STrib: Ski-U-Meh: U ticket sales sag

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I work at Northern Illinois. They have a grass field right next to the stadium for students to drive in and party for 10 bucks a car, or something like that. Tickets to the game are "free" because they're paid for using student fees.
 

Put a tarp over the upper deck end zone. Reduce capacity to 45k for this year.
 

Whether students show up or not, I'm still going to have a blast. Even when we lose I manage to have a great time. For me, a Gopher Football Saturday is the best bargain in town, and student attendance has no bearing on that.
Stroke the Post!
 

When I was a freshman in '96 there were about 5,000 MAX students with tickets. That was the end of the Wacker years. Mason showed what it takes to get students in the seats. He put a good product on the field, win some bowl games, win a big game or upset someone every now and then. Brewster destroyed that and Kill will bring it back IMO.
 

HouseOfHagen said:
Call me crazy, but I still think a major reason behind the lack of students attending is due to poor tailgating options. Even when playing at the dome (before liquor depot was destroyed), there were some good first come, first served lots that were all students. The lots filled up and the tailgating was great. Students can't afford a $1000 parking pass so they have no central location to gather and tailgate to get excited for the game. Iowa State is a great example of a historical crappy football team with great student turnout and a terrific student tailgating venue. I've said it before and I will keep saying it...turn the intramural fields into a $20/vehicle tailgate lot and build a walkway over the railroad to the stadium. It would do wonders for exciting the student populuation.
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this. a thousand times this. i agree with you that lack of decent tailgating space for students is probably one of the biggest factors when it comes to inconsistent U of M student attendance at games. if you are winning consistently, that generally solves most problems. if not, students (and frankly non-students) really would turn out more often and in greater numbers regardless of record if you provide a consistently fun, entertaining, and honestly a bit crazy (i.e. that also includes alcohol induced craziness) atmosphere where they can hang out and "participate in the fun of the day" with most everyone else.

as some others have noted, the bureaucratic silliness where houses on frat row have had these over-the-top alcohol control policies placed on them, is another example of public policy wonks "once again ruining the day" without realizing it.

let stadium village and dinky town and the east bank in general be a far more "crazy" and "free wheeling" place on game days and you will see more and more people come. because it will be the fun place to be. it is just human nature.
 


Radio Badger said:
Oh you can pull it off, but you'll end up with 30% of the student section empty until midway through the first quarter, which happens in Madison all the time.

This is a non-story. Kill will get them to a competitive level in the B1G and the ticket sales will follow. All it takes is that one season where you upset a Michigan or a Ohio State and the kids will start showing up.
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fixed it for you. nice try though slipping that in there.
 

I also think that if we were to win all of our non-conference games that it will draw a lot more students to the Big Ten games through single-game ticket sales. A lot of guys I know at the U complained about those first games last year, with the stupidest excuse being "it was way too hot in the student section during the New Mexico State game last year." And I mean, really, if you're a fair-weather fan, what's the point of going to the first three games when you'll either see a win which isn't impressive or another really embarrassing loss?
 

Do not get me started on the "its too hot, its too cold" people. Would you rather sit in the dome on a beautiful September day? Good grief. It's too hot? Want some cheese with your whine?
 

I'm going to be the contrarian here. (disclaimer - I'm a recovering alcoholic).

A number of people seem to think that the answer for Gopher FB attendance is to get the students sloshed, and then they'll show up at the games. If you have to bribe the students with booze to get them to attend a game, that's a sad comment about how the students view Gopher FB. If that's the answer, then give every student a 12-pack with their student ticket. (sarcasm)

IMHO, if the students don't want to come to the games, then sell the seats to someone else.

Here's my take - institute "Rush Seating." In other words - any unsold or unused tickets in the student section will be made available to the general public at a set rate ($25?) starting 20 or 30 minutes before kickoff. And make it plain to the students - if you don't show up, someone else will be sitting in your seat. I would much rather have fans in the seats who want to watch the game.

(in interest of full disclosure - my job requires me to work Saturday, so I rarely make it to games. For me to make it to a game, it would have to be a 7pm kickoff.)
 



supadupafly said:
as some others have noted, the bureaucratic silliness where houses on frat row have had these over-the-top alcohol control policies placed on them, is another example of public policy wonks "once again ruining the day" without realizing it.
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Those rules have been relaxed a bit since the first season at TCF. We were focused more on the media attention and the safety of the chapters with the increased crowds, as was seen with the riots after a pair of the games. After the new Risk tools were implemented, things when significantly more smoothly and we realized that the actual game day was fine, but the night was where the issues arose.
 

After the Iowa games the past two years, you'd think more of the students would understand that anything can happen and they should want to be apart of that. I understand losing sucks, but it's your school. Have some pride. You can watch all the other games on tv for the rest of your lives, but you won't be able to be able to buy tickets for an extremely cheap price ever again. Heck, in five years you might be living 500+ miles away and will hardly ever be able to go to games. Take advantage of the experience while you can. But that's me I guess.
 

This issues will also, hopefully go away after we start 6-0. ;)
 




We all know what makes good college game day atmosphere is the unique traditions and student sections (winning program obviously) that blend with the school/state traditions. Both of those things were screwed up by the move to the dome and 30+ years of poor-to-mediocre football. You see the best atmospheres in college sports (basketball and football) it is one where the student section takes over arena/stadium. That doesn't mean mindless drunkeness. But it means having a crowd that is having fun.

The U botched the opening of the new stadium with the whole idea of build it and they will come. Having a crappy football product only compounded the issue. In my opinion They were too concerned about making the venue family friendly (basically trying to distance themselves from the Viking Football atmosphere). While families are important, face-painting and stuffed animals don't create a college football atmosphere.

