Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[noeynox]

People are not going to go to the Rent to see UConn play teams that fans cannot relate to (ie AAC opponents). We saw what happened when Michigan came to the Rent. The same would happen with any P5 school I would imagine. Even BYU doesn't do it for CT fans. It is doubtful that Boise will either. If you really think that fans have anything to do with CR, then you are kidding yourself. It is out of our hands. Not many people are going to pay and go through the hassle of getting to the Rent to watch one crummy team play another for nothing. Don't tell me that Rutger's fan base and attendance at their games got them into the B1G. Don't tell me that Syracuse's outstanding attendance at their football games got them in to the ACC. Even Louisville's attendance was not that great until the other night. UConn failed to promote itself when it mattered. That is what matters.

Ding, ding, ding. This program got off to a strong start with A stadium opening win over a Big Ten team (albeit a bad one). Went to a bowl a game if our first official year in the Big East with an electric atmosphere for the Pitt game. Then the people in charge sort of sat on their hands. Didn't pimp the product at all. Then after some lean years followed by two Big East titles, Hathaway went all P on the program. I cannot state how much I despise the Hathaway era at UConn. Never has someone that was given so much up so bad.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

That UConn football can lose attendance to college soccer makes me want to poke my eyes out.

College student are cheap and lazy for the most part and do not underestimate the impact that so many kids nowadays grew-up playing soccer instead of football (my town’s rec department has 10 teams with 14 kids each playing Grades 2/1 soccer, which is 140 kids, while the rec football team for the same grades has 2 teams with 25 players each or 50 kids).

So if you are a poor, lazy college student who is a lukewarm sports, do you want to spend $25? a pop for a ticket for a team that honestly sucked last year that includes 2 hours on a bus and a 2 ½ hour game or do you spend $10 on a soccer team for a team that made it to the national quarterfinals last year and is only a 15 minute walk or less from most parts of campus that takes only 2 hours allowing for plenty of dorm/bar drinking time afterwards.

Not saying this is right; but, it is a truth.

 

[whaler11]

College student are cheap and lazy for the most part and do not underestimate the impact that so many kids nowadays grew-up playing soccer instead of football (my town’s rec department has 10 teams with 14 kids each playing Grades 2/1 soccer, which is 140 kids, while the rec football team for the same grades has 2 teams with 25 players each or 50 kids).

So if you are a poor, lazy college student who is a lukewarm sports, do you want to spend $25? a pop for a ticket for a team that honestly sucked last year that includes 2 hours on a bus and a 2 ½ hour game or do you spend $10 on a soccer team for a team that made it to the national quarterfinals last year and is only a 15 minute walk or less from most parts of campus that takes only 2 hours allowing for plenty of dorm/bar drinking time afterwards.

Not saying this is right; but, it is a truth.

I wasn't disputing it and I've got no beef with soccer - it's just hard to wrap my head around someone would prefer that over a college football game. I have a feeling that doesn't happen at many other schools.

 

[Kolumbo]

I wasn't disputing it and I've got no beef with soccer - it's just hard to wrap my head around someone would prefer that over a college football game. I have a feeling that doesn't happen at many other schools.

That's OK though. There was a time when UCONN Soccer was head and shoulders above all other sports at UCONN. The stadium was packed with fans and kegs on Sunday afternoons, and the atmosphere was incredible. Unfortunately that tradition has died since the games were moved to nights. UCONN wins championships.

 

[Dooley]

I have no beef with soccer. I enjoy going to games when I can and I too remember being a kid going to games and LOVING it. The beef is with the continued double-booking of events that are of interest to students. The UCONN student Goal Patrol is a great part of soccer games. Meanwhile, students are also needed through 4 quarters at football games to liven the atmosphere. Granted, the football game was originally supposed to be on Thurs night but I find it hard to believe that they couldn't have just swapped game nights. Soccer on Thursday, football on Friday.

 

[HuskyHawk]

That's OK though. There was a time when UCONN Soccer was head and shoulders above all other sports at UCONN. The stadium was packed with fans and kegs on Sunday afternoons, and the atmosphere was incredible. Unfortunately that tradition has died since the games were moved to nights. UCONN wins championships.

Agreed. I looked forward to weekend Soccer games during the day more than any other sporting event for most of my time at UConn. Certainly more than 1-AA football. We went to all the basketball games at the Field House and HCC, and Gampel opened the year after I graduated. But Soccer generated the most interest as an on campus event. Dan Donigan was the man.

