There is going to be a retention problem....

[coachcap]

Preface: Started buying season tickets at Memorial the year that UConn announced officially that it was making the move from 1-AA to 1-A football. Two families of five with per game price of $ 5.00 per child & $ 10.00 for adults. Went from 10 to 12 tickets when one of my friends expressed interest in joining our group. As the kids went their ways, we have a total of 6 couples who tailgate together.
I can't ask the others to continue buying season tickets anymore, when tickets are selling for $ 5.00 a game just to get souls in the stadium. The athletic department HAS to come up with a plan to give loyal season ticket fans a substantial compensation or risk reaching high school level attendance in the future.

 

[JMick]

Honestly they might have to make it like planet fitness where you get X number of free guests every game. I can't think of anything else they can offer you guys. As long as we suck, tickets are going to be $5

 

[BigTenFan]

I was at the tailgate yesterday and part of the game. What was missing.....besides a good football team? Students
I don't know what the University does to encourage students to attend games- but it isn't working. Lack of student support means lack of program support. Friday Football night should be a great way for students to start the weekend. Weather was perfect.
Student support is almost as critical as a new coach

 

[rentfan90]

Preface: Started buying season tickets at Memorial the year that UConn announced officially that it was making the move from 1-AA to 1-A football. Two families of five with per game price of $ 5.00 per child & $ 10.00 for adults. Went from 10 to 12 tickets when one of my friends expressed interest in joining our group. As the kids went their ways, we have a total of 6 couples who tailgate together.
I can't ask the others to continue buying season tickets anymore, when tickets are selling for $ 5.00 a game just to get souls in the stadium. The athletic department HAS to come up with a plan to give loyal season ticket fans a substantial compensation or risk reaching high school level attendance in the future.

My season tickets were like $140 for 4 seats in the lower bowl. Just buy those (recent grad) they dont check or anything.

 

[phillionaire]

I was at the tailgate yesterday and part of the game. What was missing.....besides a good football team? Students
I don't know what the University does to encourage students to attend games- but it isn't working. Lack of student support means lack of program support. Friday Football night should be a great way for students to start the weekend. Weather was perfect.
Student support is almost as critical as a new coach

I don’t blame the students for not wanting to waste their Friday night driving 45 minutes to watch us lose by 30 to MTSU

 

[Chief00]

My point is not to offend anyone, but the marketing department plans and the cookie cutter consultant ideas aren’t working.
I agree attendance is more important than short term revenues given the realities. Lots to fix both on and off the field. But, on the other hand it’s not rocket science.

 

[Milo65]

I was at the tailgate yesterday and part of the game. What was missing.....besides a good football team? Students
I don't know what the University does to encourage students to attend games- but it isn't working. Lack of student support means lack of program support. Friday Football night should be a great way for students to start the weekend. Weather was perfect.
Student support is almost as critical as a new coach

This isn’t new. The common thread here is winning and the University has done a piss poor job of hiring and supporting the right people to build a winner. Nickel and Dime economics. You get what you pay for, except they didn’t go the money ball route. Instead of looking at their budget and hiring a guy who is up and coming and skilled. They went out and hired retreads who couldn’t get a job anywhere else. As for Diaco, he wasn’t a retread at the time, but he was anything but skilled.

 

[Platt81]

FWIW, I will continue to buy season tickets and support the student athletes regardless. I will not penalize the players who are doing their best due to lack of every aspect above them. If you question that commitment, I question your real loyalty to the team.

 

[SubbaBub]

Student want to "party" on Fri/Sat. Insert your own memories of what that meant in your day. UConn cracked down on student tailgating and the prospect of missing the campus scene is too large a deterrent.

Students don't want PG entertainment.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

I was at the tailgate yesterday and part of the game. What was missing.....besides a good football team? Students
I don't know what the University does to encourage students to attend games- but it isn't working. Lack of student support means lack of program support. Friday Football night should be a great way for students to start the weekend. Weather was perfect.
Student support is almost as critical as a new coach

comes with off-campus stadium

 

[JMick]

comes with off-campus stadium

it does. we can't change it now but it's a big issue and always will be.

 

[Waquoit]

comes with off-campus stadium

Comes with a crappy team. When UConn beat RGIII, Baylor press coverage called the student section "the equal of any in the Big 12". On a Friday night, no less.

