SiouxMeNow Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 USF's crowd of 500 absolutely put UND's paltry turnout of what, 7500 today?, to shame as far as enthusiasm but the most disturbing thing recently is the lack of student turnout. WTF guys?? Last week against Stony Brook - the student section was 1/3 full. I would have give my left nut for a turnout like that yesterday against USF because it was EVEN LESS!! What gives??? The AL is OUR HOUSE! Quote
siouxhog12 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 I was there screaming the entire game in the front row just like usual....i was pretty dissapointed about the turnout but i got over it after the kick off and cheered just like i usually do...the athletic department needs to do something better about scheduling the games on hockey days. I mean it might be good to get out of towners at the game but most students usually just wanna drink before big hockey games or feel like they wont have time to get anything done if they go to the football game too and going to the football game would have prevented them from doing so since they would have had to get in line pretty early to get good seats. I stayed until the end of the game at the football game drove home then walked right to the hockey game...but some students have other things to do i guess. Quote
rjjockers Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 USF's crowd of 500 absolutely put UND's paltry turnout of what, 7500 today?, to shame as far as enthusiasm but the most disturbing thing recently is the lack of student turnout. WTF guys?? Last week against Stony Brook - the student section was 1/3 full. I would have give my left nut for a turnout like that yesterday against USF because it was EVEN LESS!! What gives??? The AL is OUR HOUSE! I understand what you are saying, and me growing up in a football atmosphere in the Pacific Northwest I enjoy top level football as much as the next person. But you have to understand, this is not top level football. Even in our wins this year at the Alerus It has been extremely frustrating to see teams just steamroll our defense, then add today when we all the suddenly forgot how to tackle. First, you have to attract the students with something to watch, and by the looks of today we don't have much to offer. Second, hockey is first and will always be first in popularity at UND. Third, we do not have anything that would attract top level athletes to Grand Forks for football. Of course there is the occasional exceptional athlete(Ismael Bamba) that will show up but for the most part we are scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to recruiting. I'm not trying to be mean or rude, just realistic. Following college football recruiting for the last 8-9 years you get to understand and see the pattern of how it works along with who gets the players and who doesn't. Quote
breakin face Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 It's time to break face..... Long story short nobody gives a rip about the opponents on this home schedule. If these games meant anything in the grand scheme of things students may turn out but in all actuality they don't. UND drew well against South Dakota a long time NCC rival and familiar team to the student base. The move to division 1 is ultimately going to flounder our program into mediocrity unless Faison can come up with a more enticing home schedule. NDSU, SDSU, and USD are all able to draw well throughout the transition because football is "the" sport at their school. I see this pattern developing over the next couple years football will continue to get back burner-ed by the student population causing recruits to see half empty venues and electing to go elsewhere to play. I foresee the next decade being a rough one for Fighting Sioux football. Pick up the pieces....of yo face! Quote
SiouxForever Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 On a more serious note, a lot of students could care less about fighting sioux football right now. It is just not that exciting with the transition and we don't really have any explosive players like we had in the past. This team is painful to watch and it is painful to be at the Alerus Center and see such a week crowd. Also let's not forget it was Sioux/Gopher weekend and 90% of the students were drinking and having fun Friday night, they could give a rats a** about waking up Saturday morning and going to watch the sioux football team take on USF. Nobody cares!!!!! Quote
siouxforeverbaby Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 First of all, the students are going to care if they are football fans...that is a given. Second, football didn't get a whole lot of a choice when it came to scheduling football games this year...they took what they could get. Third, there is always going to be one or two weekends a year when there is the triple-header of hockey, football, hockey...and some students will make it to all of them. It is sad that students right now seem to think that they have to choose between them (you don't really) and that this weekend, it happened to be the Sioux-Gopher series so unless the football game was against a really exciting opponent and a huge rival...students weren't going to show. Quote
MattC Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 The reason that students weren't at yesterdays game is because they were standing in line to get a seat at the MN hockey game. I stood in line for 8 hours to get seats in the 7th row for the Friday night MN game. Quote
bincitysioux Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 Someday, students will be like me and regret not attending as many football (or basketball or hockey) games as often as they could while they were attending UND. When I was a student I rarely attended anything that took place on a Saturday because my ass was hitting the road for home on Fridays. Now I pay several thousand dollars a year and travel 100+ miles every weekend to take in Sioux athletics. Seems kind of stupid that I didn't take advantage of it more when it was free for me, and Memorial Stadium, the Hyslop, and the Ralph were just a few blocks away. On a different note, I think the student section in the Alerus should be moved to the 3 northern most sections of the visitor side. That is prime real estate there, and if the students don't want to utilize it, it would be better to open it up regular season-ticket buyers. Quote
