Louisville Attendance

[Trueblue25]

I really dont understand the attendance issue for tomorrow. TM looks at about 34 right now

 

[juse5]

We should be so lucky!
The food is out of the 1950s. Uncooked hot dogs. Seriously. Every single time. Yum!
The absolute worst pizza, on par with crap frozen pizza.
"Nachos" is chips and melted Velveeta cheese and about 5 jalapenos.
The big pretzels are cold and stale.
I could go on, but that's the GOOD stuff.

We have the best nachos ive ever had in any stadium. More chips, and the best nacho cheese ever. You sir are wrong. Most stadium nachos give you a sealed cup of cold cheese.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I am sure everybody up there understands the issues at this point with the dome experience, it's a dated facility in need of a serious facelift and renovation.

the issue here is people take the financial aspects of making things better up there for granted as if there is a magic wand or ATM that the university can just shake a stick at and get hundreds of millions of dollars from with no responsibilities or repercussions. WE HAVE ACC MONEY NOW!!! They have the $$!!! ( not so fast my friends)

Well, how did all the programs in the athletic department get funded when we were only making $6M a year from our TV deal instead of the $26M we are pulling in now, soon to bump to about $35M a year when the network launches next year. We have been in the ACC for about six years now. We are getting paid our full share. They have built about 5 buildings and bought a bunch of real estate recently to expand the university's footprint down to Genesee St. and a bit beyond Why not get some bonds and lobby for some governmenbt support? It seems to me that it's available if they really want to push and they haven't, they've had other priorities, just like when Shaw and the Wee One were the Dean.

 

[juse5]

I don’t get the Dome hate. There isn’t a bad seat in the house for football, and the weather is perfect for every game.

I really don’t get people knocking the food. It’s a football game. Are Dome Dogs really worse than <insert any stadium in America here> hotdogs?

It’s like the people who complain about the crowds. It’s s football game. There’s supposed to be a crowd.

Couldnt agree more. Every seat is a good seat. Our food options are fine. They just need to have Dinosaur bbq available for every game.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I really dont understand the attendance issue for tomorrow. TM looks at about 34 right now

Well, that's truly too bad. Even when the team was at its worst, I have always gone to at least one or two football games a year. I have my ticket in Section 111 for Friday, and I hope enough people come so that the place is rockin', but I think (hopefully) the sales bump will occur next year for the football team.

 

[SmilinBob]

I really like the Dome and love...absolutely love having a dome. This isn't the opera it's a football game and personally I don't need my butt kissed when I'm there as I just want some basics and a team like the one we have now. I do fully understand the problems for those who have trouble walking and that is something I hope they are proactive about.

 

[Trueblue25]

Well, that's truly too bad. Even when the team was at its worst, I have always gone to at least one or two games a year. I have my ticket in Section 111 for Friday, and I hope enough people come so that the place is rockin', but I think (hopefully) the sales bump will occur next year for the football team.

I still feel like there will be huge pushes these last two business days... 40’s not out of the question but I just find it so puzzling

 

[IthacaMatt]

Couldnt agree more. Every seat is a good seat. Our food options are fine. They just need to have Dinosaur bbq available for every game.

Every seat IS a good seat, except for when you have too many wide bodies, and too many winter coats squeezing you all game long. You don't appreciate how much better it would be if we just had real seats. It would really improve the in game experience.

 

[juse5]

Before kickoff.

And if you bring a five and six year old to the game, they tend to want something to eat or drink during those four hours.

If a 5 year old is complaining about the food quality in the concessions thats hilarious.

 

[juse5]

Every seat IS a good seat, except for when you have too many wide bodies, and too many winter coats squeezing you all game long. You don't appreciate how much better it would be if we just had real seats. It would really improve the in game experience.

Im 6'3 250. Ive rarely found individual seats to be comfortable for someone over 5'10. My knees are always jammed into the seat back. I must be the fat ass that you speak of lol.

 

[rrlbees]

I get that. I also see them building buildings for things like the Center For Human Development. I mean, what is that? Is it where they have the sociology classes? I see a bunch of money spent expanding the University's footprint by buying up real estate closer to Genesee Street. So why can't they raise some money for the Dome?

Far more people donate for academics than athletics. There is one new building going up where every room will include a donors name for the money they have donated. Are you interested in having an IthacaMatt room?

 

[IthacaMatt]

We have the best nachos ive ever had in any stadium. More chips, and the best nacho cheese ever. You sir are wrong. Most stadium nachos give you a sealed cup of cold cheese.

You must not go to events in other cities. Just go to Buffalo and see their Excellus Blue Cross Stadium. There are escalators, big "food court" style restaurant area with a bunch of different choices of food. There are more handrails on the stairs, and even plastic shields in the even that someone falls down the stairs. There are individual seats with cup holders like you have at the movies. Rochester and Albany also have much better stadiums than we do. So it's not like New York State or the Upstate economy can't support something nice, because there are better stadiums in every other major city along the Thruway, except Utica, because, well, Utica is a dump.

I'll stop complaining about the Dome now.

Sorry for the bitching, but I hate to see the lack of support for a rising football program that deserves the accolades, and deserves a proper send off. I hate to think that the Dome is a big reason for the consistent drop in attendance this past decade, for both sports, but I think it's true. As someone else said in this thread, people have money to go out to fancy, expensive restaurants. Why aren't they coming to games?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Im 6'3 250. Ive rarely found individual seats to be comfortable for someone over 5'10. My knees are always jammed into the seat back. I must be the fat ass that you speak of lol.

I think what he and i meant were the sight lines are great from every seat, and you feel closer to the football field than you do at most other stadiums. But yes, there is not enough room for big people.

