What specifically was different you didn’t like. The seating is better now, Micron Lounge area is nice…speakers are a catastrophe that still hasn’t been fixed - but overall I’d say football gameday experience is better now than 7-10 years ago.
It feels like a minor league game now. Again not an SU thing. Schools have trended to it across the nation. No one goes to the games for it, and IMO it makes the games less enjoyable. To the point where I question if it is worth going after 25 years traveling up from the NYC area.
I like the collegiate feel. For me it is part of the allure. Bands and Cheerleaders and Mascots have been minimized everywhere not just SU. Student sections and fans can't even get an organic chant going without interruption. Heck student sections don't even do stuff anymore. But even if they wanted to, they cannot.
And I am not just referring to the corporate feel but the entertainment aspect. The in game entertainment is Mickey Mouse. It is corny and not interactive. It serves no purpose.
Casual fans go to games when it is an event. The in game BS isn't bringing them in, keeping them coming, or preventing them from going again.
I felt there was a big difference for the Pitt Yankee Stadium game. All of that nonsense was absent and I found it more enjoyable.
Also part of the problem is a min longer commercial breaks. Having to wait 2:50 used to be torture. Waiting 3:55 is now not even fair. Schools feel like they need to do something and the consultants come up with what is used at minor league baseball games (you don't see this stuff at pro games).
Then we have the corporate feel of games. This is a national issue IMO. Pro and college. Yankee games are awful. Notre Dame was awful. Notre Dame used to be the epitome of college football. What I went to this year was a travesty. Knute must be rolling in his grave.
I have no interest in going to minor league baseball games. Or Westchester Knicks games. If you take the collegiate experience and feel away, it becomes minor league football. At which point I am gone.