Letter to Jeff Jacobs after Twitter

[whaler11]

Being in a stadium full of students is a vastly different experience than being in a stadium with 3 to 5,000 students.

I will give you that for sure but I think your 15k even on campus is way overblown. That's more than half the campus isn't it?

Are there 5 schools that get 15k consistently?

 

[upstater]

I will give you that for sure but I think your 15k even on campus is way overblown. That's more than half the campus isn't it?

Are there 5 schools that get 15k consistently?

More than half the student body including grad students attend games in the B1G. 30k at PSU and Michigan. UConn with 30k likely in the near future should be shooting for 15k at a minimum. 1/4 of the stadium in the B1G is filled with students.

 

[Ldandy]

OK, I can't resist commenting on this any more. I wonder how many on this board have actually been to Penn State football? The Rent is a far better place to watch a game. It is not the alumni that fill the place. PSU is Pennsylvania's team, not unlike Notre Dame in the midwest. Grads of many schools that don't have big time football adopt the PSU football. Also please stop talking about those who walk out of UCONN games early as an exception. I'd guess 25% leave Penn State games at half and another 25% at the fourth quarter except for the one or two real big games.
Next, I am so tired of hearing about a stadium in Storr's. Give it up and get behind
an effort to expand the Rent. It[s not going to move in our lifetime. Anyone who has really been to Storr's for a sold out BB game knows its much more than traffic management that would be needed to move 60,000 fans in and out of therein a day.
Instead of Malloy's last superjohn of a busway from Hartford to NB, why not run light rail from Storr's and Hartford to the Rent? Why not run a UCONN Express from NYC through Stamford to Hartford for football games? Then let's put a new BB/Hockey arena out at the Rent--much cheaper than in Hartford [besides by that time Hartford will have its own baseball team and will not be able to aford a new arena--almost forgot, Hartford cant' afford the baseball stadium either].
Let's think out of the box instead of running around bemoaning what isn't going to be changed.

Sorry but this simply is not accurate. I have been to over a hundred PSU home games over the last 25 years and at no point in time, including the "Dark Years" of 03-04 did 50% of the stadium clear out by the fourth quarter. That is downright laughable. While there are always a group of people that go out at half to rejoin the party and don't return, or another group that wants to "beat the traffic" but they don't add up to 50,000 People.

 

[whaler11]

More than half the student body including grad students attend games in the B1G. 30k at PSU and Michigan. UConn with 30k likely in the near future should be shooting for 15k at a minimum. 1/4 of the stadium in the B1G is filled with students.

I went to the Michigan game... there were 30k students there? I can take your word but certainly didn't seem like 30% students.

 

[upstater]

I went to the Michigan game... there were 30k students there? I can take your word but certainly didn't seem like 30% students.

I've been to a lot of Michigan games myself (I lived in Ann Arbor for 2 years, 2001-2003) and also PSU games, and 1/4 of these stadiums were filled with students, from field level to the last row. Both stadiums are 110,000 seats so... 25% is 27,500 students.

 

[CL82]

I live East of Hartford. The rent is a bit closer to me than campus.

I can give you a fairly easy project to learn what you are up against.

Buy a few extra season tickets this year and then try to find people to bring to the games. I've been buying 2-3 extra since the Rent opened. You'll quickly understand how difficult it is to get people to commit and how much people's schedules play into that.

Thanks for the project idea. Of course you understand that isn't even vaguely a good indicator of people's response to an on campus stadium right?

 

[Seaa Blue]

I've been to a lot of Michigan games myself (I lived in Ann Arbor for 2 years, 2001-2003) and also PSU games, and 1/4 of these stadiums were filled with students, from field level to the last row. Both stadiums are 110,000 seats so... 25% is 27,500 students.

Student tickets sales are a problem at many places. Michigan has not escaped it.

http://johnubacon.com/2014/06/the-r...ers-are-bailing-on-michigan-football-tickets/

"student football ticket sales are down, way down, from about 21,000 in 2012 to a projected 13,000-14,000 this fall."

 

[whaler11]

Thanks for the project idea. Of course you understand that isn't even vaguely a good indicator of people's response to an on campus stadium right?

If you think that moving the campus to on stadium makes people less busy then nope it's not.

Either you are going to commit to the idea that people that don't go to Rentschler because it's not on campus or you aren't. To this point you haven't so your stance exists on personal preference.

