Sort of.
I said that if people still were to use "traffic" as their excuse not to go to a 3:30 kick off in Storrs when there is plenty of time to get there before the game and tailgate/experience the gameday experience then yes I consider that person on the more lazy/making excuses side of things than the problem solving side of things.
Kick off will still be at 12:00 regardless of venue. If you want the games televised then TV sets the schedule. Otherwise the game goes up against Tennessee/Florida or A&M/Bama. Yeah that'll gain exposure.
Personally I think the reason the students (myself included) come into the game in the second quarter and leave at halftime is because there are no ties to the area at all, the early start times are extremely tough to make from Storrs, and a lot of the kids never grew up with/around UConn football therefore don't care about it. The on campus stadium issue solves a lot of this. Think about this for instance. If you go out on that Friday before the game, and you wake up Saturday at 9:30 in Storrs, you've already missed the busses to the football game. Then you're stuck. If the stadium is on campus, a student wakes up at 9:30, realizes there's a football game in 2.5 hours, takes a quick shower and busts his/her butt to the parking lot to tailgate and make it to the game. My fraternity puts on tailgates every game, they usually only last 2.5 hours truthfully. But people don't enter until 1:00 (second quarter) because nobody even gets to the stadium until 10:30/11. I think this is responsible for a large number of the students showing up late.
No it doesn't. It provides a ready made excuse for the lazies...If you were more committed to partying, you would know when the buses left and plan for it
. Go out around 9:30, back around 2:00am and up at 7:00. A couple Red-Bulls and Popov, and you're ready to go for the next 6-8 hours. You're 18-22 years old for crying out loud!! Time to take some responsibility for your own party schedule. The timing and number of buses is up to the student organizations. Get involved.
Students leave early because its a long drive back to campus and they want to eat/get a power nap in in the mid afternoon before they go out that night. The games right now are seen as an excuse to drink (which is how they should be viewed right now since there's no emotional attachment there for a lot of students). If/when the stadium gets placed on campus, students will still go to drink however I'd be willing to wager a lot of money to say that you'd get a lot more students staying a lot longer (maybe even the whole game, gasp!) if it was easier for them to get to and it was made a bigger deal for us by being on campus.
Another ready made excuse. The drive, in a car, is about 30 minutes. Games last until 4:00. Back at campus by 5:00 (including traffic)and the dining halls don't close until 7:00. There's 2 hours for a nap. If you live in the Fraternity House, make sure a Freshman has your Ramen noodles ready as you walk in the door.
There is a sense amongst the students right now that the administration doesn't fully believe in Storrs as a viable college town. Sure there are plenty of other factors (a lot of it is those damn Mansfield people, who for some reason haven't embraced UConn as a viable economic option) but outsourcing our sports on a regular basis doesn't build identity and school spirit. Honestly most of the students who attend all the sporting events are freshmen/sophomores and they have a very tough time finding a car to drive to XL (bus tickets cost $3 for football and basketball, in addition to your ticket price).
I agree with you here and it's an on going problem since at least 1996. But this is where your student organizations need to step up. Like I've told HskyFanDan, you need to know your audience. I don't know if the Athletic Department is monitoring the message boards (they probably do), but my guess is 90% of the people here are
not decision makers when it comes to student affairs or the athletic department. Get involved on campus...
The development of Storrs can't continue to be delayed. The area has such potential to be an amazing college town but the time of making excuses as to why Storrs isn't a good fit for anything needs to come to an end. In today's world, Storrs could be an incredible town that is modern and ahead of the curve in many ways to any other school in the area. This is a positive not only academically (high quality students want a good education, which UConn has, and a beautiful area to live in), but athletically as well as we would be able to attract a better type of athlete to UConn for school.
The issue you face is that there is no other school in the area that compares to UConn at Storrs, so the powers that be are resting on their laurels, so to speak. In terms of attracting better athletes to UConn. An off campus venue has some to do with their decision, but not more than, "Can this coach get me to the Pro League and making $Millions?"
At the end of the day, your own football game day experience is dictated by you. If you want to improve the experience of others, so be it. You're a student, right? Get involved in something other than Rush week (speaking metaphorically, of course).