It would be nice to see if they can find a way to draw students to the stadium and make saturday football as the place to be on campus. That won't happen with promotions and gimiks. Time and sustained success is the only way that will change. It took about 20 years to get Wisconsin into a great football atmosphere.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
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Here's my take - institute "Rush Seating." In other words - any unsold or unused tickets in the student section will be made available to the general public at a set rate ($25?) starting 20 or 30 minutes before kickoff. And make it plain to the students - if you don't show up, someone else will be sitting in your seat. I would much rather have fans in the seats who want to watch the game.
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It's not as if the general public is having difficulty getting tickets, so creating these open seats 20-30 minutes before the game isn't much of a draw IMO. At this point, anyone can get a ticket or 10 for any game they want this season, and I imagine that will be the case a day or an hour leading up to kickoff all season. I hope I'm wrong and we all of the sudden sell out a bunch of games in advance, but I doubt it.

Go Gophers!!
 

CP Gopher said:
Whether students show up or not, I'm still going to have a blast. Even when we lose I manage to have a great time. For me, a Gopher Football Saturday is the best bargain in town, and student attendance has no bearing on that.
Stroke the Post!
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+1
 

Anyone who closely follows the program has known, for quite a while, that 2012 would be the "hit rock bottom" year when it comes to attendance. The insane number of morning games times that have been announced just further reinforces this.
 

Well put with the info on Indiana tickets. I knew something smelled fishy about them selling that many already.
 


Sure, winning solves a lot of attendance problems but it's also a cultural thing. I'm a die-hard fan because I love the "U" and will show up win, lose or (as in the old days) draw. Never give up the faith, never! We need to install that mentality in all fans and especially the students and ignore the nay-sayers like Patti Ruesse.

Ski-U-Mah and Go Gophers!
 


Retweet from Chris Long: @michaelgaio: couldn't agree more. Took sis on official U tour last wk. Even tour guide mentioned how bad fb team is... Bad attitude.

The phrase "changing the culture" may get overused, but it couldn't be more true for Gopher football....
 

FireDaveLee said:
Retweet from Chris Long: @michaelgaio: couldn't agree more. Took sis on official U tour last wk. Even tour guide mentioned how bad fb team is... Bad attitude.

The phrase "changing the culture" may get overused, but it couldn't be more true for Gopher football....
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Wow, well that's a big issue. Those tour guides yield more influence than they should. It's a shame that was said on a tour to prospective students and it goes way beyond my bias towards my love for Gopher sports.

Pretty much every tour I went on at major university's, the guide went out of their way to talk about the importance of athletic events as a cultural benefit at a school.

Go Gophers!!
 

FireDaveLee said:
Retweet from Chris Long: @michaelgaio: couldn't agree more. Took sis on official U tour last wk. Even tour guide mentioned how bad fb team is... Bad attitude.

The phrase "changing the culture" may get overused, but it couldn't be more true for Gopher football....
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That is very disheartening. If people supposedly promoting the U are down on fb and tell this to prospective students, it is likely going to have a trickle down affect on the student base. These tour guides should take the advice their mother should have given them "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all."
 

BleedGopher said:
Wow, well that's a big issue. Those tour guides yield more influence than they should. It's a shame that was said on a tour to prospective students and it goes way beyond my bias towards my love for Gopher sports.

Pretty much every tour I went on at major university's, the guide went out of their way to talk about the importance of athletic events as a cultural benefit at a school.
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Gotta love it. Where can you get a job where you show up and deliberately, passive-aggressively sabatoge the efforts of your employer with no reprecussions for you or your supervisor? Apparently the U.
 

FireDaveLee said:
Retweet from Chris Long: @michaelgaio: couldn't agree more. Took sis on official U tour last wk. Even tour guide mentioned how bad fb team is... Bad attitude.

The phrase "changing the culture" may get overused, but it couldn't be more true for Gopher football....
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Yikes! Is this something that could be passed onto Teague?
 

I know a lot of higher-ups in the admissions dept. Will contact them with the info.
 

I was just a freshman last year and the whole "the football team sucks/don't bother going to games" attitude was not only displayed by my tour guide in the spring of my senior year of high school, but also by both of my welcome week leaders, which I feel is an even bigger issue. When you spend an entire week looking up to these guys for advice, they have an influence on a lot of people. Plus, not everyone in a tour group ends up going to the school, but everyone in welcome week groups is already enrolled.
 

This has already been touched on but the key for mass student fun/participation is a viable central location to let the good times roll.

During my stint (2004-2008) at the U we would pick up a few kegs, throw out a facebook event advertising our location, and split the $40 (appx.) cost of the tailgate spot.

The lots around the Liquor Depot (and subsequently Matty B's after it's demolition) were constantlyfilled with collegefolk milling around having a good time because of the ease of setting up shop for a party.

Your average student isn't ambitious enough to scrounge up a Lot 37/Ski U Mah tailgating pass on the secondary market to tailgate near TCF, so they have to stick to house parties, which while still a good time, don't create the same vibe as a tailgate lot filled with hundreds of keg-tapping college students (the aforementioned scene made me a huge gopher football fan circa Aug 2004)
 

Gopherhole(rs) are just very small percentage of the alum/ undergrad and grad. Not a lot of people are interested in Gopher sports. It is the consequence of decades of deliberate attempt to downplay the sport component of the U. Oftentimes, I feel like the U is still searching the lost soul, and can't get it back yet.
 

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