STrib: College football mystery: Why don't students go to games?

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golden boy said:
Something will eventually overtake football. Why not soccer? It is the fastest growing TV sports media in the country. Not the world cup (it's good too), not the MLS, but foreign soccer. Mexican and Euro leagues. The world now is different than when listening to a baseball game on the radio was the best thing out there, and the world in 50-60 years will be different than now when watching HGH monsters give each other permanent brain injury every Sunday is the best thing out there. Things change that people of history could never anticipate.
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Agreed. Not saying it will be soccer, but the only thing constant is change.

The big three used to be horse racing, boxing and baseball.
 

AuEGO4 said:
and students to be older (to appreciate the game more).
Problem solved.
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for me, as I've aged the memories my mind has created are much better than the real ones, especially those related to the U. Tony Dungy completed every pass and Kent Kitzmann ran the ball every play. that last one might actually have been true
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Obviously, but I'm also telling you that your generation went through the same thing. Depending on your generation you went from Campfire stories to books, from books to radio, from radio to tv, from tv to internet, from internet to connected devices. It happens EVERY GENERATION!

I am part of a family owned business. My Dad often told me stories of how his dad, when he took the business over, yelled at him and told him "he didn't get it" or that "he was ruining the company". 40 years later the company has quadrupled in value and my father is pounding his chest about how he knows everything. For the past 2 years he's told me the exact same things his father said to him, and I'm quite confident that 40 years from now I'll do the same to my daughter/son whomever succeeds me after I quadruple the value of the company.
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This is not my old man moment. I'm 36.
I'm saying ALL OF SOCIETY is going through a shift right now due to technology. Also, in my blatherings above, I called out everyone as culpable, not just kids.
 

BarnBoy said:
Agreed. Not saying it will be soccer, but the only thing constant is change.

The big three used to be horse racing, boxing and baseball.
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I'm not either, but I'd place a flyer type wager on soccer. You know exactly how long it is going to take, that isn't too long of a time, there are no commercials ever except a brief halftime, and there is pretty much always something happening.

Contrast with football, which I love, in which 60 of the possible 210 minutes you invest are game time, and of that 60 only 15 are actual game play. 15 minutes in 3 hours! 3.5 hours in college. It's nuts. We watch over 45 minutes in commercials to watch 15 minutes of football! Nearly an hour of the down time is literally players huddling or talking to each other and idiot announcers blathering on. TV made football, and TV will kill football.
 

BarnBoy said:
This is not my old man moment. I'm 36.
I'm saying ALL OF SOCIETY is going through a shift right now due to technology. Also, in my blatherings above, I called out everyone as culpable, not just kids.
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You're right you did not call out a generation in terms of age, and I guess I'm not trying imply generations in terms of baby boomer, next, x, y, z yada yada yada. But each technological advancement has had the exact same impact on culture that I depicted above. The advent of the information age is no more impactful than the iron age was to the bronze age. We have to adjust, just as everyone did during those times.
 


alexvanabbema said:
As a sophomore student at the U, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that most students here just aren't interested in football or going to the games. Hardly any of my friends buy season tickets, and those who do usually just decide not to go to most of the games or sell their tickets, because they'd rather be sleeping, doing homework or hanging out. At the game most of the students don't seem to be engaged much from what I've seen, and they seem to view the game as mostly a place to socialize and get drunk at. I doubt that most of them have any idea who the Gophers played the week before, or how the team is even doing. Granted, I have met quite a few students who are die hard fans, and who know a lot about the team, but sadly, these fans seem to be in the minority.
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As another sophomore you hit the nail on the head. It's honestly just the way it is with our generation kind of, its difficult to explain. Part of it is just football still isn't a huge deal on campus. Most kids are too burnt out from school and partying on Friday night to get out and go to a game Saturday (although many of us still do). I wish there were more dedicated fans like us, I think if we can pull off some magic and beat a team like Ohio State or finally get the Axe back consistently the students will come around.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
You're right you did not call out a generation in terms of age, and I guess I'm not trying imply generations in terms of baby boomer, next, x, y, z yada yada yada. But each technological advancement has had the exact same impact on culture that I depicted above. The advent of the information age is no more impactful than the iron age was to the bronze age. We have to adjust, just as everyone did during those times.
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We are saying the same thing. And I think standing around in a cold stadium for 3.5 hours to watch 15 minutes of football might be one of the casualties (See The death of boxing and horse-racing - for other reasons), as painful as that is to say. It won't be immediate, but it might happen slowly over time. There are losers and winners to the adjustment process you mention.
 