 

[Huskygrad88]

Despite it being Labor Day, it was a beautiful long weekend. Perhaps this market is small and we are not suitable for a P5 conference. I'm not talking television market size I am talking the number of people who give a sheet. If we could not get 40,000 on a warm Friday evening, it could be we belong in the AAC. Yes, I am being a Debbie Downer. It pains me to talk like this. Major markets have enough of a base that if 10000 fans are going away Labor Day weekend, there are 10000 fans in reserve thrilled to get a chance to see their team. Throw your we are coming off pp and Hatheway daggers at me. I am just having one of those realism days

This is spot on, with one addition. It's spot on because in a real sports market there is more demand than supply. That means rabid fans itching to go to a game. Hate to say it, but if I tell people who know I have season tickets that I will be away and have to miss a game, they rarely ask to use my tickets.
The addition...CT has awful, excuse making sports fans. Men's hoops doesn't sell out b/c they were formerly on APR sanction. The women's team doesn't sell out b/c they win too much, etc. etc. etc. Oh wait, the Michigan game is an "event"...oh I can go to that to tell people I was there.

 

[Exit 4]

This is spot on, with one addition. It's spot on because in a real sports market there is more demand than supply. That means rabid fans itching to go to a game. Hate to say it, but if I tell people who know I have season tickets that I will be away and have to miss a game, they rarely ask to use my tickets.
The addition...CT has awful, excuse making sports fans. Men's hoops doesn't sell out b/c they were formerly on APR sanction. The women's team doesn't sell out b/c they win too much, etc. etc. etc. Oh wait, the Michigan game is an "event"...oh I can go to that to tell people I was there.

I have to agree and I'm not happy about it. But, you can't give up, you need to continue to press on and see what happens. I do think attendance would boom with a P5 schedule, but its sad that a less than p5 schedule generates such fickle interest. The root of the challenge is that in the northeast, our population has attended a far more diverse set of colleges, so that built in alumni core is so much smaller.

And FWIW, I can't anyone to make the trek from lower FF County.

 

[upstater]

This is spot on, with one addition. It's spot on because in a real sports market there is more demand than supply. That means rabid fans itching to go to a game. Hate to say it, but if I tell people who know I have season tickets that I will be away and have to miss a game, they rarely ask to use my tickets.
The addition...CT has awful, excuse making sports fans. Men's hoops doesn't sell out b/c they were formerly on APR sanction. The women's team doesn't sell out b/c they win too much, etc. etc. etc. Oh wait, the Michigan game is an "event"...oh I can go to that to tell people I was there.

So, reduce the P5 to the 20 teams that fit your criteria? Because the other 40 surely don't.

UConn's market is certainly no worse than WF, GT, Duke, N'western, Purdue, Indiana, Minnesota, Kansas, Kansas St, TCU, Baylor, Arizona, Arizona St, Washington St., Stanford, Iowa St, Syracuse, BC, Pitt, Louisville, etc. And schools within the SEC have a lot of interested terrific fans but horribly bad markets, like Mississippi St., South Carolina and Arkansas.

 

[Hoophound]

UConn has problems selling tickets because the football product stinks and most of the opponents are small time. The basketball team recently struggled to sell out games because of various factors, but the schedule is certainly one of them. People in CT are used to big time sports, Boston, New York, Giants, Pats, Sox, Yanks, Celts. All the biggest brands in sports at the doorstep. You will find CT fans there for Michigan or Texas, but not for UCF and ECU.

However, if you get the sports programs back in a big conference the mindset changes. We start playing Michigan and Ohio State and competing on the football field and the casual fan will get really excited. He will then want to go to the spring game or the tuneup against Stoneybrook because he wants to see what "his" team is looking like for the season as he looks forward to the big games. Right now, he just isn't excited.

 

[Dooley]

Agreed. I looked forward to weekend Soccer games during the day more than any other sporting event for most of my time at UConn. Certainly more than 1-AA football. We went to all the basketball games at the Field House and HCC, and Gampel opened the year after I graduated. But Soccer generated the most interest as an on campus event. Dan Donigan was the man.

Donigan was awesome. I met him as a younger lad at a soccer camp up in Holyoke, MA many years ago. Couldn't have been nicer to me. I'll always remember talking to him about the game...even as a kid, he knew how to communicate things to me that would resonate. It's a shame he's coaching at Snooki.

