Poor fan showing at Gampel | Page 9 | The Boneyard

Poor fan showing at Gampel

Mr. Wonderful said:
They're reaping what they sewed.

The fans who were passionate about the team have been given the middle finger for far too long.
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It really is a question of prioritization. If game day experience and the look of a game on television is important then change the pricing structure and put students along the sidelines. But what they actually are looking to maximize is revenue. So corporate Season ticket holders money is the priority, regardless of whether people show up or not.

I've long advocated for a school run sell back program where STHs can pledge back their tickets to the school for resale at a cost of 50% of whatever the school ultimately realizes. That way, the cost of season tickets is mitigated, the school gets to sell the same seats twice, game day experience gets maximized with more butts in the seat, and the UConn brand gets enhanced because television show shows a sold out arena.

Some people have suggested that having a "official reseller" in StubHub, or whomever they use is an adequate substitute for this. I would disagree. That relies on the Season ticket holders to be willing to invest the time to list and sell the tickets, and allows them to set the market price. Having the school do this allows the school to set a price point to fill the arena, and, offer the tickets first to students, if that's a priority. Literally, everyone wins.
 
JustbrewitMan said:
It is my dream to win Powerball for 1 billion.

Then, I will buy out the first 10 rows at Gampel and Peeps. Only students and rabid fans will be allowed to sit in those seats (for free). It will be set up in my trust and will for perpetuity. I will have a carefully selected arbitor to ensure that appropriate loudness/rabid fan metrics are maintained in those seats.
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Looking forward to joining you!
 
Should explain this to that congressman or senator that said we should stay in the BE instead of going to Big12. You’re telling me we wouldn’t get good crowds for Houston. BYU Kansas Arizona Texas Tech Iowa st and top 10 matchups. The crowd is a side effect of a blah BE currently. Being told that Providence is a rivalry is annoying after a while. Hopefully slick Rick stays around or it could get real boring.
 
mike012 said:
Should explain this to that congressman or senator that said we should stay in the BE instead of going to Big12. You’re telling me we wouldn’t get good crowds for Houston. BYU Kansas Arizona Texas Tech Iowa st and top 10 matchups. The crowd is a side effect of a blah BE currently. Being told that Providence is a rivalry is annoying after a while. Hopefully slick Rick stays around or it could get real boring.
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The crowd for the Arizona game was by far the best Gampel crowd this season imo and the UConn fans at the BYU game in Boston were loud and plentiful. Great atmosphere at both games.
 
6in25 said:
I came into this late and maybe I missed it in my review of the previous 8 pages...but I'd love to understand how hundreds - if not thousands - of "fans" continued to walk out of Gampel after the announcement requesting fans remain in their seats for a special announcement. The special announcement was AK becoming the winningest player in UConn MBB history. I get that it was a Valentine's Day Saturday night game against an unranked opponent with high ticket prices...but for the people who were there, I don't get it. Paul Wettemann basically begging fans to get on their feet and so few obliging. The people in front of me talking about God knows what the entire game because it has clearly become a social event and status symbol. Fans leaving before it was over, which is typical. I agree some of this has been caused by the University but what is going on here? Way too many casuals. Several historic occurrences Saturday with Hasheem, JC and Jordan Hawkins in the house. Colben Landrew was there with his family...hopefully he wasn't as disappointed by the fans as I am. You can talk about why butts aren't in the seats all you want. And yes, it seemed like every time people started to get loud, G'Town would do something to shut us up. But come on. If you're going to go can you at least act like a real fan for a couple hours?
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People in the Northeast are grumps. The culture is far more "beat the traffic" than it is "support the program". I used to loathe Joe Rogan for hating CT. He said there is just so much despair there. Even the people that have everything, hate life. Of course, its a total generalization, but he's kind of right. Sometimes, I'll be dealing with a person in business that is just so negative, suspicious and generally unpleasant and sure enough, CT, MA or RI. They care about themselves more than the greater good.

Most of you on this board are not that way, you love the school and are committed to doing your part. Unfortunately, I think a lot of our fans are fair weather and are often clueless to the realities of the fragility of our program in its current situation. Most of those people running for the exits also probably hate the idea of moving to the ACC or B12. They are just a different kind of "fan" than those of us that genuinely care. They are, "What can UConn do for me?" fans.
 
Less than a year after the school blew up season ticket seating to auction seats to the deepest pockets, and the coach is already complaining about fan passion. Just wait until the program has a couple of consecutive down years with these fans they onboarded.
 
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CL82 said:
It really is a question of prioritization. If game day experience and the look of a game on television is important then change the pricing structure and put students along the sidelines.
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That would be a disaster, then all the seating you see on TV would be empty.
 
Hoophound said:
People in the Northeast are grumps. The culture is far more "beat the traffic" than it is "support the program". I used to loathe Joe Rogan for hating CT. He said there is just so much despair there. Even the people that have everything, hate life. Of course, its a total generalization, but he's kind of right. Sometimes, I'll be dealing with a person in business that is just so negative, suspicious and generally unpleasant and sure enough, CT, MA or RI. They care about themselves more than the greater good.

