Attendance is Barta's fault - Iowa only issue

One thing that can be done that would increase the experience tremendously is stop the tv timeout after the kickoff. There's no need for it. That commercial time can be done at other times. There's nothing worse than having a score, going to timeout, kicking off, going to timeout.

That's just a cost of the game. With all the money the networks are spending on broadcast rights, they insist on jamming more commercials in. The NFL is even worse than college.
 
It is for me. The only limitation I have whatsoever is income.

I get 7 weeks of PTO every year, I have the freedom to use it literally whenever I want, I’m not married so I have no spousal commitments, and my son is not in a weekend sport during football season.

But cost for two people to go to a Michigan or Ohio State game plus a hotel when they’re in town could easily push a grand. There are other things I’d do with $1,000 than drive to IC for a football game.

I got a hotel for OSU in 2006 and it was $400 a night and they required you get a room Friday and Saturday night. $800. The best value is actually Riverside Casino if you book early.
 
That's just a cost of the game. With all the money the networks are spending on broadcast rights, they insist on jamming more commercials in. The NFL is even worse than college.

I know they're trying to jam in the commercials....but what I'm saying is find other spots....it just kills the flow of the game. Make the timeouts after scores a little longer. Make the halftime a shade longer. Just don't kill the momentum of a game by going to a commercial after a score, come back and kickoff, and then go to another time out....
 
It is for me. The only limitation I have whatsoever is income.

I get 7 weeks of PTO every year, I have the freedom to use it literally whenever I want, I’m not married so I have no spousal commitments, and my son is not in a weekend sport during football season.

But cost for two people to go to a Michigan or Ohio State game plus a hotel when they’re in town could easily push a grand. There are other things I’d do with $1,000 than drive to IC for a football game.

Damn 7 weeks. You work for the government?
 
If you go enough you will have losses that suck. Think of Nebraska when Iowa comes to Lincoln. They know.

That was pretty much the whole 2005 season. 3 consecutive top 10s. I think before Michigan in 2005 we had a 20 some game home winning streak. That Michigan loss in '05 sucked, but it was kind of like "meh" we had to lose eventually. Then when we lost at Northwestern I think it was the most heartbreaking Iowa loss I've ever witnessed. It was horrific. 13 point lead late in the 4th. Gone. Those next couple years. Blech.
 
Damn 7 weeks. You work for the government?
Nope. Where I work you get 2 weeks after a year of service, 3 weeks at 5 years, 4 at 10 years, and 6 weeks PTO after 15 years. Our offices and plant shut down the week between Christmas and New Years and they pay us for that so I included it. I probably shouldn’t have because we don’t get to chose when to use that one.

Then we still get 7 paid holidays on top of it.

Oh and we get to choose a day off during the pay period that our birthday falls in—they call it your “birthday day.”

It’s honestly hard as shit to use it all. Our owners want you to get time off so they make you use it; there’s no roll over or buyout program or anything. They actually want you gone doing whatever it is that floats your boat. We still get shit done.

I could probably get a higher paying job closer to where I live, but I love the people I work with (and the ones I work for). I’ll be honest that there’s no corporate ladder where I’m at but my boss and his family treat us all like family. There is such a thing as contentment.
 
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I got a hotel for OSU in 2006 and it was $400 a night and they required you get a room Friday and Saturday night. $800. The best value is actually Riverside Casino if you book early.
My kid and I always stay at the Best Western in Newton. Day game we come down the night before, and vice versa. Super nice place, awesome breakfast, and $85.

If we come down the night before it makes the long drive shorter, after night games it makes the drive home in the morning an hour shorter.
 
Getting back to average attendance at college football games declining - would be interesting to see a breakdown between students, faculty, seat license season tickets, end zone season tickets - who is not renewing/attending... my wager is on students. Saw this at Wisconsin and Ohio St last year, so it can't be for lack of W's.

