The stadium is too big

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With the lack of posts post-game, it appears that this forum is too big. It is a ghost town in here. It appears that the MN faithful have folded up shop for this year and have gone into hibernation.
 

We haven't folded up shop, its just there's little to discuss that hasn't been said already. Fans are either on the it takes time to build a program bandwagon or the ditch Kill bandwagon. this game produced no new evidence for either side. It was a boring gme for the Gopher faithful with little to cheer about. Me, I'm biding my time and looking for positive signs.
 


Once we get back to being good again (I mean, it's gotta happen SOMETIME), our problem will be that the stadium is too SMALL.
 

I'm pretty sure "To Kill A Badger" is a Becky fan in disguise or the worst Gopher fan ever.
 

Word said:
I'm pretty sure "To Kill A Badger" is a Becky fan in disguise or the worst Gopher fan ever.
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From the posts I've read of his, he doesn't really seem to bash the Gophers so much as he just has no hope for them whatsoever. I've seen him say that the Badgers would have they're way against us today and we would be hopeless to stop them, and that we would never, I repeat NEVER, reach a BCS bowl game, apparently forgetting that we could almost taste the Rose Bowl in 1999 and 2003 (pulling out an overtime victory over Wisconsin in '99 and merely holding a three touchdown lead against Michigan in the 4th quarter in 2003). I have wonder why you would even be a fan if you genuinely believe your team will never ever be good.

You may be right though, he may just be a sneaky Badger fan trying to troll by spreading doom and gloom philosophy instead of outright bashing.
 

For myself, as lame as it may sound, the whole PSU thing seems to have taken the wind out of my sails. I've been following it somewhat, just stunned. I've been lurking on the PSU board.
 



I am appalled at how few people have been at many games. Even in the first season. I'm remembering the Purdue game in October where it was chilly and rainy was maybe 60% full. The SDSU game about the same. Today, there were maybe 40k fans there, around half badger fans.

I think the U has completely missed an opportunity with the new stadium. They marketed themselves to the people who were diehard fans of the team already. They didn't seriously go after your average sports fan, families, young HS kids, HS bands, or even make a compelling reason for students to go. They wasted 2.5 years without making a gameday atmosphere widespread on campus. No on-campus tailgates or parties. Promised the band on university and gave nothing but a plaza show 2 hours before kickoff until this year where even still it's just a stadium march around. No real coordination of stadium colors (half-baked gold out attempts), stunts, etc. Tailgate lots empty due to high prices. No advertising for games on regular tv. No show of loyalty to the fans who DO buy season tickets with discounts for the next year, free gear at Goldy's Locker Room, free stadium tours, one free tailgate pass a year, etc etc. Just a total mishap.

I ALSO blame our fans. It IS shameful that so many people who have prime seats and are "Gopher fans" sell their tickets to Badgers/Hawkeyes/Huskers or whoever is the highest bidder (which is undoubtedly one of those people). It IS embarrassing that so many people flat out don't come when it's cold or a bit rainy out. We all have coats, blankets, towels, etc.

We just beat our #2 rival at home 2 weeks ago then played a great game at MSU and people still couldn't come out. Students took their time getting there but did show up in decent numbers. And finally the team really didn't show the passion or heart I thought they would.

I'm just really deflated and disappointed and wondering how we continue to have a perfect storm of admin/fans/team that continues to fall short.
 

How is this "hate" campaign working out for us? What a downer THAT is!

And, railbarronyarr: badger stinking joel macturi has totally been in charge of moving the program into this beautiful new stadium, setting up game day saturdays,AND, the product on the field during the past few years because HE hires and fires coaches. b(s)jm is totally responsible for the current state of Golden Gopher Football. You can take your complaints to HIM.

Blame the fans. Blame the students. But, MOSTLY blame badger, stinking joel macturi. He has been in charge of Gopher Football even since the 2002 season.

The opening of the new stadium has totally been wasted and the mission has been totally blown. The leadership at the U of M has been HORRIBLE. prexy b and b(s)jm made every wrong move they could posssibly have made leading up to the opening of the stadium.

But this "hate" campaign going on around here is the most stupid thing I have EVER heard of.

People rise to the occasion because they LOVE their university, team, city, job...NOT because they HATE their rival. When the going gets tough, Love of their family, loved ones, home, school, team, stadium, traditions keeps people fighting even the LONGEST odds. Hating a rival doesn't keep you going when your rival is kicking your butt in the 4th quarter.

The U of M Football Team NEEDS fans and students who LOVE their school...love their team...and love to attend games in their stadium. It is NEVER enough to just "hate" their rival. LOVE is much more powerful than "hate..."

Ditch badger (stinking) joel macturi NOW...

; 0 )
 

Wren hates Maturi. How's that hate campaign worked out?
 





Maturi completely wasted the opening of the new stadium, attendance will be worse next year. It is going to take some success to get the interest back. I don't see any way Maturi will be back next year, if he is, results just don't matter.
 

GO4INLALALAND said:
With the lack of posts post-game, it appears that this forum is too big. It is a ghost town in here. It appears that the MN faithful have folded up shop for this year and have gone into hibernation.
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Way too much stupid on this forum. Exhibit A: this retarded thread.
 

b(s)jm will be GONE.

