Why were the stands empty?

[Blaster]

I guess 1 thing i could add to this is if there were 40k + the dome screaming and yelling when Ri had the ball we could prolly help force them into more mistakes on offence if they are not used to that type of noise. Delay of games and false starts. its all speculation tho

 

[TrickySU]

Ultimately winning consistantly will get more people in the dome but besides winning consistantly this team needs to look better. They have been so hard to watch. The offense is the big thing that needs to improve. It's fun to watch a team that can score around 30 points a game and this would help attendance. The problem is we find it hard to score 21 against Rhode Island.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

If Gross were smart, he'd find a way to raise the camera angle "up" in the Dome to make it look better on TV.

The Dome has one of the flattest camera angles of any stadium I've ever seen. This was also the reason you can never see the full sideline on the Syracuse side (as noted by not seeing Van Chew's catch in the corner vs. Wake).

There needs to be a camera platform higher up, in the upper deck. It would make a world of a difference. You shouldn't be able to see more than the first 5 or 6 rows of the lower bowl in the camera shots. Instead we can see the entire lower bowl. It is a really horrendous camera angle that I've been complaining about for years.

 

[Moontan]

The Dome has one of the flattest camera angles of any stadium I've ever seen. This was also the reason you can never see the full sideline on the Syracuse side (as noted by not seeing Van Chew's catch in the corner vs. Wake).

Funny, I've often found angles at other venues (e.g. The Swamp) to be too big. This is especially true for hoops.

The cameras are currently placed at the pressbox level. For bigger games they've added camera platforms in the end zones at the bottom of the 3rd deck. I also believe that they've tried with sideline cameras at the bottom of the top deck. There aren't many options that would interfere with fan viewing. I'm not sure if they've tried something more permanent between the coaches' booths. Might be too high or far from the field.

 

[sutomcat]

Funny, I've often found angles at other venues (e.g. The Swamp) to be too big. This is especially true for hoops.

The cameras are currently placed at the pressbox level. For bigger games they've added camera platforms in the end zones at the bottom of the 3rd deck. I also believe that they've tried with sideline cameras at the bottom of the top deck. There aren't many options that would interfere with fan viewing. I'm not sure if they've tried something more permanent between the coaches' booths. Might be too high or far from the field.

I hear there are some really unruly fans up next the coaches boxes that would make placing a live camera there unthinkable.

 

[All4SU]

If Gross were smart, he'd find a way to raise the camera angle "up" in the Dome to make it look better on TV.

The Dome has one of the flattest camera angles of any stadium I've ever seen.

I've been saying this for years about basketball too.

 

[Orangemen]

I think it's very hard to assess how much damage the last 10 years has done to the program.

I'm a die hard, and every time some little things go wrong, my only thought is 'here we go again.'

If the bball team played a game like that one, or the football team had played that game 10 years ago, it would have killed me to watch it. But at this point, even as a die hard, I'm numbed to the bad things that happen. I'm just happy we won on Saturday.

Getting the town back will take time. Probably a long time. The only way to speed it up is to pull another win like the Nebraska one in '84. Honestly, our schedule doesn't afford a lot of those opp. Winning at USC would probably do more for our image than going 7-0 in the BE this year.

We've gotta face facts. The SU brand was damn near dead and buried over the last 10 years. Without an exciting style of play, or without snagging a really big statement victory, this thing will take a long time to come back around.

 

[Moontan]

I'm not sure if they've tried something more permanent between the coaches' booths.

I don't know anyone who sits there (Extreme?). I'm sure they're more tolerant than the "fans" Tom is referring to.

 

[Fjoinkay]

I think it is pretty obvious by now. We have about 25,000 Syracuse football fans in CNY, about 10,000 CFB fans, and then about 10,000 that enjoy going to "event" games.

So we need a game that interests all three groups completely in order to even come close to filling the place. The 25,000 Syracuse Football fans made it to the game this weekend.

I'm beginning to believe this more and more. Unfortunately, we all know being a private school is just different than being State U. But I do believe CNY and SU need each other, so I believe the University and the community need to figure out a better way to support each other and to form a stronger alliance. I also wonder if a new or different camera angle would help on camera.

 

[Rocco]

A few things I noticed:

They have to make the field look brighter. Give it a different shade of green to make it look more lively. I sit at the 50 yard line up in 301 and I keep asking my buddies why they don't do something about that puke green color. When seeing the highlights on TV, the field looks like salt and pepper.

The announced crowd is hilarious. There couldn't have been more that 20k in the stands there. It was brutal to witness. I know they include all of the season ticket holders as being "present", but it is obviously not the case. The whole 3rd level behind the RI bench was empty. The silver seats looked pretty.

