Gopher Football Gameday: Am I in the Minority?

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HopHead

HopHead

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I can't begin to count the number of "just win and they will come" posts I have read here at GopherHole when discussing attendance. While I agree with the sentiment (we live in a state of bandwagon jumpers), I often wonder what people are doing differently than me and my friends that causes them to evaluate their gameday experience based solely on just the outcome of the game.

I could understand it when we played in the Metrodome. When we were there, I left home so I could park and get in my seat just in time for pre-game and left pretty much immediately after the clock struck zero and went straight home again. Everything was geared around spending the least amount of time as possible in and around the dome while still seeing the game.

With TCF Bank Stadium, each game day is a full day proceded by days of planning. We get to our tailgating lot, on the West Bank, hours before kickoff (not always easy for those 11:00 games). We eat, drink, play games and party until about an hour before kickoff. Then we pack up and take a nice lesiurely stroll through campus to the stadium. After the game, it's back to the lot where we party some more. We even start planning for the next home game when we get to do it all over again.

At the Metrodome, when the Gophers lost, I often felt like I had wasted a perfectly good Saturday. But so far at TCF Bank Stadium I have had a great time regardless of the outcome of the game. The friends that I tailgate with and sit next to all seem to feel the same way.

Don't get me wrong. I want to win as much as the next fan. If/when the Gophers finally get to a Rose Bowl, I will probably blow my entire family's Christmas budget so I can be at the game. But, I could never imagine giving up my season tickets just because the team isn't winning X number of games per year.

Sorry for the long post, but I am honestly baffled when I hear about "fans" who base their loyalty and season ticket decisions almost entirely on wins and losses. What are they doing wrong/different and what can we do to change their Gopher football experience so it's still positive even when the team is struggling?
 

HopHead said:
I can't begin to count the number of "just win and they will come" posts I have read here at GopherHole when discussing attendance. While I agree with the sentiment (we live in a state of bandwagon jumpers), I often wonder what people are doing differently than me and my friends that causes them to evaluate their gameday experience based solely on just the outcome of the game.

I could understand it when we played in the Metrodome. When we were there, I left home so I could park and get in my seat just in time for pre-game and left pretty much immediately after the clock struck zero and went straight home again. Everything was geared around spending the least amount of time as possible in and around the dome while still seeing the game.

With TCF Bank Stadium, each game day is a full day proceded by days of planning. We get to our tailgating lot, on the West Bank, hours before kickoff (not always easy for those 11:00 games). We eat, drink, play games and party until about an hour before kickoff. Then we pack up and take a nice lesiurely stroll through campus to the stadium. After the game, it's back to the lot where we party some more. We even start planning for the next home game when we get to do it all over again.

At the Metrodome, when the Gophers lost, I often felt like I had wasted a perfectly good Saturday. But so far at TCF Bank Stadium I have had a great time regardless of the outcome of the game. The friends that I tailgate with and sit next to all seem to feel the same way.

Don't get me wrong. I want to win as much as the next fan. If/when the Gophers finally get to a Rose Bowl, I will probably blow my entire family's Christmas budget so I can be at the game. But, I could never imagine giving up my season tickets just because the team isn't winning X number of games per year.

Sorry for the long post, but I am honestly baffled when I hear about "fans" who base their loyalty and season ticket decisions almost entirely on wins and losses. What are they doing wrong/different and what can we do to change their Gopher football experience so it's still positive even when the team is struggling?
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I agree with the thrust of your post. I'd only add that through the last of the "Dome" years, based on attendance Non-Conference games, there were probably only about 20,000 hard core Gopher fans. There were also another 20-25 thousand "Big Ten" or "Big game" fans. Only when they could attach themselves to a winner or, even more likely, avoid the series of heart-breaking losses would the other 20 to 25 thousand other followers show-up.

That among other reasons, could be why there are only 50,000 to 52,000 seats built at TCF. Maybe the game day experience, new to most Gopher fans and followers will change that.

