Looking at Ticketmaster

[IthacaBarrel]

Respectfully disagree, we have a great time tailgating up on the hill, the atmosphere at games has actually been pretty good ( that is the fans that are there are into the game) There just aren't enough of us.

Exactly, I have sat through many blow outs, many shitty games, I will say this 6-7 times a year, where can you sit in a parking lot, BS with buddies and their kids and your kids, have a few beers and cocktails, fire up the grill, throw the football around at 10:30 in the morning. It's always a good time, it just is. Always fired up going into the dome regardless of opponent. My kids love it too as I did when I was a kid, I guess I will always have a tough time understanding people who spend time on an internet message board talking mundane details but state that Syracuse football isn't worth it. That is just me and many others here I guess

 

[TheCusian]

Of all the horrible reoccurring circular conversations this is only second to the uni conversation.

It's simple:

1. Stop obsessing over what everyone else is doing. You get excited and bring other people who are excited. Point them to a tailgate. Make them feel welcome. 30,ooo is not as good as 45,000. True. But just worry about being there and being amped.

2. Avoid thrusting the past 15 years of horrible attendance and relatively poor/mediocre play up in every conversation. This might be hard. My inner CNYer feels bred to complain about snow, people who complain about snow, and anything to do with sucking at football. The more we talk about it or feed the idea that we're stuck in a endless rut of poor attendance (we are - I'm not living in a orange cloud) - the more it becomes a meme that non-football junkies bring up in conversation. Defend your team, be optimistic (even when you might not be), and invite them to the game. Pay for their ticket. But for the love of Ernie Davis stop feeding the "we have a sucky fan base meme"...

3. WIN, BABY. The thing that will break the spell will be winning. Not just a few wins, but consistent winning. I believe we have a coach who locals and alumni and out-of-towners in winnebegos (hey bees!) that is worthy of support. But most casual fans don't know him like we do, or at all. If he wins, he will get attention - and when the spotlight is brighter I have to think he'll "be goddamn ready to kick some ass" and make the casual fan a fan of the coach and style of play, etc. In college sports you need a hook. Players are good - but they leave. Coaches tend to stay longer. And it's a bonus if they have awesome soundbites and a style of play that is really fun to watch (on D at least). But all of that is moot if we lose or have poor showings at home (Clemson last season). We need wins.

 

[PhatOrange]

kids sporting events get in the way on a saturday at noon and such is life.

 

[OrangeCrush22]

SU needs to have an advertising presence in every reasonably large TV market within a 2 hour radius. As well as Buffalo and New York because of their sizes..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_statistical_areas
http://www.travelmath.com/driving-time/

New York (19,949,502) - 2013 estimate
Buffalo-Niagara Falls (1,134,115) - 2013 estimate
Rochester (1,083,278) - 2013 estimate
Albany-Schenectady-Troy (870,716) - 2010 census
Syracuse (662,577) - 2010 census
Utica-Rome (299,377) - 2010 census
Binghamton (251,725) - 2010 census
Elmira-Corning (187,820) - 2010 census
Ithaca-Cortland (150,900) - 2010 census

2,424,476 people within a 2 hour radius.
49,262 seat Carrier Dome

 

[syracuse95]

One more point about locals. I know a bunch of people who had season tickets going back to the 80s and when gross pulled the big games to NYC deal they stopped getting tickets. They Ll felt like it was a slap in the face. They have donations, went up very home game and supported Syracuse then they take the biggest home game of the year away. I agree it was insulting and honestly they have a point.

I hear what you're saying, and agree to an extent. There's a corollary to that though. We've got to win some of those big games. Not all, but at least some. Bringing LSU to the dome is a great start. But Clemson was here last year, and it was a blowout. FSU will likely do the same thing to us this year. Bringing Top 25 teams to dome won't help attendance much if every time they do, Cuse gets pasted.

That said, I'll be driving the8 hours up from Ohio to the MD game. And Duke. And maybe Louisville if I can swing it. I'll drink in the parking lot and BS with some friends. I'll cheer loud for the orange. And the amount of fun I have will not depend at all on how many others are in the dome, or whether they're from Onondaga County or not.

 

[storange]

I know I basically drove a glorified Big Wheel in college, but it was no less than 5 hours from Queens to Syracuse. And that was bypassing the Roscoe Diner.

And the Fly fishing museum !

 

[CUSU]

SU needs to have an advertising presence in every reasonably large TV market within a 2 hour radius. As well as Buffalo and New York because of their sizes..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_statistical_areas
http://www.travelmath.com/driving-time/

New York (19,949,502) - 2013 estimate
Buffalo-Niagara Falls (1,134,115) - 2013 estimate
Rochester (1,083,278) - 2013 estimate
Albany-Schenectady-Troy (870,716) - 2010 census
Syracuse (662,577) - 2010 census
Utica-Rome (299,377) - 2010 census
Binghamton (251,725) - 2010 census
Elmira-Corning (187,820) - 2010 census
Ithaca-Cortland (150,900) - 2010 census

2,424,476 people within a 2 hour radius.
49,262 seat Carrier Dome

Oh no... No way they can do that for football.. :bang:

There have been a few ads ive seen this year for football but as soon as basketball season is near you see ads ALL OVER.

