Outback instead of Ruth Chris... | The Boneyard

Outback instead of Ruth Chris...

CL82

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Do they have the blooming onion at RC? No, just that pale comparison stuffed with kale. I mean is it even really a choice?
 

whaler11

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I can’t help but get the feeling attendance is about to really nosedive in a lot of places. Once these trends start they pick up steam.

I think UConn was in front of the trend - even when the basketball team was rolling and the schedule was good attendance was already sagging.

There are just too many options and attending games is a huge time committment. The students most places do not seem to care anywhere near what they did even 10 years ago.
 
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I can’t help but get the feeling attendance is about to really nosedive in a lot of places. Once these trends start they pick up steam.

I think UConn was in front of the trend - even when the basketball team was rolling and the schedule was good attendance was already sagging.

There are just too many options and attending games is a huge time committment. The students most places do not seem to care anywhere near what they did even 10 years ago.

I think it’s a really complicated situation with a ton of different factors, and tend to chafe against the relative simplicity of “student just don’t care as much.” But, who knows, maybe you’re right.

I’ll be interested to see the impact of free student tickets this year, it’s the first time the school has made a positive decision with students in mind in eons.

Generally speaking, across the country, schools have taken student attendance and passion for granted and perhaps those chickens are starting to come home to roost.
 

whaler11

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I think it’s a really complicated situation with a ton of different factors, and tend to chafe against the relative simplicity of “student just don’t care as much.” But, who knows, maybe you’re right.

I’ll be interested to see the impact of free student tickets this year, it’s the first time the school has made a positive decision with students in mind in eons.

Generally speaking, across the country, schools have taken student attendance and passion for granted and perhaps those chickens are starting to come home to roost.

Free tickets at UConn is not going to make any difference in football attendance.

The kids in college today have grown up in a world where they have been able to make themselves the stars of their own show. Why would they be interested in watching other people do things - football games have so much dead time I spend a ton of time on my phone. Most of the young kids (5-15) never look up when they are at a game.
 
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Free tickets at UConn is not going to make any difference in football attendance.

The kids in college today have grown up in a world where they have been able to make themselves the stars of their own show. Why would they be interested in watching other people do things - football games have so much dead time I spend a ton of time on my phone. Most of the young kids (5-15) never look up when they are at a game.

Also the UConn football product is bad
 

pepband99

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I can’t help but get the feeling attendance is about to really nosedive in a lot of places. Once these trends start they pick up steam.

I think UConn was in front of the trend - even when the basketball team was rolling and the schedule was good attendance was already sagging.

There are just too many options and attending games is a huge time committment. The students most places do not seem to care anywhere near what they did even 10 years ago.

The saturation of the TV product is killing the in-person count. As an undergrad, it was a BIG DEAL when we had a game on ESPN or CBS. Now, everything is televised, and aside from a handful of schools, things aren't relevant enough to move the needle.
 

whaler11

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The saturation of the TV product is killing the in-person count. As an undergrad, it was a BIG DEAL when we had a game on ESPN or CBS. Now, everything is televised, and aside from a handful of schools, things aren't relevant enough to move the needle.

When it’s four hours to play a meaningless AAC game flipping between 10 games on TV is pretty enticing.
 

CL82

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I can’t help but get the feeling attendance is about to really nosedive in a lot of places. Once these trends start they pick up steam.

I think UConn was in front of the trend - even when the basketball team was rolling and the schedule was good attendance was already sagging.

There are just too many options and attending games is a huge time committment. The students most places do not seem to care anywhere near what they did even 10 years ago.
Agree 100% that this isn't a UConn only problem. Attendance numbers across the nation already show that. I agree too that UConn seems to be at the tip of the spear of this trend, somewhat due to factors outside of our control but significantly due self inflicted wounds.

Placing the Rent off campus and playing 1/2 basketball our games off campus have gotten our kids out of the habit of attending games. As you point out, it's not the only reason our attendance is down, but it is a reason. When I was at school I went to all the football games, all the MBB games in the fieldhouse and some games in the Civic Center and the Coliseum. That was pretty typical. People are inherently lazy. If it is easier to get to a game, they are more likely to go.

Posters point out that winning is the ultimate fix to attendance, and I agree athough off campus a lot of that is going to be alums and other non students. And make no mistake about it, student involvement is critical for sports. Today's students are tomorrow's season ticket holders.
 