As a current Greek junior at the U, I would say that virtually everyone in my chapter could hold a conversation about Gopher football, it's just that come gametime, a lot of kids would rather stay at the tailgate or watch the game at a bar. It can be pretty difficult sometimes to leave a tailgate with roughly 150 girls in gopheralls. However, for the majority of my friends, they are becoming more and more interested in the team and apathy is dissipating. I think as we continue to improve, more and more kids would rather be in TCF than at Blarney or a tailgate.

The other issue I think is that while the administration has improved with support, they still aren't as accommodating as other Big Ten schools. I know we were super excited for the student tailgate lot, but were completely turned away when we found out that they had undercover cops busting kids for underage drinking. Frankly, most kids look at football games is an excuse to wake up early and drink. Just my two cents on the issue coming from a current student.
 

SPEGOPHER said:
As a current Greek junior at the U, I would say that virtually everyone in my chapter could hold a conversation about Gopher football, it's just that come gametime, a lot of kids would rather stay at the tailgate or watch the game at a bar. It can be pretty difficult sometimes to leave a tailgate with roughly 150 girls in gopheralls. However, for the majority of my friends, they are becoming more and more interested in the team and apathy is dissipating. I think as we continue to improve, more and more kids would rather be in TCF than at Blarney or a tailgate.

The other issue I think is that while the administration has improved with support, they still aren't as accommodating as other Big Ten schools. I know we were super excited for the student tailgate lot, but were completely turned away when we found out that they had undercover cops busting kids for underage drinking. Frankly, most kids look at football games is an excuse to wake up early and drink. Just my two cents on the issue coming from a current student.
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good post. you have the answer right in your post. guys will go where the girls are, bottom line. always that way. why do bars have "ladies night"?! its to attract male customers.

find a way to get sororities and girls there. everything else will fall in to place after that.
 



Go4 said:
good post. you have the answer right in your post. guys will go where the girls are, bottom line. always that way. why do bars have "ladies night"?! its to attract male customers.

find a way to get sororities and girls there. everything else will fall in to place after that.
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Step 1:
Step 2: Hot girls arrive at TCF Bank Stadium
Step 3: Stadium will fill up

What's Step 1???? Damn it.
 






Gophers style of play is a problem for some 'fans'

Put a TCU-style offense out there and I think you draw in a few more. Probably not a huge factor, but it's real for some.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
Gophers style of play is a problem for some 'fans'

Put a TCU-style offense out there and I think you draw in a few more. Probably not a huge factor, but it's real for some.
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Style of play doesn't matter. Winning does. As SPEGOPHER stated above, with the success the Gophers have had recently his friends are getting more interested.
 





Let the girls in free. The guys will pay double..........it's a win win.:cheer:
 

e.bigelow said:
HAHA. Listen to this guy. As aposed to high blood pressure and heart problems from eating double cheeseburgers and smoking cigarettes from the "older" generation? I can make blanket statements also.
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Not me. 5 pounds above my high school weight. Still drive the golf ball 270 yards. And I'll take any of your spoiled youngsters on in a game of horse.
 

golden boy said:
I'm not either, but I'd place a flyer type wager on soccer. You know exactly how long it is going to take, that isn't too long of a time, there are no commercials ever except a brief halftime, and there is pretty much always something happening.

