Tom Powers: Is Gophers football now big-time? Then pay up

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Powers:

The University, which (supposedly) isn't primarily in the football business to begin with, already spends a majority of its time at the public trough, just like most other institutions of higher learning. Now it is becoming more exclusionary by raising ticket prices to the point at which they are out of the reach of many, including longtime supporters who stuck with the program through the lean years.

Why is the athletic department doing this? Cut through the touchy-feeling phrasing and it comes down to this: It wants the money, it needs the money and other schools do it. Athletic officials will add they haven't gouged the public in a long time.

Meanwhile, I hear about this every day.

Surely the Gophers athletic department must know how upset people are. Gotta get those ticket prices up there to compete with the Joneses, right now, despite a mostly miserable half-century.

Plus, the price hike seems like a risky move. The Gophers don't always sell out their games as it is. There is no great demand for tickets to the many of the games at TCF. The hike could backfire when the cost of attending becomes prohibitive. And that shouldn't take long as the increases will come in waves over the next three years.

Again, there doesn't appear to be a lot of difference between how the NFL and college football conducts business these days. The big-time college programs can't threaten to move out of town, but they also don't pay their players. Free labor. And yet they are every bit as needy as the pro teams.

Welcome to the big time.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_27252901/tom-powers-is-gophers-football-now-big-time

Go Gophers!!
 

Worst sports writers on the planet live and work in right here in MN! Yeah, we are #1 at something this year!
 

GopherinPhilly said:
Worst sports writers on the planet live and work in right here in MN! Yeah, we are #1 at something this year!
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Why does this story bother you? Pretty much the sentiment of many right here on GHole with regards to ticket prices.
 

".already spends a majority of its time at the public trough"

Less than 4% of the University's Budget comes from the state.
 



I think its a crap piece. Not necessarily because there isn't nuggets of truth in it. More so because it is written about as good as I would expect out of an eighth grader that wrote a paper and he got his material from his upset parents. There is no objectivity in it. Its a rant.
 

Don't read enough sports journalism to critique the piece, but I believe one point is true: Gophers need to have a big season next year, or these price increases are going to blow up in their faces.

I am fortunate enough to still have the student season ticket next year and will make the most of it.
 

The disturbing thing is that TV revenue is bringing in tons of money, undreamt of in the past, yet costs keep escalating as a facilities arms race ensues. I seriously doubt many schools in the FBS, including some big names, will be able to keep it up indefinitely. Look for the likes of Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State and the like to keep going but I'm wondering about many others, including the UM.
 

Do not forget Oregon and their endless supply of Nike money.
 



Back 'when', the folks with the best seats were the ones that have had season seats the longest....ie the ones that were most invested......not the ones that had the most money.....

Being more like the NFL is a sad thing.
 

Did they raise prices? Why wasn't this discussed on GH?
 

scools12 said:
Why does this story bother you? Pretty much the sentiment of many right here on GHole with regards to ticket prices.
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Not just this story, but so many others. But this story has many untruths, half truths and suppositions and is just another inarticulate rant by a pandering writer and newspaper begging for clicks.
 




5$BitsOfBrokenChair said:
I think its a crap piece. Not necessarily because there isn't nuggets of truth in it. More so because it is written about as good as I would expect out of an eighth grader that wrote a paper and he got his material from his upset parents. There is no objectivity in it. Its a rant.
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Powers is a columnist not a beat writer, etc. They have more freedom about the content in the pieces they write. Thus, objectivity isn't necessarily an essential element.

That said, it would be great if they would have more positive pieces to balance their opinions from time to time. It's like these guys are competing to see who can be the biggest d-bag with local sports fans.
 

"Gotta get those ticket prices up there to compete with the Joneses, right now, despite a mostly miserable half-century."

Tom isn't connecting the dots. Part of the reason the team has been miserable for a half-century is because the Gophers haven't kept up with the Joneses. I'm sorry but that's the truth. Most people in this state want a winner but they don't want to do what it takes to support one. We want a good coach to be able to ride in on a white horse to a university with the worst facilities in the Big Ten, one of the smallest "backyards" for recruiting and yet we want him to take us to back to back Rose Bowls all while keeping ticket prices flat indefinitely.

Wake up.
 

stevedave23 said:
"Gotta get those ticket prices up there to compete with the Joneses, right now, despite a mostly miserable half-century."

Tom isn't connecting the dots. Part of the reason the team has been miserable for a half-century is because the Gophers haven't kept up with the Joneses. I'm sorry but that's the truth. Most people in this state want a winner but they don't want to do what it takes to support one. We want a good coach to be able to ride in on a white horse to a university with the worst facilities in the Big Ten, one of the smallest "backyards" for recruiting and yet we want him to take us to back to back Rose Bowls all while keeping ticket prices flat indefinitely.

Wake up.
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Most people in this state don't care enough to put out any money for a winner. That's the truth. The committed fan base certainly doesn't appear to be growing (at least in my eyes). People talk about the team more when it's winning, but still aren't showing up to games. Just look at the Ohio State game. Bad weather or not, let's say the 7-2 Vikings were hosting 8-1 Dallas (or whoever). Can you imagine a scenario where that stadium wasn't packed to the gills? I can't. People here just care about the Vikings first and foremost. If the Gophers are good, that's great, but it isn't a priority. I'd have no problem paying more to sit where I do if there was a line of people just giddy to pay whatever it took to sit in those seats. When multiple seats around me sit empty and have for years, that's where I have an issue.
 

I stopped reading St Paul Columnists years ago...This Powers column has the feel of just meeting a deadline. A column worked up for a slow news day. Yes things will change yep okay. Did we want them to revert to Brewster or Smokey Joe Salem days?

What I find more interesting than just people are upset or can't afford it will be the changing of the landscape at a football game. If you go to a Gophers game and a Vikings game in the same weekend you get a totally different look to the crowd. At a Gopher game you some multi-generational families with a grandfather son/daughter and grandchild or older fathers and middle aged sons and daughters...which you don't see too much of at a Vikes game...Of course this is a generalization but makeup of the crowds are different. I find it more interesting if we find out long time Gopher ticket holders will either move to cheaper ticket locations/give up the tickets/or pay up and move forward with a better team.
 

A lot of the same people who said "just shut-up and spend the money or leave" because the money was needed to make the Gophers more competitive are pissed because Powers says the same thing but has the audacity to present the other side.

The Gopher Hole way is to rip the media anytime they report something that doesn't come from their own P.R. department. Pretty outrageous stuff huh?

"College game day is supposed to be about tradition, pomp and anticipation -- not breakfast at Tiffany's. People have to get up and out early on a Saturday just to reach their seats in time. Tailgating almost isn't an option. And many college students have no chance because on Friday nights they're busy being college students.Yet college football has closely tracked the NFL for years in terms of being an ever-expanding, corporate, bottom-line conglomerate. Conferences have their own TV networks. Games are scheduled and then "flexed" to different starting times in deference to potential ratings. Ticket holders must simply show up when they are told, and that's often at the last minute.

Anything wrong with all this? I guess not, except I always thought that a major attraction of college football was that it sort of represented the anti-NFL."

 


Iceland12 said:
".already spends a majority of its time at the public trough"

Less than 4% of the University's Budget comes from the state.
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Not sure if that is right. I looked up 2012-2013 budget and it was 17.6% but it is hard to tell what is included in each of the accounts. (See below link) There all kinds of problems in finding the "correct" number because of government accounting rules for operating and capital budgets. I am sure Dpodoll could solve it for us.

http://www.budget.umn.edu/document.htm
 

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