Beating Dead Horses

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

So I'm watching college football this weekend and noticed a couple games were being played off college campuses:

BYU vs Oklahoma in Arlington, TX

Alabama vs Virginia Tech in Atlanta, GA

Missouri vs Illinois in St. Louis, MO

The announcers repeatedly made references to the games being played there to get in front of recruits in those areas, get in front of fans and donors who may not otherwise see a game, and showcase their program to potential fans and donors who may not otherwise be interested, and get on prime time tv.

And I kept asking myself, why is it we can't play 1 game a year in Sioux Falls?

Right, because THE JACKRABBITS PLAY AT COUGHLIN ALUMNI STADIUM IN BROOKINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA!!!!! (read: I DON'T WANT TO DRIVE ALL THE WAY TO SIOUX FALLS WHEN I USUALLY DRIVE 15-45 MINUTES TO THE GAME!!!!)

Really thinking outside the box, but if Sioux Falls is too close to home for a "special event" game, why not do a game in the Black Hills on Labor Day weekend?

I realize how awesome the games in Brookings are, all I'm saying is that with USD DI now, Augustana playing in a brand new stadium, and USF moving up to DII the first chance they get, the Sioux Falls market is going to be pretty competitive and it feels like we're not even trying to get those fans (other than to say, we want you as fans on our terms).

[filbert]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

Did somebody build an NFL stadium in Sioux Falls while we weren't looking?

[Jacks-02]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

Did somebody build an NFL stadium in Sioux Falls while we weren't looking?

That's the one thing people keep forgetting when clamoring for a game in Sioux Falls. There isn't a venue that can hold enough people to make it worthwhile for SDSU to give up a home game to play there. If SDSU can draw 13,000-15,000 to Brookings for a game why would they want to move it to Sioux Falls and pay for another field to play on that can only hold 10,000?

What does Rapid City have for a comparable football stadium? Do they have anything that can hold more than 10,000 people?

[JackJD]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

What does Rapid City have for a comparable football stadium? Do they have anything that can hold more than 10,000 people?

No. SD School of Mines & Technology's O'Harra Stadium seats about 6,000, I think...extra stands are brought in for the state high school track meet to bring the seating closer to 9,000 or so (I'm estimating but I don't think I'm far off). I can't imagine Mines wanting another college/university to use its facility like that AND I cannot imagine SDSU using another college/university stadium when we're all competing for students. There is no large pubic stadium in Rapid City.

Yep, beating a dead horse. I don't mind an occasional trip outside of Brookings for a "home" game in many sports but football home games should be held in CAS. (I hope we schedule a basketball game or two in Rapid City.)

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

Hold a November game in Sioux Falls as based on past years attendence at CAS (3000) you could hold it at O'Gorman's on campus stadium and have enough space. I'm also convinced one of the reasons the Sioux Falls experiment failed in Football and Basketball was because many in Brookings wanted it to fail and did not show up in Sioux Falls. I agree the Sioux Falls market is important, but I'm not convinced SDSU has maximized the Brookings market.

[Cowbell]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

I am dead set on taking any SDSU home games to Sioux Falls. First, SDSU students pay an incredible amount in athletic fees. It doesn't seem fair to take one of their home games and move it one hour south. Second, businesses like hotels, restaurants and retail operations make money on game days. Many of those businesses are strong financial supporters of Jackrabbit athletics. Why hurt our friends? Third, when out of town visitors come to Brookings and buy things it helps support the tax base. That's a good thing.

For years the people within a 100 mile radius of Sioux Falls have opted to forgo making purchases in their hometowns to go to the "big city." I'm guilty of this, too.

I'm not in favor of giving people one more reason to drive to Sioux Falls. Nothing personal.

[SidelineObserver]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

I am dead set on taking any SDSU home games to Sioux Falls. First, SDSU students pay an incredible amount in athletic fees. It doesn't seem fair to take one of their home games and move it one hour south. Second, businesses like hotels, restaurants and retail operations make money on game days. Many of those businesses are strong financial supporters of Jackrabbit athletics. Why hurt our friends? Third, when out of town visitors come to Brookings and buy things it helps support the tax base. That's a good thing.

For years the people within a 100 mile radius of Sioux Falls have opted to forgo making purchases in their hometowns to go to the "big city." I'm guilty of this, too.

I'm not in favor of giving people one more reason to drive to Sioux Falls. Nothing personal.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This right here, is why I am in favor of keeping football games in Brookings. That'd be like NDSU taking a home game to Bismarck or Jamestown.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

I'm not sure if a game should be played in Sioux Falls or not, but lets face it we have different issues than NDSU. What Stig and the Administration are concerned about is the late season attendence collapse issues and that is why everything is on the table from Justin Sells perspective. I would think those same students paying the high activity fees could help improve these numbers:
2008
10-18 Cal Poly 8311
11-1 Mo State 6117
11-8 Ill State 3276

2007
10-20 Cal Poly 6545
11-10 So Utah 3317

2006
11-4 William Penn 4211

2005
10-29 Ga Southern 4128
11-5 So Utah 4022
11-19 Northern Colorado 1881

[GoJacks]

Re: Beating Dead Horses.

