Sid Hartman: Can U get football fans back?, Coyle says people have been renewing tix

Then what do i drink while standing in line for security? :) More a comment on expanding into one large party place surrounding the stadium on game days, which we have shown we can do when we want to ( i.e. final four/superbowl )

That's what the flask is for ;)
 

There are seven bars within a couple blocks of TCF, and a wide variety of food options in that same couple blocks. Multiple food trucks in the area between TCF and Mariucci. A two minute light rail ride to West Bank or five minute walk to Dinkytown gets one access to 10-12 more bars and places to eat. If you are a craft beer person and a foodie, both Republic and Town Hall Brewery at Seven Corners are great places before or after the game.

Tailgating is what you make of it...I have a handful places I go right around the stadium. Some are friends I know, some I met walking the tailgate lots. Always a good time. The tailgate lots are much closer to the stadium than most other places I've been to.

I make a day of it...usually go early and stay a couple hours after. Not saying this is you, but it seems like most the complaints are folks that want to swing in a half hour before kickoff and expect not to hit traffic or have trouble grabbing a drink or food beforehand.

My experience has been that for a football game you need to arrive at least 2.5-3 hours before the start of the game to get a spot at a nearby bar (Dinkytown/Stadium Village). I'm not including places like Chipotle and Raising Cane's in that. To me that means there aren't enough bars nearby. Even for a Gopher hockey game this winter (with maybe 50% attendance), getting to Sally's 2 hours early had a significant wait time.

I also found that if the game was well-attended you had to leave the game early to get a spot at one of those nearby bars without a significant wait.

If I'm going to a game in-person I do like to make an event out of it and go to the bar before and after, but I want those places to be close to the stadium. If I have to light-rail somewhere or get in my car, then I might as well just stay out in the burbs for the whole event.
 
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My experience has been that for a football game you need to arrive at least 2.5-3 hours before the start of the game to get a spot at a nearby bar (Dinkytown/Stadium Village). I'm not including places like Chipotle and Raising Cane's in that. To me that means there aren't enough bars nearby. Even for a Gopher hockey game this winter (with maybe 50% attendance), getting to Sally's 2 hours early had a significant wait time.

I also found that if the game was well-attended you had to leave the game early to get a spot at one of those nearby bars without a significant wait.

If I'm going to a game in-person I do like to make an event out of it and go to the bar before and after, but I want those places to be close to the stadium. If I have to light-rail somewhere or get in my car, then I might as well just stay out in the burbs for the whole event.

The light rail ride is literally is crossing the Wash Ave bridge. If two minutes is too long for you, I don't know what to say. I'm not counting chipotle or raising canes either. I get there 1 1/2 hours before and have gotten into every place you mentioned. Sturb's, Sally's, BWW, both bars in the hotel, Tea House, El Loro, Blarney.
 

The light rail ride is literally is crossing the Wash Ave bridge. If two minutes is too long for you, I don't know what to say. I'm not counting chipotle or raising canes either. I get there 1 1/2 hours before and have gotten into every place you mentioned. Sturb's, Sally's, BWW, both bars in the hotel, Tea House, El Loro, Blarney.

This. Not to mention West Bank bars pre-game that are minutes away.
 

I get that some here think the U has a good bar scene before football games. I also get that those folks don’t know what a good bar scene is then. Heck, some on here still think we have a good tailgate scene so there is still room to fall.


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I get that some here think the U has a good bar scene before football games. I also get that those folks don’t know what a good bar scene is then. Heck, some on here still think we have a good tailgate scene so there is still room to fall.


44b069e5bf527919a22c62fe624b4bf0--daily-affirmations-saturday-night-live.jpg
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Your daily self affirmation. Thanks for sharing.
 

http://www.citypages.com/news/the-m...ile-shooting-themselves-in-the-foot/508993991

"When you're not a national power, college sports carry a different emotional tender. People show up not for the winning, but for the fond memories of alums, family affinities passed through generations. The attraction lies in the gentler collegiate pageantry, in rooting for something that feels more wholesome than a simple entertainment transaction.