siouxforeverbaby Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 Someday, students will be like me and regret not attending as many football (or basketball or hockey) games as often as they could while they were attending UND. When I was a student I rarely attended anything that took place on a Saturday because my ass was hitting the road for home on Fridays. Now I pay several thousand dollars a year and travel 100+ miles every weekend to take in Sioux athletics. Seems kind of stupid that I didn't take advantage of it more when it was free for me, and Memorial Stadium, the Hyslop, and the Ralph were just a few blocks away. On a different note, I think the student section in the Alerus should be moved to the 3 northern most sections of the visitor side. That is prime real estate there, and if the students don't want to utilize it, it would be better to open it up regular season-ticket buyers. If that means moving the students off of center field, the students won't buy it..they move the students off of center field for playoffs and the students complain. Quote
bincitysioux Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 Tough............nobody is using the seats right now, so's who's to complain? Quote
82SiouxGuy Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 If that means moving the students off of center field, the students won't buy it..they move the students off of center field for playoffs and the students complain. If they continue to show up in the numbers that they have the past 2 games then they deserve to lose that prime seating. When the students show up they are a definite presence behind the bench. When they don't they lose their bargaining power. I'm sure that it didn't look good on television to see all of those empty seats at midfield. Quote
Irish Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 If they continue to show up in the numbers that they have the past 2 games then they deserve to lose that prime seating. When the students show up they are a definite presence behind the bench. When they don't they lose their bargaining power. I'm sure that it didn't look good on television to see all of those empty seats at midfield. The student section is pretty far down the list of things that didn't look good on television yesterday. Quote
Nodakstud_43 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 Someday, students will be like me and regret not attending as many football (or basketball or hockey) games as often as they could while they were attending UND. When I was a student I rarely attended anything that took place on a Saturday because my ass was hitting the road for home on Fridays. Now I pay several thousand dollars a year and travel 100+ miles every weekend to take in Sioux athletics. Seems kind of stupid that I didn't take advantage of it more when it was free for me, and Memorial Stadium, the Hyslop, and the Ralph were just a few blocks away. On a different note, I think the student section in the Alerus should be moved to the 3 northern most sections of the visitor side. That is prime real estate there, and if the students don't want to utilize it, it would be better to open it up regular season-ticket buyers. As a former student and avid Sioux football fan...you can't expect the students to get excited for an NAIA opponent when the Gophers are in town. It also doesn't help that the product on the field is not what it was...that being said, if you move the student section to a corner, you will NEVER get the students back! Games in the Alerus will be the equivalent to D2 playoff games with Winona a few years ago (think 6500 in attendance). I watched the game on TV...and the home side attendance was nothing to brag about either! There were lots of empty seats on all sides! Quote
mksioux Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 Apparently there are two football-hockey combos next year too. Supposedly the AD is going to do something about the hockey seating situation next year so they don't have to stand in line for hours. Unfortunately, even if they don't have to stand in line, I still don't think the students will show up for 1:00 football games on combo weekends. Quote
Let'sGoHawks! Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 Have football on thursday nights occasionally, thursday is day 1 of the weekend for most students. Texas AM Kingsville game last year was on a thursday and had a great atmosphere. Quote
Sodbuster Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 Have football on thursday nights occasionally, thursday is day 1 of the weekend for most students. Texas AM Kingsville game last year was on a thursday and had a great atmosphere. That is an absolutely great idea. Whatever can be done to prevent hockey and football with having to compete with other should be done. Quote
UND92,96 Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 I have to admit that I had previously thought that having football and hockey on the same weekend was actually something of an advantage, due to having even more UND sports fans in town than normal. But now, at least with regard to students, I see that it's probably anything but an advantage. As to why so many non-student hockey ticketholders do not regularly attend football, I don't know. Quote
MrBurns Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 On some weekends its not bad. You can go to the 1:00 game and still get to the hockey game and get good seats, but when it's Sioux/Gopher weekend if you want good seats you better be there before noon, so that gives you no chance to go to the football game unless you want bad seats at hockey. Quote