I know that a few more wins at TCF certainly will!
 

HopHead said:
I can't begin to count the number of "just win and they will come" posts I have read here at GopherHole when discussing attendance. While I agree with the sentiment (we live in a state of bandwagon jumpers), I often wonder what people are doing differently than me and my friends that causes them to evaluate their gameday experience based solely on just the outcome of the game.

I could understand it when we played in the Metrodome. When we were there, I left home so I could park and get in my seat just in time for pre-game and left pretty much immediately after the clock struck zero and went straight home again. Everything was geared around spending the least amount of time as possible in and around the dome while still seeing the game.

With TCF Bank Stadium, each game day is a full day proceded by days of planning. We get to our tailgating lot, on the West Bank, hours before kickoff (not always easy for those 11:00 games). We eat, drink, play games and party until about an hour before kickoff. Then we pack up and take a nice lesiurely stroll through campus to the stadium. After the game, it's back to the lot where we party some more. We even start planning for the next home game when we get to do it all over again.

At the Metrodome, when the Gophers lost, I often felt like I had wasted a perfectly good Saturday. But so far at TCF Bank Stadium I have had a great time regardless of the outcome of the game. The friends that I tailgate with and sit next to all seem to feel the same way.

Don't get me wrong. I want to win as much as the next fan. If/when the Gophers finally get to a Rose Bowl, I will probably blow my entire family's Christmas budget so I can be at the game. But, I could never imagine giving up my season tickets just because the team isn't winning X number of games per year.

Sorry for the long post, but I am honestly baffled when I hear about "fans" who base their loyalty and season ticket decisions almost entirely on wins and losses. What are they doing wrong/different and what can we do to change their Gopher football experience so it's still positive even when the team is struggling?
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You got it right here.
Our state has bred a seriously fickle sports fan that loves to complain and jump on and off the bandwagon, all the time beating their chest about "how long they've been a fan" It's sickening and wrong.

Watch the first sign of winning and the "long time fans" will come out of the woodwork, then at the first letdown they'll be gone or the same fans will become negative nancys.

BTW, this is why I enjoy Gopherhole so much, most here are truly loyal gopher fans, but we are not the majority. It will change with the new stadium, but it's going to take 5-10 years to weed out the crap and build a fanbase that enjoys the gameday experience of the Bank like you and I do.
It's just going to take students graduating with fond gameday memories and filtering into the season ticket base, which right now contains said above crap.
 

HopHead said:
With TCF Bank Stadium, each game day is a full day proceded by days of planning...What are they doing wrong/different and what can we do to change their Gopher football experience so it's still positive even when the team is struggling?
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You are doing it right. Bring people who are on the fence for that experience. With some people it will stick, and with others it won't.

I understand the bandwagon mentality, it has been beaten into our collective brains for so long that there are so many options around here that you can afford to change your flavor to fit the team that is doing the best. It has become the acceptable/normal behavior. I grew up going to games at Memorial, and those days are seared into my memory. My two boys first experience with the college game was the dome, and I want them to spend the next X amount of years falling in love with going to the campus and experiencing game day just the way you described.

With my boys it will stick. And if I can get fence sitters to join me, and become a part of Gopher Nation, the notion of "casual fan" will fade.
 

It's all about getting people there. My brother has zero interest in Gopher football but he brought his son to a game and still raves about the experience....AND...it was the South Dakota State game.
 


Maximus said:
It's all about getting people there. My brother has zero interest in Gopher football but he brought his son to a game and still raves about the experience....AND...it was the South Dakota State game.
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Man, that game sucked. In every way. Weather, crowd, atmosphere, product on the field.

If he enjoyed that game, he'd probably still have a boner from the AFA or Cal games!
 