Contrast with football, which I love, in which 60 of the possible 210 minutes you invest are game time, and of that 60 only 15 are actual game play. 15 minutes in 3 hours! 3.5 hours in college. It's nuts. We watch over 45 minutes in commercials to watch 15 minutes of football! Nearly an hour of the down time is literally players huddling or talking to each other and idiot announcers blathering on. TV made football, and TV will kill football.
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I disagree. I think football is popular because it is the perfect TV sport as a game. It lends itself to TV like nothing else. I did not really realize this until I was talking to an international friend of mine at work. I was saying that I didn't understand why soccer wasn't a bigger professional sport in the US, given that so many youth play it and its a sport that we really understand, for several generations now. He answered me with the simplest analysis - football plays on TV because of there are so many breaks in the action whereas the soccer game continues uninterrupted. It's perfect for advertising and bathroom breaks. I think he was spot on. Football works for TV like nothing else. I appreciate soccer, but I love football.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
Not me. 5 pounds above my high school weight. Still drive the golf ball 270 yards. And I'll take any of your spoiled youngsters on in a game of horse.
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I drive the golfball 270 also. Then I stop the cart, pick up the ball, and drive another 210. Problem is, the hole is only 370.
 

Plus they are really two completely different sports. The debate about "football" is completely silly.
 

station19 said:
Let the girls in free. The guys will pay double..........it's a win win.:cheer:
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#1 Solution. Station19 wins the debate. :rockon::rockon::cheer::cheer::drink::drink::party::cool03::rockon::rockon:

Especially for the fact that for each doe, there will be 2 or 3 bucks in the rut following them.
 

Dr.Don said:
#1 Solution. Station19 wins the debate. :rockon::rockon::cheer::cheer::drink::drink::party::cool03::rockon::rockon:

Especially for the fact that for each doe, there will be 2 or 3 bucks in the rut following them.
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Problem is: You can bet your bottom dollar there would be a lawsuit. The sun will come up tomorrow.
 

station19 said:
Problem is: You can bet your bottom dollar there would be a lawsuit. The sun will come up tomorrow.
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Ok, let all students in free and charge them to leave. Does leave free, bucks pay double to get out.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
Gophers style of play is a problem for some 'fans'

Put a TCU-style offense out there and I think you draw in a few more. Probably not a huge factor, but it's real for some.
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True, but then you also run into the same thing with fans who don't want to have to sit through 4 1/2 hour games every week.
 

GophersInIowa said:
True, but then you also run into the same thing with fans who don't want to have to sit through 4 1/2 hour games every week.
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Count me in that group. I could not sit through TCU-Baylor every week. I don't know how people do it every week in the Big 12.
 

I went to a state school here in Minnesota, where you could count on two hands the number of people who went to football games. I went to two, and one of them we were drunk from a morning kegger, walked onto the sidelines, took a football, and left to go play catch. And nobody noticed.

Why didn't people go? A number of reasons, but a big part was that people left campus for the weekend. They went home to party with their high school friends. Those who stayed either partied heavily on Fridays (I was one of those) or they were international students who spent the weekend in the computer lab.

The reason I bring this up, is that someone mentioned MIAC schools. The MIAC is kind of a microcosm of the SEC. Going to football games at many of those schools is seen as a social event - it's the place to be on Saturday afternoons. That didn't exist where I went to school, and it doesn't exist at the U and I don't know that it ever will.

Part of that is being located in a major metro area - we suffer, though not to the same extent, from the same issues as Miami and Pitt. But part of it is culture. In the SEC, or the MIAC, many of the students are second and third generation students, who have had traditions passed on for generations around football. Hell, I know people who drive up to Fargo every weekend when NDSU is at home because that's the team they grew up with, and their parents and family grew up with. They all tailgate at 7 am and go to the game together. Hell, a lot of them drove down for the Iowa State game to tailgate.

I just don't know that this will ever change here.
 

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