The steady decline of student attendance

[OHSportsFan]

Have you guys SAT through a TV commercial at a game?!

 

[jlb1705]

I really think this is in large part due to the accumulating effect of a lack of quality opponent for fans who have been paying more and more and getting less and less. What I say here is definitely true of the fan experience at Wisconsin and may also be true elsewhere, but I don't want to generalize.

UW has experienced a period of 10+ years now where nearly half the home schedule has been contorted to accommodate automatic wins from the Citadels, Akrons and Western Illinoises of the World. Those easy wins have, up to this point, been of bigger worth as it pertains to the prospect of "getting the better bowl" and making money. That has absolutely sucked to endure as a spectator for the last 10 years and it has begun to ware on fan bases. Not to mention if you coupled those 3 or 4 cupcakes with getting the unlucky years of getting the league bottom feeders (Indiana/NW/Purdue/Ill) on the home schedule. Also, in my opinion, the fact that Wisconsin's supposed biggest rivalry game is typically a meaningless drubbing of a limp Minnesota team makes things much less interesting. There have been some real [Mark May]ty home slates in the past decade that have sucked the incentive out of attending in person.

D-I football has been diluted. It used to be a regional sport. Nowadays if your team is in a big conference you're competing primarily with teams from another part of the country that you don't even play on the field. If your're a fan of a smaller program you've probably seen your team abandon its past affiliations and rivalries to seek a piece of the large conference pie, or you've seen your rivals leave you behind. The small conferences have membership comprised of teams from two, three or four different time zones. All in all, there are more and more teams that are playing more and more games that don't matter to the students or other fans. There are more and more teams having seasons that don't matter because they have no shot at playing for a national championship and conference championships have been de-emphasized and rendered nearly meaningless.

 

[Bucky32]

Sales haven't been a problem, but if kids are saying they'd rather watch the game on TV or don't have a positive review of their stadium experience, it doesn't bode well for ticket sales 10 years down the line as some of the customer base ages and they need young alums to buy their tickets and make donations.

 

[Saw31]

Today's kids are lazy pieces of shit. We used to call each other lazy because we didn't walk to the park/swimming pool and got a ride from our parents. I'm pretty sure my step kids don't know where the park is. Video games, video games, video games. The fuckers don't even leave the house to try and get laid. Bunch of 20 year old virgins playing COD right now.

I took them to a sweet airshow with the Thunderbirds several years ago. They sat and complained the whole time. But put in a video game with sweet jets/aircraft in it, and it's the most awesome thing ever.

They'll watch the Buckeyes with me on TV, but if they had to walk a couple miles to get to the Shoe, to see a game in person, they'd be complaining so much I'd surely have to drown them in the Olentangy...

 

[MaxBuck]

Today's kids are lazy pieces of [Mark May]. We used to call each other lazy because we didn't walk to the park/swimming pool and got a ride from our parents. I'm pretty sure my step kids don't know where the park is. Video games, video games, video games. The fuckers don't even leave the house to try and get laid. Bunch of 20 year old virgins playing COD right now.

I took them to a sweet airshow with the Thunderbirds several years ago. They sat and complained the whole time. But put in a video game with sweet jets/aircraft in it, and it's the most awesome thing ever.

They'll watch the Buckeyes with me on TV, but if they had to walk a couple miles to get to the Shoe, to see a game in person, they'd be complaining so much I'd surely have to drown them in the Olentangy...

Shut up and drink some more Scotch. I recommend The Highland Park 18-Year-Old Single MaltTM.

 

[cincibuck]

Damn kids, with their hula hoops and Dan Fogelberg records...

"New traditions" is not an oxymoron. Everything that is now a tradition was once something new, and through the years different generations have made their mark on the experience of attending the game. Where is the opportunity nowadays for students to do that kind of thing? With all of the corporate crap that they've stuffed into every single non-football moment of the game, is there room for anything to be added by today's students? Is that even allowed or encouraged anymore, or will every "new tradition" be the result of the students being led where the athletic department wants them instead of the students being able to make their own mark?

I agree with most of your post except the statement about 'new traditions.'

So let's go rhetorical here - I was in the 'shoe in 1966, watching the bucks and the gophers have at it when the band broke into a new arrangement of a then current pop tune - Hang on Snoopy. The crowd liked it, the band and students loved it. I'm sure the band director, Eugene Weigel, thought that they would play it a few more times and then he could throw the music out. When it didn't go away, when students and band members kept requesting the song, it became a tradition. . Similarly, having the players gather in front of the band and sing Carmen Ohio was a novelty. When the team continued to do this after Jim Tressell resigned it took on the level of tradition. My contention is that something like Snoopy or the team gathering to sing the Alma Mater starts out as a novelty. If it takes root and stays it can become a tradition Ergo, in my view 'new' and 'tradition' are contradictory terms.

 

[MaxBuck]

I was in the 'shoe in 1966, watching the bucks and the gophers have at it when the band broke into a new arrangement of a current pop tune - Hang on Snoopy.

Yeah, I remember that, too. Good times.

Hey, wait a minute, Snoopy wasn't in that song at all.

Yeah, I guess "new traditions" can be pretty old, after all.

 

[cincibuck]

Old age, scotch and postings don't mix.

 

[Saw31]

Get off my lawn!!!

 

[Saw31]

It's the circle of life. When I was a young punk, I dreamed of the day I would be old enough to bitch about young punks. I'm old enough now. GTFOML!

 

[Dryden]

Today's kids are lazy pieces of [Mark May].

I resent this. I was a lazy piece of shit 25 years ago.

 

[Saw31]

I see the young punks are too busy playing video games to respond. Yeah...

 

[Dryden]

Rising costs of attendance don't bother me so much. What keeps me home more often than not for any live events now is the extended TV ad times (which means there ain't jack to do at the stadium while watching the teams huddle) and the prospect of missing a quarter, a half a period, or a half inning if I have to take a piss.

 

[Saw31]

Yes. Not being able to piss at your seat is troublesome. I tried inventing a "party pisser" with tubes and funnels running down the pant legs. But the prototypes failed and only left me with wet socks...

 

[Saw31]

Even Max can't argue this point. This generation invented the alcohol enema. They're too lazy to drink a beer. WTF?