Empty Seats
- Thread starter NCHawker
- Start date
deanvogs
Well-Known Member
I would think that AD's around the country are beginning to get worried about this. Iowa is going to have a SERIOUS problem with attendance next year. With the weakest home slate in years, and with KF fatigue fully set in, Iowa's attendance is gonna drop next year, and I'm afraid by a bunch. Just yesterday my group was talking about skipping season tix next year, and hitting away games in Madison, Chicago, and Lincoln. Then we can always pick up cheap tickets for any home game we want to go to (you could get a $20 ticket to the Wicky game, easy).
Super hi-def TV baby with surround sound speakers, and no idiots sitting around you. I have had season tickets since the Cummings years and until the last couple years have loved going to the games, almost every one in nearly 35+ years.
A couple years ago at Kinnick i almost got pushed forward two rows by a hawk fan trying to fight a visiting fan in the row between us. That stuff happens but for several years we had an angry hawk fan sitting by us. This guy cussed Stanzi and other hawks in 2009 for every mistake. He was not a happy person.
I have watched a few games at home this year giving away or selling my tickets and it has been fun.
A couple years ago at Kinnick i almost got pushed forward two rows by a hawk fan trying to fight a visiting fan in the row between us. That stuff happens but for several years we had an angry hawk fan sitting by us. This guy cussed Stanzi and other hawks in 2009 for every mistake. He was not a happy person.
I have watched a few games at home this year giving away or selling my tickets and it has been fun.
My son and grandsons are in the Detroit area now for a few years so I cant wait to go to MSU and Mich games. I have been to a lot of away venues close by over the years and just drove to Detroit. 10 hour drive and going to try to make a couple games up there and visit the grandsons.
MNHawkeyeFreak
Well-Known Member
Oh sure you can have jerks sitting next to you in any live event. Certainly as one gets older your BST (bull **** tolerance) for such events goes down. A lot of Iowa fans are Middle age or older, and many, due to lowered BST, health and age, may not be willing or able to go to games starting about now. Younger people may not have the money to spend and their expectations are different. This is the first year my dad hasn't gone since the mid eighties but it's due to his health, not because the team isn't living up to expectations.
Kinnick was much fuller than the pictures above. One thing that was mentioned was the amount of red in the student section. This could have a result of the students not being allowed to stay in the dorms after Friday night. If students wanted to go to the game, they either had to get permission to stay in the dorm OR find someone to stay with off campus. I would guess that Friday's student section will be about the same, since students aren't allowed back into the dorms until Sunday.
Tickets were $10/each on StubHub, an hour before the Wisconsin game.
Debbie tickets were around $60, last Friday, and many are now under $40.
It's all live sports that are going to suffer.
With the improved forecast and cheaper tickets, I'm tempted to go see the Iowa game this Friday, since I'll be in from Nashville.
Then, there's a good chance that Iowa will be playing in Music City Bowl, against some SEC "powerhouse."
You know that ALL SEC teams are powerhouses and the SEC Speed can't be overcome.
Debbie tickets were around $60, last Friday, and many are now under $40.
It's all live sports that are going to suffer.
With the improved forecast and cheaper tickets, I'm tempted to go see the Iowa game this Friday, since I'll be in from Nashville.
Then, there's a good chance that Iowa will be playing in Music City Bowl, against some SEC "powerhouse."
You know that ALL SEC teams are powerhouses and the SEC Speed can't be overcome.
A growing number of fans do not want to stand the whole game.
Yes, in moments, like a touchdown and when the defense is trying to stop the opposition on 3rd down, but the standing the whole game is silly, and doesn't make me more of a real fan, than one who stands on those key moments.