HopHead said:
Don't get me wrong. I want to win as much as the next fan. If/when the Gophers finally get to a Rose Bowl, I will probably blow my entire family's Christmas budget so I can be at the game.
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Only Christmas? If that day ever comes I'm blowing a hell of lot more than Christmas money. Besides, that will be everyones Christmas present - New Year's Day in Pasadena.
 

There were people who thought it was terrible that we built a 50,000 seat stadium. They thought we should have built a 100,000 seat stadium. Even if we could have gotten funding for a 100,000 seat stadium (doubtful), it would have been a terrible mistake, because it would be half full, and would feel like a tomb.

Even been to the football games the NSIC had at the Metrodome? It was like a tomb. But take that same crowd, and put it a stadium that seats 2,000 people, and it feels totally different. I'd like to see the stadium expanded, when demand is right, but not until then. Our stadium meets our needs, it's a great stadium, and it is a size that we can fill.

I think that there are some marketing things that can be done, put weekly ads in every small town paper in the state. Wouldn't cost very much, the papers would be happy for some ad revenue, and would buy us some good will. Might add a few more people making the drive down for a game.

Or how about for bars around the state that play Gophers games on their TVs, the U digs through their warehouses, and gives them some Gopher gear to put up on their walls? I think there are a lot more people who follow the Gophers than we might think, but they think they are the only ones.
 

Nice ideas rampage, we need more of a grass roots effort in this state. Sort of what the twins caravan does for the twins. Hell if budweiser can co opt with all the bars why not the gophers. If mystic lake can bus people into their casino, why not the gophers.

There are ideas, that need effort, that don't produce a net plus in revenue but still build the brand that will yield financial success later.
 



I love the idea about digging out old Gopher paraphernalia and handing it out to bars across the state.

It's sad, but I think the Twins took the marketing plan the Gophers should have adopted a long time ago. Minnesota may be "Twins Territory where they are YOUR team". In actuality, every Minnesotan has cash invested in that program, whether they care about football or not.

The Gophers truly are the state's team, even if they haven't done a good job of reminding the state that.
 

those 10000 may fall on my right...I go to the games and do not care what the tally at the gate says.
 

We also have plenty of former players around the state that we could lean on. Sure, many of them are driving down the games already, and others are watching the games on their couch. But they could be the nucleus of people getting together in groups in bars around the state to watch. Or how about former band members? Have them dust off their instruments and have them start playing Gopher songs in front of the bars before kickoff.

If there are ten people sitting on ten couches, that's not an "event". But 10 people cheering together in a bar, that gets to be something.
 

Air Force, Cal, Michigan State

People who attended those games have had very positive things to say about their TCF-experience. Everyone I have talked to who was at those games puts TCF ahead of Target Field.

Not to start another "anti-11AM kick-off" thread, but I think TCF holds-up much better at night. The people I talked to who went to the Illinois game had far-less positive things to say.

I would love to see the Big Ten waive the "no night games in November" rule for one game at TCF every November. Night games are one tradition we have from the last 30 years.
 



One or 2 night games, yes. But those years where every home game was Fri Sat 6:30P sucked.
The U students partied instead of going to games and the rest of the nation who watched football on Sat afternoons just assumed Minny had a bye.
 

I have every confidence that the game-day experience will only improve. Last season started with excitement, yes, but also a lot of confusion. Will I like my tailgating lot? Are my seats worth the price i paid? How early should I get there? Where are the best bars? Should I take the light rail, bus? Should I bring a raincoat, or a tanktop? Also, the parking system will be smoother, the buses will run more efficiently and quickly. Concessions, tickets, security, and all manner of logistics will be much more fine-tuned which will distract much less from the gameday experience.

The thing I am anticipating is people meeting each other week to week, making friends, carpooling to save on parking costs, and having epic tailgating sessions before and after games. If you tailgate... make friends, carpool, and have epic tailgating adventures!!! Tell your friends!!

We can't do much about the product on the field, but we can do a few things to help. People also need to stay till the end of the game, wear gold, and for God's sake, stand up on third down and yell. Also, yell at people who aren't yelling on third down. All of this will help.
 

