STrib: Gophers attendance drop among nation's steepest declines, lowest since 1992

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Hates Monikers said:
I can't say how Coyle is doing overall. But he's been here for three years and absolutely owns this attendance problem. Not just in football but basketball and hockey, too. He didn't start it, but he's been here long enough to do something about it -- if he were so inclined.

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I agree with this.
I would say if attendance isn’t trending upward by 2020 he may have a job security issue with the new president.
 

Yes. Too much money starts to turn things into passions that after awhile are just based on heavy emotion. It’s easy to get caught up in though, because all that money then involves bigger consequences if things are going the wrong way and people are human. Then it becomes about “something else” rather than what the whole idea was to begin with; have fun and support our college football team. Regardless, who know? I thought we’d crush IL and lose heavily to Purdue. You can see how that worked out. PJ’s approach doesn’t really seem to have a “middle ground”, so it will work or it won’t.
 

Maybe game day atmosphere can be tackled? A good start would be getting rid of the lame first down PA chant.
 

Free tickets for Students but you have to show up to get them.

Cheap tickets for grads within 5 years (or maybe even 10)

Roll back the previous increase in season tickets.

Give away excess to local HS teams/schools.
 



Panthadad2 said:
Your comment about "thinking about gate as being marketing" instead of just sales revenue is interesting. If you think about some of the most storied programs like Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, Notre Dame, LSU, Texas, maybe Nebraska?, definitely St. John's on a much smaller scale; or even in the NFL Green Bay, Dallas and maybe New England in the past decade or so; the mental picture of their full famous stadiums is a strong part of their brand. I can only hope the Gophers figure out how to do that on a more modest scale.

edit to the above: the full stadiums go hand in hand with winning of course.
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Ann Arbor, Columbus, Tuscaloosa, South Bend, Baton Rouge, Austin, and Lincoln.... With the exception of the Columbus Blue Jackets, for the most part zero, competition with pro sports. A couple of the cities, most notably Lincoln, no competition with anything....

The best thing we could do now is drop the seating "donation" charges, I think students should be let in for free at the gate, rework the concessions contracts... these and winning records, including over traditional rivals, you'd have a full house.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Attendance has always been an issue for the Gophers but this season it is becoming a crisis and it must be dealt with in the offseason by the administration. Not only have you lost 1/3 of your customers in 2 years but of the customers that remain, only about half still have the passion to even show up. It isn't an option to simply stay the course and hope that the team reaches the Rose Bowl next year. Here are some things they should immediately pursue. Some are easier than others.

1. Immediately roll back the price to 2013 levels....or maybe even a bit lower.
2. Attempt to personally contact every ticket holder that has dropped their seats since the price increase, apologize and offer them free tickets to any game next year...yes, this includes Wisconsin or Nebraska. Just do it.
3. Lobby the city of Mpls to modify their tailgate zoning restrictions so the business in DinkyTown can start hosting parties. Yeah Yeah Yeah....can't fight city hall. Screw this. We're the state's flagship university and are planted in the heart of your metro area....just do it. Yes, our lobbyists would be better served in St. Paul but it's too late for that. We screwed up and now reallocate their efforts in Mpls City Hall. Deal with it.
4. Start offering your season ticket holders discounted tickets prior to the public....even Wisconsin and Nebraska games. Yes, they currently offer first dibs but that is with the grossly inflated prices. Once you reset the price back to what the market demands then people (like me) would gladly buy them up in order to bring family and friends. If you are worried about some of them going on stubhub and being bought by rivals? Too bad. At least a college football fan will be sitting in that seat instead of an empty space. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
5. If the students refuse to support the team and the demand is there, start reducing the size of the section. Nothing is more depressing than seeing that entire upper endzone empty. Give them away to middle schools for all I care.
6. Rework the concessions contract. Gone are the days of $9.50 beer. Get those things down to $5-6. Get hot dogs down to about $3. Make it so people that want to eat/drink at a game can actually afford it. Yeah, you might not make a ton of money on food. Tough. We're trying to get people bought into your main product again and the budget might have to be lean a few years.
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Brilliant ideas. I’ve read from so many people here that their group went from six to four or four to two... How about making seats 3&4 four cheaper than seats 1&2, same for 5&6. Seats 7&8 are free. Above 7&8 you pay the average price of your first eight seats. The above applies to all sections. Then you don’t need to lower prices when things turn, you just reduce the benefit over time (now seats 9&10 are free...).
 

Funny how some posters are blaming PJ and RTB. Hilarious.

