Outdoor v Indoor football

[Nidaros]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

I think it would be nice to incentivize season ticket holders with extra priority points if they buy playoff tickets.

If there is one thing I do not need in this lifetime, is more priority points, but I am not everybody, so your idea does have merit especially those who are hoping for better seating through priority points. A very good idea. I would drop an email to Justin Sell.

[trueblue]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

I wonder if they could build a magnificent Jack the mascot statue on the southwest "student" entrance to block the sun for these late afternoon/early evening winter games. They could have it facing the Campanile and beckoning fans toward the stadium (only half kidding). They could even have similar statues for the "Pride," "Barnyard Cadets," ROTC, and the kid who dresses up as a carrot standing shoulder to shoulder, because there were a few times that it was difficult to follow second half game action occurring south of midfield, even with sunglasses -- a relatively minor inconvenience though, and mostly my attempt to get a Jack statue on campus.

Fortunately, they did preserve the port-a-pottie access in the east side parking lot for the traditionalists (and Bison fans).

I also thought it would have been great to preserve the heritage by naming the stadium Coughlin Alumni Stadium at Dykhouse Field or something, but of course I understand the reasons for the current title. Nevertheless, I agree that the stadium is awesome.

That sun helped keep some of us warm! 😎

[trueblue]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

I think it would be nice to incentivize season ticket holders with extra priority points if they buy playoff tickets.

I wholeheartedly agree! Also giving out some temporary parking passes wouldn't be bad either. The jackrabbit club contribution and cost of 2 tickets is about all I can justify (and my wife will allow) for us to spend. There were large number of open spots in priority parking for both playoff games. Still under 50 and don't mind the walk from west side of Medary but would have been nice to have another reward for buying my tickets besides the option of purchasing more (I did ask around but couldn't find anyone to buy any for).

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

I wholeheartedly agree! Also giving out some temporary parking passes wouldn't be bad either. The jackrabbit club contribution and cost of 2 tickets is about all I can justify (and my wife will allow) for us to spend. There were large number of open spots in priority parking for both playoff games. Still under 50 and don't mind the walk from west side of Medary but would have been nice to have another reward for buying my tickets besides the option of purchasing more (I did ask around but couldn't find anyone to buy any for).

Free parking is a great idea.

[thumper_76]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

So we really look at Montana as the gold standard for Northern outdoor atmosphere to aspire to, right? So I did some looking into their historic attendance from when they expanded Wa Griz from 13k to 18.4k (1995). Their 1995 season attendance in the regular season goes like this:

12,375
12,508
18,505
11,723
14,088

Interesting to note that those numbers seem fairly similar, no? Even more fun is their sell out was against Boise St, who was number 3 at the time and a big rival of them at the time I believe.

The reason I even thought to look those numbers up is because I remembered UAH posting on AGS in a thread with old photos of Wa-Griz being constructed about someone making a comment to him at the time wondering how they would ever fill that place. Fair to say nobody wonders that anymore. So maybe the woe is me about our attendance is premature. Yes our playoff attendance sucks but I certainly am not resigning myself to the idea that we will never get to the point we want to be at. Would a some help? Absolutely, it’s silly to argue against that, but as many have pointed out, would it help enough to offset the cost? Likely not. The reasons have been pointed out and the best one is that for us in Brookings the extra cost of a large dome the size of the Fargomall wouldn’t be able to be justified by the concerts and other events a city the size of Fargo can support, justifying city involvement. I think it makes more sense for us to do what we did and work to grow the fanbase. It can be done. The weather gets cold, sure, but I’m betting we all know of people who have gone to more than one cold Huskers, Vikings, or Packers game. I know I’ve repeated this over and over but the way to make our attendance grow is to make the game day experience a must attend event for people. I also think we are getting there. The best game day environments I’ve been to (Lambeau, Camp Randall, NDSU, Nebraska) all have one common thread. The game is an all day event that has party type of atmosphere. The party carries into the stadium for the game and is what makes those places so great. Also, those places have been cultivating that for years and years. It’s not a snap your fingers, we’re good and have amazing players you should show up kind of thing. If it was that easy every school would have great playoff attendance.


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[Cowbell]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

The atmosphere and attendance in Frost Arena changed when they moved the students to the ends. It's too bad as the teams belong first and foremost to the students. I get the reality of the need for additional revenue so this is an observation, not a criticism. And, anyone who has sat in the student section at the Dana will tell you that it has a different feel than sitting on the east or west sides.

[Nidaros]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

So we really look at Montana as the gold standard for Northern outdoor atmosphere to aspire to, right? So I did some looking into their historic attendance from when they expanded Wa Griz from 13k to 18.4k (1995). Their 1995 season attendance in the regular season goes like this:

12,375
12,508
18,505
11,723
14,088

Interesting to note that those numbers seem fairly similar, no? Even more fun is their sell out was against Boise St, who was number 3 at the time and a big rival of them at the time I believe.

The reason I even thought to look those numbers up is because I remembered UAH posting on AGS in a thread with old photos of Wa-Griz being constructed about someone making a comment to him at the time wondering how they would ever fill that place. Fair to say nobody wonders that anymore. So maybe the woe is me about our attendance is premature. Yes our playoff attendance sucks but I certainly am not resigning myself to the idea that we will never get to the point we want to be at. Would a some help? Absolutely, it’s silly to argue against that, but as many have pointed out, would it help enough to offset the cost? Likely not. The reasons have been pointed out and the best one is that for us in Brookings the extra cost of a large dome the size of the Fargomall wouldn’t be able to be justified by the concerts and other events a city the size of Fargo can support, justifying city involvement. I think it makes more sense for us to do what we did and work to grow the fanbase. It can be done. The weather gets cold, sure, but I’m betting we all know of people who have gone to more than one cold Huskers, Vikings, or Packers game. I know I’ve repeated this over and over but the way to make our attendance grow is to make the game day experience a must attend event for people. I also think we are getting there. The best game day environments I’ve been to (Lambeau, Camp Randall, NDSU, Nebraska) all have one common thread. The game is an all day event that has party type of atmosphere. The party carries into the stadium for the game and is what makes those places so great. Also, those places have been cultivating that for years and years. It’s not a snap your fingers, we’re good and have amazing players you should show up kind of thing. If it was that easy every school would have great playoff attendance.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A very good analysis. It's hard to believe that this was done on a IPhone.

