What's the P.J. Fleck effect on Gophers bank accounts? Not much, at least not yet

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BleedGopher

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per Joe:

Earlier this month, “Today Show” host Matt Lauer asked his NBC audience, “You want a feel-good story for a Friday morning? This is a really good one.”

He introduced the video of Gophers coach P.J. Fleck awarding backup kicker Justin Junemann a scholarship with help from Kyle Tanner, a bone marrow disease patient whom Junemann had visited in the hospital repeatedly.

“I love that coach,” Lauer told co-host Savannah Guthrie. “Me, too,” she said.

Between that viral video, numerous interviews and the four-part “Being P.J. Fleck” airing on three cable networks this month, the new Gophers coach continues to draw national publicity for a program long overlooked. Analysts predict the coast-to-coast exposure eventually could pay big dividends for the university.

But so far, the Fleck hype has yet to fill the maroon-and-gold coffers.

The Gophers have distributed fewer than 40,000 tickets for their Aug. 31 opener against Buffalo, a spokesman confirmed Friday, and that’s counting 5,000 freebies they annually give freshmen for the first game. Two years after playing a full season to near-capacity crowds at TCF Bank Stadium, the athletic department is still struggling to refill the 9-year-old facility’s 50,805 seats.

Fans are taking a wait-and-see approach with Fleck. Since the Gophers hired him away from Western Michigan on Jan. 6, their number of new season tickets sold is 1,430.

Athletic director Mark Coyle still sees that for what it is: growth. The Gophers sold just 660 new season tickets last year.

http://m.startribune.com/what-s-the...ch-at-least-not-yet/441088303/?section=sports

Go Gophers!!
 

Fleck has been great for the university. Ultimately however, as always it will come down to how the team plays on the field.

Doubling the amount of new tickets is a very positive sign. The program isn't going to turn around in 1 year, it's a process. Can't wait to see how great it looks in year 3 and 4.
 

JZsportswhiz said:
Fleck has been great for the university. Ultimately however, as always it will come down to how the team plays on the field.

<b>Doubling the amount of new tickets is a very positive sign. </b>The program isn't going to turn around in 1 year, it's a process. Can't wait to see how great it looks in year 3 and 4.
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What's more important - the number of new season tickets sold or the net change in season ticket holders?


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Spoofin said:
What's more important - the number of new season tickets sold or the net change in season ticket holders?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Net change - but the real question (which is impossible to know) is how many more tickets have sold now than we would have if Claeys was retained.
 

GopherHomer said:
Net change - but the real question (which is impossible to know) is how many more tickets have sold now than we would have if Claeys was retained.
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Nope, that's a b.s. question. The real question is how many tickets would have have sold and how many more "pretty wins" would they have had, if the incident never had happened?

The other tough question is how many people who said that that they were through with Gopher Football meant what they said? They weren't just saying it hoping to get Fleck from WMU.

Probably more people than supporters of Gopher football would like to think.
 


JZsportswhiz said:
Fleck has been great for the university. Ultimately however, as always it will come down to how the team plays on the field.

Doubling the amount of new tickets is a very positive sign. The program isn't going to turn around in 1 year, it's a process. Can't wait to see how great it looks in year 3 and 4.
Click to expand...

If by turning around are you referring to their record, their academic progress? They were 9-4 last year with a top 5 team APR! What part of turn around are we expecting?
 

HoustonTXGopher said:
If by turning around are you referring to their record, their academic progress? They were 9-4 last year with a top 5 team APR! What part of turn around are we expecting?
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Guessing reputation, game day experience, no QBs drafted since 1972, no Big Ten title since 1960, not beating Wiscsonsin since 2003...
 

kisarazu said:
Guessing reputation, game day experience, no QBs drafted since 1972, no Big Ten title since 1960, not beating Wiscsonsin since 2003...
Click to expand...


Everyone talks like 9-4 was great.
Before the season however, people were expecting Big Ten West titles and they drastically underperformed.

People seem to forget that on here a lot.
 




HoustonTXGopher said:
If by turning around are you referring to their record, their academic progress? They were 9-4 last year with a top 5 team APR! What part of turn around are we expecting?
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Well considering we're talking in this thread about ticket sales, put 2 and 2 together....
 

joshvanklomp said:
Well considering we're talking in this thread about ticket sales, put 2 and 2 together....
Click to expand...

So time will tell.....So far no real increase in ticket sales or for that matter no measurable interest in Gopher football, although that appears to be changing. Message received
 

HoustonTXGopher said:
So time will tell.....So far no real increase in ticket sales or for that matter no measurable interest in Gopher football, although that appears to be changing. Message received
Click to expand...

Can't expect PJ to help that metric in year 1. Come to think of it, is there anything we can expect PJ to accomplish in year 1?