Yet the U can’t stop intruding on this suspension of conventional sporting belief. It wants to be your friend, yet insists on behaving like Comcast. And no one wants to pay to see Comcast play. "

There needs to be a bold change in this area.
 

http://www.citypages.com/news/the-m...ile-shooting-themselves-in-the-foot/508993991

"When you're not a national power, college sports carry a different emotional tender. People show up not for the winning, but for the fond memories of alums, family affinities passed through generations. The attraction lies in the gentler collegiate pageantry, in rooting for something that feels more wholesome than a simple entertainment transaction.

Yet the U can’t stop intruding on this suspension of conventional sporting belief. It wants to be your friend, yet insists on behaving like Comcast. And no one wants to pay to see Comcast play. "

There needs to be a bold change in this area.

Thanks for the link. Good, concise article. Hope Coyle reads it.


Many GHers have said that while Coyle is lacking in media savvy and charisma, he's great at administration and management of the department. He's had ample opportunity to make the needed changes but can't quite seem to get it done. Stuff like this only makes me continue to question his overall acumen.
 

http://www.citypages.com/news/the-m...ile-shooting-themselves-in-the-foot/508993991

"When you're not a national power, college sports carry a different emotional tender. People show up not for the winning, but for the fond memories of alums, family affinities passed through generations. The attraction lies in the gentler collegiate pageantry, in rooting for something that feels more wholesome than a simple entertainment transaction.

Yet the U can’t stop intruding on this suspension of conventional sporting belief. It wants to be your friend, yet insists on behaving like Comcast. And no one wants to pay to see Comcast play. "

There needs to be a bold change in this area.

Interesting thoughts and in a nutshell you may have cracked the code on why attendance is and really has always been lacking. The University of Minnesota has such a great amount of students that commute and don't get a traditional Power 5 college experience. I would venture to guess that over half of all students are at the U for schooling only rather than a traditional college experience. I was not foot one of those, I lived on campus and for two of those years in my fraternity, which gave me fond memories of the U of M.
 



http://www.citypages.com/news/the-m...ile-shooting-themselves-in-the-foot/508993991

"When you're not a national power, college sports carry a different emotional tender. People show up not for the winning, but for the fond memories of alums, family affinities passed through generations. The attraction lies in the gentler collegiate pageantry, in rooting for something that feels more wholesome than a simple entertainment transaction.

Yet the U can’t stop intruding on this suspension of conventional sporting belief. It wants to be your friend, yet insists on behaving like Comcast. And no one wants to pay to see Comcast play. "

There needs to be a bold change in this area.

I look forward to Comcast's "Viewer Committee".
 

Interesting thoughts and in a nutshell you may have cracked the code on why attendance is and really has always been lacking. The University of Minnesota has such a great amount of students that commute and don't get a traditional Power 5 college experience. I would venture to guess that over half of all students are at the U for schooling only rather than a traditional college experience. I was not foot one of those, I lived on campus and for two of those years in my fraternity, which gave me fond memories of the U of M.

I was a commuter student in the 90s, back when it was pretty common. I think that has changed dramatically since then. I think the vast majority of undergrads live on or very near campus these days.
 

Thanks for the link. Good, concise article. Hope Coyle reads it.


Many GHers have said that while Coyle is lacking in media savvy and charisma, he's great at administration and management of the department. He's had ample opportunity to make the needed changes but can't quite seem to get it done. Stuff like this only makes me continue to question his overall acumen.

The marketing department there is awful and I don't know how they can't recognize that. Coyle needs to realize what he's not good at and just hire someone to do it for him, or hire an outside firm to do it. They need to talk to or at least analyze what the pro teams are doing around here to get fans and improve the fan experience.

I have said this before too, but his hires have really been no-brainers. Fleck was, on paper, the hottest coaching commodity. The credit there maybe needs to go to Kaler and the BOR for ok'ing the spending of the money necessary to entice Fleck to come here. Motzko was a for sure no-brainer with his pedigree. Whalen was a little outside the box, but I don't know how when you hear LW is interested in the job that you don't hire her.
 