Yeah, that giving to charities and caring about sick kids makes me not want to buy tickets. Wait... No... It's the sticker on the helmet.
 




I love the Gophers, have had tickets for 30+ years, but if the scholarship seating increases had continued, we would have had to drop. Plus you have PJ telling us we’re going to suck for a number of years - it’s hard to justify for loyal ticket holders let alone new ones. You guys have mentioned some really great ideas. Get the stadium filled and be the 12th man on the field.


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Another thing people need to think about is how a disproportionate part of the gopher fan base for decades has been baby boomers and older. And those people are now aging. Less willing and able to go to games in the cold. More of them retiring out of state etc.

I don’t have demographic info on gopher fan base. But they look older than the crowds at Vikings and twins games.
 

Some guy said:
Another thing people need to think about is how a disproportionate part of the gopher fan base for decades has been baby boomers and older. And those people are now aging. Less willing and able to go to games in the cold. More of them retiring out of state etc.

I don’t have demographic info on gopher fan base. But they look older than the crowds at Vikings and twins games.
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Wow now THERE'S a reach.

Unless of course that nearly empty Student Section is made up of 70 somethings..
 

Face The Facts said:
From what we have seen, the coach almost has had zero impact on ticket sales. Either did winning.
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I'm a firm believer that the coach's only responsibility for ticket sales is to win. If a good team isn't selling tickets, that's on the AD and the marketing staff.
 



If you want to solve this problem, then you have to win more games.

Winning puts butts in seats.

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Maybe they shouldn't have arrested the ticket guy! Apparently he was doing a great job!��
 

They should never have raised prices on season ticket holders - driving away longtime fans, and fans with small kids, who had season tickets for (often) pre-school kids. You build a future fan base with kids. They still can reduce season ticket prices, but are probably not smart enough to do so.
 

Some guy said:
Another thing people need to think about is how a disproportionate part of the gopher fan base for decades has been baby boomers and older. And those people are now aging. Less willing and able to go to games in the cold. More of them retiring out of state etc.

I don’t have demographic info on gopher fan base. But they look older than the crowds at Vikings and twins games.
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I've never bought this. I've been hearing people say this since the 1980s and I see a lot of younger people and families at football and basketball games. All colleges have a lot of older alums supporting their teams, and I'd bet we're very similar.

I'll give you this, though: it may be closer to true now than ever, now that we're down to 20,000 season tickets and 30-some thousand total attendance. It may be that it's mostly the old timers still hanging around out of habit.

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Ewert86PC said:
If you want to solve this problem, then you have to win more games.

Winning puts butts in seats.

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True. But relying on winning as a marketing strategy is pretty risky for a program that hasn't won consistently for 50 years.

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Majority of alums have no positive experience with the Gophers football program. They should try and connect with that audience in a more meaningful way.

There are plenty of college football fans in this town with other program affiliations. Sometimes I think they forget where their bread should be buttered.

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Some guy said:
Agree with this.

I think it is pricing and general experience.
People don’t believe in the teams. They believe in the letdown.
Combine that with overpricing.
Combine that with games being available on TV and TV being better.


When they stop thinking about gate as revenue and starting thinking about gate as being marketing to make more indirect money they will be more successful.

Yes dropping prices will cost money. But if the stadium has 40k people or more in it, don’t you make more money in other places by selling more apparel and having more excitement?
Every year, football gate becomes a smaller percentage of the football budget.

Charge people 20 bucks to go. Have them scan tickets on the way out. If they left after the game was over give them a discount on their next purchase.
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Interesting idea on the scanning of tickets on the way out. Would need to be some permanent kiosks set up to do that, start with 5 minutes left in the game and give am offer to get people back, not bad. I like any out of the normal thinking. Use best practices from other schools in the country. I get that we are in a unique market, but something needs to happen to get butts in seats.
 

Hates Monikers said:
True. But relying on winning as a marketing strategy is pretty risky for a program that hasn't won consistently for 50 years.

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Yet, the largest increases in season ticket sales are after winning seasons and the largest drops are two seasons after a winning season which is usually the next .500 season or worse. People get fed up with that stuff.