 

[BlueandOG]

Preface: Started buying season tickets at Memorial the year that UConn announced officially that it was making the move from 1-AA to 1-A football. Two families of five with per game price of $ 5.00 per child & $ 10.00 for adults. Went from 10 to 12 tickets when one of my friends expressed interest in joining our group. As the kids went their ways, we have a total of 6 couples who tailgate together.
I can't ask the others to continue buying season tickets anymore, when tickets are selling for $ 5.00 a game just to get souls in the stadium. The athletic department HAS to come up with a plan to give loyal season ticket fans a substantial compensation or risk reaching high school level attendance in the future.

Coach, you are 100% correct. I started buying tickets with a group of 10 friends when they made the move to 1A. We never missed a game and went to the Notre Dame game. Now I am the last person standing, plus I live in Boston now. I keep buying tickets to support the program even though it is tough for me to actually get to a game. The terrible coaching decisions, from PP until now, make me feel like I was duped in a Ponzi scheme.

 

[Waquoit]

That's always been the conundrum, how do you get more fans in without alienating old fans? It can't be done.

 

[SwingDog]

I was at the tailgate yesterday and part of the game. What was missing.....besides a good football team? Students
I don't know what the University does to encourage students to attend games- but it isn't working. Lack of student support means lack of program support. Friday Football night should be a great way for students to start the weekend. Weather was perfect.
Student support is almost as critical as a new coach

Good points. The right head coach, one who who has a clear plan on how to build a successful program, and can articulate it, and demonstrate results (think Dan Hurley), will help change the culture and perspective among student athletes, students, and fans in general. There is a beat down, losing mentality that has infected everyone associated with UConn football.

 

[Chief00]

The truth is even in 2019 after all the losing seasons 3,000 to 4,000 students DID come to The Rent for every game. For a variety of reasons most left on buses befure the game would start.
It was the lowest hanging fruit to welcome and incent them to get in the stadium (despite a losing team), but UConn Athletic Dept failed at it. True, a winning team on the field would help, but that shouldn’t cloud the reality that there was a huge failure off the field too.

 

[BigTenFan]

Having students leave before kickoff tells you all you need to know.
University needs to market fun and excitement for students. As others have mentioned- students not engaged because of terrible product on the field but you can't wait until the team wins 3 or 4 games and expect more enthusiasm. You will have kids going to UConn who never attend a game during their college years.


This also impacts recruiting- Prospective players want to play in front of their classmates

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Will you please stop with the student section. Even after the crackdown on pregame student partying there were some games (with less than quality product) that had significant student section attendance. If we field a quality product, student attendance will not be an issue.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Student want to "party" on Fri/Sat. Insert your own memories of what that meant in your day. UConn cracked down on student tailgating and the prospect of missing the campus scene is too large a deterrent.

Students don't want PG entertainment.

Of all the places to crack down on student partying, this is one of the silliest. Let the kids have fun in the lot. They will have time to sober up in the stadium between the product on the field and the difficulty of buying alcohol while underage at the Rent.

 

[ZooCougar]

Can we please stop talking about RG3? Enough living in the past.

We have sucked for a decade. Students today were barely out of diapers the last time UConn was good.

 

[Waquoit]

Students today were barely out of diapers the last time UConn was good.

If so, that's some serious toilet training resistance.

 

[giddyup]

FWIW, I will continue to buy season tickets and support the student athletes regardless. I will not penalize the players who are doing their best due to lack of every aspect above them. If you question that commitment, I question your real loyalty to the team.

I continue to buy season tickets year over year just to keep the program on life support. I haven’t showed up since Wyoming. I can’t even give the tix away. But, I’ll get up and do it again, Amen. Always hopeful. Remain faithful to the cause.

 

[CTMike]

Retention was an issue 4-5 years ago; now, there’s no one left to retain but a twisted few. Season tickets is the equivalent of lighting your money on fire. If you have it to burn, knock yourself out, but the people (including students) who choose NOT to attend are acting rationally. This isn’t hard to grasp - There are 101 better ways to spend your time and money on a Saturday when the product has been this bad for 10+ years. It’s not a marketing issue, there’s no marketing the stink off this. Watching the games is the equivalent of “beatings will continue until morale improves”. Win, make it fun to attend again. That’s the only chance.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

That's always been the conundrum, how do you get more fans in without alienating old fans? It can't be done.

Just win and everyone will be happy.

 

[wethyhusky]

I've had tickets since the announcement to go to 1A. It's pretty annoying that my seats in 222 could be had with me buying $5 tickets and parking across the street instead of the blue lot. The product is awful, and people questioning loyalty??