The orange pack seats are a joke. They cram you in like sardines. 4 grown men cannot sit shoulder to shoulder in those seats. Something needs to be done to make the experience a little better.

 

[Millhouse]

I'm beginning to believe this more and more. Unfortunately, we all know being a private school is just different than being State U. But I do believe CNY and SU need each other, so I believe the University and the community need to figure out a better way to support each other and to form a stronger alliance. I too wonder if a new or different camera angle would help on camera.

Thread was started by a guy who complains about how the crowd looked bad on his tv (don't know where he lives). most schools with big crowds aren't drawing big populations right around the stadium. if people want to cry about the crowds, they should get in their cars and go.

people expect a third of syracuse to go to the game so that everyone outside of syracuse can see a full crowd on tv

 

[690West]

people expect a third of syracuse to go to the game so that everyone outside of syracuse can see a full crowd on tv

A third of Syracuse area would be 247,534 people. thats the whole point. We only want 6% of the Syracuse MSA to show. That would give us 45,000 strong. Or how bout 3% from Syracuse and let Rochester, Buffalo, Albany, Utica, and Binghamton take care of the rest.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

A few things I noticed:

They have to make the field look brighter. Give it a different shade of green to make it look more lively. I sit at the 50 yard line up in 301 and I keep asking my buddies why they don't do something about that puke green color. When seeing the highlights on TV, the field looks like salt and pepper.

The field turf is less than 10 years old. It just need a shampoo.

Maybe SU can hire a fluffer.

 

[690West]

Maybe SU can hire a fluffer.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but...

 

[dollarbill44]

i love the dome but i agree that its time to spice things up! you are right, its a different world...we need some juice, some build up and smoke when the team runs on the field, time for these unis to go, we are the orange and we where blue jerseys, its horrible. lets see orange jerseys, blue helmuts, and white pants!!!! say what you want and there will be many poking fun but its an event people and these kids are different these days...we need to improve the gameday experience.

Seriously? The uniforms are keeping people away?

 

[orange03]

It looks great in person.

I've been there enough times to know what it looks like in person, But for the high school kids who may be taking a peek at us, it looks horrible. I just think it's outdated and would love an outdoor stadium. (I know it will never happen)

 

[OrlandoCuse]

I hear there are some really unruly fans up next the coaches boxes that would make placing a live camera there unthinkable.

It's funny, because we have some conflicting information. We're complaining about lack of fans and empty seats that look bad on TV. Then you say there is no place to put a platform on the Third Deck because of fans up there.

I think there are plenty of other places we can find to put those "displaced" fans. I don't really think it will make much of a difference if we sacrifice 100 seats on the upper deck to build a new platform.

I really think the topic has never been pursued by the Syracuse Athletic Dept. They are getting better with technology, but have never been the most tech-savvy department.

I'd love to see a Masters student at Newhouse devise a plan (maybe a class project) as to where the best camera placement on the Dome would be, and present it to the A.D.

 

[OttoMets]

It's funny, because we have some conflicting information. We're complaining about lack of fans and empty seats that look bad on TV. Then you say there is no place to put a platform on the Third Deck because of fans up there.

I think there are plenty of other places we can find to put those "displaced" fans. I don't really think it will make much of a difference if we sacrifice 100 seats on the upper deck to build a new platform.

I really think the topic has never been pursued by the Syracuse Athletic Dept. They are getting better with technology, but have never been the most tech-savvy department.

I'd love to see a Masters student at Newhouse devise a plan (maybe a class project) as to where the best camera placement on the Dome would be, and present it to the A.D.

There's a camera platform between the coaching boxes that gets used for some shots during some broadcasts (and for crowd shots during some basketball games), but the networks seem to prefer the game camera in the press box area. I'm sure someone can concur that this is a network concern, not a Syracuse Athletic Department concern. If ESPN wants its camera in a different place, ESPN will find a different place.

I'm not wild about the low-angle shot, either, but the networks seem to be satisfied with it. And I don't know that an angle from the third deck would look any better. I know that the angles at Mountaineer Field and other stadia make viewing difficult - the camera is just too far from the field.

 

[OttoMets]

Seriously? The uniforms are keeping people away?

It's true. I stepped out of the house on Saturday, thought "Wow, this is a beautiful day. I think I'll skip the game and rake some leaves. On the other hand, maybe Syracuse will wear orange jerseys today. Perhaps I'd better go to the Dome and see for myself."

They let me down, though. After sitting through another three hours looking at blue home jerseys, I don't think I care to attend any more games this year.

 

[orangecuse]

Every town is a bandwagon event town. Few Bad teams sell out games.

