Crowd

[storange]

It's Wake Forest. No one would accuse the SU fan base of being particularly savvy, so I imagine most people perceive Wake as being no better than mid-90s Rutgers and Temple. The allure of it being an ACC game is nonexistent, in my opinion.

good point about acc game, just 10 k less then i would have expectedbased on the past 5 years avg for lesser opponents

 

[ForCuseSake]

It's Wake Forest. No one would accuse the SU fan base of being particularly savvy, so I imagine most people perceive Wake as being no better than mid-90s Rutgers and Temple. The allure of it being an ACC game is nonexistent, in my opinion.

Jake C always said that most fans come to the Dome to see the opponent, not SU. It doesn't mean they didn't support SU; they were more into the event (and watching nationally ranked teams play each other).

 

[OrangeXtreme]

If you ask the typical CNY resident to name their favorite football team, they'll say the Giants or the Bills, or maybe even the Steelers.

If you say you were looking for their favorite college team, they give you a blank stare.

For some reason, it's either Notre Dame or one of the Florida schools, or whoever the current front runner is. Rarely is the answer Syracuse.

Which is sad, because everyone's favorite college basketball team is usually Syracuse.

 

[storange]

I know the dome sold those 3 game packs around the LSU game It could have something to do with the low number for this one, im reaching perhaps, but people would choose LSU Clemson and the next best choice would be Pitt or BC i would guess.

 

[K Otto XLIV]

I thought it was the smallest crowd I have even seen. Although my buddy said no way. I do not blame the masses for not showing up. The product has been awful. However that should explain why we have 32k there instead of 42k. I don't get why we only had 26k instead of 32k.

 

[721Comstock]

I thought it was the smallest crowd I have even seen. Although my buddy said no way. I do not blame the masses for not showing up. The product has been awful. However that should explain why we have 32k there instead of 42k. I don't get why we only had 26k instead of 32k.

Those leaves aren't gonna rake themselves.
/sarcasm font.

 

[TheCusian]

Just win and go to games. That's all we can do/hope for.

 

[KellySyracuse]

If you've never experienced SU when they're winning what would be your motivation to go when all you hear is that parking and traffic suck?

we have lost a generation of fans.

 

[Ozcuse]

Last year's home game results were probably the worst in modern SU history, 1-5 with the lone victory against a FCS team in double overtime. The closest would be 2005 and 2007 which were 1-5 as well but wins were over Div. 1 opponents.

I didn't renew my seasons this year. My family didn't renew their seasons this year. Our group of 20 friends we tailgate with at Skytop didn't renew their seasons this year. Our 20+ friends in 323 did not renew their seasons this year.

I bought tickets to the UVA game this year through the UVA website to be able to sit in the SU section. I get multiple updates and news each week from UVA that I NEVER get from SU. I have gotten more correspondence from UVA in the last month than I got from SU in the last year. Infact, the only times I remember receiving messages from SU was from Dan Bartlett or Ian before him to renew/buy more tickets.

SU's attendance problem is an SU created problem. Both from previous year's results and an inability to engage and motivate the fan base.

 

[Ozcuse]

The early season attendance problems can be directly attributed to last season's failings.

Most season ticket holders renew in the spring. New season ticket holders are between spring and summer leftovers.

Decisions to attend games were made months prior to the start of this season. It takes that long to figure out things logistically, especially the larger the group you have. Maybe we go 4-1 or 5-1 to start and an uptick of single game tickets will be sold but there won't be a lot of inventory on stubhub and other resale sites since there was a lack of season tickets sold to begin with. That leaves most with the option to buy way over priced single game tickets through Ticketmaster or at box office on game day.

 

[rrlbees]

You guys are making this more difficult than it is.

Obviously winning is paramount. It's been a long time since we were a consistent winning program. It's hard to get back fans after they were a fan then left. Especially when the OOC home schedule is a bit watered down.

BUT

Just as big an issue, and I've said this numerous times, is the preferred seating tickets between the 20's, both downstairs and upstairs. We do OK in the end zones.

