Xanadu
2nd String
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2014
- Messages
- 529
- Like
- 1,514
All,
I have been a lurker for the past few years. Finally am in town long enough this season for season tickets with the wife. I'll cut to the chase.
Ticket prices: great job getting ticket prices to $125 in the end zone and creating a pricing option for recent alums (my wife and I are one set of ten people that took advantage of the $99 seasons!). The rest of the prices in the Dome are disgusting and there needs to be a tiered system with four price points available to everyone(lower 20s, lower corners and end zones, and same for the upper). I cringed buying $35 tickets for my paremts to sit in the upper 300s corners (great view) since the product doesn't demand it (more to follow). The donation system only holds us back by placing all the power in the hands of a few so as not to hurt their ego. This has been discussed ad nauseum, we all get the gist.
Student tickets: Activity fee with students having to reserve at the beginning of the week. Start out with 5k, they'll pack the Dome if they don't have to waste beer and food money on tickets at the window. Half the student season ticket holders buy the tickets and never go anyways, trust me.
Pre-Game: my wife and I bring a lot friends from Fort Drum that went to large football schools and they pretty much laugh at SU's idea of a pre-season atmosphere. There are die hards that find it a poor attempt. The Quad is a great starting point, but they fumble the opportunity away with their "tailgate" for the high donors. The University should be making money selling food and alcohol prior to games on the Quad. Have a bunch of corn hole and ladder golf sets, advertise to vendors, and center up the pre-game radio show like they do. Turn it into an actual tailgate. What currently happens is that everyone that is not part of a large, dedicated, tailgate group (like Fine Lot) show up at kickoff or wander aimlessly trying to find stuff to do and are not very pumped for the start of the game. This is a huge issue because people go to games for the experience, not the football (us die hards are showing up no matter what).
The Band (music in general): the band is not very big (can't control that too much) but it doesn't do anything exciting. I hope the Colgate was just the band experiencing the pace of the offense for the first, but they did not keep the atmosphere lively at all. This, I surmise, is for a few reasons: new offensive tempo leading to uncertainty in when to play; SU's terrible attempts at using the video board for anything other than replays, on field actions, and silent ads (more to follow); crappy canned music play lists on an even worse sound system without the DJ controlling the flow of the system music (just let the band play if you're not going to have a DJ). Just a lackluster performance at keeping the crowd engaged (cheerleader section below). Look at the UT band in the ND game, they played every second there was a stoppage in the action.
Cheerleaders: move them around the Dome. The student section doesn't need to be continually motivated by pretty girls getting tossed in the air any more than everyone else. It seemed the fans were not engaged whatsoever during pauses in the action. In the age of smart phones, people need to have something to entertain them when play stops or else you lose them for that series. Hopefully we never see the Orange Sound Wave again, that was awful...
Ads / Video Board: Silent ads are fine, even quick engaging ads for local businesses are fine. However, those player videos were embarrassing for the players to shoot and immediately disengaged the crowd when they were played. No one can here that sound system, and no one (outside of the die hards really cares). Instead, the University should invest in pump up videos or clips of great plays in SU history when the band, cheerleaders, and dance team need a break. There should be a rehearsal with all of these groups the day before the game to make sure everyone understand the flow and their role in the creation of the EXPERIENCE. Successful football programs do this.
Pre-Game Advertising: Newhouse...it is embarrassing that SU does not advertise. Not locally, not regionally, not nationally, anything. People from Syracuse don't even know about the games or the excitement of a new era. The No Huddle at our accomplished little, I don't know for a fact but I am willing to bet, because the people that showed up were donors, alums, season ticket holders, or otherwise invested in the program. The turnout wasn't even that great from what I've heard. The University needs to engage the local populace. A good start with the Chiefs (zero advertising done on the that) and the Mets game ( actually heard about that before it happened). TV ads, radio ads, setting up in Destiny on a Friday night. These are places that people are. The people that don't know anything about the season because the University doesn't promote it. The people that should be purchasing the tickets for the seats we are always complaining about are empty.
Fort Drum: in the Army, we move every three or four years. Just like students, a great relationship can build a network that extends the brand across the nation. Alums and fans stationed there understood the reason the team only spent a day there. But it actually hurt not seeing the time run out with the 10th Mountain Division flag for the first time in years. We take pride in that relationship and many of the commanders and leaders there want to see it expand further, not retreat. There are over 30,000 people on Fort Drum alone. Many of those Soldiers and their families grew up with college football and are interested in going to SU games when I talk to them. However, there is no promotion of the team to let them know where, when, and how much. People do not just stumbled onto cuse.com. There needs to be some outreach. Fort Drum is just one example of the missed opportunities.
I know I'm preaching to the choir here. Maybe ADJW is still reading the forum and this helps spark something. I'm proud to be an Orange. I'm proud of the direction of the program. But the game day experience does not make casual fans, even some die hards, want to come back. Something needs to be done about it or the program is going to flounder when HCDB jumps ship or experiment fails because recruits don't want too play in front of 20k empty seats or the University cuts the budget because they aren't getting a return. You need to spend money to make money and there are creative people at the University that can help. This is meant to be a catch all on issues with the game day experience, so if you see something that frustrates you or something you really like throw it up here. Disagree with? I'm thick skinned.