bincitysioux Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 Thursdays can be problematic as well for alot of people who work a regular job, and especially those that travel from outside of Grand Forks. This game was originally supposed to have been a Thursday game, but Idaho St. screwed that up. I wouldn't mind one Thursday game a season.......either the home opener, or if the game falls on either the duck or deer opener. Quote
moser53 Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 Someday, students will be like me and regret not attending as many football (or basketball or hockey) games as often as they could while they were attending UND. When I was a student I rarely attended anything that took place on a Saturday because my ass was hitting the road for home on Fridays. Now I pay several thousand dollars a year and travel 100+ miles every weekend to take in Sioux athletics. Seems kind of stupid that I didn't take advantage of it more when it was free for me, and Memorial Stadium, the Hyslop, and the Ralph were just a few blocks away. On a different note, I think the student section in the Alerus should be moved to the 3 northern most sections of the visitor side. That is prime real estate there, and if the students don't want to utilize it, it would be better to open it up regular season-ticket buyers. Bin now your more than making up for lost time and for that you get a thata boy. For the past 5 decades that I have been going to Sioux games I don't think UND fans have anything to hang there heads for. Support has been pretty darn good considering the size of GF. The big crowds at the Fargo Dome set the bar pretty high. I was just looking at UMD Bulldogs web site and I was looking for football attendance figures. Duluth metro is about twice GF's or more. Attendance for the last UMD football game was 5,252 it said it was the third largest crowd in UMD history. When we get 6,000 for a playoff FB game some out there point fingers and laugh at UND. Temporary setbacks happen at all schools. UND has a history or track record of quality programs and I see no reason why this will not continue. Peace Quote
RD17 Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 Bin now your more than making up for lost time and for that you get a thata boy. For the past 5 decades that I have been going to Sioux games I don't think UND fans have anything to hang there heads for. Support has been pretty darn good considering the size of GF. The big crowds at the Fargo Dome set the bar pretty high. I was just looking at UMD Bulldogs web site and I was looking for football attendance figures. Duluth metro is about twice GF's or more. Attendance for the last UMD football game was 5,252 it said it was the third largest crowd in UMD history. When we get 6,000 for a playoff FB game some out there point fingers and laugh at UND. Temporary setbacks happen at all schools. UND has a history or track record of quality programs and I see no reason why this will not continue. Peace Comparing UND with Duluth is an apples to oranges comparison because they are different types of institutions that are now playing at different levels. A valid comparison would be UND and Montana. The two schools are close in size, have roughly the same metro population to draw from, and are both flagship universities in their respective states. I realize that Montana has long been an FCS power while UND is just transitioning to that level. But Montana regularly sells out it 25K stadium while UND fans rationalize only getting 6K to a playoff game? Also, UND's potential football fan base doesn't end at the Grand Forks County line. There are a ton of alumni in Fargo, but unfortunately, they are not being marketed to. Quote
SiouxMeNow Posted October 19, 2009 Author Posted October 19, 2009 i don't mean to pile on the students (ALTHOUGH you have prime seats BEHIND the OPPONENTS BENCH for FREE you idiots!) I'd say show up or you give them up? If you could have been in the Al during the '01 national semifinals against UC-Davis and HOW THE STUDENT SECTION was TOTALLY FILLED 2 hours early - They PACKED THE PLACE TO EVERY SEAT and turned (future NFL QB) JT Sullivan into their little BITCH because he had "long hair"...IT WAS EPIC!!!! That's what UND needs for the DI transition....not only can we do it? WE ALREADY DID IT!!! But you "hockey ONLY" fans are just holding us back...EMBRACE the entire move! That's all I have to say.. Quote
siouxhog12 Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 That's what UND needs for the DI transition....not only can we do it? WE ALREADY DID IT!!! But you "hockey ONLY" fans are just holding us back...EMBRACE the entire move! That's all I have to say.. Agreed...i hope the Al is packed for the game against Cal Poly.... Quote
SiouxMeNow Posted October 19, 2009 Author Posted October 19, 2009 Agreed...i hope the Al is packed for the game against Cal Poly.... You can help with that Hog....spread the word man!! PEACE! Quote
UND92,96 Posted October 19, 2009 Posted October 19, 2009 I think the administration deserves some criticism in that that they didn't see this coming, and offer some sort of ticket deal to help boost attendance to an otherwise somewhat unattractive game. It seemed a lot of people knew in advance that student attendance (and probably overall attendance) were going to be down, but nothing was done to help the situation. Also, with regard to the student sections, how is it handled? Do you have to pick up tickets in advance? Are the sections reserved for students even if only a fraction of the tickets are picked up? It seems to me that some sort of system could be set up so that unsold student seats can be sold for $5 or some other discounted price on game day. Isn't that what used to happen with unsold student hockey seats (the availability to the public--not necessarily the discounted price)? Maybe it still is. Do what you need to do to ensure that some of the best seats can still be filled should the students choose not to use them. Quote
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