Dr. Gross on the NJ Games

[JeremyCuse]

We have no FB fans anywhere. It is sad but true. And it is silly for CNY to complain about support from NYC when the % of SU fans going to the MetLife game will be much higher than at the Dome. There are two things I think SU can do. One is to truly become NY's FB team by playing all over the place. SU should have 5 real teams on the schedule every year. So go ahead and play a game in Buffalo, a game in Albany, a game in NJ, and a game in LI. That will leave one real game plus 1-2 cupcakes for Syracuse. The other thing would be to reduce capacity so the tickets are not so easy to get in the Dome. What incentive do people have to get season tickets when they can pick the game they want to attend and still get great seats. Fact is SU is a private school. Lets act like it and stop the charade. Reduce seating to 36k where we really belong. There would still be three Big 5 conference schools below SU. And if we averaged a sell out at 36k then you can add an additional 3 more schools that we would beat in attendance. If you compare that to what we actually pulled in last year, guess what? There was only one more team in addition to those 6 that we beat out. So going from 49k to 36k would have moved SU down ONE spot in the Big 5 attendance rankings. That isn't a big deal. It will also reduce our capacity for BBall to about 25k but that shouldn't be too big a deal. That is still the largest in all the land. People will have to just go to more games like NC St since they can't all get into the UNC game.

Wow

 

[kingottoiii]

Wow

Those are the facts. Locals need to stop wanting a big time program but supporting it like a small private school. SU FB is a business. Time to take a look in the mirror and accept that there will never be big time support. So make the most of what you have. Our fan support is equal to Wake and Northwestern. Yet we pretend that we can be WV which is silly. Casual fans will never be happy. So why chase them?

 

[GoSU96]

We have no FB fans anywhere. It is sad but true. And it is silly for CNY to complain about support from NYC when the % of SU fans going to the MetLife game will be much higher than at the Dome. There are two things I think SU can do. One is to truly become NY's FB team by playing all over the place. SU should have 5 real teams on the schedule every year. So go ahead and play a game in Buffalo, a game in Albany, a game in NJ, and a game in LI. That will leave one real game plus 1-2 cupcakes for Syracuse. Or the other thing would be to reduce capacity so the tickets are not so easy to get in the Dome. What incentive do people have to get season tickets when they can pick the game they want to attend and still get great seats. Fact is SU is a private school. Lets act like it and stop the charade. Reduce seating to 36k where we really belong. There would still be three Big 5 conference schools below SU. And if we averaged a sell out at 36k then you can add an additional 3 more schools that we would beat in attendance. If you compare that to what we actually pulled in last year, guess what? There was only one more team in addition to those 6 that we beat out. So going from 49k to 36k would have moved SU down ONE spot in the Big 5 attendance rankings. That isn't a big deal. It will also reduce our capacity for BBall to about 25k but that shouldn't be too big a deal. That is still the largest in all the land. People will have to just go to more games like NC St since they can't all get into the UNC game.

What's silly is this post.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I doubt the guarantee is less than $1M.

It is 7 figures. I think sometimes people think SU is doing this for peanuts, it will benefit the university to have this game. Now, I agree given the ACC move probably don't need these going forward but what are you going to do. I will leave that up to the people who get paid to make those decisions and guys like us to pick aprt every small detail as if they are incompetent. The problem with Syracuse football is they have stunk for the better part of 10 years, win some freaking games and a lot of these problem will be corrected. There is only so much lipstick you can put on a pig and I think Marrone and even moreso Gross now understand this

 

[JeremyCuse]

Those are the facts. Locals need to stop wanting a big time program but supporting it like a small private school. SU FB is a business. Time to take a look in the mirror and accept that there will never be big time support. So make the most of what you have. Our fan support is equal to Wake and Northwestern. Yet we pretend that we can be WV which is silly. Casual fans will never be happy. So why chase them?

Im sorry but if you honestly believe that playing games throughout the state is the answer then we should drop D1 football, because that is not Div 1 football that is a traveling adult league, were not the Syracuse Shock. SU had 40+ last year for West Virginia, when you can win the fans will come back. Your not going to sell out like WVU when you have been a doormat for a decade plus.

 

[kingottoiii]

What's silly is this post.

Care to explain or you just gonna do your usual useless one line post that makes you look like the silly and dumb one?

 

[Frozen]

Hmm... Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others.

 

[Bayside44]

I doubt USC brings 7-8k fans...most of them will be east coast alumni...This game should be scheduled for only Notre Dame, Penn St, Michigan, Ohio State and WV...teams that can travel at least 15-20k+ to MetLife

When USC played VT in DC they probably had 20K fans there...this is like the Steelers or Packers coming to town.