BLKNGOLD48
Well-Known Member
I had 2 extra tickets to the Wisky game, couldn't sell them for $10 a piece a hour before the game. Just held onto them for more room 
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
The TV experience has gotten materially better and the in person experience has gotten worse. In person is now worse because when the games are cold and they have extra stoppage time for new TV timeouts or replay reviews you have a few extra 4 minute periods of absolutely no action. My dad goes to a bunch of Nebraska games and he said there were a ton of empty seats this past Saturday and that he will not go to any game on BTN when the temp is below 40 or it is raining. The ABC/ESPN games don't seem as bad, but it is infuriating watching the BTN games where they add extra commercial time and it is used to advertise BTN programming or the member universities -- you're already fleecing us for $13 a year for the content, do you really need to cram extra commercials in? If anything, the BTN games should have fewer commercials.
Sparky
Well-Known Member
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
Not good enough.
Imagine her voice over standard def viewed on a 27 inch tube television.
/thread
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
Isn't that Spartan Stadium in the first pic? That's not a bad team.
DesMoinesHawki
Well-Known Member
This will continue to be a problem... At Iowa... And across the country. Technology allows us to enjoy the games in ways never experienced before. We have smartphones and 65 inch flat screens. We have shorter attention spans. We have (or create) more demands on our time. When you factor that in with a so-so product fans will stay away... And we are seeing that. I had season tickets for 10 years... And now, I enjoy the game at home.... Big screen and my smoker fired up on the deck. I couldn't justify the cost and time any longer.
Iowa's attendance problem has been slowly building... And next year will really show that fans will no longer pay for an average product. Do I plunk down a few thousand for some season tickets... Food... Gas... Etc., and watch an average product? Or do I keep my money and enjoy the game from home? It's really not a hard decision. Next year Barta will see how big of problem he really has.
Iowa's attendance problem has been slowly building... And next year will really show that fans will no longer pay for an average product. Do I plunk down a few thousand for some season tickets... Food... Gas... Etc., and watch an average product? Or do I keep my money and enjoy the game from home? It's really not a hard decision. Next year Barta will see how big of problem he really has.
guffus
Well-Known Member
Does anybody even look at these pictures? The bands are on the field, I am guessing way before the start of the game.
All this proves is that fans do not show up to see the band. Show me a picture when they are actually playing football!
Sparky
Well-Known Member
They're all from halftime. Can't remember where I read that though.
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
It's not even the team being bad for me. Here is a list of what is different from 2006-07 to today that have nothing to do with the product on the field (in no particular order):
1) Replays are frequent and take forever - makes game longer bince they jam TV timeouts into them and the long TV timeouts can really change momentum (not great when it is 25 degrees outside)
2) Lost my seats due to AD greed
3) Tailgating crackdown and changes with respect to the hospital and parking regulations have drastically diminished tailgating scene
4) Season now ends after Thanksgiving which adds a late season, awful weather game every other year
5) We'll never get to see the Big Ten trophy handed out in Kinnick like we did in 2004 - magical moment gone
6) The schedule has been diluted to high hell and teams I remember watching and learning to hate growing up, Michigan, MSU and OSU (plus relative newcomer and great rival PSU) have virtually been eliminated from the home schedule
7) Even before the expansion that shifted the aforementioned teams off the regular schedule, we missed great rival Illinois for 6 years and even missed Wisconsin, which is a great rival
Basically, they (and I don't lay all the blame on Iowa here) have taken a tradition rich product that made me want to drive 3.5 to 4 hours each way and turned it into something that I don't care about nearly as much. The advent of widespread HD TV has further added to my desire to stay home, though I dislike the narrow angles they use bince I can't see when guys get open down the field. Don't get me wrong, if I lived in IC or CR, I would still be out there, but there has been such a drop in gameday experience that I don't really desire to drive 8 hours anymore. I still love college football and hit several Northwestern games a year, but they (a) are cool about tailgating, (b) offer a very reasonably priced product and (c) are unlikely to steal my seats from me. It's a much more fan-oriented experience, plus they actually play BCS teams other than ISU at home (in games I want to see), including Cal, Stanford, Notre Dame and a resurgent Duke team.
