Shooter: More than 5K student tickets remain for Gophers/Penn State game

I think the biggest thing would be giving students tickets for free. My gf went to NDSU where all students got in free. She went to most of the games, and is a big Bison football fan. I asked her if she would have gone if she had to pay. Without taking a second to think about it, she said "NO". But because they were free, she is a fan for life.

FanSinceTheFifties said:

Are there data on how many UM students attend Vikings games? If so, have they been polled to see if they also attend Gopher games? If they attend only Vikings games, have they been asked why? In the Big10 only UM and NW (and they have poor attendance) compete with the NFL for fans. And in Minneapolis it's just a walk from one stadium to the other. I'd like to know what effect this has and if anything could be done to attract them to our program.

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You're really grasping at straws here if you think Vikings attendance is driving down Gopher attendance. Have you seen the typical clientele at an NFL game. Mostly not the university types.

Also, can't really compare Northwestern to Minnesota. UofM is distinctly a Minnesota school, with the majority of students coming from this state (so there is at least a rational reason why your argument could hold water, being that it's many Vikings fans). Northwestern is, on the other hand, much more of a draw across the US and globally. Only 40% of their students are from the Midwest all together and obviously a smaller portion are from Illinois specifically, thus little reason to think the Bears have an impact on them. To use them as a guide post (Chicago and Minneapolis have NFL teams and poor attendance, they must be linked) is just not genuine.

No, the rational explanation is easy. This team (and Northwestern) have stunk for a long time and it takes a long time to generate interest.

DLguy said:

I think the biggest thing would be giving students tickets for free. My gf went to NDSU where all students got in free. She went to most of the games, and is a big Bison football fan. I asked her if she would have gone if she had to pay. Without taking a second to think about it, she said "NO". But because they were free, she is a fan for life.

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I concur. Sell student tickets for a buck at tailgate kiosks around the stadium starting early on gameday. Get the party rolling early and the student section packed.

maroonedinCA said:

You're really grasping at straws here if you think Vikings attendance is driving down Gopher attendance. Have you seen the typical clientele at an NFL game. Mostly not the university types.

Also, can't really compare Northwestern to Minnesota. UofM is distinctly a Minnesota school, with the majority of students coming from this state (so there is at least a rational reason why your argument could hold water, being that it's many Vikings fans). Northwestern is, on the other hand, much more of a draw across the US and globally. Only 40% of their students are from the Midwest all together and obviously a smaller portion are from Illinois specifically, thus little reason to think the Bears have an impact on them. To use them as a guide post (Chicago and Minneapolis have NFL teams and poor attendance, they must be linked) is just not genuine.

No, the rational explanation is easy. This team (and Northwestern) have stunk for a long time and it takes a long time to generate interest.

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I don't know. NW has been to the Rose Bowl more recently than UM. They were rated in the Top 25 this year. I've been to their games in Evanston and work with NW grads. They seem most proud of and loyal to their University. I agree that their attendance isn't adversely affected only by the NFL presence, nor is the UM, but I can't believe it's hard to accept that having the NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, and WNBC competing for fans and media has no influence on attendance. I've lived in college towns and pro towns (including Minneapolis before and after) and there is no comparison to the attention paid to the local college program. The Gophers have a rare disadvantage in drawing fan, media, and thus recruit interest. Give them a break -- they're improving despite the market. The trend is hopeful.

The final word is yours. Blast away.

If you give away, or sell for $1-10, student tickets, the students don't have any "skin in the game" or reason to show up on time and stay until the game is over. Look at Alabama and their $10 tickets - the student section has been a ghost town after halftime this year. Also, look at the example of the NSDU girlfriend: she may be a fan for life, but is she going to donate a single cent to the athletic program since she's used to getting everything for free? Perhaps, but it's doubtful. The students are getting a good product for a reasonable price. Heck, it's worth $10 just to watch Goldy run around and do all of his hijinks.

In the spring you have every major student organization on campus bid for a seating section at TCF. Hold a fundraiser for a local charity, and organizations get to pick seats based on donations. Organizations can bid for any number of seats between 50-100% of their membership rolls, and the members all sit together. Reserve a section, not great, but also not poor, for unaffiliated students. Maybe one on the first level for students with above a 3.25 and on the second level for those below that mark.

At kickoff and at the final whistle take a high quality photo of the student section. Have a student worker go over it on Monday morning and compare to the student organization section map. Organizations whose zones are less than half full get docked a point. Organizations with three points docked on the season get put at the end of the list for the next year's seat selection process, and six points docked means no more tickets for that organization (individuals could go to the unaffiliated section or join a second organization).

What this creates is peer pressure among students to get there on time and stay the entire game. If I were in a certain fraternity, I would do everything I could to make sure my brothers or pledges styaed until the end so I didn't lose my good seats for the next year. It puts the onus of student attendance not on a disconnected (from students) athletic department, but rather on the student leaders who should already be the ones enhancing school spirit.

This also encourages students to participate in extracurricular activities and would serve as a source of pride and competition among organizations for the best seats.

As for the alcohol policies, students are going to drink on the weekends. The University can either run students away from TCF and let them get hammered on a keg in the backyard of their frat house with the game on TV, or they can have students in a semi-controlled environment at TCF where they have access to no, or very little (flask), alcohol for three hours. Put a number people can text for stadium security on the jumbotron a few times each game, and people will report drinkers who are unable to stand up straight or who are belligerent. Who cares if a student has had a couple of beers pregame and is going to stand there and sober up during the game? Some students hit the bar before a late afternoon class or show up hungover to their 8am the next day - why not arrest them, too? The University is not a parent or the police. Let people police their own and only report the uncontrollable offenders based on behavior.

In regards to complaints about $30 Penn State tickets, I'm paying $30 tonight to see us play UTEP and I'm damn lucky to get a discounted student ticket since everyone else in the stadium is paying more than double what I did. My tickets, as a doctoral student, are subsidized by the season ticket holders who pay more for their tickets so that I can have prime seats. I would have paid a similar ticket price even when we were not as successful of a program.