 

[CUSU]

I'm hoping there is a big walk up...

Blue dots are open seats

 

[SUFaninNJ]

One more point about locals. I know a bunch of people who had season tickets going back to the 80s and when gross pulled the big games to NYC deal they stopped getting tickets. They Ll felt like it was a slap in the face. They have donations, went up very home game and supported Syracuse then they take the biggest home game of the year away. I agree it was insulting and honestly they have a point.

I don't know if Gross "pulled the big games to NYC" necessarily. Granted as a NJ resident and season ticket holder my view is skewed. From what I heard, we probably wouldn't have gotten ND or USC to the Dome. I was at both recent PSU games at the Dome and at Met Life. Both were pretty much home games for the opponent. Clemson was a big game last year, as is FSU this year. The AD has been marketing NYC for years and this is just another spoke in the wheel. There are still 6 home games. Isn't LSU coming to the Dome next year?

 

[upperdeck]

this is a B10 game against a pretty well known Name team, we are 2-0 with a shot to be 3-0 for the first tome in forever. no noise coming from Athletics, no hype in the program, odds of being 4-0 for the UL game are slim, even so they should be trying to get some energy going in the product , they should have done some deal off the Vill game that week. show your ticket stub buy one get one free , not happy with the product vs Vill get half off. buy a maryland ticket get free hot dogs at the UL game. we can win this game with a solid effort but they need to create a crowd for the UL game.

 

[Full_Rebar]

So after reading Giansante's comments, I went to check his Twitter (@JoeGiansante) to see what he was doing to promote. This is the last tweet he sent...remember this is SU Athletics' Chief Communications Officer.

Joe Giansante @JoeGiansante · Aug 26
Deal of the century?See Syracuse host Duke, Louisville and FSU, football &hoops for $250.onsale Wed.10am! 1st chance to get Duke/SU hoop tix

Scroll down if you want to see more tweets about Oregon baseball than SU Athletics. This guy is certainly earning his salary.

 

[orangeinjersey]

Honestly, all the grief some on this board give over the Rutgers Thread and Uniform threads, I think the bickering back and forth about attendance locals/out of state alums is by FAR the worst

 

[KaiserUEO]

In all seriousness, what is a GOOD time for our fickle fanbase?

• If the game is scheduled on Thursday night non-locals can't easily attend and others complain that its late on a week night (which I don't hear in BB season by the way)
• If it's on Friday night, people complain about having to give up their Friday night partying or other activities, and it's hard for non-locals to travel without taking time off work
• If it's at noon on Saturday, it's "too early" because people can't get out of bed early enough
• If it's at 4:00 on Saturday, it "ruins the whole day" because you spend all morning getting ready and going to the game, and the whole evening at the game (yes, I've heard this complaint)
• If it's at 8:00 on Saturday, it's "too late" and takes away Saturday night fun and partying

There isn't a game time yet that I've heard no complaints about. Can anyone tell me what the magic perfect game time is?

yep.

8pm at Giants Stadium.

next year, lets play 2...

 

[Millhouse]

I don't pay much attention to stanford because I hate them . but i did catch that their stadium looked really empty against army or navy or the marines or whoever they played last week

 

[CanadianSU]

I'm hoping there is a big walk up...

Blue dots are open seats

View attachment 24529

It doesn't look terrible. Right now and still early judging based entirely on the ever so telling blue dot, we have 30-33. Should improve a bit this week

 

[Chris02M]

this is a B10 game against a pretty well known Name team, we are 2-0 with a shot to be 3-0 for the first tome in forever. no noise coming from Athletics, no hype in the program, odds of being 4-0 for the UL game are slim, even so they should be trying to get some energy going in the product , they should have done some deal off the Vill game that week. show your ticket stub buy one get one free , not happy with the product vs Vill get half off. buy a maryland ticket get free hot dogs at the UL game. we can win this game with a solid effort but they need to create a crowd for the UL game.

Louisville already has more tickets sold then this weeks game

 

[CUSU]

It doesn't look terrible. Right now and still early judging based entirely on the ever so telling blue dot, we have 30-33. Should improve a bit this week

The thing is in the third and second level some of the grayed out areas are actually also open, as I have discovered in the past. The sections where rows alternate between available and not are usually distinguished as so on purpose, to make the dome appear fuller in person. Which is fine, just something to take note on. I hope we get 40k, we still have a couple days.

 

[anomander]

There aren't really leafs on the ground yet, that particular excuse is rendered useless.

Using the wheel of excuses...the needle has landed on..."...Too nice a day to be in a Dome!"

Landed right between..."going apple picking" and "gonna go to Destiny Mall".

