Daily Campus Column: Please, stop shaming students for not going to games.

[PAHusky]

Are you sure "the kids" are filling the stadiums up??

This is a picture of a highly-ranked Cincinnati team at home against Temple in January. Check out the stands behind the player. Winning doesn't cure it all. People would rather watch on tv than go to games nowadays. That's just the reality of the new age today. It has nothing to do with an old man argument...

In January.....was Cinci out for winter break at the time? I think there's your answer to that.

I apologize for the phrase "old man argument", it was dismissive and frankly pretty rude. I'm pretty tired of the ripping on today's youth for cell phone use trope. I agree with your statement above - the majority of the population these days, young and old, would probably prefer to stay home and watch the game on increasingly larger tvs. I just don't think that we should be knocking the students for not showing up for a terrible product like this year's team. If and when we do turn it around, if the students still stay away then we can address the issue. Tough to say at this point whether it's a cultural thing or the team just blows.

 

[John]

Are you sure "the kids" are filling the stadiums up??

This is a picture of a highly-ranked Cincinnati team at home against Temple in January. Check out the stands behind the player. Winning doesn't cure it all. People would rather watch on tv than go to games nowadays. That's just the reality of the new age today. It has nothing to do with an old man argument...

I watched that game on TV - that night there was an ice storm, the announcers mentioned it several times.

 

[UConnDan97]

In January.....was Cinci out for winter break at the time? I think there's your answer to that.

I apologize for the phrase "old man argument", it was dismissive and frankly pretty rude. I'm pretty tired of the ripping on today's youth for cell phone use trope. I agree with your statement above - the majority of the population these days, young and old, would probably prefer to stay home and watch the game on increasingly larger tvs. I just don't think that we should be knocking the students for not showing up for a terrible product like this year's team. If and when we do turn it around, if the students still stay away then we can address the issue. Tough to say at this point whether it's a cultural thing or the team just blows.

That game supposedly sold 8,900 of the 9,400 capacity for the arena. Maybe the cameraman was extremely unlucky to find the only empty section....near center court. This sold tickets vs. gate count concept drives @whaler11 crazy on the football board.

As for any offense you committed, none was taken. No worries. And I should have made it more clear in my first post that I really meant the "PEOPLE are more disconnected" comment, not just the youth. If you look at that Superbowl picture, there are about 5 folks of all ages with their phones out, looking at JT through a 5" window instead of the real life guy who is standing one foot away from their face. Hoping that life does a full circle and that folks of all ages come out to play again...

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Are you sure "the kids" are filling the stadiums up??

This is a picture of a highly-ranked Cincinnati team at home against Temple in January. Check out the stands behind the player. Winning doesn't cure it all. People would rather watch on tv than go to games nowadays. That's just the reality of the new age today. It has nothing to do with an old man argument...

Given the cherry seats and Temple wearing white I would have guessed this was a Temple home game. Not for nothing, Cincy is playing all their home games at Northern Kentucky University this season.

 

[UConnDan97]

I watched that game on TV - that night there was an ice storm, the announcers mentioned it several times.

The announced attendance was 8,924 out of a 9,400 capacity arena, so I don't know what to say about that comment. I could be wrong about it being empty or about it being full or about it being icy. But...

 

[Tex-Lager93]

Considering the current state of affairs, I've been impressed with the student section - active and vocal despite the product on the court and the distant conference opponents. For comparison, I attended the Temple game - and their student section was terrible...mostly empty at an on-campus, easy to access facility at a school with 40,000 kids...with a similar W-L. Our kids are still hanging in there. The rest of the seats, though...pretty bare - and that is definitely related to the poor product.

 

[UConnDan97]

Given the cherry seats and Temple wearing white I would have guessed this was a Temple home game. Not for nothing, Cincy is playing all their home games at Northern Kentucky University this season.

That would make more sense. I just clicked a random game for them and looked at the pictures. Let me try to find some verified photos from their games and other winning teams from the league...

 

[Lefty2one]

It's an awful product - who would want to go watch it?

The article didn't cover it but has the women's team had attendance issues recently? Guessing this is nothing more than 'our team stinks, plays no one and isn't fun to watch' more than anything else.