[Jackbacker123]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

Times are a changing. We have had more success than we could of hoped for and yet attendance has flat lined. The SLT is very well attended but I guarantee there are many Jacks fans there that do not go to a single home game.

I know many of those "Jacks Fans" that do not attend a single game before the SLT. Many of them cannot name a player on the team other than Daum.

[bigticket1]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

SLT is an event...the "place to be" that weekend.

Alcohol availability is a big factor in that. Would those kind of crowds show up if it was a "dry" event ?

[Jackbacker123]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

Alcohol availability is a big factor in that. Would those kind of crowds show up if it was a "dry" event ?

Nope.

[UND92]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

We in Grand Forks have a very nice Indoor Stadium. Much nicer and a bit larger than the Dakotadome 12,500 VS. 10,000. A bit smaller than the Fargodome, but just as nice and some think nicer. I attended most outdoor home games from 1989 until the Alerus Center opened (2000 or 2001). At Memorial Stadium in Sept. to early Oct, with good weather, attendance was 6,000-8,000, sometimes more than 8K. When the weather turned in late Oct.-Nov, attendance dropped off significantly. With the Alerus Center, attendance is much better in bad weather. I think the fargo dome is the same way. Their attendance would go way down in poor weather. I would think a dome would work well in SD and increase attendance in poor weather. How to pay for it is the real problem. The Alerus Center was $80 million close to 20 years ago Close to $150 million today. I would never want to go back to an outdoor stadium.

[91jack]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

We in Grand Forks have a very nice Indoor Stadium. Much nicer and a bit larger than the Dakotadome 12,500 VS. 10,000. A bit smaller than the Fargodome, but just as nice and some think nicer. I attended most outdoor home games from 1989 until the Alerus Center opened (2000 or 2001). At Memorial Stadium in Sept. to early Oct, with good weather, attendance was 6,000-8,000, sometimes more than 8K. When the weather turned in late Oct.-Nov, attendance dropped off significantly. With the Alerus Center, attendance is much better in bad weather. I think the fargo dome is the same way. Their attendance would go way down in poor weather. I would think a dome would work well in SD and increase attendance in poor weather. How to pay for it is the real problem. The Alerus Center was $80 million close to 20 years ago Close to $150 million today. I would never want to go back to an outdoor stadium.

Earlier in this thread I wrote that SDSU averaged 13,808/game this season(during the regular season) with an outdoor stadium. I know the NDSU game helps but it still was the attendance. We either play NDSU or USD as one of our last 2 games of the season. That keeps the attendance up for most of the season. That is already more fans that how many fans that would fit in either your stadium or the Dakotadome. I wonder if we will play UND in November, too, would that will help the attendance even more.

Added later-
Not to rehash this but I read what Zimmer wrote about SDSU not being intimidated playing at James Madison.
He wrote, "SDSU has yet to develop a strong home field advantage in their new stadium (largely because they struggle to fill it)".
I find that funny. Should SDSU build a 12,500 seat stadium so the can fill it their first year to have a home field advantage? I understand that the team will play better with more fans but we already have more fans in attendance than USD or UND but since it's not a sellout we can't have a home field advantage? Some of the fans that showed up for the games (especially NDSU) might not be diehard fans so that might hurt the environment, too. Maybe we need a dome so we can have fewer fans and the team will think that there are more there because it should be louder.
Sorry about the rant but I found that really interesting.

[UND92]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

The Alerus Center is not just a football arena, it is used for many other things throughout the year. We had over 22,000 for a Cher concert and other concerts have had 12,000-15,000. It is used for Conventions, Farm shows, Basketball games and other shows. In GF we had a 50 year old Civic Center that would hold 4,000 max, so the Alerus was a nice upgrade. Not sure if Brookings has a need for a building like that or maybe already has one, but in Gf it was a nice upgrade and allow the City to compete with other cities in the state for large conventions, concerts, etc. If it was only for football it would never have been built.

[Duke Dawg]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

not that i know anything about it, but the problem as an outsider I would see with the domes is, there is no hope for expansion.

once that thing is built, you're stuck.

I bet there are times NDSU wishes they could add on some capacity.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Outdoor v Indoor football

The Alerus Center is not just a football arena, it is used for many other things throughout the year. We had over 22,000 for a Cher concert and other concerts have had 12,000-15,000. It is used for Conventions, Farm shows, Basketball games and other shows. In GF we had a 50 year old Civic Center that would hold 4,000 max, so the Alerus was a nice upgrade. Not sure if Brookings has a need for a building like that or maybe already has one, but in Gf it was a nice upgrade and allow the City to compete with other cities in the state for large conventions, concerts, etc. If it was only for football it would never have been built.

The Alerus Center was built by the city of Grand Forks (population 53,000+, metro population 98,000+). The FargoDome was built by the city of Fargo (yeh, many more people).
Brookings has a population of 23,000, and metro area of about 30,000. There is no comparison that would have allowed SDSU (and/or Brookings) to build a 19,300 seat indoor dome (cost at least twice the $65 million for DJD). We have $40 million in bonds to pay off for DJD, and if you think our ticket prices are pretty hefty now, quit thinking or discussing a dome for SDSU.