MrGopher said:
I have every confidence that the game-day experience will only improve. Last season started with excitement, yes, but also a lot of confusion. Will I like my tailgating lot? Are my seats worth the price i paid? How early should I get there? Where are the best bars? Should I take the light rail, bus? Should I bring a raincoat, or a tanktop? Also, the parking system will be smoother, the buses will run more efficiently and quickly. Concessions, tickets, security, and all manner of logistics will be much more fine-tuned which will distract much less from the gameday experience.

The thing I am anticipating is people meeting each other week to week, making friends, carpooling to save on parking costs, and having epic tailgating sessions before and after games. If you tailgate... make friends, carpool, and have epic tailgating adventures!!! Tell your friends!!

We can't do much about the product on the field, but we can do a few things to help. People also need to stay till the end of the game, wear gold, and for God's sake, stand up on third down and yell. Also, yell at people who aren't yelling on third down. All of this will help.
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Great post. Especially the 3rd down part. I´m a little worried about my first season outside of the student section. I yell on EVERY defensive down, and generally start before the opposing offense breaks the huddle. I have heard that people get angry if you do this in other parts of the stadium. That boggles my mind.

Maybe there should be literature distributed in the programs explaining the function of ´the 12th man´?

Also, fellow holers, it´d be cool if some of us could meet up for tailgating. It would be fun to get together with other fellow die hards, and put faces with the online monikers we know so well.
 

AhliBobwa said:
Also, fellow holers, it´d be cool if some of us could meet up for tailgating. It would be fun to get together with other fellow die hards, and put faces with the online monikers we know so well.
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We should have a Gopherhole official gameday t-shirt. Gold, of course. Promote the website. Proceeds go to supporting our beloved Gopherhole.com.
 

I wish I could "like" this thread, facebook style.
 

Nothing will change

Until the university fixes the tailgating problem, the seats will be harder to fill. This year we will see less tailgating adjacent to the stadium. just too expensive for the non premium seat guy and those in the premium seats will take years to learn that tailgating is an essential part of the deal. The tailgating lots should be packed every game which will never happen with the current thought process.
 

An idea

One of the things I was toying around with last year but haven't had the time to go through with was to get together with a few other fans and get a premium tailgating spot. If you get 7-8 guys with season tickets, each could rotate the spot one game, and everybody else pays the $10 to park over on the West Bank. Or, if somebody has a truck/SUV you could load with coolers and whatnot, they get the spot and you all meet there before and after the game.

The gameday situation will improve, but it's on us to make it happen.
 

gopherjay said:
Until the university fixes the tailgating problem, the seats will be harder to fill. This year we will see less tailgating adjacent to the stadium. just too expensive for the non premium seat guy and those in the premium seats will take years to learn that tailgating is an essential part of the deal. The tailgating lots should be packed every game which will never happen with the current thought process.
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This is one of my main suggestions from the survey they did after last season. Market and sell the tailgating around the stadium so that it is PACKED!
 

I'd like to see the Athletic Department do a Gopher's Experience promotion. I envision they work with a private company, and take about 50 tickets, a bus and a tailgating tent. They go to small cities and towns and bring in fans each week a new group. The bus will take them to a tailgating lot where the tent was set up with a catered tailgating experience. They would then attend the game, the tickets would be close together, but not a block. Working through local, Chambers of Commerce, Lions, and other social organizations they should have no trouble selling out. Just think each home game 50 new ambassadors.
 


Thanks for all the great replies. There are some really good ideas out there. The athletic department can definitely do more to help get the word out. But the best way to inform people about how fun Gopher Football can be (win or lose) is a grass roots, word of mouth campaign, IMO. Or by groups like the Goal Line club. I can guarantee that if the University started advertising about the game day experience and not focusing on the team, the local media sports "experts" would make fun of them and say things like, "All they are trying to do is distract people from the fact that the team is no good".

Tools like FaceBook and Twitter can be used very effectively. If everybody here on GopherHole who is on Facebook posted updates about how much fun the game was even after a loss (especially after a loss), it would slowly become common knowledge in the region that going to a U of M game is a great way to spend a Saturday in the fall.

I would be a start in possibly solving the chicken/egg problem of we need better fan support to win games and we need to win games to get better fan support.
 

gopherjay said:
Until the university fixes the tailgating problem, the seats will be harder to fill. This year we will see less tailgating adjacent to the stadium. just too expensive for the non premium seat guy and those in the premium seats will take years to learn that tailgating is an essential part of the deal. The tailgating lots should be packed every game which will never happen with the current thought process.
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I agree with this. Most -- okay, mabye many -- Minnesota sports fans don't really appreciate college football because we haven't had a great product here for 40 years; this is an NFL town. The things that make college football special -- the rivalries, traditions, band, etc. ... I it's not that people don't understand them, but they don't appreciate them.

I really think the U messed up by going for the money grab with the tailgate lots. Now that we're out of the Dome, one thing the U can do for less hardcore fans is improve the game day experience. It improved automatically by moving to campus and an outdoor stadium, but tailgating and promoting the game day experience and tradition would help enhance interest among casual fans, even if the team isn't winning championships yet. Just get people out and encourage fun.
 

Hates Monikers;236646 [B said:
I really think the U messed up by going for the money grab with the tailgate lots[/B]. Now that we're out of the Dome, one thing the U can do for less hardcore fans is improve the game day experience. It improved automatically by moving to campus and an outdoor stadium, but tailgating and promoting the game day experience and tradition would help enhance interest among casual fans, even if the team isn't winning championships yet. Just get people out and encourage fun.
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I couldn't agree more. The stadium provided an opportunity for more long term thinking and planning about this stuff and instead they went for the kill when the opponent (fan apathy) was still strong... Long term thinking about developing traditions and great game day experiences would pay off far mor in the future than this short term money grab ever will....
 

I wish people that don't go to games, don't engage in the experience would stop calling themselves 'FANS'. Fan being short for fanatical, there is nothing fanatical about sitting at home on your Hawkeye, scratching your Badger. OK to say you 'follow' the Gophers, but not ok to say you are a fan.

Hophead, you have earned the right to call yourself a fan.
 

Love the post. My buddy and I go in on an extra set of tickets every year specifically to bring in new blood to TCF. There has never been a negative experience, and three of the newbies are now a part of our season ticket group. The important thing to remember is that we, the hardcore fans, are the University's most effective salespeople. Bring people in, be inclusive, make a day of it, make it FUN!! Thats how you get casual fans to commit to a program.

Taking a road trip is great too. This year, our group (12 people) is heading out to Wisconsin for the game. It should be a great time. That said, win some freaking trophy games!!!
 

I agree wholeheartedly about the game day experience at TCF versus the dome. I don't know why people would give up their seats so quickly. They will rue the day they did.
 

I like your idea nsmike, that would generate some good exposure for the program and game day experience while at the same time create fans who hopefully want to jump on board more consistantly or possibly encourage others to do so.

Another idea, similar but different would be to engage the youth (middle school, junior high aged) of our great state at each home game. Perhaps a temporary section (or permanent if the right donars would buy in) could be built to hold X number of seats designated to be the FUTURE STUDENT SECTION. The U could coordinate through each schoold district in the state (metro and out state) on some type of rotating basis to allocate tickets which would be free to the kids/school districts.

Ticket funding, private donars, great opportunity for the Casinos etc.etc., endowment type to encourage permanent year after year commitment.
Every child attending and adult supervisors would get a free Gophers T-shirt.

Details for a program like this could go on and on, I think you get my idea. This could certianly help promote the Gophers program for it's future. The game day experience these kids encounter just might mold them into long term fans and tailgaiters.
 

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