 

[whaler11]

Student tickets sales are a problem at many places. Michigan has not escaped it.

http://johnubacon.com/2014/06/the-r...ers-are-bailing-on-michigan-football-tickets/

"student football ticket sales are down, way down, from about 21,000 in 2012 to a projected 13,000-14,000 this fall."

LOL but they get 30k students a game.

 

[upstater]

LOL but they get 30k students a game.

I wonder, why do you find that funny?

What were the numbers a decade ago when I cited them? Does UM sell out anymore? If they are getting only 13k students, they aren't selling out. At least that's what the article implies when it says no screen shots of the Big House anymore during games.

If you read the articles and comments, you would have also noticed that the replies confirmed what I said. The freshman class used to sit in the end zone, with the classes progressing and wrappin around the stadium as the senior class sat at the 50 yard line. That's 1/4 of the stadium, as I said. I chose that $27,500 number off the top of y head as it was simply 25% of capacity, and that's what I saw with my own eyes multiple times at both stadiums.

Read here to know what ails Michigan:
"But Brandon did away with that last year, with his new General Admission seating policy. Instead of seating the students by class — with the freshmen in the endzone and the seniors toward the fifty, as they had done for decades – last year it was first come, first served. (They also raised the price to $295 for seven games, up from $195 for six games the year before.) The idea was to encourage students to come early, and come often. Thousands of students responded by not coming at all.

This was utterly predictable – and I predicted it, 13 months ago, in this column. (http://johnubacon.com/2013/05/blaming-the-customer/)

(This is probably as good a place as any to say, No, this is not about the department pulling my press pass. It’s not personal. It’s about misguided decisions and long-term consequences.)

TV networks loved showing blimp shots of the sold-out Big House – one of the iconic sights in college football. Now they don’t show any."

 

[Seaa Blue]

I wonder, why do you find that funny?

What were the numbers a decade ago when I cited them? Does UM sell out anymore? If they are getting only 13k students, they aren't selling out.

The student section over the last few years increasingly has become a "Los Angeles" crowd: "arrive late, leave early; don't show for cupcakes or bad weather, or beach weather".

 

[BoatShow]

Maybe this is a dumb question but why can I visit with people after games on campus any differently than I can visit with people off campus?

Couple of other things.

A: UConn cant always get people in and out of Gample so it's fairly easy to predict a huge mess without upgrades.
B: Based on what's around Rentschler clearly there isn't a lot of interest in doing anything but leaving after the game. Now maybe that's a chicken and egg issue, but it's not as though the market is trying to meet a need.

It is kind of confusing that they haven't put a decent sports bar or even just a restaurant on Silver Lane outside of Margaritas. You can take a little drive down to All Stars on the Manchester/Spencer St side but at that point you've already driven past the highway and you find much much much better options a couple exits up.

 

[whaler11]

It is kind of confusing that they haven't put a decent sports bar or even just a restaurant on Silver Lane outside of Margaritas. You can take a little drive down to All Stars on the Manchester/Spencer St side but at that point you've already driven past the highway and you find much much much better options a couple exits up.

So evidence that people don't want to hang around after the game?

 

[whaler11]

I wonder, why do you find that funny?

What were the numbers a decade ago when I cited them? Does UM sell out anymore? If they are getting only 13k students, they aren't selling out. At least that's what the article implies when it says no screen shots of the Big House anymore during games.

If you read the articles and comments, you would have also noticed that the replies confirmed what I said. The freshman class used to sit in the end zone, with the classes progressing and wrappin around the stadium as the senior class sat at the 50 yard line. That's 1/4 of the stadium, as I said. I chose that $27,500 number off the top of y head as it was simply 25% of capacity, and that's what I saw with my own eyes multiple times at both stadiums.

Read here to know what ails Michigan:
"But Brandon did away with that last year, with his new General Admission seating policy. Instead of seating the students by class — with the freshmen in the endzone and the seniors toward the fifty, as they had done for decades – last year it was first come, first served. (They also raised the price to $295 for seven games, up from $195 for six games the year before.) The idea was to encourage students to come early, and come often. Thousands of students responded by not coming at all.

This was utterly predictable – and I predicted it, 13 months ago, in this column. (http://johnubacon.com/2013/05/blaming-the-customer/)

(This is probably as good a place as any to say, No, this is not about the department pulling my press pass. It’s not personal. It’s about misguided decisions and long-term consequences.)