Interesting thoughts and in a nutshell you may have cracked the code on why attendance is and really has always been lacking. The University of Minnesota has such a great amount of students that commute and don't get a traditional Power 5 college experience. I would venture to guess that over half of all students are at the U for schooling only rather than a traditional college experience. I was not foot one of those, I lived on campus and for two of those years in my fraternity, which gave me fond memories of the U of M.

Guessing you have not been on campus for some time. It's been 20 years since that really was the case. Far, far more students live on campus.
 





According to the webz:

• 35,500 undergrad students
• 23% live on-campus

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-minnesota-twin-cities-3969/student-life

JTG

I'm assuming exactly ZERO of the massive building boom of apartments all around the U factor into this 23%, correct? I am not a U grad but as I understand it a lot of students used to commute to campus. Now the vast majority live either on campus, or in the multitude of apartments and houses next to campus. That is a BIG difference. The sidewalks leading into campus from Dinkytown or Stadium village are quite busy with students that are not officially living "on campus" but for all intents and purposes - campus residents.
 

According to the webz:

• 35,500 undergrad students
• 23% live on-campus

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-minnesota-twin-cities-3969/student-life

JTG

The metric they used for "On campus" doesn't tell the full story though:

At this school, 23 percent of the students live in college-owned, -operated or -affiliated housing

This would not include students living the in non-university affiliated apartements going up "on campus", which is a sizable amount of students.
 

I'm assuming exactly ZERO of the massive building boom of apartments all around the U factor into this 23%, correct? I am not a U grad but as I understand it a lot of students used to commute to campus. Now the vast majority live either on campus, or in the multitude of apartments and houses next to campus. That is a BIG difference. The sidewalks leading into campus from Dinkytown or Stadium village are quite busy with students that are not officially living "on campus" but for all intents and purposes - campus residents.

This^
 

I think this may have been suggested before, but if the U really wants students going to games, then make it mandatory. Create some kind of Freshman Orientation class, and make it a requirement that students have to attend a certain # of football games to receive a passing grade. Make it so they have to get some ticket or card punched while leaving the stadium at the end of the game, to ensure they actually attended and stayed for most of the game.
 

I think this may have been suggested before, but if the U really wants students going to games, then make it mandatory. Create some kind of Freshman Orientation class, and make it a requirement that students have to attend a certain # of football games to receive a passing grade. Make it so they have to get some ticket or card punched while leaving the stadium at the end of the game, to ensure they actually attended and stayed for most of the game.

They already herd the freshmen to the first game of the year.

The rest of that stuff seems kinda terrible....
 

The metric they used for "On campus" doesn't tell the full story though:



This would not include students living the in non-university affiliated apartements going up "on campus", which is a sizable amount of students.

Correct. I'm assuming this basically includes the dorms and not much else. My daughter lives in the Bridges, which would not be counted. There are dozens of apartment buildings (not to mention houses) within a mile or two radius of the stadium that wouldn't be included inthe 23%.
 

23% certainly sounds low, can we all agree it's probably 50-60% of all undergrads live in a close proximity (close enough to walk to classes) of the University, or is that still too low of a number?
 

I think this may have been suggested before, but if the U really wants students going to games, then make it mandatory. Create some kind of Freshman Orientation class, and make it a requirement that students have to attend a certain # of football games to receive a passing grade. Make it so they have to get some ticket or card punched while leaving the stadium at the end of the game, to ensure they actually attended and stayed for most of the game.

Oh, Lord. "Surely you can't be serious," to quote from a great and deep work of art.
 


The metric they used for "On campus" doesn't tell the full story though:



This would not include students living the in non-university affiliated apartements going up "on campus", which is a sizable amount of students.

Exactly. WaHu and the tower that went in the Big Ten (I miss that place) block only add to the large amount of private housing complexes that are all over Stadium Village and Dinkytown. University Ave has gotten built up over the last 10 years as well.
 




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