Alerus Atmosphere

[Cratter]

Would moving the students to the corner increase the "Alerus Atmosphere"?

[UND-FB-FAN]

52 minutes ago, Cratter said:

Would moving the students to the corner increase the "Alerus Atmosphere"?

Nope. Winning and in-game features will. 

[Siouxperfan7]

Can someone convince these students that you can tailgate before the game?  Any more often than not, if you wander up to a tailgating group and tell them you are students that are here just checking it all out, they will hook you up with some free food and beverages!!  I never understood why tailgating has dropped off so drastically.  Whether you are undefeated or haven't won a game, the tailgating will always be the same.  Drinking a beer, eating some wings, burgers, brats, whatever while playing bag toss or throwing the football around is a good time no matter how you look at it.  

[NoDakFan]

1 hour ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

Can someone convince these students that you can tailgate before the game?  Any more often than not, if you wander up to a tailgating group and tell them you are students that are here just checking it all out, they will hook you up with some free food and beverages!!  I never understood why tailgating has dropped off so drastically.  Whether you are undefeated or haven't won a game, the tailgating will always be the same.  Drinking a beer, eating some wings, burgers, brats, whatever while playing bag toss or throwing the football around is a good time no matter how you look at it.  

Current student- didnt know that. While obviously not the case (my personal opinion here) we feel like we almost are expected to stay in the student tailgate lot and not move around and are segregated from the public. I think the university needs to promote the mingling of groups.

Also, the thing is for our current seats those that show up and sit down low chirp the bench all game. If moving students prevents that, can we expect the general public to pick that job up? I doubt it.

 

Though honestly, the biggest factor to get students there is to win. So UND can't go out and crap the bed in the first few home games - no matter what happens on the road. 

[geaux_sioux]

11 minutes ago, NoDakFan said:

Current student- didnt know that. While obviously not the case (my personal opinion here) we feel like we almost are expected to stay in the student tailgate lot and not move around and are segregated from the public. I think the university needs to promote the mingling of groups.

Also, the thing is for our current seats those that show up and sit down low chirp the bench all game. If moving students prevents that, can we expect the general public to pick that job up? I doubt it.

 

Though honestly, the biggest factor to get students there is to win. So UND can't go out and crap the bed in the first few home games - no matter what happens on the road. 

The first home game is the most important of the season for winning new fans. We must put on a good show especially for the new freshman. Make a good impression on them and they're more likely to keep coming back and having a good time. Same for bandwagon fans that might be checking out this Santiago kid.

[Cratter]

Here's a crazy thought....tailgating should be like parking....first come first serve and not three times the price. Most things in life you prepay/get there early you get a discount.

If anything it should be a third the price. Tailgating is a key part to making football games an "experience" lets do everything we can to detour it.... 

 

[Blackheart]

Just now, Cratter said:

Here's a crazy thought....tailgating should be like parking....first come first serve and not three times the price. 

If anything it should be a third the price. 

I remember tailgating at Memorial Stadium...Come into town from the Cities on Friday night and park my truck next to the stadium...next day, me and my friends would roll up and park in a nearby lot and walk over to our saved spot.  There were a couple Homecomings we didn't even make it into the game.

[Cratter]

53 minutes ago, Blackheart said:

There were a couple Homecomings we didn't even make it into the game.

Don't get me started.

Once I was "two minutes late" (the game was about to start) to cleaning up my tailgating spot**** which drew the Police and Alerus personnel to "monitor" (more like hassle) me til I left my vehicle area. Never mind the fact I pointed out people all around me still at their tailgating spots....but of course I was/ am "younger" which meant I was the popular spot where "every one"  was hanging out playing beer pong and "air hockey" and drew the crowds (current hockey players even stopped to give compliments and play..... not to mention all the tailgating neighbors).  

Again, like most things in life its the small things that add up over time that turn people away, and makes it three times harder to get them to come back (who were the easiest to get them there originally: 'Early Adopter'.)

 

 

 

***(which I've pointed out here before costs me $60 in tailgating parking that day ($15 to get into the Alerus to watch the game)....one truck...."large" trailer that took up two spots and one spot to setup the games - clearly the pricing isn't based on supply and demand as the "designed tailgating" spots are about only a little over half seem to be used most games).

[Blackheart]

7 minutes ago, Cratter said:

Don't get me started.

Once I was "two minutes late" (the game was about to start) to cleaning up my tailgating spot**** which drew the Police and Alerus personnel to "monitor" (more like hassle) me til I left my vehicle area. Never mind the fact I pointed out people all around me still at their tailgating spots....but of course I was/ am "younger" which meant I was the popular spot where "every one"  was hanging out playing beer pong and "air hockey" and drew the crowds (current hockey players even stopped to give compliments and play..... not to mention all the tailgating neighbors).  