 

[Husky25]

This is spot on, with one addition. It's spot on because in a real sports market there is more demand than supply. That means rabid fans itching to go to a game. Hate to say it, but if I tell people who know I have season tickets that I will be away and have to miss a game, they rarely ask to use my tickets.
The addition...CT has awful, excuse making sports fans. Men's hoops doesn't sell out b/c they were formerly on APR sanction. The women's team doesn't sell out b/c they win too much, etc. etc. etc. Oh wait, the Michigan game is an "event"...oh I can go to that to tell people I was there.

Whatever people say, there are three root reasons they don't got to games and they are not particular to UConn Athletics.

1. High Def TV
2. Time Commitment
3. Reduced disposable income

And they can be used all at the same time (i.e. Why should I drive an hour to Hartford, East Hartford, or Storrs, when I can save time and money and watch the game right here.)!!! How to get fans back in the stands is the number one issue facing the NFL. You can point out the differences between the Pros and college and preach obligations for program support all you want, but the vast majority of fans just want to be entertained.
It's not laziness per se, rather than selfishness.

#3 is returning for some a fraction of the population, but if you go without for a period of time, it tends to lose it's priority.

The Recession hit college athletics' main target audience particularly hard. That target? Recently graduated alumni. When I was 22-27, I remember feeling that I could afford to do anything I wanted and I more or less did. I shared rent, split utilities and cable, had a Company provided computer, and paid Internet (albeit Dial up), I was a 1/4 Red Sox Season ticket holder as well as UConn, and could drive to Mohegan on a whim and blow a few hundy with no one to answer to if I came home at dawn. Here's the difference, I had a job, little debt, and I could cover all my expenses.

When people stop buying tickets and making these games must-attend events (for whatever reason), they established a new normal. Granted, the product on the field during the last three years, but Football needs some time to gain traction.

Bottom line: UConn must find a way to make UConn football and basketball a priority again. It's an uphill battle given they lost almost two generations of Young Alumni to the Recession and the 3 year dumpster fire (2007-2014).

 

[itgoeslike]

Agreed. I looked forward to weekend Soccer games during the day more than any other sporting event for most of my time at UConn. Certainly more than 1-AA football. We went to all the basketball games at the Field House and HCC, and Gampel opened the year after I graduated. But Soccer generated the most interest as an on campus event. Dan Donigan was the man.

I remember Dan. Soccer was a big deal back then and a great way to spend a fall afternoon. I knew a few of the players including Santiago (I kept calling him Diego) and his buddy from Hungary (or Yugoslavia), who I believe was Kanto Lulaj. On the football side of things, I have fond memories tailgating at the Yale Bowl.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Whatever people say, there are three root reasons they don't got to games and they are not particular to UConn Athletics.

1. High Def TV
2. Time Commitment
3. Reduced disposable income

And they can be used all at the same time (i.e. Why should I drive an hour to Hartford, East Hartford, or Storrs, when I can save time and money and watch the game right here.)!!! How to get fans back in the stands is the number one issue facing the NFL. You can point out the differences between the Pros and college and preach obligations for program support all you want, but the vast majority of fans just want to be entertained.
It's not laziness per se, rather than selfishness.

#3 is returning for some a fraction of the population, but if you go without for a period of time, it tends to lose it's priority.

The Recession hit college athletics' main target audience particularly hard. That target? Recently graduated alumni. When I was 22-27, I remember feeling that I could afford to do anything I wanted and I more or less did. I shared rent, split utilities and cable, had a Company provided computer, and paid Internet (albeit Dial up), I was a 1/4 Red Sox Season ticket holder as well as UConn, and could drive to Mohegan on a whim and blow a few hundy with no one to answer to if I came home at dawn. Here's the difference, I had a job, little debt, and I could cover all my expenses.

When people stop buying tickets and making these games must-attend events (for whatever reason), they established a new normal. Granted, the product on the field during the last three years, but Football needs some time to gain traction.

Bottom line: UConn must find a way to make UConn football and basketball a priority again. It's an uphill battle given they lost almost two generations of Young Alumni to the Recession and the 3 year dumpster fire (2007-2014).

Yes, and #2 is broader than it seems. It includes convenience. Driving, parking, traffic, waiting in lines (to get in, to get food, to pee).

While we all know why the Rent is in E Hartford, the reality is, home football games, at this level, on Saturdays at 1:00 would be huge in Storrs. Everyone would be there. The reality is that there is no competition in Storrs. That's why weekend Soccer was huge. But student tickets need to be cheap. Like going to a movie.