No hate is involved. Just the FACTS...puppies...just the facts. You b(s)jm apologists have deserved to have him as the ad. He has been here 9 full seasons. The results of the b(s)jm era ARE what the results ARE. You can NOT sugar-coat anything about it. IF a fan loves this program...that fan has wanted a replacement for b(s)jm for a very LONG time.

; 0 )
 

Not too big at all. Sometime in the next decade it will be considered too small and they will talk of expanding it. Going to take one year of 8 wins to have that place packed with maroon and gold.
 

jovs said:
Maturi completely wasted the opening of the new stadium, attendance will be worse next year. It is going to take some success to get the interest back. I don't see any way Maturi will be back next year, if he is, results just don't matter.
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Minnesotans don't pay money to see new sports stadiums for very long. What do you think the Twins season ticket renewal rate is for next season? The Gophers have not had a winning football program since the 1960's. You can blame Maturi for the time he has has been in charge but you also need to blame every Athletics Director, Head Football Coach, U President, and Member of the Board of Regents since 1967. And while you are at it you should also include Alumni, Students and Gopher Fans for not demanding a winning Gopher football program during the last 45 years. Student and fan boycotts and fewer and smaller donations from alumni would have sent a very strong message to the U Administration and Board of Regents that a losing football team is absolutely not acceptable.
 

So when Wren calls him "stinking" Joe Maturi, that's not hate, that is just a fact.

Apparently, Joe needs to bathe more often.
 

I noticed how few participated in the game thread - on most Big Ten sites there would be endless pages of on-going comments. The house is empty.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
I noticed how few participated in the game thread - on most Big Ten sites there would be endless pages of on-going comments. The house is empty.
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I used to participate during most of the games, but I decided last season that it's pointless. Everyone, including myself, gets too riled up, good or bad. I tend now to wait a day before coming on here once things have calmed down.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I used to participate during most of the games, but I decided last season that it's pointless. Everyone, including myself, gets too riled up, good or bad. I tend now to wait a day before coming on here once things have calmed down.
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I go to the FBT Liveblog. Also home games are more sparse, because maybe....people are at the game?

Usually rereading through the game thread, it has little to no football thought to it, just incoherent blathering. I just started the threads to keep the 8,000 random thought threads to 1, which has succeeded minimally.
 

RailBaronYarr said:
We just beat our #2 rival at home 2 weeks ago then played a great game at MSU and people still couldn't come out.
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I'm betting some of that has to do with the fact that many of the seats were sold off well before Iowa or those fans already planned "better things to do" before Iowa.
 

GoAUpher said:
I'm betting some of that has to do with the fact that many of the seats were sold off well before Iowa or those fans already planned "better things to do" before Iowa.
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You're probably right.. I just saw a lot of empty seats and ticket vendors outside the stadium on gameday. I'm not as bummed as I was Saturday evening (heck, even before the game started I could just tell it was going to go poorly.. no energy in the stadium, few MN fans, etc), but I am still a little upset at the fan turnout and seeming misses by the athletic department.

I know, I know, win and people will come.. it will solve everything. But unlike nearly every sport in the US, college football has a LOT to offer people beyond just the game and I don't feel like the U has pulled out all the stops to make it happen. Empty tailgate lots, ticket prices clearly not reflecting demand (empty seats prove this), etc.

To be honest, I know a lot of times we say "well we're just the diehard fans on GH, not much we can do" but I actually applied for a job recently with the U. They had 2 associate director for marketing positions open, one for football/womens bball and one for men/women's hockey, where you could actually affect the gameday atmosphere, ticket sales, ticket promotions, fan loyalty, etc etc. I honestly think any person on this board could be a great fit (myself included) based solely on the fact that we'd like to see the U succeed and be a great place to watch a game even when the team is down. However, they will probably go with some person from Univ. of Iowa (like 2 on the staff in that group) or something and have bland results as we've seen in the past.
 

RailBaronYarr said:
I know, I know, win and people will come.. it will solve everything. But unlike nearly every sport in the US, college football has a LOT to offer people beyond just the game and I don't feel like the U has pulled out all the stops to make it happen. Empty tailgate lots, ticket prices clearly not reflecting demand (empty seats prove this), etc.
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I agree with you about why college sports (FB specifically) is different and I think the U is missing the boat in many cases regarding that fact. For this season though, the lack of wins (or perhaps more accurately, the bad losing efforts early) are definitely the primary culprit.
 

I have to agree with Wren. When you have an a.d. that is a small-time thinker, that has brought our football program to its knees, seen the men's hockey, men's basketball, women's basketball teams sink to new lows and have hung no championships flags in the major sports (with the early exceptions of men's hockey) in his 9 seasons. He is WAY past due to be shown the door. He is strictly a bean counter, not an A.D.
 

JM would be a tremendous assistant AD in charge of finances and compliance.
 

The stadium is the perfect size. It is small enough where if we are terrible and eventually only sell 30k tickets it will still look fairly occupied. It is big enough where it can be a stadium for a major program (see Oregon).
 

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