The deal is near finalized for #UCLA football to play its home games in SoFi Stadium.

Donate To GopherHole


For the students it’s not much difference, shuttle bus either way. UCLA may be trying to attract more season ticket holders with the nicer amenities of SoFi?
 

PMWinSTP said:
Experience would have been better, IMHO. If it were to be done now, I think it would be pretty successful with the ease of light rail to get students to and from campus. "Rebranding" it would be way easier with all the technology we have in these new NFL stadiums. Having said that, I would not trade HB Stadium for USB stadium, period. U did fantastic job with that facility.
Click to expand...
I went to a couple games at the dome back when I was a student in the 90's. It sucked and it was BECAUSE it wasn't on campus, not because the dome was old, at least to me. I just don't think a shiny new stadium would have mattered much. You've got to have the stadium on campus. Location, Location, Location! The feel is SOOO much better now. The two are not even comparable. The U lost a whole generation of fans to that move. Some of us are slowly trickling back. Another thing I hate now that I'm older is downtown Minneapolis and I don't think I'm alone. Having the stadium away from downtown is a huge plus for many of us.

UCLA will have to have a really good football team for a long time to make a location 12 miles from campus matter. I agree with Maxy that it's likely better, but still not good. What a mess they have on their hands.

Question: Is there an example of a stadium that is NOT on campus that is awesome? I've been to very few so may well not know what I'm talking about. If yes, is there an example of a stadium 12 MILES from campus?
 

SeaBee_Gopher said:
I went to a couple games at the dome back when I was a student in the 90's. It sucked and it was BECAUSE it wasn't on campus, not because the dome was old, at least to me. I just don't think a shiny new stadium would have mattered much. You've got to have the stadium on campus. Location, Location, Location! The feel is SOOO much better now. The two are not even comparable. The U lost a whole generation of fans to that move. Some of us are slowly trickling back.
Click to expand...

This "losing a generation" narrative because of the move to the Dome is really overblown, and quite frankly I think is false.

Looking at the last 10 years of Memorial Stadium, the average/game attendance was in general comparable and mostly lower than the years at the HHH Dome.

The leanest years 1989-1995, still was pretty comparable to the Brick House, 1971 - 1981.

Once Mason was hired tickets sold were generally pretty solid.

gophersports.com

All-Time Attendance Records - University of Minnesota Athletics

Memorial Stadium Attendance Capacity: 52,809 / 56,652 (1970-81) Year Att. Gm. Largest Crowd Avg. 1924 139,772 6 Illinois (35,341) 23,297 1925 193,707 7 Notre...
gophersports.com gophersports.com

No doubt moving back (in a right sized facility) was the proper move, but I really don't think the Dome "lost" a much of a percentage of the fan base (if any). The benefits are that the University now completely controls the revenue stream.

Per game attendance in the 2021 - 2024 is about the same or even less than some years in 2000 - 2008.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom