stocker08
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2009
- Messages
- 36,679
- Reaction score
- 20,965
- Points
- 113
This is just the beginning. This year is the reasonable increase.
+08
This is just the beginning. This year is the reasonable increase.
I can see Iowa having a lower turnout. After losing to Illinois, there was talk that the Gophs would go 0-4 through November. However, that should have turned around after absolutely destroying Iowa in every phase of the game. I don't know if there were even 35k Gopher fans in the seats against OSU and the Gophers were ranked #25. That has to change.
According to ESPN, the official attendance number was 45,778 for the OSU game. I think that is based on tickets sold vs. people walking through the gates. Your point is valid. Ranked #25 against the #8 team (at the time) absolutely should threaten a sell out. Yes, it was cold and snowing. But we are Minnesotans - get over it. You can ski later.
To be fair, back in the old days the TV experience wasn't nearly as fantastic as it is now so there really wasn't an option between braving the cold and having a great viewing experience. If you wanted to see the game you had to attend. Now, it's pretty easy to sit at home if the weather is iffy with a 60" HDTV.Attending games at the bank since it's opening has really changed my view on Minnesotan toughness. For some it seems like a stiff brisk wind and clouds are enough to keep them away from an outdoor event. Not to mention snow.
We have along ways to go as a fanbase before enough fans have "grown up" on outdoor gopher football. Too many got used to the dome or something.
That OSU game should have been a testament to our Minnesota heritage, instead it was another reminder of how far we as fans have to go before truly embracing the elements here.
Attending games at the bank since it's opening has really changed my view on Minnesotan toughness. For some it seems like a stiff brisk wind and clouds are enough to keep them away from an outdoor event. Not to mention snow.
You could get tickets to a Vikings game vs the Jets this year for like $6 the morning of the game. It wasn't even that cold. Minnesotans are not tough at all when it comes to fandom. Although we've known that for decades.
What? We've known that the teams have sucked for decades? Is that what you were referring too?
The Gophers haven't rewarded their fans with a Big Ten Championship since 1967 or a Rose Bowl trip since JFK was President. The Vikings haven't won their conference since 1977 and you're whining about scalpers prices for a meaningless game ending another meaningless season. Anybody who's stuck through most/all of those godforsaken seasons has been pretty damn tough, big football fans or idiots.
Those sitting in the stands against the Jets probably fall in the latter category. Though the Vikings did reward that cowardly faithful with a win didn't they?
Who knows, maybe this year Kill and Zimmer won't close their seasons with 3/4 losses. Do that a few times and there could even be a demand for all those meaningless games.
I would categorize a less than one percent change in tickets "flat," but the article probably gets more clicks if they use "drop slightly."
We're talking about a couple hundred tickets here on a base of almost 30,000!
I'm sure they wanted to just call it a straight drop, but it was just too much of a stretch.
Okay, so we'll only attend cold games (or games at all for that matter) during winning seasons. We're so tough.
And the whole argument goes out the window when the 10-6 division champion Vikings couldn't sell out their home playoff game in 2008. Their first home playoff game in 8 years! Indoors! You should have heard the "Let's go Eagles" chants. It was embarrassing.
Minnesotans are crummy sports fans. It's not a secret.
You should talk to this guy. He at least had a clue.
mnsportsgeek: Young fans
I'll have to admit that I didn't care at all about the Gophers growing up. Nobody in school cared, so I didn't care. It wasn't until I enrolled at the University that I fell in love with Gopher Football and Basketball.
Now my friends who went to other private colleges all keep up with Gopher Football, but they're like most Minnesota sports fans and only follow the hot team. Right now that is Gopher Football, the Wild, and the Vikings. The Vikings and Wild are the only staple in this town that people will watch regardless of success, and I bet they wouldn't survive if they were terrible for 10+ years.
I guess the question is what kind of fandom level are we trying to reach? The Wolves and Twins will have all the support they could want during playoff seasons. But they won't sell tickets during down years. The Wild and Vikings sell tickets even if they stink for 5 years in a row. If we're trying to reach Twins and Wolves levels, I think we're nearly there. If we're trying to reach Vikings and Wild levels, it's gonna take Rose Bowls and 10-15 years of 8-12 win seasons. We're gonna have to earn our way into that category by being consistently the best team or top 2 in town for an extended period of time.
Looks like someone is bored today? But anyways...
I'm confused about your point...So I'm not sure what you're trying to say...Again, not sure what you're trying to say...Although I wouldn't call the passionate fans idiots as you have done
The $50 donation in those sections must not be that much a detriment this year. Will be when the price increases a lot more. Like I said these are people that already live in the TC or Western Wisconsin so they must be diehard fans of those teams. The one lady and his wife are Badgers fans but attend more Gopher games than Badgers because they live in Cottage Grobe and seem to love football.Wow! So you are saying those Badger and Huskers fans were willing to pay the additional season seating licences to get tickets for their teams away game with the Gophers? Amazing! What happen to the story going around that they would be picking them up after the predicted significant drop in season tickets?
Anybody who's stuck through most/all of those godforsaken seasons has been pretty damn tough, big football fans or idiots. Those sitting in the stands against the Jets probably fall in the latter category.
"Anybody who's stuck through most/all of those godforsaken seasons has been pretty damn tough, big football fans or idiots." You've ruled them out as being tough or big fans but you wouldn't call them idiots.
I gotcha now..Glad we have intelligent guys like you to all the rest of us idiots.
Hey, don't sell yourself short. You might be the king of the idiots.
Seemed pretty intelligent back in May. Too much booze, paint hips or drugs?
Too many sporting events as it turns out.
Are you gonna add any more paragraphs to that or are you done?
Okay, so we'll only attend cold games (or games at all for that matter) during winning seasons. We're so tough.
And the whole argument goes out the window when the 10-6 division champion Vikings couldn't sell out their home playoff game in 2008. Their first home playoff game in 8 years! Indoors! You should have heard the "Let's go Eagles" chants. It was embarrassing.
Minnesotans are crummy sports fans. It's not a secret.
This is just the beginning. This year is the reasonable increase.
Attending games at the bank since it's opening has really changed my view on Minnesotan toughness. For some it seems like a stiff brisk wind and clouds are enough to keep them away from an outdoor event. Not to mention snow.
We have along ways to go as a fanbase before enough fans have "grown up" on outdoor gopher football. Too many got used to the dome or something.
That OSU game should have been a testament to our Minnesota heritage, instead it was another reminder of how far we as fans have to go before truly embracing the elements here.
True, we didn't sell out a game. But remember that last year we had the bleacher seats (do we still this season? I recall they aren't there right now. Probably just a summer thing). So a sellout last season would mean ~53,000 people. We had 51,241 at the Purdue game last year, which would have been a sellout in the normal seating configuration.
Your point is valid, though. No reason we can't get at least 50,000 to show up when tOSU is in town. Or even Iowa (only 49,000 for that game).
I'll remember the OSU game until the Alzheimer's kicks in (it's in my family, so I'm toast). The weather greatly added to the experience. I don't remember being cold at all (and I was mostly sober for that one). Heck, it even made a minor celebrity out of the dude with the Dilly Bar.The actual temperature at games seems to be a crapshoot for me. I was really cold during the 2013 Wisconsin game at an announced 18 degree temp and the 2010 Iowa game, even though I was in the sun the whole first half, in my former seats that were generally out of the wind.
The OSU game, with a 15 degree kickoff temp. felt really nice to me, even though there was no sun at all and it was snowing.
For me, and when it is below 40 degrees,I almost always wear basketball shoes, layers, a long wool coat, and cover my head well, the temperature does not matter at all. The next step would be to wear one more layer and real boots. I cannot fathom how anyone can complain about the cold if they do not dress correctly. Layers are the key, combined with actually covering your head and hands with some loose gloves or mittens.
Being in the rotten Metrodome for almost 30 years was so toxic that I relish every outdoor game.
Skinny jeans and beard will not be enough.