AD's have to make being in the stadium ≥ staying home. My now 25 yr old still talks about the '10 OSU flyover when he was in high school. When they bring back famous teams - introduce them all individually (still can't believe they didn't do that w/ 1980 Bball team). There should be new video every home (only 7 times/yr). Show practice video / locker room video that you wouldn't see unless you were at the game. Do like the bits where they give Brands / Heller a microphone during TV timeouts.
 
It's too expensive for the experience that you get now that you can watch it in 720p curled up on your couch for free. With better views, no buyer's remorse if your team get's blown out, 10 steps to the bathroom, no OWI risk for those of you who drink, and all the taco dip and pickle rolls you can stuff in your fat face. And if Stanley starts playing soft toss with Penn State's DBs, you can go mow grass.

Seriously though...for a family of 4 that lives, say 2 hours away, you've got $200 in tickets minimum, $50 round trip in gas, $100 in meals, popcorn, miscellaneous stuff, and that's just the bare minimum. So you spend $350-$500 to go watch Kirk Ferentz not play Noah Fant against NW and get beat when it's 17 degrees outside with a hammered tailgater swaying into you for three hours.

If you have to hotel it one night then you're in even deeper.

The people wondering why attendance declines are also people who think every family pulls two $100K plus incomes.

C'mon man....up your game to 4K.

Agree with your assessment. I did not renew last year after six years of season tix. And I only live 30 miles from IC.
NIU and UNI on the schedule was part of it.
The expense of buying decent seats was part of it.
The feeling I 'have' to use the tickets was part of it.
The getting jostled around and such was part of it.
Seeing the money being spent on luxury seating versus improving the rank and file's experience was part of it.

Instead, I re-directed the $1200 I would have spent for two tickets and went to two very fun away games (Minney and Illinois) and went to the MD game at Kinnick. The rest I watched on TV.
 
I got a hotel for OSU in 2006 and it was $400 a night and they required you get a room Friday and Saturday night. $800. The best value is actually Riverside Casino if you book early.
The best value is to Airbnb around the area.
 
Getting back to average attendance at college football games declining - would be interesting to see a breakdown between students, faculty, seat license season tickets, end zone season tickets - who is not renewing/attending... my wager is on students. Saw this at Wisconsin and Ohio St last year, so it can't be for lack of W's.

AD's have to make being in the stadium ≥ staying home. My now 25 yr old still talks about the '10 OSU flyover when he was in high school. When they bring back famous teams - introduce them all individually (still can't believe they didn't do that w/ 1980 Bball team). There should be new video every home (only 7 times/yr). Show practice video / locker room video that you wouldn't see unless you were at the game. Do like the bits where they give Brands / Heller a microphone during TV timeouts.
I have a huge framed shot of that 2010 flyover.

"Black and Gold and Red, White and Blue". It's the centerpiece of the wall behind my basement bar.
 
Nope. Where I work you get 2 weeks after a year of service, 3 weeks at 5 years, 4 at 10 years, and 6 weeks PTO after 15 years. Our offices and plant shut down the week between Christmas and New Years and they pay us for that so I included it. I probably shouldn’t have because we don’t get to chose when to use that one.

Then we still get 7 paid holidays on top of it.

Oh and we get to choose a day off during the pay period that our birthday falls in—they call it your “birthday day.”

It’s honestly hard as shit to use it all. Our owners want you to get time off so they make you use it; there’s no roll over or buyout program or anything. They actually want you gone doing whatever it is that floats your boat. We still get shit done.

I could probably get a higher paying job closer to where I live, but I love the people I work with (and the ones I work for). I’ll be honest that there’s no corporate ladder where I’m at but my boss and his family treat us all like family. There is such a thing as contentment.
Many places will ship you out the door rather than honor six or seven weeks PTO.

And replace you with someone younger, cheaper, and dumber. But they don't care. They will just let the immediate supervisor deal with hiring, training, and turnover. It sounds like you got a good thing going if you don't mind the commute.
 