People are going to go just to see the show.

 

[kingottoiii]

Im sorry but if you honestly believe that playing games throughout the state is the answer then we should drop D1 football, because that is not Div 1 football that is a traveling adult league, were not the Syracuse Shock. SU had 40+ last year for West Virginia, when you can win the fans will come back. Your not going to sell out like WVU when you have been a doormat for a decade plus.

I don't think the fans will ever come back because they never were really there in the first place. It is a lost cause for SU to try and average 45k a game. That is still 5k below capacity. SU will never be able to maximize revenue with a 49k FB stadium. So the options are to reduce capacity or get paid to show up and play elsewhere. If SU FB were a pro team they would have moved to another city years ago. And then like it does in the pros the locals would yell about how it is unfair the team left even though the reason they left was lack of support.

 

[oldpinepoint]

We have no FB fans anywhere. It is sad but true. And it is silly for CNY to complain about support from NYC when the % of SU fans going to the MetLife game will be much higher than at the Dome. There are two things I think SU can do. One is to truly become NY's FB team by playing all over the place. SU should have 5 real teams on the schedule every year. So go ahead and play a game in Buffalo, a game in Albany, a game in NJ, and a game in LI. That will leave one real game plus 1-2 cupcakes for Syracuse. Or the other thing would be to reduce capacity so the tickets are not so easy to get in the Dome. What incentive do people have to get season tickets when they can pick the game they want to attend and still get great seats. Fact is SU is a private school. Lets act like it and stop the charade. Reduce seating to 36k where we really belong. There would still be three Big 5 conference schools below SU. And if we averaged a sell out at 36k then you can add an additional 3 more schools that we would beat in attendance. If you compare that to what we actually pulled in last year, guess what? There was only one more team in addition to those 6 that we beat out. So going from 49k to 36k would have moved SU down ONE spot in the Big 5 attendance rankings. That isn't a big deal. It will also reduce our capacity for BBall to about 25k but that shouldn't be too big a deal. That is still the largest in all the land. People will have to just go to more games like NC St since they can't all get into the UNC game.

What? Really?? this is one of the worst posts ever!

 

[Cuseman78]

Yeah the problem is the attendance for that game 3.5 hours right now looks abysmal and 95% of the locals are laughing at the last sentence as there simply not going to go.

And how does the attendance 5 minutes away look? Boo freakin' hoo. Again, CNYers have ZERO reason to complain. You haven't sold out a game in 15 years.

 

[bubba1917]

Who is the promoter for the USC game. SU may be on the hook and realize much less than the rosy projections.

SU has about 2 million people within an one to one in a half hour drive of the dome. How they cannot attract 50K six times a year is unbelivable. SU has a build it and they will come attitude with little promotion. While there is no substitute for winning the performance of the AD's office must be improved or there will be no $$ success. NY's college team my arse we are nor central new york's college team. Take care of business at home before looking at other markets.

 

[JeremyCuse]

And how does the attendance 5 minutes away look? Boo freakin' hoo. Again, CNYers have ZERO reason to complain. You haven't sold out a game in 15 years.

What game has the NYC alumni sold out? 37K for the pinstripe bowl when probably at least 25-30% of those were locals who traveled down for the game? The attendance right now for this game looks worse then if it was at the Dome and you allready admitted if SU loses to NW more alumni and NYC locals will probably abandon ship. When we barely crack 40K for this game what excuse will you give then?

 

[MikeSU02]

That game is bringing in a lot more than what it would be if it were home. At the time the deal was made, pre-ACC, he was looking to raise capital however he could.

Only accurate if this were a single or limited tactic. This is part of a pattern of moving games to Met Life in conjunction with focusing on NYC instead of the local area and SU's relationship with its local fans overall. I'm glad he is making a few bucks and inaccurately quoting how much revenue it is bringing in as it relates to the program. If this is his tactic moving forward, he has no right to blame the fans. It is his job to get them into the seats.

Once the program is back legit again and firmly in the ACC, he won't have to do such deals.

Oh, that's all we need to do?!

/sarcasm

We are teed up to be home dogs against NW and in the cross hairs for a national beat down against USC and that is coming off a five game losing streak. I'm not sure how can you say with such ease that we will be back to being a "legit" program. Are you prepared to wait another five years? ten? You do realize that we are now going on 10 years of awful and / or mediocre football. A FULL DECADE. Our schedule is going to get much harder year to year once we move with our in-conference opponents.