Georiga fans were leaving early yesterday in a 1 score game. It's the same everywhere.

This is not really accurate. Georgia fans actually started to leave after Clowney (stud freshman #1 recruit in nation last year) got to the Georgia qb where Ingram snatched up the ball and ran it in from 5 yards & an easy 6 with 3 minutes left. That made the game 45-35 (a 2 score game) & when the Bulldog fans actually started leaving.

Every town is not a bandwagon town...I'm not sure if any of the SEC towns are...well maybe Vanderbilt, but it's Nashville where it's all about music not football. Even the lessor SEC teams, like Ole Miss & Miss. St. pack their stadiums. And, these towns, Oxford & Starksville respectively, are by no means metropolises...check out their census bureau...small like many other SEC towns...much smaller than the Syracuse/metropolitan areas. Also, other (non-SEC schools) have much lower populations than Syracuse, but still pack in their stadiums. Look at Clemson...VPI in Blacksburg...Blacksburg is basically the size of Rome, NY for christ sake & practically in Timbuktu.

They come from across their respective states. Syracuse does a very poor job in getting areas an hour or so away (as 690 eludes to above) in getting these folks to feel that they're a a part of SU's interest/fanbase or extended community if you will. Gross is doing his part in trying to capture this market with his Syracuse is NY's team slogan, etc., but the university really needs to buy into it more. Syracuse is the only player in the entire state of NY that plays major (BCS Conference) football.

As disappointing as it is to admit...Syracuse clearly is a fair-weathered/bandwagon town. And this argument of there are so many other things to do in Syracuse on gamedays is a lame excuse imo. Make it thee thing to do...putting those infamous Buzz quotes of "getting a life" to...a better life with the Orange in your world...

 

[IthacaMatt]

Strongly disagree with "boring brand of football." that's incorrect and a BS excuse. Bottom line is, this town is a bandwagon, "event" town. It's the 10-15k that are like that which is why it's empty

Give me a break. I love Marrone and am very happy with what he's doing to rebuild the team, but the fact is that we were 0-4 at home last year against Big East teams. We lost EVERY GAME to our conference opponents. Only once did we score more than 14 points. That's awful football to have to sit through.

After winning our bowl game in very exciting fashion and prompting some nice expectations for this year, what do we do? We come out and we were terrible against Wake for 3 quarters - nearly every series seemed like a 3 and out. We had one first down in the entire first half, and looked destined to lose, prompting the early rush to the exits.

Then the following week we scrapped tooth and nail with a Division 1A opponent, who we could run against at all. That's not the kind of performances that are going to get people back on the bandwagon. There was a nice sized crowd for Wake, but let's be honest, we crapped the bed, and sent people home with the feeling that we would not be a very good team AGAIN. You have to set the tone at the beginning of the season, and we missed an opportunity to build on the gains of the bowl win.

 

[BleedsOrange44]

Give me a break. I love Marrone and am very happy with what he's doing to rebuild the team, but the fact is that we were 0-4 at home last year against Big East teams. We lost EVERY GAME to our conference opponents. Only once did we score more than 14 points. That's awful football to have to sit through.

After winning our bowl game in very exciting fashion and prompting some nice expectations for this year, what do we do? We come out and we were terrible against Wake for 3 quarters - nearly every series seemed like a 3 and out. We had one first down in the entire first half, and looked destined to lose, prompting the early rush to the exits.

Then the following week we scrapped tooth and nail with a Division 1A opponent, who we could run against at all. That's not the kind of performances that are going to get people back on the bandwagon. There was a nice sized crowd for Wake, but let's be honest, we crapped the bed, and sent people home with the feeling that we would not be a very good team AGAIN. You have to set the tone at the beginning of the season, and we missed an opportunity to build on the gains of the bowl win.

What you're talking about is not the "brand of football." It's performance. I agree regarding the performance. I disagree that Marrone's style of football is boring. It's more of an execution issue than anything else. When team's execute, regardless of system, good things happen, points are scored, etc.

 

[Stern]

A few things I noticed:

They have to make the field look brighter. Give it a different shade of green to make it look more lively. I sit at the 50 yard line up in 301 and I keep asking my buddies why they don't do something about that puke green color. When seeing the highlights on TV, the field looks like salt and pepper.

Orange Turf! lol

 

[Stern]

Lets also be honest, losing VT and Miami on our home schedule has hurt a lot too when it comes to attendance. We always had 2 big-time games to look forward too. Nothing against Pitt and WV, it just ain't the same.

There isn't that 1 or 2 teams you look forward to seeing (and hopefully beating) every year or two.