As for no measurable increase in excitement - Josh was giddy the Dinkytown Subway owner allowed PJ to hang an oar in his store.




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Spoofin said:
Can't expect PJ to help that metric in year 1. Come to think of it, is there anything we can expect PJ to accomplish in year 1?

As for no measurable increase in excitement - Josh was giddy the Dinkytown Subway owner allowed PJ to hang an oar in his store.






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My guess is that PJ thought just being PJ would sell out TCF Stadium.
 

kisarazu said:
Guessing reputation, game day experience, no QBs drafted since 1972, no Big Ten title since 1960, not beating Wiscsonsin since 2003...
Click to expand...

Exactly this. By turn it around I mean making the Gophers competitive with the big boys in the conference.

Claeys inspired very little confidence that he would be able to recruit the talent needed to take the next step. 9-4 was the absolute peak with Claeys, this program is capable of so much more.
 

PJ should not be judged by season tickets sales, which have been a problem practically since year two at TCF (evidenced by the hiring of an outside firm to try to increase season tickets sales 5-6 years ago) and probably will be during most of our lifetimes. Single game and ticket packages sold very well two years ago, thanks to the NYD bowl-season the year before and a great home schedule. Let's see what the attendance figures are, not the season ticket numbers.
 

GopherVotary said:
PJ should not be judged by season tickets sales, which have been a problem practically since year two at TCF (evidenced by the hiring of an outside firm to try to increase season tickets sales 5-6 years ago) and probably will be during most of our lifetimes. Single game and ticket packages sold very well two years ago, thanks to the NYD bowl-season the year before and a great home schedule. Let's see what the attendance figures are, not the season ticket numbers.
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Good points. It's going to come down to wins. People love football in this state, if the Vikes falter and the Gophers do well then yep...the Gophers will be the hot ticket in town.
 


HoustonTXGopher said:
If by turning around are you referring to their record, their academic progress? They were 9-4 last year with a top 5 team APR! What part of turn around are we expecting?
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I would say "fewer interceptions and stronger 4th quarter play."
 

GopherVotary said:
PJ should not be judged by season tickets sales, which have been a problem practically since year two at TCF (evidenced by the hiring of an outside firm to try to increase season tickets sales 5-6 years ago) and probably will be during most of our lifetimes. Single game and ticket packages sold very well two years ago, thanks to the NYD bowl-season the year before and a great home schedule. Let's see what the attendance figures are, not the season ticket numbers.
Click to expand...

During Holtz's 2nd year we had huge attendance for the spring game and a great deal of excitement around the program
 

Halsey Hall said:
During Holtz's 2nd year we had huge attendance for the spring game and a great deal of excitement around the program
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I would say the days of referencing the Holtz years (as a fair comparison) should be behind us. It was a different era - most Gopher fans back then probably still had vivid memories of success and thought that it could realistically be resurrected. There has literally been 30 more years of ineptitude since then. They were only 17 years removed a conference championship. That's like fans of today remembering the Mason years.
 

GopherHomer said:
I would say the days of referencing the Holtz years (as a fair comparison) should be behind us. It was a different era - most Gopher fans back then probably still had vivid memories of success and thought that it could realistically be resurrected. There has literally been 30 more years of ineptitude since then. They were only 17 years removed a conference championship. <b>That's like fans of today remembering the Mason years.</b>
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I'm trying to forget, thank you very much.


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Want to increase ticket sales? Lower prices/forced donations.

Once you start filling the stadium consistently, you can raise prices. Some fans with jump ship, but not everyone. Find the point where fans are willing to support the team. Some simple math below to illustrate my point. Numbers are not factual.

50000 x $150 (average price)=$750k
35000 x $200 (average price)=$700k

Charge less, more fans, more money.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Want to increase ticket sales? Lower prices/forced donations.

Once you start filling the stadium consistently, you can raise prices. Some fans with jump ship, but not everyone. Find the point where fans are willing to support the team. Some simple math below to illustrate my point. Numbers are not factual.

50000 x $150 (average price)=$750k
35000 x $200 (average price)=$700k

Charge less, more fans, more money.
Click to expand...

What if there is 40,000 fans at $175?
Hint: use a calculator


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GopherHomer said:
I would say the days of referencing the Holtz years (as a fair comparison) should be behind us. It was a different era - most Gopher fans back then probably still had vivid memories of success and thought that it could realistically be resurrected. There has literally been 30 more years of ineptitude since then. They were only 17 years removed a conference championship. That's like fans of today remembering the Mason years.
Click to expand...

Except in the two years preceding Holtz we won a grand total of one B1G game (in two years). People were seriously discussing whether or not to give up D1 football it was so bad. The 84-13 loss to Nebraska was in that stretch. In Holtz's second year we took eventual national champion Oklahoma (and Troy Aikman) down to the wire (13-7 loss) in front of 64K.
 

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