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CL82

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When it’s four hours to play a meaningless AAC game flipping between 10 games on TV is pretty enticing.
Particularly when four hours includes a sucktacular product on the field.
 

whaler11

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Particularly when four hours includes a sucktacular product on the field.

of course UConn stinking makes it worse but 7 minute replay reviews are torture even if it’s Clemson/Bama.

Half the time I forget what they are even reviewing.
 
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Again, generally speaking, college athletic departments have ignored students and their game day experience for the better part of the past 20 years in favor of old, rich, alumni and TV.

Well guess what, those old, rich alumni are dying off/not capable of attending games and there’s an entire generation (20 years) of new younger, rich alumni that don’t feel as connected to the program.

That being said I attend a lot of college sporting events and I think reports of a lack of student and young people engagement/interest is a bit exaggerated.
 

Husky25

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of course UConn stinking makes it worse but 7 minute replay reviews are torture even if it’s Clemson/Bama.

Half the time I forget what they are even reviewing.
Other than the Houston Targeting call, which was really a no brainer, I don't remember another time since the league changed its name where a review went UConn's way.
 
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Reading these posts is like attending a class devoted to rationalization. If you're a basketball fan, you're ecstatic. If you're a football fan, you're not. And if you aren't sure how you feel, then you make up all kinds of stuff about UConn being on the cutting edge, nationwide attendance trends, student interest or the lack thereof, the age of donors, etc. to justify the administration's actions. Pity the poor marching band. All of those spiffy formations when they play their tribute to Jerome Kern will be a thing of the past.
 

whaler11

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Reading these posts is like attending a class devoted to rationalization. If you're a basketball fan, you're ecstatic. If you're a football fan, you're not. And if you aren't sure how you feel, then you make up all kinds of stuff about UConn being on the cutting edge, nationwide attendance trends, student interest or the lack thereof, the age of donors, etc. to justify the administration's actions. Pity the poor marching band. All of those spiffy formations when they play their tribute to Jerome Kern will be a thing of the past.


lol or we are commenting on an article about p5 schools cutting their budgets?

it would be tough to claim im not a football fan...
 
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Reading these posts is like attending a class devoted to rationalization. If you're a basketball fan, you're ecstatic. If you're a football fan, you're not. And if you aren't sure how you feel, then you make up all kinds of stuff about UConn being on the cutting edge, nationwide attendance trends, student interest or the lack thereof, the age of donors, etc. to justify the administration's actions. Pity the poor marching band. All of those spiffy formations when they play their tribute to Jerome Kern will be a thing of the past.

This is the content I come to the Boneyard for, thank you.
 
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Live event attendance across all mediums is sagging.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so i've been to a few UMass games... Their tailgate scene is WILD. Then it's time to head into the stadium and 85% of the place clears out. All the kids go back to their dorms. All of them.

Then it's a few hundred middle aged and older people and a few young families.
 

Husky25

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Live event attendance across all mediums is sagging.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so i've been to a few UMass games... Their tailgate scene is WILD. Then it's time to head into the stadium and 85% of the place clears out. All the kids go back to their dorms. All of them.

Then it's a few hundred middle aged and older people and a few young families.
Not unlike UConn then.

In the initial years, up through the first few games of Pasqualoni's 2nd year, we'd get into line on Silver lane by 8:00, set up tailgating, get in before the kick, and stay in the stadium for the duration of the game. For the last few years, it'd be an ordeal to make the end of the third and sometimes halftime would be more than enough.

That's also probably the case for many of the SEC and Big Ten schools, the difference is the 40,000 people who don't have tickets go home, continue tailgating, or go to a local bar and the the stadium is still 95% full.
 
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Live event attendance across all mediums is sagging.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so i've been to a few UMass games... Their tailgate scene is WILD. Then it's time to head into the stadium and 85% of the place clears out. All the kids go back to their dorms. All of them.

Then it's a few hundred middle aged and older people and a few young families.

Yeah but to be fair college sports have been dead in Massachusetts since Doug Fluite graduated.

I wouldn’t go around judging college sports’ popularity based on experiences at UMass
 
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Not unlike UConn then.

In the initial years, up through the first few games of Pasqualoni's 2nd year, we'd get into line on Silver lane by 8:00, set up tailgating, get in before the kick, and stay in the stadium for the duration of the game. For the last few years, it'd be an ordeal to make the end of the third and sometimes halftime would be more than enough.