Simply put the revenue stream is not currently available. There would have to be a major donation(s) or corporate sponsorships to move a game to Howard Wood.

[RowdyRabbit]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

[QUOTE=SF_Rabbit_Fan;126073]

And I kept asking myself, why is it we can't play 1 game a year in Sioux Falls?
QUOTE]

*sigh*

Howard Wood Field is a stadium in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, constructed in 1957.[1] Holding 10,000 people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Wood_Field


vs.

Coughlin-Alumni Stadium is a 16,000-seat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coughlin-Alumni_Stadium

Yep, makes total sense.

Not to mention Howard Wood is a horrible place to watch a football game anyway. I was never so happy to see a football game end as I was in 05? When the Jacks beat UC Davis there.

[JackrabbitGuy]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

I live in Brandon, so on the surface you would think that I would love having a game in Sioux Falls and it would be an advantage for me - but I hate the idea.

SDSU football games are supposed to happen in Brookings. For me it goes back to when I was a kid, going to games with my parents. I always remember going to the game and driving through Brookings, getting close to campus and seeing college kids outside on a nice fall day partying and throwning footballs across the street as we drove by.

I just think that unless there is a definitive reason to hold a game in Sioux Falls - Brookings is always the place to hold Jackrabbit football games. There needs to be creative marketing and other promotion in and around Sioux Falls but not an actual football game.

[Nidaros]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

SDSU is not Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Tennessee or any of those mega football programs, so making comparisions by suggesting football games in Sioux Falls instead of Brookings is a long stretch. I believe it was Popeye who used to say "I IS WHO I IS", and maybe that how we should approach SDSU current program. SDSU did have one game in Sioux Falls. Many of us were there, and it was a thrilling ending but the draw was only the people who have shown up in Brookings in the first place. I really wonder how many of that 8000 were new SF people. Not a whole bunch.

I am certainly not opposed to a marketing plan for including Sioux Falls but it needs to be realistic and not throw out something that works for Alabama and call that our plan. That is stupid and a waste of resources.

Granted Augie got their brand new staduim and USF is trying to up their attendence with the move to D2, but these things should not affect SDSU's market in Sioux Falls. Our new AD needs to work on a marketing plan that he feels comfortable with and is workable. Until then I do not see much success by having a game in SF. In fact we might be swimming backwards if we do. The attendence at CAS continues to grow. So a bird in hand is worth more than two in the bush.

The SF game against UCDavis drew 8000 btw well below last season's average and another game this season would probably not draw anymore or it could be less than 8000.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned: When the OU's of the world play a game in Dallas, they don't just "give up" all the revenue they would have gotten from a home date. In fact, they make more. Those are marquee, nationally-televised games and there's a financial incentive package to play them away from home. We have no such mechanism here.

I was at the prior game at Howard Wood. I hope we never play at that dump ever again. You're about a million miles from the field because of the track. It's a wind tunnel. It's a gray, colorless, boring setting. There is no game production to make things interesting during breaks (bad scoreboard; SDSU not in control of the venue). It was a good game on the field, but the experience was, in a word, awful.

Give me old CAS any time. And I'm sure there are a bunch of businesses in Brookings, including sponsors like Cubby's, who wouldn't be too thrilled with a game moving to Sioux Falls or elsewhere. Those are big economic boosts for Brookings.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

[QUOTE=RowdyRabbit;126103]

And I kept asking myself, why is it we can't play 1 game a year in Sioux Falls?
QUOTE]

*sigh*

Howard Wood Field is a stadium in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, constructed in 1957.[1] Holding 10,000 people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Wood_Field


vs.

Coughlin-Alumni Stadium is a 16,000-seat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coughlin-Alumni_Stadium

Yep, makes total sense.

Not to mention Howard Wood is a horrible place to watch a football game anyway. I was never so happy to see a football game end as I was in 05? When the Jacks beat UC Davis there.

So in 05 they were turning people away at the door in SF??

In athletics, as with many things in life, the questions isn't "how big is it," the questions is "is it big enough."

In the case of SDSU football at Howard Wood, the answer is yes, it is big enough (at least for now and with the addition of some temp bleachers).

This goes out to several posters: you can't make the argument that no one shows up for games in Sioux Falls AND the argument that Sioux Falls doesn't have a big enough stadium.

[Nidaros]

Re: Beating Dead Horses

[QUOTE=SF_Rabbit_Fan;126127]

So in 05 they were turning people away at the door in SF??

In athletics, as with many things in life, the questions isn't "how big is it," the questions is "is it big enough."

In the case of SDSU football at Howard Wood, the answer is yes, it is big enough (at least for now and with the addition of some temp bleachers).

This goes out to several posters: you can't make the argument that no one shows up for games in Sioux Falls AND the argument that Sioux Falls doesn't have a big enough stadium.

Are we speaking of the community of SF or about the facility aka Howard Field? I for one never mentioned Howard Wood being too small. Whatever the capacity, we did not fill it in 2005 and I doubt four years later we would either. Its about the SDSU interest in Sioux Falls. Once you get past the alums of SDSU living there, there is not a suffienct audience to make a SF game cash flow positively. SDSU has to spend some more time and money promoting in SF first, then maybe give a game a try again. Right now Brookings and CAS seems to be the place for home games.