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Rickman55 said:
If you were the AD please tell me step by step what you would do.........instead of criticizing, give me some answers.
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1. I'd admit all students that want to show up for free, and try to do something to encourage them to show up, more than what has been done - again this should have been done months ago

2. The donation increases sould have been rolled back to 2009 levels last December, and the upper level corners sould have been reduced greatly for single game sales

3. I'd construct some sort of low cost hospitality plaza (like Buffalo Wild Wings outdoor area on smaller scale) up top on the "upper concourse" roof in the NE corrner with big TVs and a tent cover for people up top to hang out at during the game, adding some sheltered gathering spot up top with beer, open grills, and high top tables

4. I'd put some sort of of indoor amenity on the north side in that unused upper area by the windows under that flat roof behind the upper deck (where the thrid deck would be) to create a "poor man's DQ club" for all non-elite ticket holders - I'd try to heat it a bit as well. This is a large, enclosed space that is not used at all


4B. Concession pricing is line with big market Pro Sports teams, the 9.50 beer needs to be $5, and some of the low end food needs to be at cost (hot dogs, Brats) We weed St. Paul Saints pricing, not Boston Red Sox pricing.

4C. Group sales with an emphasis on value and adding some pre-game aadditional hospitality included (private group tent area- Octorfest vibe)- get people in the door once and hope they come back on their own later

5. Coyle could have prevented the whole current mess if he has been available in any way to support Tracy Claeys throughout the 2016 season, especially once all hell broke lose- of course we all know Coyle had no interest in supporting Coach Claeys, so I guess what he did counts as great leadership - We heard after the fact that Coyle was MIA all year when it came to the football team

6. I'd order my Head Football Coach to cut down on the inane bromides, and stop saying stupid things regarding how he does not care how many fans show up at the games
 
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GVBadger said:
Majority of alums have no positive experience with the Gophers football program.
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BS. Been an alum since 96. Plenty of positive experiences.

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oak_street1981 said:
1. I'd admit all students that want to show up for free, and try to do something to encourage them to show up, more than what has been done - again this should have been done months ago

2. The donation increases sould have been rolled back to 2009 levels last December, and the upper level corners sould have been reduced greatly for single game sales

3. I'd construct some sort of low cost hospitality plaza (like Buffalo Wild Wings outdoor area on smaller scale) up top on the "upper concourse" roof in the NE corrner with big TVs and a tent cover for people up top to hang out at during the game, adding some sheltered gathering spot up top with beer, open grills, and high top tables

4. I'd put some sort of of indoor amenity on the north side in that unused upper area by the windows under that flat roof behind the upper deck (where the thrid deck would be) to create a "poor man's DQ club" for all non-elite ticket holders - I'd try to heat it a bit as well. This is a large, enclosed space that is not used at all


4B. Concession pricing is line with big market Pro Sports teams, the 9.50 beer needs to be $5, and some of the low end food needs to be at cost (hot dogs, Brats) We weed St. Paul Saints pricing, not Boston Red Sox pricing.

4C. Group sales with an emphasis on value and adding some pre-game aadditional hospitality included (private group tent area- Octorfest vibe)- get people in the door once and hope they come back on their own later

5. Coyle could have prevented the whole current mess if he has been available in any way to support Tracy Claeys throughout the 2016 season, especially once all hell broke lose- of course we all know Coyle had no interest in supporting Coach Claeys, so I guess what he did counts as great leadership - We heard after the fact that Coyle was MIA all year when it came to the football team

6. I'd order my Head Football Coach to cut down on the inane bromides, and stop saying stupid things regarding how he does not care how many fans show up at the games
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Yeah. #6 is the reason why people aren't attending. Too many sayings that relate to being a better human. Get rid if that.
 

"6. I'd order my Head Football Coach to cut down on the inane bromides, and stop saying stupid things regarding how he does not care how many fans show up at the games"

Face The Facts said:
Yeah. #6 is the reason why people aren't attending. Too many sayings that relate to being a better human. Get rid if that.
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Yeah, saying that he doesn't care about attendance is a brilliant way to show one how to be a better human. :rolleyes:
 


Word said:
BS. Been an alum since 96. Plenty of positive experiences.

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Where are all the rest of them?

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MirandaB said:
I love the Gophers, have had tickets for 30+ years, but if the scholarship seating increases had continued, we would have had to drop. Plus you have PJ telling us we’re going to suck for a number of years - it’s hard to justify for loyal ticket holders let alone new ones. You guys have mentioned some really great ideas. Get the stadium filled and be the 12th man on the field.


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He never said we’re going to suck.

Would you have preferred he come in and promise a B1G West title right off the bat? Brewster came in and talked Rose Bowl at his opening press conference was ridiculed for that. It doesn’t matter what a coach says, if he doesn’t win right away he’ll be ridiculed no matter what.

The notion that the staff is not doing everything they can to try to win games now with the players they have is utterly ridiculous.
 

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