 

[UConnDan97]

Given the cherry seats and Temple wearing white I would have guessed this was a Temple home game. Not for nothing, Cincy is playing all their home games at Northern Kentucky University this season.

You must be right about the photo being from Temple.

Here's one that is the Cincy vs. SMU game at Cincy. They were ranked #19 during this game on January 7th, and these are the sideline seats from a similar angle. Typically not where students sit, so we're gonna blame the "adults" on this one. Again, it was announced that the attendance was about 9k, but obviously it couldn't be (assuming THIS time I got the picture right). This picture is taken from a slide deck from Cincinnati.com:

 

[bobbyinaz]

You must be right about the photo being from Temple.

Here's one that is the Cincy vs. SMU game at Cincy. They were ranked #19 during this game on January 7th, and these are the sideline seats from a similar angle. Typically not where students sit, so we're gonna blame the "adults" on this one. Again, it was announced that the attendance was about 9k, but obviously it couldn't be (assuming THIS time I got the picture right). This picture is taken from a slide deck from Cincinnati.com:

You do know they are playing their home games out of state this year, right?

 

[UConnDan97]

You do know they are playing their home games out of state this year, right?

Yes, I know that they are playing out of state in the BB&T Arena in Northern Kentucky. Do you want to see what that looks like???

Some of our folks in Fairfield County would kill for a drive like that instead of the one they make to Gampel. Before you try to make fun of someone, try to use Google...

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

You must be right about the photo being from Temple.

Here's one that is the Cincy vs. SMU game at Cincy. They were ranked #19 during this game on January 7th, and these are the sideline seats from a similar angle. Typically not where students sit, so we're gonna blame the "adults" on this one. Again, it was announced that the attendance was about 9k, but obviously it couldn't be (assuming THIS time I got the picture right). This picture is taken from a slide deck from Cincinnati.com:

Don’t you know that arena seats 30,000?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I saw that little dweeb at the SB with Timberlake.

Kid probably didn't get off his phone the whole game.

Live your damn life kid.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

You do know they are playing their home games out of state this year, right?

It’s probably about the same as Storrs to Hartford

 

[bobbyinaz]

Yes, I know that they are playing out of state in the BB&T Arena in Northern Kentucky. Do you want to see what that looks like???

View attachment 28437

Some of our folks in Fairfield County would kill for a drive like that instead of the one they make to Gampel. Before you try to make fun of someone, try to use Google...

I've been to the arena several times. I know exactly where it is

You were the clown who tried to make a comparison of students not walking to Gampel vs students driving to a "home" game at Cinci

 

[UConnDan97]

Don’t you know that arena seats 30,000?

???

I've got a capacity of 9,400 for that arena based on their Wiki page:

BB&T Arena - Wikipedia

 

[UConnDan97]

I've been to the arena several times. I know exactly where it is

You were the clown who tried to make a comparison of students not walking to Gampel vs students driving to a "home" game at Cinci

Then you have reading comprehension issues. I said "PEOPLE" and I even put it in caps so as to not be misconstrued. Perhaps I'll try different colors next time. My point was never that students couldn't walk to anything...

 

[blue93]

I think it's a combination of:
1) a less exciting product on the court/field
2) it's too easy/cheap for some people to be bothered to go in person when they can watch at home
3) people don't want to be associated with losers - nobody wants to be posting on IG/FB/Snapchat that they went to see the 3-9 football team or the below .500 basketball team
4) conference, which I think is the most overblown of these four issues - if our FB and MBB programs were winning regularly, overall and student attendances would be fine.

There are no easy fixes. Winning helps fan support, but fans help the team win and you need fan support to bring in winning players. Hard to have one without the other.

For the record, I think all 4 of the above are applicable to the majority of our fan base, not just the students. Plenty of people that I graduated with 3 years ago that were big fans while we were want no part of going to see any games now.

 

[UConnDan97]

It’s probably about the same as Storrs to Hartford

It's a 7 mile drive. Google maps is telling me it will take 12 minutes to drive. It's like Storrs to Willimantic...

 

[bobbyinaz]

Then you have reading comprehension issues. I said "PEOPLE" and I even put it in caps so as to not be misconstrued. Perhaps I'll try different colors next time. My point was never that students couldn't walk to anything...