Too many of those go left unsold. We have too small a donor base for preferred seating and then we can sell them to the occasional fan who goes to a couple games a year because they cost $80 - $140 per ticket. A lot of casual fans think sideline seats are the "good" seats and wouldn't consider end zones. So a family of 4 looking at the website sees they will have to spend $320 - $560 just to get in. No way Jose'.

SU is stuck between a rock and a hard place. They sell individual game tickets in the preferred area for the cost of the ticket plus a pro-rating of the donation. Thus the high cost for a single game between the 20's. Those are also the sections seen on TV. So they either maintain that pricing strategy or sell individuals without the pro-rated donation. That runs the risk of losing donors, some longtime and the heart of the program. It's tough to pay $140 for your seat and see random joe fan pay $35 (or whatever it is) for the seat next to you. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I had the chance to talk with Dan yesterday about this exact situation. I shared some thoughts with him and it was good to hear they recognize the issue and are assessing ways to address it. Dan had a couple of good ideas himself that I was glad to hear.

My opinion is blow it up. Make donations basketball only. You get a big break when you donate to both anyways. No donations for football that is ticket related. There will still be donors to the football program. Let all current preferred seat holders keep their seats but with no seat donation. Then sell everything for the cost of tickets only. The people now sitting in the upper end zones will buy sideline seats and more will also do so. There will be some cost hit but it may not be as big as some think. Then over time, if the team starts winning more and the fans come back, slowly institute the preferred seating donation concept on a smaller scale and grow it from there.

 

[rrlbees]

Last year's home game results were probably the worst in modern SU history, 1-5 with the lone victory against a FCS team in double overtime. The closest would be 2005 and 2007 which were 1-5 as well but wins were over Div. 1 opponents. I didn't renew my seasons this year. My family didn't renew their seasons this year. Our group of 20 friends we tailgate with at Skytop didn't renew their seasons this year. Our 20+ friends in 323 did not renew their seasons this year. I bought tickets to the UVA game this year through the UVA website to be able to sit in the SU section. I get multiple updates and news each week from UVA that I NEVER get from SU. I have gotten more correspondence from UVA in the last month than I got from SU in the last year. Infact, the only times I remember receiving messages from SU was from Dan Bartlett or Ian before him to renew/buy more tickets. SU's attendance problem is an SU created problem. Both from previous year's results and an inability to engage and motivate the fan base.

So 20 people you tailgate with and 20 people in your section all gave up their seats? All 40 of them after last year? I find that hard to believe.

As to communications, I get regular communications. I get the cuse news, some 4-1-1 thing. Updates on anything significant or what appears on the cuse website. And within a couple hours of the game yesterday I got an email thanking me for attending with links to various articles.

 

[Ozcuse]

So 20 people you tailgate with and 20 people in your section all gave up their seats? All 40 of them after last year? I find that hard to believe.

As to communications, I get regular communications. I get the cuse news, some 4-1-1 thing. Updates on anything significant or what appears on the cuse website. And within a couple hours of the game yesterday I got an email thanking me for attending with links to various articles.

Look at attendance last year and attendance this year and tell me it's hard to believe. Look at the upper corners (where our seats were) and tell me it's hard to believe. I was looking for our seat neighbors the last two weeks and they weren't there. For our tailgate, we all went together and when a few key people who organized the tailgate decided not to renew it led to pretty much all of them not renewing. The tailgates last year were the only redeeming part of the football experience.

I received 4 emails from UVA AD this week. Just one from SU and it wasn't related to football.

 

[K Otto XLIV]

My opinion is blow it up. Make donations basketball only. You get a big break when you donate to both anyways. No donations for football that is ticket related. There will still be donors to the football program. Let all current preferred seat holders keep their seats but with no seat donation. Then sell everything for the cost of tickets only. The people now sitting in the upper end zones will buy sideline seats and more will also do so. There will be some cost hit but it may not be as big as some think. Then over time, if the team starts winning more and the fans come back, slowly institute the preferred seating donation concept on a smaller scale and grow it from there.