 

[Kolumbo]

I remember Dan. Soccer was a big deal back then and a great way to spend a fall afternoon. I knew a few of the players including Santiago (I kept calling him Diego) and his buddy from Hungary (or Yugoslavia), who I believe was Kanto Lulaj. On the football side of things, I have fond memories tailgating at the Yale Bowl.

Matt Addington antagonizing the goalies. Kolumbo is a snowflake. Coach Morrone. The North Goal Gang. Good times.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Matt Addington antagonizing the goalies. Kolumbo is a snowflake. Coach Morrone. The North Goal Gang. Good times.

Jeremy deserved a statue.

 

[itgoeslike]

Matt Addington antagonizing the goalies. Kolumbo is a snowflake. Coach Morrone. The North Goal Gang. Good times.

Ah, the North Goal Gang. . .things slowly seeping back. . .

 

[HuskyHawk]

Ah, the North Goal Gang. . .things slowly seeping back. . .

I do believe the UGLY cheer was eventually banned.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I have no beef with soccer. I enjoy going to games when I can and I too remember being a kid going to games and LOVING it. The beef is with the continued double-booking of events that are of interest to students. The UCONN student Goal Patrol is a great part of soccer games. Meanwhile, students are also needed through 4 quarters at football games to liven the atmosphere. Granted, the football game was originally supposed to be on Thurs night but I find it hard to believe that they couldn't have just swapped game nights. Soccer on Thursday, football on Friday.

Agree on that point. Double booking sporting events on the same day is foolish and amateur. Even the smaller sports are hurt because many of our UConn athletes know each other and will attend each other’s games (I think athletes get in free). Last year was a perfect example when UConn had a home Friday night football game against Louisville the same time that the men’s basketball team was playing Maryland in Brooklyn. I have football season tickets and would have enjoyed seeing Louisville; but, I live in North Jersey and I can get to Barclay’s in an hour from my house (drive to Hoboken, Path & Subway to Barclay’s) versus taking around 3 hours to slug my way across I-84 on a Friday night. It was an easy choice and that does not take into account the quality of the event itself.

 

[Husky25]

Yes, and #2 is broader than it seems. It includes convenience. Driving, parking, traffic, waiting in lines (to get in, to get food, to pee).

While we all know why the Rent is in E Hartford, the reality is, home football games, at this level, on Saturdays at 1:00 would be huge in Storrs. Everyone would be there. The reality is that there is no competition in Storrs. That's why weekend Soccer was huge. But student tickets need to be cheap. Like going to a movie.

Reason #2 includes kids soccer, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, boy/girl scouts, PTO, Town Councils, etc., etc., and so on and so forth...

 

[Husky25]

I went to the last UConn football game at the Yale Bowl. I knew it would be fun when the frats pulled into the parking area with U-Hausl filled with kegs. What a joyous mess. And to this day, I only have a vague recollection how I got from New Haven to Hartford after the game (God bless the poor person who volunteered to be a DD and drive us) to hit the bars and no recollection how I went from Coach’s to the floor or my dorm room where I woke up the next morning.

I actually went into the Yale Bowl that year for the first, last, and only time at Yale Bowl. Hmm I don't recall anyone complaining back then.

 

[CL82]

Whatever people say, there are three root reasons they don't got to games and they are not particular to UConn Athletics.

1. High Def TV
2. Time Commitment
3. Reduced disposable income

4. Increased game coverage.

It's not only quality of televised games, it's the quantity. The coverage provisions of the AAC ESPN contract will definitely hurt attendance for the more casual fan.

 

[Husky25]

4. Increased game coverage.

It's not only quality of televised games, it's the quantity. The coverage provisions of the AAC ESPN contract will definitely hurt attendance for the more casual fan.

Sure, I'll buy that for a dollar. It's sort of rolled into 1 & 2, but I have no probably spiking it out. For sure one of my non-UConn fan friends who used to have season tickets with us would not bat an eye at missing tailgating and the game in order to watch Auburn vs. Southwest Lousiana Tech...State...of Bossier City

 

[billybud]

Winning will sell tickets....Charlie was right...it is about winning.

TV is the easy way and inexpensive way to watch a game. But folks will pay more for the fan experience of being in the stands celebrating and cheering a team that is winning.

 

[huskymedic]

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