Yes, but people will have to mow the lawn in preparation for the leaves to fall.

 

[anomander]

Exactly, I have sat through many blow outs, many shitty games, I will say this 6-7 times a year, where can you sit in a parking lot, BS with buddies and their kids and your kids, have a few beers and cocktails, fire up the grill, throw the football around at 10:30 in the morning. It's always a good time, it just is. Always fired up going into the dome regardless of opponent. My kids love it too as I did when I was a kid, I guess I will always have a tough time understanding people who spend time on an internet message board talking mundane details but state that Syracuse football isn't worth it. That is just me and many others here I guess

This is what I don't get. the die hards will be there no matter what, but for the casual fan, or even just someone that wants to have a fun afternoon, I don't understand how this alone doesn't attract more people? I'll never understand why more people don't like to go up to a football game, tailgate, and hang out with friends. Screw just big games being an event, every game should be an event. Any other time people wouldn't need an excuse to drink, grill, hang out with buddies/family, and watch football, but Syracuse Football fans seem to be in that minority.

I don't pay much attention to stanford because I hate them . but i did catch that their stadium looked really empty against army or navy or the marines or whoever they played last week

Never mind having an empty stadium for Army, they couldn't even come close to selling out for USC.

 

[Pyle]

It's not good for Sat. Here's my indication. Love these bring a kid to the Dome games. I buy 4 season tickets, period. 1 for me, 1 for my gal, and 2 for my 2 sons. I could save a few bucks by buying 2 youth seats but I feel it handcuffs me if I need to give those seats to friends because the kids have a bday party or something else going on. When these free kid deals show up, I can invite 2 adults and 2 kids. My kids use the 2 of the 4 youth tickets, and we use their usual tickets to get the other adults in. We did this last year for Wagner and the people we brought sat 1 section away about 10-12 rows back from us(sec 119). I called today to claim my free youth tickets, same section 2 rows back, aisle seats, 5th row, 4 seats. My first thought was What, why are those seats still there. They aren't anymore but I was surprised.

 

[Full_Rebar]

This is what I don't get. the die hards will be there no matter what, but for the casual fan, or even just someone that wants to have a fun afternoon, I don't understand how this alone doesn't attract more people? I'll never understand why more people don't like to go up to a football game, tailgate, and hang out with friends. Screw just big games being an event, every game should be an event. Any other time people wouldn't need an excuse to drink, grill, hang out with buddies/family, and watch football, but Syracuse Football fans seem to be in that minority.

I think this is an area where SU promotions/marketing could do some work. (and also IMG which doesn't seem to do anything to sell tickets) Why not run commercials which highlight family activities, special promotions, etc? Would it be hard to get some former fb players on campus and around to the different tailgate lots? Have some contests for SU gear. Work with student groups to have a dorm/greek/student org contest where the winning group gets a meet and greet with Hop or G Mac.

I honestly think a lot of people think it's like hoops where you park at Manley shuttle to the Dome right at the start and leave (with 2 minutes to play).

I know that there are activities on the Quad, but they don't seem to get pushed as part of the experience.

 

[Pyle]

I think this is an area where SU promotions/marketing could do some work. (and also IMG which doesn't seem to do anything to sell tickets) Why not run commercials which highlight family activities, special promotions, etc? Would it be hard to get some former fb players on campus and around to the different tailgate lots? Have some contests for SU gear. Work with student groups to have a dorm/greek/student org contest where the winning group gets a meet and greet with Hop or G Mac.

I honestly think a lot of people think it's like hoops where you park at Manley shuttle to the Dome right at the start and leave (with 2 minutes to play).

I know that there are activities on the Quad, but they don't seem to get pushed as part of the experience.

Here's the thing I don't get. Marketing was fantastic when Gross first got here. All they did was advertise the quad walk, bands in the quad, lots of radio advertising, etc. Grob was the coach. the bottom fell out. Well the bottom of the boat has been repaired, this ain't no stinking ship so why can't Gross/Giasante/GiasAnybody put the same kind of marketing into a back to back bowl team as we did that nonsense 8 years ago?

 

[Ozcuse]

My absolute favorite posts are those right before or after kickoff bitching about how much silver they see in the stands... on their tv screen.

Earth to bitchers, if you are complaining about attendance and you're not at the game, YOU are part of the problem.

/drop mic

 

[KaiserUEO]

One more point about locals. I know a bunch of people who had season tickets going back to the 80s and when gross pulled the big games to NYC deal they stopped getting tickets. They Ll felt like it was a slap in the face. They have donations, went up very home game and supported Syracuse then they take the biggest home game of the year away. I agree it was insulting and honestly they have a point.

Gross has put 3 games in NYC, for good reason.

Tell your friends to go themselves and find a better excuse.

That bullshit don't fly.

Stupid.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I don't pay much attention to stanford because I hate them . but i did catch that their stadium looked really empty against army or navy or the marines or whoever they played last week

Always been a very fickle fan base