TGD has made a habit of crapping on the local fans. Moving games from the Dome. He is right that we are not OSU. Fans need an added value to the experience and an extra pat on the back to come to the Dome nowadays. Made to feel like they are wanted and appreciated.

He came in looking like a city-slicker and was unfairly hit for that. However, with all these decisions he is doing nothing but making it seem like he could not care less about the people who he NEEDS to be coming to the Dome.

To ask Syracuse folks to get on a train and ride down to New Jersey (insert your own joke here) is laughable.

I'm glad he got us into the ACC. But the fact of the matter is SU needs to be Syracuse's team before it is NYC's team or NY State's team. I'm not going to lie, it is starting to feel like we are a house of cards. We have no real effort and I see no real plan to bring our local fans, the ones that would be our advocates and pass down the love of SU as it sits in their own back yard to their kids and grandkids and friends and co-workers, back into the fold.

But hey, at least we got a cool billboard in Yankee Stadium.

 

[TexanMark]

When USC played VT in DC they probably had 20K fans there...this is like the Steelers or Packers coming to town.

People are going to go just to see the show.

I hope you are right but I would take the under.

 

[MadNY3]

The game was billed as being at the Dome. Just one more reason why we do have to sell $10 tixs. 5 figures is not as great as it sounds either. We do that for a game in the Dome. Long run.

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Cuse was GUARANTEED a solid six-figure amount for having the game in the Meadowlands. Ticket sales are extra. The boatload of money will help offset all those empty seats and subsidized tickets SU has been dealing with as the program has not won, nor drawn well.

Long run, the team needs to win football games against good teams. Period.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I don't think the fans will ever come back because they never were really there in the first place. It is a lost cause for SU to try and average 45k a game. That is still 5k below capacity. SU will never be able to maximize revenue with a 49k FB stadium. So the options are to reduce capacity or get paid to show up and play elsewhere. If SU FB were a pro team they would have moved to another city years ago. And then like it does in the pros the locals would yell about how it is unfair the team left even though the reason they left was lack of support.

Do you think attendance would be great if SU were putting up these records at Florida, Miami, UCLA, Nebraska, USC etc? Newsflash when your team sucks people dont spend money to go games. Pitt hasnt sold out there stadium since Dan Marino was there. Rutgers expanded a stadium they haven't sold out once and are millions in the red because of it. USC can't sell out and there coming off one of the most successful decades of any program. You seem fascinated with SU meeting its capacity, outside of teams like Michigan, Alabama, Texas, Auburn, and a handful of others teams dont sell out every game.

 

[Cuseman78]

What game has the NYC alumni sold out? 37K for the pinstripe bowl when probably at least 25-30% of those were locals who traveled down for the game? The attendance right now for this game looks worse then if it was at the Dome and you allready admitted if SU loses to NW more alumni and NYC locals will probably abandon ship. When we barely crack 40K for this game what excuse will you give then?

First off, 25-30% my ***. You and a caravan of 12 people doesn't account for 25-30%. The NYC fans showed up very well considering the date of the game and the weather.

And of course less people will show if we lose to NW. Same principle at the Dome. We can go back and forth all day about the difference between the CNY fans and the metro fans. But as a fan base, we just aren't big football fans whether the game is played in Syracuse, Jersey, or the moon. Therefore TGD needs to cash the biggest paycheck he can.

 

[MadNY3]

Only accurate if this were a single or limited tactic. This is part of a pattern of moving games to Met Life in conjunction with focusing on NYC instead of the local area and SU's relationship with its local fans overall. I'm glad he is making a few bucks and inaccurately quoting how much revenue it is bringing in as it relates to the program. If this is his tactic moving forward, he has no right to blame the fans. It is his job to get them into the seats.



Oh, that's all we need to do?!

/sarcasm

We are teed up to be home dogs against NW and in the cross hairs for a national beat down against USC and that is coming off a five game losing streak. I'm not sure how can you say with such ease that we will be back to being a "legit" program. Are you prepared to wait another five years? ten? You do realize that we are now going on 10 years of awful and / or mediocre football. A FULL DECADE. Our schedule is going to get much harder year to year once we move with our in-conference opponents.

TGD has made a habit of crapping on the local fans. Moving games from the Dome. He is right that we are not OSU. Fans need an added value to the experience and an extra pat on the back to come to the Dome nowadays. Made to feel like they are wanted and appreciated.

He came in looking like a city-slicker and was unfairly hit for that. However, with all these decisions he is doing nothing but making it seem like he could not care less about the people who he NEEDS to be coming to the Dome.