I have been a lurker for the past few years. Finally am in town long enough this season for season tickets with the wife. I'll cut to the chase.
Ticket prices: great job getting ticket prices to $125 in the end zone and creating a pricing option for recent alums (my wife and I are one set of ten people that took advantage of the $99 seasons!). The rest of the prices in the Dome are disgusting and there needs to be a tiered system with four price points available to everyone(lower 20s, lower corners and end zones, and same for the upper). I cringed buying $35 tickets for my paremts to sit in the upper 300s corners (great view) since the product doesn't demand it (more to follow). The donation system only holds us back by placing all the power in the hands of a few so as not to hurt their ego. This has been discussed ad nauseum, we all get the gist.
Student tickets: Activity fee with students having to reserve at the beginning of the week. Start out with 5k, they'll pack the Dome if they don't have to waste beer and food money on tickets at the window. Half the student season ticket holders buy the tickets and never go anyways, trust me.
Pre-Game: my wife and I bring a lot friends from Fort Drum that went to large football schools and they pretty much laugh at SU's idea of a pre-season atmosphere. There are die hards that find it a poor attempt. The Quad is a great starting point, but they fumble the opportunity away with their "tailgate" for the high donors. The University should be making money selling food and alcohol prior to games on the Quad. Have a bunch of corn hole and ladder golf sets, advertise to vendors, and center up the pre-game radio show like they do. Turn it into an actual tailgate. What currently happens is that everyone that is not part of a large, dedicated, tailgate group (like Fine Lot) show up at kickoff or wander aimlessly trying to find stuff to do and are not very pumped for the start of the game. This is a huge issue because people go to games for the experience, not the football (us die hards are showing up no matter what).
The Band (music in general): the band is not very big (can't control that too much) but it doesn't do anything exciting. I hope the Colgate was just the band experiencing the pace of the offense for the first, but they did not keep the atmosphere lively at all. This, I surmise, is for a few reasons: new offensive tempo leading to uncertainty in when to play; SU's terrible attempts at using the video board for anything other than replays, on field actions, and silent ads (more to follow); crappy canned music play lists on an even worse sound system without the DJ controlling the flow of the system music (just let the band play if you're not going to have a DJ). Just a lackluster performance at keeping the crowd engaged (cheerleader section below). Look at the UT band in the ND game, they played every second there was a stoppage in the action.
Cheerleaders: move them around the Dome. The student section doesn't need to be continually motivated by pretty girls getting tossed in the air any more than everyone else. It seemed the fans were not engaged whatsoever during pauses in the action. In the age of smart phones, people need to have something to entertain them when play stops or else you lose them for that series. Hopefully we never see the Orange Sound Wave again, that was awful...
Ads / Video Board: Silent ads are fine, even quick engaging ads for local businesses are fine. However, those player videos were embarrassing for the players to shoot and immediately disengaged the crowd when they were played. No one can here that sound system, and no one (outside of the die hards really cares). Instead, the University should invest in pump up videos or clips of great plays in SU history when the band, cheerleaders, and dance team need a break. There should be a rehearsal with all of these groups the day before the game to make sure everyone understand the flow and their role in the creation of the EXPERIENCE. Successful football programs do this.
Pre-Game Advertising: Newhouse...it is embarrassing that SU does not advertise. Not locally, not regionally, not nationally, anything. People from Syracuse don't even know about the games or the excitement of a new era. The No Huddle at our accomplished little, I don't know for a fact but I am willing to bet, because the people that showed up were donors, alums, season ticket holders, or otherwise invested in the program. The turnout wasn't even that great from what I've heard. The University needs to engage the local populace. A good start with the Chiefs (zero advertising done on the that) and the Mets game ( actually heard about that before it happened). TV ads, radio ads, setting up in Destiny on a Friday night. These are places that people are. The people that don't know anything about the season because the University doesn't promote it. The people that should be purchasing the tickets for the seats we are always complaining about are empty.
Fort Drum: in the Army, we move every three or four years. Just like students, a great relationship can build a network that extends the brand across the nation. Alums and fans stationed there understood the reason the team only spent a day there. But it actually hurt not seeing the time run out with the 10th Mountain Division flag for the first time in years. We take pride in that relationship and many of the commanders and leaders there want to see it expand further, not retreat. There are over 30,000 people on Fort Drum alone. Many of those Soldiers and their families grew up with college football and are interested in going to SU games when I talk to them. However, there is no promotion of the team to let them know where, when, and how much. People do not just stumbled onto cuse.com. There needs to be some outreach. Fort Drum is just one example of the missed opportunities.
I know I'm preaching to the choir here. Maybe ADJW is still reading the forum and this helps spark something. I'm proud to be an Orange. I'm proud of the direction of the program. But the game day experience does not make casual fans, even some die hards, want to come back. Something needs to be done about it or the program is going to flounder when HCDB jumps ship or experiment fails because recruits don't want too play in front of 20k empty seats or the University cuts the budget because they aren't getting a return. You need to spend money to make money and there are creative people at the University that can help. This is meant to be a catch all on issues with the game day experience, so if you see something that frustrates you or something you really like throw it up here. Disagree with? I'm thick skinned.