I wonder how many people are football only. The difference between A level BBall and the combined sport is $40 friggin dollars. If 90% of the FB people are BBall people too, it makes more sense to eliminate FB donations all together. Just raise the season ticket price from $205 to $280 ($40 per game) for A level seats. You end up making $35 more per seat for that 90% and lose $575 per seat for the other 10%. On top of that you end up selling individual game tickets in those areas at $80 a game vs $160 a game. Which means you sell a lot more tickets.

Conspiracy theory SU will start announcing butts in seats (lower attendance) to justify having 40k max in the new Dome

 

[K Otto XLIV]

Look at attendance last year and attendance this year and tell me it's hard to believe. Look at the upper corners (where our seats were) and tell me it's hard to believe. I was looking for our seat neighbors the last two weeks and they weren't there. For our tailgate, we all went together and when a few key people who organized the tailgate decided not to renew it led to pretty much all of them not renewing. The tailgates last year were the only redeeming part of the football experience.

I received 4 emails from UVA AD this week. Just one from SU and it wasn't related to football.

SU does a poor job of fan engagement. I also highly question whether they take a good look at optimal ticket prices. It is kind of hard for colleges as they run small shops. But there are plenty of outsourcing options.

 

[Scooch]

Bees is right, the list price of football ticket pricing is insane. How on Earth they can try to justify $80+ seats at the 15 yard line I cannot pretend to understand.

I'm in the drivers seat of the "win and they'll come" bandwagon but the pricing doesn't help
at all.

 

[Bayside44]

Bees is right, the list price of football ticket pricing is insane. How on Earth they can try to justify $80+ seats at the 15 yard line I cannot pretend to understand.

I'm in the drivers seat of the "win and they'll come" bandwagon but the pricing doesn't help
at all.

Agree with this and always have. Every seat in the Dome is good, the price structure parts the seats b/t the 30s like the Red Sea.

 

[BVille44]

Bees is right, the list price of football ticket pricing is insane. How on Earth they can try to justify $80+ seats at the 15 yard line I cannot pretend to understand.

I'm in the drivers seat of the "win and they'll come" bandwagon but the pricing doesn't help
at all.

If you go on Ticketmaster and have them select a seat for the Central Michigan game it brings up two seats for $151 each. I agree with with previous poster that the preferred pricing must end for football. Set a reasonable price 0f $40 or all seats between the 20's and a price of $35 for all end zone seats. Also They have bumped up concession prices this year so the die hards now get to pay $4 for a bottle of water.

 

[Chris02M]

So 20 people you tailgate with and 20 people in your section all gave up their seats? All 40 of them after last year? I find that hard to believe.

As to communications, I get regular communications. I get the cuse news, some 4-1-1 thing. Updates on anything significant or what appears on the cuse website. And within a couple hours of the game yesterday I got an email thanking me for attending with links to various articles.

i got the same email after the game yesterday along with any special events for presale tickets

 

[Chris02M]

If you go on Ticketmaster and have them select a seat for the Central Michigan game it brings up two seats for $151 each. I agree with with previous poster that the preferred pricing must end for football. Set a reasonable price 0f $40 or all seats between the 20's and a price of $35 for all end zone seats. Also They have bumped up concession prices this year so the die hards now get to pay $4 for a bottle of water.

i believe a bottle of water was 3.75 last year so 25 cent increase is no big deal to me since if everyone is like me i hate carrying change around in my pocket

 

[CuseGoose]

Tuesday of game week, let all season ticket holders buy tickets up to their preferred level with out fees and without donation pricing. I think that would make the season ticket holders feel like their investment is protected.

 

[Orange4]

What is the crowd looking like for Saturday? Have to think it can only get better now.

 

[CUSU]

What is the crowd looking like for Saturday? Have to think it can only get better now.

On par the with the last few from what I can gather.

 

[shandeezy7]

On par the with the last few from what I can gather.

Yeah another stinker. Although I can't complain this time because I won't be able to make a game for the first time in 5 years. I have made sure that my seats will be filled though.

 

[HeaterCuse22]

I have heard one commercial on the radio. None on TV. No hype videos on twitter. talked with three people yesterday that A. didn't know they were playing and B. had no idea about free kids tickets.