Low Attendance?

[yosef13]

Enhance the experience? Im going to a football game not the county fair.

I think you have hit the nail on the head.

This is a direct quote from the Doug Gillin on this weeks Ask the AD.

"The football team played great last weekend and the scoreboard looked great, but there are ways to make the fan experience even better"

Not sure what y'all are missing.

[bcoach]

Enhance the experience? Im going to a football game not the county fair.

I think you have hit the nail on the head.

This is a direct quote from the Doug Gillin on this weeks Ask the AD.

"The football team played great last weekend and the scoreboard looked great, but there are ways to make the fan experience even better"

Not sure what y'all are missing.

That is the exact point. We are not missing anything. We are there to watch a football game. Some of us don't need a rock concert, or a beer garden, or a track removal, or what ever else. We just want to watch a football game. Those that need all this other stuff just must not be into the game as much as we are.
Oh and yes the board did look great

[EastHallApp]

Enhance the experience? Im going to a football game not the county fair.

I think you have hit the nail on the head.

This is a direct quote from the Doug Gillin on this weeks Ask the AD.

"The football team played great last weekend and the scoreboard looked great, but there are ways to make the fan experience even better"

Not sure what y'all are missing.

That is the exact point. We are not missing anything. We are there to watch a football game. Some of us don't need a rock concert, or a beer garden, or a track removal, or what ever else. We just want to watch a football game. Those that need all this other stuff just must not be into the game as much as we are.

That's great and I hear ya. To a large extent, I'm in your camp.

The problem is that we can't fill the stadium with hardcore football fans alone. So if we want to get 30K-plus through the gates with regularity - let alone think about adding more seats - we need to find ways to make the venue more appealing. Which is what Gillin and probably most other college ADs and pro GMs in the nation are doing.

[yosef13]

Appeal to the masses. I think that is the key to success, not being short sighted. We want to attract the die hards like you, all the way down to the novice. This how you maximize your potential. If we only cater to the die hards, we will not succeed. Ask Jerry Richardson or Jerry Jones about that.

[bcoach]

Appeal to the masses. I think that is the key to success, not being short sighted. We want to attract the die hards like you, all the way down to the novice. This how you maximize your potential. If we only cater to the die hards, we will not succeed. Ask Jerry Richardson or Jerry Jones about that.

I understand. I was just answering the question " what are you missing" and the answer was that many of us aren't missing anything. I understand that attendance at almost all sporting events is down. Many fans have to be stimulated in other ways than just the game or the race. For those people it is going to be very hard to compete with TV.

[yosef13]

Appeal to the masses. I think that is the key to success, not being short sighted. We want to attract the die hards like you, all the way down to the novice. This how you maximize your potential. If we only cater to the die hards, we will not succeed. Ask Jerry Richardson or Jerry Jones about that.

I understand. I was just answering the question " what are you missing" and the answer was that many of us aren't missing anything. I understand that attendance at almost all sporting events is down. Many fans have to be stimulated in other ways than just the game or the race. For those people it is going to be very hard to compete with TV.

Agree, but we have to try. Sounds like many people here either don't understand or care about improving the product, or appealing to anyone other than like minded people. It's an uphill battle, but I think Gillian is taking the right approach.

[bcoach]

Appeal to the masses. I think that is the key to success, not being short sighted. We want to attract the die hards like you, all the way down to the novice. This how you maximize your potential. If we only cater to the die hards, we will not succeed. Ask Jerry Richardson or Jerry Jones about that.

I understand. I was just answering the question " what are you missing" and the answer was that many of us aren't missing anything. I understand that attendance at almost all sporting events is down. Many fans have to be stimulated in other ways than just the game or the race. For those people it is going to be very hard to compete with TV.

Agree, but we have to try. Sounds like many people here either don't understand or care about improving the product, or appealing to anyone other than like minded people. It's an uphill battle, but I think Gillian is taking the right approach.

I agree

[Rekdiver]

Enhance the experience? Im going to a football game not the county fair.

I think you have hit the nail on the head.

This is a direct quote from the Doug Gillin on this weeks Ask the AD.

"The football team played great last weekend and the scoreboard looked great, but there are ways to make the fan experience even better"

Not sure what y'all are missing.

B E E R................