Many places will ship you out the door rather than honor six or seven weeks PTO.

And replace you with someone younger, cheaper, and dumber. But they don't care. They will just let the immediate supervisor deal with hiring, training, and turnover. It sounds like you got a good thing going if you don't mind the commute.
I worked at a place that had "unlimited PTO" which was their way of shirking out of having to pay accrued vacation when people quit or got terminated. I was there 2 years. I got about 20 Saturdays and 30 Sundays off in 2 years. 0 weekdays off. My wife made me quit after a 4 day stretch without going home. She brought me Jamba Juice and clothes in the office but I couldn't talk because I was running a call. She said she was worried I would die if I stayed there and that it wasn't worth the extra $30k I would make.
 
Many places will ship you out the door rather than honor six or seven weeks PTO.

And replace you with someone younger, cheaper, and dumber. But they don't care. They will just let the immediate supervisor deal with hiring, training, and turnover. It sounds like you got a good thing going if you don't mind the commute.
Commute isn't bad, it's a town 7 miles away; from where I live it takes me 8 minutes. It's actually kind of nice sometimes to wind down a little bit.

A coworker and I were talking the other day, I'm thinking I must have made that drive at least 10,000 times. :(
 
Getting back to average attendance at college football games declining - would be interesting to see a breakdown between students, faculty, seat license season tickets, end zone season tickets - who is not renewing/attending... my wager is on students. Saw this at Wisconsin and Ohio St last year, so it can't be for lack of W's.

AD's have to make being in the stadium ≥ staying home. My now 25 yr old still talks about the '10 OSU flyover when he was in high school. When they bring back famous teams - introduce them all individually (still can't believe they didn't do that w/ 1980 Bball team). There should be new video every home (only 7 times/yr). Show practice video / locker room video that you wouldn't see unless you were at the game. Do like the bits where they give Brands / Heller a microphone during TV timeouts.

The schools only care about revenue. If 100 rich guys offered a million bucks a piece to buy out the whole stadium, these whores would take it and play the games in an empty stadium. NASCAR did the same thing 15-20 years ago and now they are lucky to get the tracks 2/3rds full (they can only do that for the biggest races like Daytona and the Southern 500) and most of the races are under 1/2 full. Many tracks also took out tens of thousands of seats.

Revenue maximization for some sports is something that will hurt them in the long run. Basically, if you price out families, you piss away your fan base a decade down the road. Which is why NASCAR now has deals that are absurd, you can get an adult ticket for $40-50 and kids under 12 are free. But it's too late. They already pissed off the fan base. Squeezing nickels out today causes a diminution in future brand equity and goodwill, but these blow dried MBAs that run these organizations don't care about the organizations in the long run, they just wanna get paid.

It only gets better for fans when attendance really falls and a revenue drop happens. Iowa is fine so long as they can tease us with a good run or have a great game like OSU every few years, but if that program has a few losing seasons in a row, it's gonna get really bad.
 
C'mon man....up your game to 4K.

Agree with your assessment. I did not renew last year after six years of season tix. And I only live 30 miles from IC.
NIU and UNI on the schedule was part of it.
The expense of buying decent seats was part of it.
The feeling I 'have' to use the tickets was part of it.
The getting jostled around and such was part of it.
Seeing the money being spent on luxury seating versus improving the rank and file's experience was part of it.

Instead, I re-directed the $1200 I would have spent for two tickets and went to two very fun away games (Minney and Illinois) and went to the MD game at Kinnick. The rest I watched on TV.

They'd have to broadcast in 4k, otherwise not worth it.
 
Hate to bust your bubble, but BTN, all Fox and Fox Sports channels, all ESPN channels, and ABC--all broadcast in 720p.

You've been gettin' robbed this whole time.
Only if you're talking about behind-the-times national sports channels. My 4k movies rock. Oh, and 4K upscales 720 and both 1080i/p to something quite remarkable. Just sayn.
 

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