TV networks loved showing blimp shots of the sold-out Big House – one of the iconic sights in college football. Now they don’t show any."

It's funny because as usual you made something up that wasn't even close to being true.

 

[upstater]

It's funny because as usual you made something up that wasn't even close to being true.

And yet the article itself confirms what I said. It says students sat in a quarter of the stadium. Did I know that attendance dropped off because they jacked up prices on students and did general admission last year? No.

Here, from 50 yard line to end zone on the right side of picture. Those are all students:

 

[whaler11]

And yet the article itself confirms what I said. It says students sat in a quarter of the stadium. Did I know that attendance dropped off because they jacked up prices on students and did general admission last year? No.

Here, from 50 yard line to end zone on the right side of picture. Those are all students:

You are incredible.

The article was about Michigan and you post a picture of Penn State.

It clearly talked about 21k. You started at 30, dropped to 27,500 and still weren't near the number.

15k students at UConn is ridiculous given the current size of the school. Much bigger schools with decades more tradition don't get that. Even if they did at one point those days are over - there have been plenty of articles about the Michigan States and Georgias for a few years.

Being on campus would be nice, but in practice it would work out like Pasqualoni. Taking the games away from where people are located is spectacularly stupid. When people vacate the building like it's on fire do you really think adding two hours to the experience would make it more attractive?

When Michigan feels an attendance pinch... doesn't that make it painfully obvious that you need to decrease the barriers to attend not increase them?

 

[BoatShow]

So evidence that people don't want to hang around after the game?

Contrary, evidence that there's nothing to do! Particularly after cold/dark games.

 

[upstater]

You are incredible.

The article was about Michigan and you post a picture of Penn State.

It clearly talked about 21k. You started at 30, dropped to 27,500 and still weren't near the number.

15k students at UConn is ridiculous given the current size of the school. Much bigger schools with decades more tradition don't get that. Even if they did at one point those days are over - there have been plenty of articles about the Michigan States and Georgias for a few years.

Being on campus would be nice, but in practice it would work out like Pasqualoni. Taking the games away from where people are located is spectacularly stupid. When people vacate the building like it's on fire do you really think adding two hours to the experience would make it more attractive?

When Michigan feels an attendance pinch... doesn't that make it painfully obvious that you need to decrease the barriers to attend not increase them?

You always have had a very bad problem with reading. My first posts above talk about PSU and Michigan. Both of them. And the article backs up what I wrote about Michigan setting aside a quarter of the stadium (a 110,000 capacity stadium) for students in the past. Things have changed. I also then put up a picture of PSU to show you the same thing, that in the past, but no more for obvious reasons, a quarter of the stadium was all students. My 27,500 number was just simple math. 110,000 / 4. Every honest person in this thread understood that.

 

[whaler11]

You always have had a very bad problem with reading. My first posts above talk about PSU and Michigan. Both of them. And the article backs up what I wrote about Michigan setting aside a quarter of the stadium (a 110,000 capacity stadium) for students in the past. Things have changed. I also then put up a picture of PSU to show you the same thing, that in the past, but no more for obvious reasons, a quarter of the stadium was all students. My 27,500 number was just simple math. 110,000 / 4. Every honest person in this thread understood that.

The article flat out says 21k. The article was about Michigan and you went back to your beloved Enabler State.

So you get more students on campus. No kidding. It's still fewer than 15k and they pay next to nothing.

So if you geniuses want to ignore the reality that moving the games further away will impact the actual paying customers knock yourselves out.

If you want to act like anything about Penn State or Michigan is instructive about UConn fantastic.

You are living in a past that doesn't exist anymore. Look at the big programs in the country - if their students are turning away somehow UConn should try and replicate them?

UConn is lucky that they got a late start in some respects. At least they won't flail around trying to recreate a past that is gone and won't return.

Maybe you don't want to admit that 2 additional hours to attendance will keep more people away than parking near the library will add, but that seems pretty obvious to anyone who witnessed Rentschler for the last decade.

 

[whaler11]

Contrary, evidence that there's nothing to do! Particularly after cold/dark games.

So why hasn't the market met this obvious need?

 

[BoatShow]

So why hasn't the market met this obvious need?

Beats me. Every time I make a trip through Storrs now I'm like "wow it looks amazing, it'll be awesome when people come here for footba....nevermind."