[Rekdiver]

Music and dancing bears arent going to improve the fan experience. comfortable seats, being CLOSE to the action (i.e. get rid of the track) having student interaction with the BOD. Get teams like WAKE and a conference with regional rivalries and you will get more and more interested fans. We are competing with TV and a comfortable couch. A time change that allows people to drive up and leave before dark. Improving the experience of those that are there like you and me is wasted. we will be there anyway.

[yosef13]

Music and dancing bears arent going to improve the fan experience. comfortable seats, being CLOSE to the action (i.e. get rid of the track) having student interaction with the BOD. Get teams like WAKE and a conference with regional rivalries and you will get more and more interested fans. We are competing with TV and a comfortable couch. A time change that allows people to drive up and leave before dark. Improving the experience of those that are there like you and me is wasted. we will be there anyway.

Exactly. That is what the discussion is about. Expanding and improving. That is what I'm referring to when I say, enhance the experience, that you so cleverly mocked . People are in temporary bleachers and a soggy hill. This needs to change for a more desirable fan experience.

While music and "dancing bears" do not enhance the experience from your perspective or mine, it might for others. Especially casual football fans or female students, not to stereotype. So do we allow those people to disconnect never to return, or do we find ways to appeal to them too?

With national attendance trends down, I think we might want to get creative and broaden our appeal. Gillin seems to have a pulse on this issue. You do know that video board was not update for me and you, right?

[APPdiesel]

I know it's part of our tradition, but why not banner/sell the hill as advertising? A giant "Elevation: 3,333" would look cool. Push GA to the temporary bleachers and only open the hill when we need it. Then those people who used to sit on the hill won't get blasted by (and then complain about) having a super loud sound system right over their heads. Lol, only common sense there...you sit 20 ft away from a gigantic sound system *it's gonna be loud*.

[huskie3]

We could go the way of Oklahoma State. In an effort to boost season ticket sales they mark one game a year as premium- season ticket holders only. This year it is Oklahoma game.
I know Miami and Wake pretty much did this for us. I regard students as season ticket holders per the student fees.

[EastHallApp]

I know it's part of our tradition, but why not banner/sell the hill as advertising? A giant "Elevation: 3,333" would look cool. Push GA to the temporary bleachers and only open the hill when we need it. Then those people who used to sit on the hill won't get blasted by (and then complain about) having a super loud sound system right over their heads. Lol, only common sense there...you sit 20 ft away from a gigantic sound system *it's gonna be loud*.

Some of those people who sit on the hill probably just wouldn't show up in that case since you eliminated their preferred seating area.

I'm afraid you are right about the sound level though. Wish they would have located it behind the walkway and/or elevated higher, for multiple reasons. Nothing to be done for it now, of course.

[bcoach]

I know it's part of our tradition, but why not banner/sell the hill as advertising? A giant "Elevation: 3,333" would look cool. Push GA to the temporary bleachers and only open the hill when we need it. Then those people who used to sit on the hill won't get blasted by (and then complain about) having a super loud sound system right over their heads. Lol, only common sense there...you sit 20 ft away from a gigantic sound system *it's gonna be loud*.

In all fairness it is way too loud in section 203 which is just a little more than 20 feet.

[bigdaddyg]

When pictures of the new board were going up I raised the question on another thread regarding the sound. I asked something to the affect of could people still sit on the hill close to the board with the noise? More or less asked what this would do to available seating there. Also watched a little bit of the Boise game. Noticed the end zone bleachers and can't tell any difference between them and our temps on television.

[APPdiesel]

Clemson had similar metal bleachers in their west endzone for years.

[t4pizza]

Do any of our state universities allow alcohol sales? ---

We already sell alcohol at the Rock. It is just in the club room (or so I have been told), not the general seating areas. If we can sell it to some, can't imagine we can't sell it to all.

[WVAPPeer]

Do any of our state universities allow alcohol sales? ---

We already sell alcohol at the Rock. It is just in the club room (or so I have been told), not the general seating areas. If we can sell it to some, can't imagine we can't sell it to all.

OK - let me rephrase my question - Do any of our state universities sell alcohol within the stadium during games?

[Appftw]

Yes. I heard that UNCC introduced a beer garden. I think it was out of absolute necessity though, because you'd have to be hammered to sit through their games. Not sure of the particulars but it's clearly possible.

[EastHallApp]

Yes. I heard that UNCC introduced a beer garden. I think it was out of absolute necessity though, because you'd have to be hammered to sit through their games. Not sure of the particulars but it's clearly possible.

Excellent news - next year's road trip just got even more fun.