, I enjoyed myself before, during, and after the game - save the kick in the nuts against Michigan. The Vikings became my second favorite football team behind the Gophers, and the rest is history. 2004 and 2005 were fun as well, but I was hooked.

The sole answer to developing a long-term fan is not tailgating - but it helps. I tried the college football experience at face value my freshman year, and was met with a .500 product, and went back to caring about pro football. In 2002, the game-day and college atmosphere were important to my friends, the next season we caught fire, and I became a fan for life. I'm sure there are many more like me.

 

[station19]

This is exactly the point - the age demographic you want filling up the student section does care about the pre-game festivities. In many cases, it may be the driving factor.

Case in point: me. I started at the U in 2000, and because I love football, I bought season tickets. Our team was okay, but at that point in time, I did not have a lot of friends who enjoyed going to the game, or partaking in the pre-game festivities. To that point in my life, I had been more of a pro football fan, lost interest in the team, and continued my ways of caring about mostly the Vikings.

Come 2001, I did not renew my season tickets.

In 2002, I had friends who were die hard about the pre and post game experience. A couple of them were actual die-hard fans, but the majority of the group would make it to the games. I picked up season tickets for this year, since I figured I would make it to most games. I made it to every game.

2003 is probably what cemented me as a life-long, hard-core Gopher football fan. We had a really good team, I enjoyed myself before, during, and after the game - save the kick in the nuts against Michigan. The Vikings became my second favorite football team behind the Gophers, and the rest is history. 2004 and 2005 were fun as well, but I was hooked.

The sole answer to developing a long-term fan is not tailgating - but it helps. I tried the college football experience at face value my freshman year, and was met with a .500 product, and went back to caring about pro football. In 2002, the game-day and college atmosphere were important to my friends, the next season we caught fire, and I became a fan for life. I'm sure there are many more like me.

People attract people.

 

[Eagan]

Fair enough, but the problem was they had tens of thousands of people in the parking lot, most of which never went in to see the games. Notice the big drop-off in attendance in 1980 and 1981? When it dropped from 24- 32,000 down to 16-18,000? That's when they stared requiring a ticket to the game to get into the parking lot.

The Kicks won division titles 1976 through 1979, but failed to do so in 1980 and 1981. In fact, they were 16-16 in 1980. Attendance decreased in part because they were no longer dominant on the field.

 

[Iceland12]

The Kicks won division titles 1976 through 1979, but failed to do so in 1980 and 1981. In fact, they were 16-16 in 1980. Attendance decreased in part because they were no longer dominant on the field.

That at the time was a distinctly minority opinion. The City of Bloomington shed no tears when they lost the Kicks' pre-game crowd. The downfall of just looking at the numbers is often the don't tell the whole story. Though you're probably right, even with what was left of the party atmosphere outside, getting people in to watch the Home team lose couldn't have made things any easier.

 

[Iceland12]

This is exactly the point - the age demographic you want filling up the student section does care about the pre-game festivities. In many cases, it may be the driving factor.

Case in point: me. I started at the U in 2000, and because I love football, I bought season tickets. Our team was okay, but at that point in time, I did not have a lot of friends who enjoyed going to the game, or partaking in the pre-game festivities. To that point in my life, I had been more of a pro football fan, lost interest in the team, and continued my ways of caring about mostly the Vikings.

Come 2001, I did not renew my season tickets.

In 2002, I had friends who were die hard about the pre and post game experience. A couple of them were actual die-hard fans, but the majority of the group would make it to the games. I picked up season tickets for this year, since I figured I would make it to most games. I made it to every game.

2003 is probably what cemented me as a life-long, hard-core Gopher football fan. We had a really good team, I enjoyed myself before, during, and after the game - save the kick in the nuts against Michigan. The Vikings became my second favorite football team behind the Gophers, and the rest is history. 2004 and 2005 were fun as well, but I was hooked.

The sole answer to developing a long-term fan is not tailgating - but it helps. I tried the college football experience at face value my freshman year, and was met with a .500 product, and went back to caring about pro football. In 2002, the game-day and college atmosphere were important to my friends, the next season we caught fire, and I became a fan for life. I'm sure there are many more like me.

All very true but that's not the point that was being debated. He wants more unsupervised parties period. Don't know why you decide to take it out of context like that.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

I used to drink and smoke pot before the Kicks games - and I did go in and watch the games. (I had friends who played soccer in college, so I had some appreciation for the sport.) In my experience, there may have been some people who never made it into the stadium - but that was because they passed out before the game. I certainly remember a majority of the tailgaters going in to watch the game - granted, some of them trickled in during the 1st half.

But, to get back to the main point, those Kicks games were a happening. People wanted to be there because it was fun - and yes, the team was good.

For a myriad of reasons, young people have not wanted to go to Gopher FB games. And I think it will take a myriad of solutions to solve the problem. Having fans with a higher blood-alcohol count is not a long-term solution. The U administration is going to have to work very hard to promote the games - and yes, changes will have to be made to encourage and promote tailgating, and a more festive atmosphere. But it's not just the students - the U has to have a much better marketing campaign aimed at the 25-40 age group.

 

[Iceland12]

I used to drink and smoke pot before the Kicks games - and I did go in and watch the games. (I had friends who played soccer in college, so I had some appreciation for the sport.) In my experience, there may have been some people who never made it into the stadium - but that was because they passed out before the game. I certainly remember a majority of the tailgaters going in to watch the game - granted, some of them trickled in during the 1st half.

But, to get back to the main point, those Kicks games were a happening. People wanted to be there because it was fun - and yes, the team was good.

For a myriad of reasons, young people have not wanted to go to Gopher FB games. And I think it will take a myriad of solutions to solve the problem. Having fans with a higher blood-alcohol count is not a long-term solution. The U administration is going to have to work very hard to promote the games - and yes, changes will have to be made to encourage and promote tailgating, and a more festive atmosphere. But it's not just the students - the U has to have a much better marketing campaign aimed at the 25-40 age group.

Caught 3-4 games myself during those years and you're right, they were certainly a "happening".

As for Marketing, I know it's a popular thought but honestly it isn't the problem. Going back to the Dome years and forward they've had ticket packages, give aways, ads on busess, ads on TV, ads on radio, night games, day games, carnival games, beer and drinks at the Dome (inside and out), now beer's at TCF too. They had PLENTY of tailgating at the Dome, for people of all ages and you know what happened.

People tailgated, went to the game, saw the product, it was usually awful and they didn't come back! Heck even under Mason, when they had their best success the big games they won were on the road, the games they lost? Those were seemingly always at Home.

Now there's real Marketing for you. All negative for sure, but marketing none the less.

Hey, they can try a whole bunch of things and they certainly need to upgrade the experience before and after the game. More tailgating would be great. More fun during the game itself will also be a good idea.

Luckily the number of seats they have to fill is closer to 5,000 than 20,000.

The problem with hoping "Marketing" will solve the problem is every football fan in the Metro and probably in the Five State Area already KNOWS about the product and have for 40 years now. Great Marketers can sell somebody an awful product. They can't keep selling that product if the buyers hate it.

What the Public knows is that the vast majority of time the product has been awful. Oh and by the way the "Marketers" on here and on the "other" Gopher site in the last few years are constantly working in the Off-Season and after every loss, to help SPREAD the word that nearly everybody connected with Gopher Football the last 8 years has been awful too.

Yeah, that's the kind of Marketing that doesn't cost much, but has proven to be most effective.

Here's to hoping incoming Freshmen go to the games and only read the boards right after a win!

Oh, I forgot, sometimes that isn't such a good idea either..