Golden Nuggz provides visual evidence - 11.13.09

by GopherNation on Nov 13, 2009 3:00 AM CST in Golden Nuggets Comment 19 comments

Much has been made the last few days about the lackluster student attendance at TCF Bank Stadium in it's inaugural season. The empty seats are not only embarrassing for the brand new, on campus stadium; but it is lost revenue for the athletic department and seats that many Gopher fans and alumni would be happy to purchase. I knew this was an issue, did not know it was to be a story in the Star Trib this week, but I did take a couple snapshots of the student section on Saturday late in the 1st quarter.

As you can see those upper-deck sections are about 30% full. Most of the previous home games have not been that bad but they have clearly been missing students, who pay a fraction of what a normal ticket would cost, and they are costing the athletic department significant revenue. There are many who think they have the answer, but ultimately the students need to get off their asses, get to the stadium and support their team.

This is pretty sad that we are unable to fill up a slice of the stadium ring. It is a great perk to be able to purchase tickets for major college football at such an incredible rate.

On another subject, the key to the entire game last Saturday was the 2nd and Goal play on the 1. Fortunately I took a couple pics of that disasterous play where we chose to NOT pound the rock!

Look at how there are four Gopher blockers for two Illini defenders and then three O-linemen knocking down #56 for Illinois. Also notice how #93 is already waiting for Weber before he even gets his head turned around. As I looked through my pictures from Saturday I thought this one was pretty interesting.

Detroit News offers their Big Ten Basketball preview. They put our Gophers at 6th in the conference.
The Gopher Hole has a good interview with Al Nolen.
I like Jim Souhan and this blog post on the triangle offense and how the Timberwolves roster fits into that system. It might be way too early to make any judgments but he makes some interesting points.
Chicago's 670 The Score published their Big Ten basketball preview. Chicago people, this was actually written by a Badger fan, are smarter than Detroit people. They have the Gophers third in their preview.
And finally CBS is projecting the NCAA Tournament. I say, "It's about time they get that out, the tournament is only 4 months away!" Anyway they have the Gophers as a six seed.

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Student section

The scoreboard announced a sell out of over 50,000. The tickets were purchased apparently, but there must have been no shows. Would that have happened if the team had a better record?

by bobbyspringfield on Nov 13, 2009 6:48 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Perhaps the student tickets are too cheap

There is no investment for the students to worry about losing, if they are paying $10 or so per game (yes, they already have paid for the student season ticket and then are not showing up). Make the lower level student section season tickets for those students that really want to be there for every game (at about $100-150 for the season), and make the upper deck single game student tickets, then opening up to anyone 15 minutes before kickoff (make it so students get a discount, perhaps $30 for the general public and $15 for students). Even at $25 per game the tickets are still cheaper than some textbooks, but the students would be invested enough to care to show up.

I do have a hard time believing that one of the largest colleges in the country (4th largest according to wikipedia) can’t sell out a 50K seat stadium when others can sell out 110K every game (Michigan, Tennessee). Even if half commute from more than 15 minutes away, that is a student body of 25K students, never mind how many alumni there are.

by mraveling on Nov 13, 2009 9:01 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Every time I hear the phrase

We’re going to pound the rock" I ask myself…“When?” If that play wasn’t an opportunity to pound the rock, I don’t think I have ever seen one.

by TheEvilProfessor on Nov 13, 2009 8:02 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

GN

Excellent pics. As for the play at the 1, I’m not sure the run play would have been successful, as I see only Hoese out of position and two Illini LBs in the end zone that had the chance to swarm to the ball. What is way more depressing in that pic is that Weber’s play action was designed to roll him away from the TE running into the flat to the top of the picture. A pass with a little touch on it – easy TD.

As for the student section, meh. It may be just as bad tomorrow. Maybe Maturi was right – I emailed him 3 years ago and asked him why the U didn’t have some ambition and build a 80,000 seat arena. He was concerned about filling it way back in 2006. I now see why. I won’t be shocked to see empty seats beyond the student section tomorrow.

by JG2112 on Nov 13, 2009 8:19 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

two things

1 – were it a run play the blocking would have been totally different.

2 – The pass never had a chance cause look at how 93 is there before Weber even sees him in the backfield. I see that they had the right idea and the pass probably was really open, but they really should have run the ball at the 1 on 2nd down.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Nov 13, 2009 9:19 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed on both counts, I’m just lining up reasons for depression on that play.

by JG2112 on Nov 13, 2009 11:49 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Hey everybody, don't think it's just the student section

There are plenty of empty seats in all other sections, but the difference is the emptiness is spread out, whereas general admission will have those giant bare spots because of fans wanting better views.