Maybe the Cinci students should've walked to an away game in Philadelphia against Temple like you tried to say in your 1st post.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

The less school spirit part would have a ton to do with our sports teams sucking so badly, I would think.

Of course you would think that.
And leave it ambiguous as to which affects which. Maybe your bad energy does have a ton to do with poor team performance. Malevolent mojo.

 

[UConnDan97]

Maybe the Cinci students should've walked to an away game in Philadelphia against Temple like you tried to say in your 1st post.

I've already posted that it was an error and then provided a verified Cincy game...you know...the one you chose to reply to! Go away now...

 

[DAC17]

Oh boy, this thread will not end well...

The students do not "owe" the athletic department attendance.

It's the athletic department's job to produce a product that people want to attend.

And, for what they get paid, it should be a damn good product!

 

[Guapo]

Lol with the combination of conference realignment, the Storrs vs Hartford debate, the FF county vs rest of the state debate etc.

I'm not sure there's more knowledgeable fanbase when it comes to geography than UConn fans

 

[Travelman6]

Check out the stands behind the player. Winning doesn't cure it all. People would rather watch on tv than go to games nowadays. That's just the reality of the new age today. It has nothing to do with an old man argument...

I agree.

But maybe we disagree on the reason.

The majority of people in the states just do not have the expendable income to go out to games (often) these days. Watching from home on the TV or laptop is cheaper. Beer is cheaper compared to at the stadium.

People are clamoring for more affordable experiences. Okay, granted the tics were free yesterday.

But even in that case, it does not help that there is not a good product on the floor. Even if Uconn was great, another hurdle is no one cares about USF, ECU or Tulane. Plus, who wants to go outside in the freezing cold and battle the elements? All of those things and the aforementioned money thing (when there aren't free tickets) all combined, yikes for a team like Uconn.

 

[Guapo]

And, for what they get paid, it should be a damn good product!

Just to be clear, you're talking about AD Dave etc, right?

 

[PAHusky]

Given the cherry seats and Temple wearing white I would have guessed this was a Temple home game. Not for nothing, Cincy is playing all their home games at Northern Kentucky University this season.

Yep. Graduated from law school out of the Liacouras Center, so my three hours spent in there that day qualify me as an expert.

 

[UConnDan97]

I agree.

But maybe we disagree on the reason.

The majority of people in the states just do not have the expendable income to go out to games (often) these days. Watching from home on the TV or laptop is cheaper. Beer is cheaper compared to at the stadium.

People are clamoring for more affordable experiences.

It does not help that there is not a good product on the floor. Even if Uconn was great, another hurdle is no one cares about USF, ECU or Tulane. Plus, who wants to go outside in the freezing cold and battle the elements? All of those things and the aforementioned money thing all combined, yikes for a team like Uconn.

I agree that price is an issue also. I think that Benedict is starting to respond to that from a football perspective by putting in 10% discount incentives for season ticket holders and such, but it's not enough in my opinion (I'm still renewing though). Pricing is this double-edged sword for us since we are outside the P5. How do we continue to put a P5 product out there for all our sports but without the 50 million per year tv contract? Unfortunately, part of that answer has been higher ticket prices...

 

[UofCT]

The students at UConn are a disgrace and should be ashamed of themselves. I used to erect a tent, sleep outside in 10 degree weather, and watch a 17-14 UConn team play Northeastern & Quinnipiac.

@campcalhoun2009 @HitTheBoneyard can vouch.

 

[buddy]

Very few students went to games in the field house in the late 60's early 70's. I would walk in with my girlfriend at game time and be a midcourt bleachers..free! No one in my dorm wanted to go to the games and that was in the Frat Quad. Apathy is not new. Playing Holy Cross at that time was a big game and one UConn would likely lose. Once things turned around with Calhoun and the program became a winner, then students came to the games. Now that they are losing again, students are likely not going. I don't think it is a question of type of student nowadays, but just that people will not support a loser at UConn. Just the way it is. Women's basketball now sells out. Men's basketball can't give it away. Winners sell, losers don't. That's my opinion on this.