Attendance

[ZooCougar]

Hey man, you can't say Jessica Simpson is looking skinny again. You haven't seen her in person.

It takes a special kind of adolescent to make fun of Jessica Simpson's weight problem. Congrats. She's trying really hard man.

 

[Dippy's]

I couldnt make the game yesterday and tried to give my 4 tickets in section 226 away for free with blue parking ($200 value), nobody wanted them

 

[BoatShow]

Beer was warm as p i ss after about 2 min. Still, knew you needed fluids.

I had the same issue. Thought something was wrong with my cooler but it was just that hot.

 

[businesslawyer]

No. You are missing the point. It's not bitching, it's commenting on a disturbing trend in the fan base. I think everyone posting in the thread would prefer to be at the game. But nobody is bitching about people who decided to do something else with their afternoons. They are commenting and poking fun at the growing level of apathy.

I was with you to the last sentence. Commenting on the size of the crowd is one thing. Poking fun at the apathy of others, when you're not there and others are suffering through heat stroke and rotten football, is not something that those suffering from the heat stroke are going to like.

 

[whaler11]

How can I comprehend what I didn't even read, you guys are great.

Yesterday was emptiest I have ever seen the Rent, in person or on TV.

I guess that's not relevant since I wasn't there. You guys are too funny.

It was emptier for Memphis.

 

[uconnell]

thanks Biz

 

[ZooCougar]

It was emptier for Memphis.

I'll take your word for it.

 

[SubbaBub]

People use the excuse that it takes bigger/better opponents to sell tickets get butts in seats. This tells me people are their to see another program play, rather than show up and support their own team no matter who their playing.

It has everything to do with the quality of the event. Alabama can get 90k for Ga Southern because a) Every Ga Southern fan in existence is going to have an interest in attending, and b) Alabama fans who can't sniff tickets otherwise will jump at the chance to attend even against a tomato can opponent just to go.

Teams like Stony Brook don't do that nor does UConn have a backlog of fans who can't normally find tickets. So, yeah the opponent matters to UConn's home attendance.

When we joined the BE, it was a real honest to goodness power conference despite Miami, VT, and BC bailing. The early success and sheer newness of top level competition maintained the level of attendance. The death of the BE and the PP era has completely destroyed all of that, again completely. There is nothing to sell except hope in a new regime, which any sane person can see is limited to winning the AAC and hopefully getting a BCS game. While that is not all that different than the preceding decade, it's not guaranteed and the interim games against these fellow P5 cast offs isn't going to cut it. I'm happy for everyone who looks at the Yankee Conference days warmly and thinks all this will be good enough for people to want to support it. It isn't. It wasn't then and it isn't now.

SB was a scheduled win to make bowl eligibility easier, mission accomplished. Just don't expect close to full houses anymore for these kinds of game. BSU will be an interesting test. They are not P5 and shouldn't draw like they would have few years ago, but they are a known name and should be a better draw than BYU now that the season is in full swing. I'm more worried about the attendance at conference games because we have to play those every other year. If you can get a big team to come to the Rent it will sell, for a while anyway, but this has been the most depressing 3 out of 4 home winning run in program history.

 

[ZooCougar]

I was with you to the last sentence. Commenting on the size of the crowd is one thing. Poking fun at the apathy of others, when you're not there and others are suffering through heat stroke and rotten football, is not something that those suffering from the heat stroke are going to like.

Honestly, most of us would have been there if we could have. People here are hardcore. The mainstream fan apathy is here because the games aren't as fun. People are more likely to endure that weather if they think they are going to see 5-6 touchdowns.

 

[whaler11]

I'll take your word for it.

Wasn't really close. It looked worse on TV yesterday because for Memphis you wanted to be on the sun side and yesterday you wanted to be on the shade side.

I usually think people overestimate the crowd standing behind the red line but it was pretty crowded under there yesterday.

 

[Dooley]

Wasn't really close. It looked worse on TV yesterday because for Memphis you wanted to be on the sun side and yesterday you wanted to be on the shade side.

I usually think people overestimate the crowd standing behind the red line but it was pretty crowded under there yesterday.

I can attest that there were rows of people watching behind the red line behind our section yesterday. The concession area and bathroom lines were more crowded than what they should have been given the announced attendance. I had a challenge getting through some of the folks at the red line on my "water runs".

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Honestly, most of us would have been there if we could have. People here are hardcore. The mainstream fan apathy is here because the games aren't as fun. People are more likely to endure that weather if they think they are going to see 5-6 touchdowns.

It is much deeper than that.

Below is something I just posted on a thread on the CR board:

We found out late spring 2003 that fat Lew Perkins was bolting for Kansas. Hathaway officially took over at some point late that summer and we opened the Rent against Indiana not long after that. Considering that the 2003 season followed a very inspiring second half of the 2002 season and very little else, at a 15k seat Memorial Stadium that we could not sell out until we started bringing in some schools with a bit of a name, football attendance during JH's honeymoon as the guy in charge was nothing short of remarkable.

Someone who is an achiever, someone who aspires to considerable heights, someone who needs to continually prove to himself that he can accomplish great things would have said to himself "if we can reach these attendance levels today, in 20-25 years we can sell out a 75k seat stadium!". Hathaway instead saw that the Rent was filled and said to himself "No need to do any work here, the job is already done.".

Before anyone tries to blame any current employee of the University of Connecticut they need to take a better look at what was thrown away. Day one at the Rent should not have been our peak.

 

[SubbaBub]

It is much deeper than that.


Someone who is an achiever, someone who aspires to considerable heights, someone who needs to continually prove to himself that he can accomplish great things would have said to himself "if we can reach these attendance levels today, in 20-25 years we can sell out a 75k seat stadium!". Hathaway instead saw that the Rent was filled and said to himself "No need to do any work here, the job is already done.".

Before anyone tries to blame any current employee of the University of Connecticut they need to take a better look at what was thrown away. Day one at the Rent should not have been our peak.

If one believes that UConn is a Big Ten level institution, and I do, this is the attitude that needs to saturate the FB side of the AD and the entire University.

 

[rich1122]

If we tank this year nothing will save it - sorry to say. Unless there is a stadium on campus.

 

[J187Money]

You are missing the point. Of course people understand that not everyone who posts here can go to every game. Their point is that it takes a special type of self-centeredness -- the kind that most people grow out of in adolesence -- to bitch about other people not being there when you are not there yourself. Two totally different points. So to summarize for you, don't come if you can't come. It's your life. But that doesn't make you free to criticize others for not coming. And if you do that from your living room, be smart enough not to be shocked that those of us who uncomfortably sat through that crap yesterday have no patience for you.

As usual, BL says it better than I can but this is exactly right.

The only thing that would have made BL and I more miserable yesterday is if we had watched it from the sun side of the field.

 

[J187Money]

I'll take your word for it.

It was. It might not have looked that way but there were thousands of people hiding in the shade.

 

[Bonehead]

I love people who criticize the attendance while sitting on their butts at home. It was brutal out there today. I wanted to leave several times. It hung in till the end.

The poor guy is home recovering from surgery - WOW - when we stink no one catches a break.

 

[John]

The poor guy is home recovering from surgery - WOW - when we stink no one catches a break.

I really don't see the big stink about someone making a comment, regardless of where they live. Hey, if the joint looks half empty on tv, it looks half empty. Just calling it like he saw it, no harm there.