I’m seriously tired of all this blame on just the students. Although I agree that more should come, the entire student section in totality has been about 3/4 full or better. I dare you to truly examine every other section to see if 75% of their seats have butts in them. If you attempt to do that I think you’ll have a slightly different perspective, and not just verbally and escritorially shit on only the students.

Here endeth the rant.

"If we got to we're going to crawl in this locker room. And on our back is going to be an axe..."

by buddylee853 on Nov 13, 2009 9:19 AM CST via mobile reply actions 0 recs

but...

the students are paying a fraction of the overall cost. I don’t care about empty seats if they tickets are paid for. Also, I walked around the upper bowl Saturday and all of the other sections were “mostly full.” I walked up and down about 4 sections at halftime and it wasn’t even close to the emptiness of the student section.

Certainly, they are not the ONLY ones not showing up but they are making up the vast majority.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Nov 13, 2009 9:21 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

The argument sounds good at first glance, GN, but I just want to say two things:

-The student tickets sold out before the season (so the seats are all paid for), and season tix for them are just less than 1/3 of regular tix w/o the donation, a fair price for someone who doesn’t yet have a career.

-Takea moment and make a rough estimate on some other sections; if roughly 1 of every 4 or 5 seats are empty, they are right on par with the students.

"If we got to we're going to crawl in this locker room. And on our back is going to be an axe..."

by buddylee853 on Nov 13, 2009 9:43 AM CST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

thats kind of my point

if they aren’t going to use them, then let the Athletic Dept sell them for three times what the students paid for them.

I am all for giving the students as many tickets as they’ll use. It is a great perk and they should get them cheap. A huge and passionate student section is part of what makes games fun. I’ve sat in the Notre Dame student section a few times and it is funny how they are so passionate and the rest of the stadium was not. Anyway, it is a great system. Eventually these students become alumni and grow the fan base, so I have no problem with the way they get tickets.

But it is pretty sad that they can’t fill up the space, especially when we have such a large enrollment. This is Big Ten football and they’ll never get it this cheap again. I know that some will miss games but the Illini game was pretty bad. Excuses like the game is too early are lame, especially now that the stadium is so close.

And the empty seats were not on par. Your estimate are way off. Maybe in a few sections there was a 1:4/5 ratio but over the whole stadium it is not even close to that. Maybe 1:10. The lower bowl was basically full and the upper bowl outside of the student sections were mostly full. I know my walking the bowl is pretty anecdotal but there was a stark difference between the students and the rest of the stadium.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Nov 13, 2009 10:14 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Section 105

Speaking for section 105 (where I sit), I can’t say there have been more than 1-2 seats per row empty in any game, which out of roughly 30 seats per row, is about 3-6% empty. And yes, $77 is a fair chunk of change for a college student, but even more so is paying nearly twice as much for tuition than say Winona State or St. Cloud State.

I will say this, I dropped almost $400 for my part of a set of 4 season tickets with a couple friends, and I can’t fathom not getting someone to use them, even if I took a loss. So the thought of any empty seats when they are already sold and paid for is irritating.

by mraveling on Nov 13, 2009 9:48 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Student Section

Because the student section is general admission with bleacher seating most of the students will try to cram into the lower half rather than going upstairs. There are certain areas of the lower bowl have had more people is them than thaere are seats. This causes there to be more empty seats in the upper deck.

by T Adams on Nov 13, 2009 11:02 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

the Illini game compared to early season games was very different

the early games had the top 3-5 rows pretty empty, largely due to the cramming of bodies in GA. But the Illini game does not get to use that excuse.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Nov 13, 2009 11:42 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Consistently Win

And this is all solved. Students kicked in fees (even those who hate football and will never buy a ticket kick in the $25 chucks per semester) so it’s not like they’re taking a gift of low ticket prices you’ve personally given them and not accepting it. They have skin in the game too. (Let alone that $77 for a college student is a completely different story than for you or me).

This isn’t a chicken or the egg argument here people. A packed student section may help slightly in recruiting, and make for a bit better atmosphere, but it’s not going to create a program tradition of winning. It wont fill the empty seats in the other sections.The craziness that is Wisconsin, Michigan, etc. is a result of winning games. Consistently. For more than 1 year.

by Fej on Nov 13, 2009 11:35 AM CST reply actions 0 recs