Most of you on this board are not that way, you love the school and are committed to doing your part. Unfortunately, I think a lot of our fans are fair weather and are often clueless to the realities of the fragility of our program in its current situation. Most of those people running for the exits also probably hate the idea of moving to the ACC or B12. They are just a different kind of "fan" than those of us that genuinely care. They are, "What can UConn do for me?" fans.
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I was talking to a newish friend and we were talking about where we're from. I told her CT and she said she has a lot of clients there and they are the most miserable and demanding jerks she's ever had to deal with. I just laughed and said it doesn't surprise me but we're not all like that.
 
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CL82 said:
Some people have suggested that having a "official reseller" in StubHub, or whomever they use is an adequate substitute for this. I would disagree. That relies on the Season ticket holders to be willing to invest the time to list and sell the tickets, and allows them to set the market price. Having the school do this allows the school to set a price point to fill the arena, and, offer the tickets first to students, if that's a priority. Literally, everyone wins.
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We already have an official reseller, Seat Geek. A couple of us have unpredictable work schedules. I've used it several times when I've had extra tickets. It's easy to use from my UConn ticket account. I am sure UConn gets a cut of Seat Geek's fees. UConn doesn't have to add staff to manage resale. I've basically broken even over the past couple of years, taking a bath on the scrub games and making a few bucks on the better games.
 
John said:
Less than a year after the school blew up season ticket seating to auction seats to the deepest pockets, and the coach is already complaining about fan passion. Just wait until the program has a couple of consecutive down years with these fans they onboarded.
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So true. I know a few long time season ticket holders who had their seats changed to less desirable locations. I understand the need to generate more money but UConn screwed over passionate fans who would never get there late or leave a game early.
 
The fans at the games are reactive and not proactive. We've never had crazy student sections like Kansas and Duke. Probably never will. The whole argument about there being a disparity with the type of students who are more into studying and what not, I mean come on. Duke students are louder and more into the game and they are even nerdier..... That is a lame excuse.

The main problem is that there isn't a group of students who are organizing and directing the student section. They are more worried about dressing up like bananas, instead of leading the chants and the noise when we are on defense...
 
Haven't read every post in this thread, but can NIL money be used to pay fans to attend? The coaches are paid well, the players are now well paid, why not the fans. Between annual donations, cost of tickets and parking one begins to question the expense of attending these games. The $7.50 pretzel at Gampel left a bad taste in my mouth.
 
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I think the attendance speaks to the weakness in the central CT economy. The economy is not picking up enough wins of its own up there.
 
Exit 4 said:
I think the attendance speaks to the weakness in the central CT economy. The economy is not picking up enough wins of its own up there.
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Its an issue everywhere. Wait until the stock market crashes. Its coming. The financial disaster I expect to see unfold in the near future is going to put a real dent in NIL and donations.
 
Hoophound said:
Its an issue everywhere. Wait until the stock market crashes. Its coming. The financial disaster I expect to see unfold in the near future is going to put a real dent in NIL and donations.
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I don't know about a stock market crash - but I do agree there is the potential for meaningful NIL fatigue in the years ahead and certainly in a flat economy.
 
I dont think either venue is a great home court advantage anymore. The tickets have gotten so high after the back to back that’s it’s priced out a lot of die hards. I go to about a 3rd of the games I used to for the pretty much the same money
 
Every year we go through the same conversation. From now on, I'm just going to copy/paste the UConn Fan Commandments.

  1. We will never play all our games at XL/Peoples.
  2. We will never play all our games at Gampel.
  3. We will never, ever, ever change it to where the students sit along the sidelines moving the donors back.
  4. We know. You're the only one in your section that stands and cheers all game long, getting told by old people to sit down.
  5. We know. The students were better when you were there. It's not even close.
  6. We know. You never leave early. And everyone should stay to the end regardless if they're going to sit 45 minutes in a parking garage followed by an hour ride home on a weeknight.
 
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superjohn said:
That would be a disaster, then all the seating you see on TV would be empty.
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Disagree. I think it would result in all the empty seats being filled, Because the university could move them at whatever price point was necessary to fill them.
 
Things are not going well for UConn basketball (relatively, anyway) so this discussion has gone from the University of Connecticut itself stinks, to the state of Connecticut is bad, and onto the entire Northeast is a problem.

As always, scary to think what happens when actual losses arrive
 
So now Dan Hurley expects games to be sold out ((10,244) and fans to actual be in the seats, LOL ! Fact, that student section at the practice facility end did look empty when I looked over right B4 the game. But I was surprised it filled in about 10-15 minutes into the game when I looked back ... I guess the students forgot their mittens for the walk over from the dorms 😉
 
Are there any fans on here or that you know of that got priced out and didn't buy season tickets? I personally don't think the empty seats and bad crowds at both venues are 100% because of this. In fact I don't think most of the empty seats are owned by season ticket holders/donors
 
Hey Adrien! said:
Last night we was the first time I parked at Towers, which was clutch.

Since my Airbnb was north of campus in Tolland, it was a rare spot on campus that is past every traffic light on 195 and has a nice, well-lit cut-through between the various places of worship. It's a bit of a walk, but I don't mind it and I'd much rather spend 10-15 minutes walking back to my car than sit in garage or stop light traffic.
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Yeah, I got a "secret" spot as well. Little bit of a walk but getting those steps in!
 
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