 

[upstater]

The article flat out says 21k. The article was about Michigan and you went back to your beloved Enabler State.

So you get more students on campus. No kidding. It's still fewer than 15k and they pay next to nothing.

So if you geniuses want to ignore the reality that moving the games further away will impact the actual paying customers knock yourselves out.

If you want to act like anything about Penn State or Michigan is instructive about UConn fantastic.

You are living in a past that doesn't exist anymore. Look at the big programs in the country - if their students are turning away somehow UConn should try and replicate them?

UConn is lucky that they got a late start in some respects. At least they won't flail around trying to recreate a past that is gone and won't return.

Maybe you don't want to admit that 2 additional hours to attendance will keep more people away than parking near the library will add, but that seems pretty obvious to anyone who witnessed Rentschler for the last decade.

Attendance is down there. Because of the policies. And the article states a quarter of the stadium used to be students. I quoted my experiences as 2001-2003. I even gave you dates. And no, UConn isn't going to be Michigan or PSU. This is why I wrote 2k fans may show up early, that students will fill up a lot more seats, and the rest of the 25,000 which come in on gameday. Who cares what they pay? You need lots of fans and gameday atmosphere. That more than anything will help UConn.

Some of you haven't stepped foot outside the state to realize that this is a huge and major detraction for people who even begin to wonder what UConn athletics is all about. The people at UConn in the 1990s understood these factors all too well when they were pushing for an online stadium.

 

[whaler11]

Attendance is down there. Because of the policies. And the article states a quarter of the stadium used to be students. I quoted my experiences as 2001-2003. I even gave you dates. And no, UConn isn't going to be Michigan or PSU. This is why I wrote 2k fans may show up early, that students will fill up a lot more seats, and the rest of the 25,000 which come in on gameday. Who cares what they pay? You need lots of fans and gameday atmosphere. That more than anything will help UConn.

Some of you haven't stepped foot outside the state to realize that this is a huge and major detraction for people who even begin to wonder what UConn athletics is all about. The people at UConn in the 1990s understood these factors all too well when they were pushing for an online stadium.

You could just admit attendance was never what you thought it was. Wouldn't that be easier?

I like college football for the simple fact I lived someplace where it was a big deal. So I've got the leaving Connecticut part down thanks.

Who cares what they pay? I don't know Mr College Sports loses money... Why would you want someone paying $30 for a seat instead of $5.

All these people who won't consider UConn athletics because they play football in East Hartford? Where are they exactly? Seriously your arguments today are silly even by your standards.

 

[whaler11]

Upstater read this and then please just stop because it's ridiculous.

http://m.espn.go.com/ncf/story?storyId=10458047&src=desktop&rand=ref~{"ref":"http://alumni.umich.edu/about/news-features/student-attendance-declining-big-house"}

Arizona got 3,700 students for Oregon. 47.6% of their sold student tickets don't show for the average game.

Oklahoma sells 8,000 student tickets and averaged 5,800 in the building.

Michigan only sold 19,800 student tickets.

Iowa sold 7,500 and had 30% noshows.

Michigan State went 13-1 and 20% of 13,500 noshowed on average.

Penn State sold 22k and 16% noshowed.

Georgia cut capacity and 28% noshowed.


So please just say 15k at a UConn on campus stadium is just an stupid concept.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I think you could address highway access by making U.S. 44 four lanes to I-384, and Route 195 four lanes to I-84, without having to make them full-fledged interstate highways.

Then, on gamedays (6-7 times a year), you make the four-lane highways 3 in / 1 out before the game, and 3 out / 1 in after the game, just like the Patriots do.

It's about 3 3/4 miles north from Gillette Stadium to I-95, and 4 3/4 miles south to I-495. In Storrs, it's about 7 3/4 miles north to I-84, and about 10 3/4 miles west to I-384.

Some of the existing roadway is four lanes, particularly in the commercial areas of Tolland and Mansfield on Route 195, and some of Coventry on U.S. 44, but there would be improvements and land acquisition required in other places.

I doubt that you'll see a stadium in Storrs. If they put a 60,000 seat stadium there, they would need to have a map showing alternatives to the campus. When I used to go to Gample games, I had a shortcut from East Hartford to the campus.

What would the state do with a 40,000 seat stadium? I know, have Goodwin College start a football team.