That's also probably the case for many of the SEC and Big Ten schools, the difference is the 40,000 people who don't have tickets go home, continue tailgating, or go to a local bar and the the stadium is still 5% full.

Oh I know. My buddy dropped his Patriots season tickets because he said he just didn't have the time for them anymore. You get to the stadium 6-7am, set up, tailgate, game, breakdown - it's a 14 hour day. If that's a lot on the people who care imagine the kids that don't have a huge attachment and or money/transportation issues..

That and frankly, there's just fatigue when it comes to sports in general. In the 90s when I was in school - you had ESPN and CBS. Maybe Sports Channel, NESN or whoever would have a few games on TV, but that was it and that's where you caught games. Now I can watch UConn vs. Puke Bucket Tech which everyone knows is a blow out on my phone through a pirated streaming site and pay *zero*. No scrounging in the couch cushions for money to go, no worrying about parking, no drive off campus, none of it. Sit there, drink beer (actually scratch that, kids don't drink at college that much anymore, apparently), watch the game and talk with friends on Twitter.

Whalers' quip about younger kids is correct, too. Working in a college athletic department now, it's wild how insular their perspectives are on anything. If it doesn't immediately appeal to their self-interest, they're not interested in evening listening. MIllennials got a bad rap I thought. They can be clueless sometimes, but they're well intentioned, pretty well behaved and are open to learning. This new Gen-Z or whatever it is? The kids who really got sucked up in the social media surge? Totally helpless. They don't participate in anything on campus - leadership, extra cirriculars, partying anything... the only thing they participate in are psych visits. They all go home on the weekends to boot. It's remarkable just the difference in 10-15 years where kids then and during my time in college - it was all about finding freedom, testing independence, etc. These kids are just a non-stop conveyor belt of excuses to go home.

Now mind you, those social forces aren't killing game attendance on their own, but it's not helping it

UConn's problem was that COMBINED WITH a lot of games that were predictable and/or games no one would care about.
 
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Oh I know. My buddy dropped his Patriots season tickets because he said he just didn't have the time for them anymore. You get to the stadium 6-7am, set up, tailgate, game, breakdown

Whalers' quip about younger kids is correct, too. Working in a college athletic department now, it's wild how insular their perspectives are on anything. If it doesn't immediately appeal to their self-interest, they're not interested in evening listening. MIllennials got a bad rap I thought. They can be clueless sometimes, but they're well intentioned, pretty well behaved and are open to learning. This new Gen-Z or whatever it is? The kids who really got sucked up in the social media surge? Totally helpless.

Good thing tailgating starts at 6am ;)
 
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Not unlike UConn then.

In the initial years, up through the first few games of Pasqualoni's 2nd year, we'd get into line on Silver lane by 8:00, set up tailgating, get in before the kick, and stay in the stadium for the duration of the game. For the last few years, it'd be an ordeal to make the end of the third and sometimes halftime would be more than enough.

That's also probably the case for many of the SEC and Big Ten schools, the difference is the 40,000 people who don't have tickets go home, continue tailgating, or go to a local bar and the the stadium is still 95% full.
Lol. This post reminds me of when people here had a problem with fans being in their seats before kickoff at Rentschler. I wonder how manu of those posters still follow the program.
 

nelsonmuntz

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The SEC made their own bed. For all the crap the Pac 12 gets for their failing network, they realized there was a limit to how much bad football they could put on the field years ago. Fans were not going to pay hundreds of dollars for season tickets forever when two of the home games were Wofford and the Citadel.

I think that cutting inventory will help their attendance, and I suspect that kind of thinking was part of the decision to accept football independence for UConn. Scheduling isn't just as much of a headache when you are only looking for 5 or 6 home games, which is where I think UConn is going to be going forward.
 
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Lol. This post reminds me of when people here had a problem with fans being in their seats before kickoff at Rentschler. I wonder how manu of those posters still follow the program.

I was a complainer and yes I still have season tickets.
 

Husky25

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Lol. This post reminds me of when people here had a problem with fans being in their seats before kickoff at Rentschler. I wonder how manu of those posters still follow the program.
I'm still in my seat before kickoff. It's a matter these days of how long I am there.
 

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