To ask Syracuse folks to get on a train and ride down to New Jersey (insert your own joke here) is laughable.

I'm glad he got us into the ACC. But the fact of the matter is SU needs to be Syracuse's team before it is NYC's team or NY State's team. I'm not going to lie, it is starting to feel like we are a house of cards. We have no real effort and I see no real plan to bring our local fans, the ones that would be our advocates and pass down the love of SU as it sits in their own back yard to their kids and grandkids and friends and co-workers, back into the fold.

But hey, at least we got a cool billboard in Yankee Stadium.

Not sure where to begin here. Rational arguments like a lot of guaranteed money, exposure and that it is an infrequent occurrence don't seem to work I suppose.

I hope you feel wanted and appreciated at the other home games this year.

 

[rrlbees]

Did they fall on their face in the Pinstripe Bowl? It remains to be seen what 9/8 will look like. As I said, if we beat NW, I think you may be pleasantly surprised.

No they did not but like locals also, I do not know how many pinstripe tixs were bought outside of the SU route. This game, the very best seats are being sold by SU. For the pinstripe, that wasn't true for most of them.

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[Frozen]

Nobody asked me, and with all due respect to people on both sides of the argument, I agree with KO3 and Cuseman78. I know that KO3 and Cuseman78 drive up from Northern NJ to CNY for every FB game that their schedules allow. And they (and I) were there for the loss to Akron, which was possibly the lowest point of the GRob era. And they kept going back and going back. And they did that despite having to wake up at 5am or so to make the 5-6 hour drive to get there for all those noon starts.

So how come the people who live within a stone's throw from the Dome can't make an effort to attend?

Living in NYC, I wish I could go to all of SU's games in the Dome. If I lived in Central NY, I'd be there every week. If the locals are not willing to get off their asses and buy (reasonably priced) tickets and get to the Dome, they have no reason to complain when Doc Gross tries other methods to drum up interest (and money).

I know that the CNY residents on this board are more hardcore than the average CNYer, so this is not an indictment of them. But give Gross credit for doing something.

 

[Cuseman78]

No they did not but like locals also, I do not know how many pinstripe tixs were bought outside of the SU route. This game, the very best seats are being sold by SU. For the pinstripe, that wasn't true for most of them.

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Hey, lets hope we have 40k this weekend with a big W against NW and then we create some momentum for a strong walk-up and play USC tough in front of 50k plus in the swamps of Jersey.

 

[JeremyCuse]

First off, 25-30% my ***. You and a caravan of 12 people doesn't account for 25-30%. The NYC fans showed up very well considering the date of the game and the weather.

And of course less people will show if we lose to NW. Same principle at the Dome. We can go back and forth all day about the difference between the CNY fans and the metro fans. But as a fan base, we just aren't big football fans whether the game is played in Syracuse, Jersey, or the moon. Therefore TGD needs to cash the biggest paycheck he can.

LOL caravan of 12 people, sorry there were a ton of locals at that game, we had over a 100+ in just our group alone. You maybe right that in the end were not just big football fans whether its the locals or the NYC folk but it just goes to show how ironic it is when those NYC alumni rag on the locals for not going to games and then turn around and do the exact same thing.

 

[kcsu]

I would say that i have been going to games as long as or longer than most posters. First game 62. The support will be there when the team begins to win. The 70's were the low point in my opinion and there was serious support within the admin to down grade the program. Very serious. At this point there is serious support within the admin to upgrade the program. New facilities, Dome improvements, and yes the Met Life game are all a step back. With Syracuse firmly planted in the ACC it is now up to the staff and team to deliver. If Doug can get us back to a bowl this year i believe you will see the highest ticket sales in the last 10+ years next year on the Hill. Everything is in place for the fan base to come back at this point it is simply up to the staff and team as no matter what the admin does, or who we have coming into Syracuse to play if we do not put a good product on the field we are not going to draw much beyond the 35k who almost always show up. The extra 15k want a solid product and they want a winner. It is very simple always has been.

 

[OttoMets]

What is our guarantee and did we have to buy X tixs? He also probably alienated locals even more by putting the onus on locals for attendance there. When it comes out that SU did diddly with tixs sales, I am sure the locals will be blamed.

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This is an important question, one I'd like to see answered (haven't scanned further in the thread, so apologies if it has been).

A requirement that SU buy 25,000 seats, for example, would wipe out the financial gain. Similar to those horror stories of minor teams taking a bath after accepting a Fiesta Bowl bid and the ticket obligation that comes with it.