We need to take that into account when they really re-do the Dome, and not just give it a new coat a paint, a new roof and a new scoreboard. Those things are necessary, but really don't do that much to change what it's like to go to a game.

P.S. - I'm a fat ass, too.

 

[Trueblue25]

Yeah theres no such thing as a nose bleed or awful seat in the dome. The third levels arguably best

 

[IthacaMatt]

If a 5 year old is complaining about the food quality in the concessions thats hilarious.

If you get a kid a hot dog and it's not cooked, you're going to hear about it.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Far more people donate for academics than athletics. There is one new building going up where ever room will include a donors name for the money they have. Are you interested in having an IthacaMatt room?

If I had real money, I would give to the sports program, even though I didn't go there.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yeah theres no such thing as a nose bleed or awful seat in the dome. The third levels arguably best

The Dome is like Radio City (times 10), because of how steep the incline is. In the upper seats, you feel like you are looking down on the action in both places. Keeps you close, even though you are way up high.

 

[orangenauburn]

If a 5 year old is complaining about the food quality in the concessions thats hilarious.

No they aren't complaining about food quality. I was replying that people with kids have to get up and use concessions during game

 

[Jake]

This thread needs a reset.

If we get 40k Friday, our average home game attendance will have jumped 7.8% over last year.

It’ll be 3 straight years of increases.
It’s up 14% since Shafer’s last year.
It bucks the national trend of dwindling crowds.
All great points to make with a head coach worried about attendance.

 

[Newhouser]

This thread needs a reset.

If we get 40k Friday, our average home game attendance will have jumped 7.8% over last year.

It’ll be 3 straight years of increases.
It’s up 14% since Shafer’s last year.
It bucks the national trend of dwindling crowds.
All great points to make with a head coach worried about attendance.

Excellent post. The sky isn't falling and people are going. Not enough to satisfy some of the fan base, but enough to buck a national trend that is impacting every program in the country. Winning helps but the other issues surrounding the game and experience need to be addressed to get the lurkers more involved.

 

[Timonen]

If you drink, you need something to soak up some of the booze, and if you have kids with you, they want to eat something. I get that you can avoid concessions, and by doing so you avoid many of the complaints about the Dome. And certainly, everyone at the Fine Lot tailgate avoids many of those complaints by having a great spread for 3 hours before the game.

I suppose you are also a guy with a slim waist who doesn't wear down coats to the basketball games in January so that you fit comfortably in your 12 inch slice of aluminum that is our individual "seat" for the game.

I used to love going to the Dome 10 years ago. Maybe it's just me getting older that I can't put up with the hassle so much anymore.

I get it. I certainly don’t begrudge anyone doing what they want and not doing what they don’t want. The notion that we should be martyrs for a football team is goofy (why I didn’t like the “with us or against us” tweet yesterday). I just more people to want to go and want to figure out how to solve for that, free ponys aside.

I’ll brag that one of my proudest dad moments was at the Clemson game this year when my seven year old and I sat in the top level, right in the sun. We made ONE trip down to get water (more than I’d do on my own!) and other than that, he was just focused on the game until the very end. He deserved a win for his performance that day. It was amazing and certainly surpassed my expectations...but I’ll say it probably came from a (short) lifetime of subtle training to prepare him for the moment.

 

[IthacaMatt]

This thread needs a reset.

If we get 40k Friday, our average home game attendance will have jumped 7.8% over last year.

It’ll be 3 straight years of increases.
It’s up 14% since Shafer’s last year.
It bucks the national trend of dwindling crowds.
All great points to make with a head coach worried about attendance.

Great post. Thank you.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

This thread needs a reset.

If we get 40k Friday, our average home game attendance will have jumped 7.8% over last year.

It’ll be 3 straight years of increases.
It’s up 14% since Shafer’s last year.
It bucks the national trend of dwindling crowds.
All great points to make with a head coach worried about attendance.

Well put. I'm cynical about attendance in general, but i'd also like to point that SU fans are doing this primarily on its own. We don't get the benefit of Big State U coming in with 5k-10k nutjobs traveling with them. I think FSU had a decent base travel (wasnt at NC State), but Wagner, UCONN, UNC, and Louisville collectively will bring less fans than pretty much any Big Ten team not named Rutgers or Northwestern. Also, none of the teams we played in the Dome this year are what traditional SU fans would consider to be rivalry or marquee match ups (e.g., Clemson, Pitt, BC, all roadies).

A point i havent seen made, which kind of goes with the lost generation of fans argument, is that I am not sure how much school spirit/goodwill was engendered amongst those who attended SU during the Cantor years. Attendance costs went way up, priorities shifted, and academic ranking/status declined. That is an ideal group of alums to be targeting as they are establishing themselves and reaching financial maturity.

A similar kind of thing happened at the small college i attended. While the academic standing actually improved, there were three straight years of tuition hikes (substantial ones) coupled with a lot of construction that left the campus tore up for my last few years. I know many of my classmates were unhappy with the "value" of their experience during that time, feel they overpaid already, and are thus reluctant to support the school.

It's going to take time to win over hearts, minds, and wallets.

 

[Townie72]

No they aren't complaining about food quality. I was replying that people with kids have to get up and use concessions during game

Why?

 

[Qbobby]

This thread needs a reset.

If we get 40k Friday, our average home game attendance will have jumped 7.8% over last year.

It’ll be 3 straight years of increases.
It’s up 14% since Shafer’s last year.
It bucks the national trend of dwindling crowds.
All great points to make with a head coach worried about attendance.

We will have none of your calmness, logic, and statistics in this thread sir!!