Again, like most things in life its the small things that add up over time that turn people away, and makes it three times harder to get them to come back (who were originally the easiest to get them there originally.)

 

 

 

***(which I've pointed out here before costs me $60 in tailgating parking that day....one truck...."large" trailer that took up two spots and one spot to setup the games).

Amen, brother.

[SIOUXFAN97]

10 hours ago, Cratter said:

Don't get me started.

Once I was "two minutes late" (the game was about to start) to cleaning up my tailgating spot**** which drew the Police and Alerus personnel to "monitor" (more like hassle) me til I left my vehicle area. Never mind the fact I pointed out people all around me still at their tailgating spots....but of course I was/ am "younger" which meant I was the popular spot where "every one"  was hanging out playing beer pong and "air hockey" and drew the crowds (current hockey players even stopped to give compliments and play..... not to mention all the tailgating neighbors).  

Again, like most things in life its the small things that add up over time that turn people away, and makes it three times harder to get them to come back (who were the easiest to get them there originally: 'Early Adopter'.)

 

 

 

***(which I've pointed out here before costs me $60 in tailgating parking that day ($15 to get into the Alerus to watch the game)....one truck...."large" trailer that took up two spots and one spot to setup the games - clearly the pricing isn't based on supply and demand as the "designed tailgating" spots are about only a little over half seem to be used most games).

yep...they will nickel and dime true fans til they don't wanna come back....

[Sioux>Bison]

Why don't they reserve the spots until a set time in the morning then after that they let somebody else use he spot. Intermixing the tailgating would be great. When I was a student I didn't know people would be so welcoming and feed me free food

[jdub27]

On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 0:52 AM, Cratter said:

Don't get me started.

Once I was "two minutes late" (the game was about to start) to cleaning up my tailgating spot**** which drew the Police and Alerus personnel to "monitor" (more like hassle) me til I left my vehicle area. Never mind the fact I pointed out people all around me still at their tailgating spots....but of course I was/ am "younger" which meant I was the popular spot where "every one"  was hanging out playing beer pong and "air hockey" and drew the crowds (current hockey players even stopped to give compliments and play..... not to mention all the tailgating neighbors).  

Again, like most things in life its the small things that add up over time that turn people away, and makes it three times harder to get them to come back (who were the easiest to get them there originally: 'Early Adopter'.)

***(which I've pointed out here before costs me $60 in tailgating parking that day ($15 to get into the Alerus to watch the game)....one truck...."large" trailer that took up two spots and one spot to setup the games - clearly the pricing isn't based on supply and demand as the "designed tailgating" spots are about only a little over half seem to be used most games).

Our group has had zero issues with any of the lot security, even when we are running behind a little bit or having larger crowds which are younger than most groups out there. Nothing more than a friendly reminder to speed it up a little bit. We always offer them food and they stop and chat during the morning/day. I can't think of many complaints I've heard from people about the security, it is about as lax as it can be. Not saying you didn't have a bad incident, but from an overall perspective, I think that falls into the few and far between.

As for pricing, "season" tailgate spots cost $50/spot for the entire year, so that averages out to $10/spot/game this year. I don't think that charging $15/spot for a single game is out of line when you take that into consideration.

The part on the use of season tailgating spots to me is something I will semi-agree with you. I've seen the sheet they use to keep track of everything and the reserved spots are mainly full, for sure at least 75% or more. Our group continues to try to move up and struggles to do so because the spots in front of us are always renewed, yet there is a portion that seem to not get used to the fullest extent or only used sporadically. I've voiced my frustration about it to the people that run it and they are aware and seem to be equally frustrated because they obviously want the spots to be used but aren't quite sure how to fix it while not alienating people who have had some of those spots for years. I think the addition of the parking pass with certain levels of Champions Club donations was to get people to use that as parking instead of tailgating spots but I'm not sure how well it worked.

[Cratter]

I can go tailgate at NDSU on gameday for $5 a spot Vs the $15 for UND.

[jdub27]

10 minutes ago, Cratter said:

I can go tailgate at NDSU on gameday for $5 a spot Vs the $15 for UND.

You also have to be in line the night before most games to get into the lots where alcohol is allowed and it is an absolute cluster. Unlike UND, they don't differentiate between parking and tailgating (which is allowed in all lots) however they do have lots where alcohol is prohibited. We laughed at the fact that people would line up that early and then they only charge $5 but we weren't complaining. Also pretty sure the guy taking money couldn't do math, but again, not complaining.

[Cratter]

So you're saying they have 3 times the demand and the price is three times cheaper? (Is that math right? Ha)

Maybe the Alerus should look into it for people that wish to not drink and/or not pay so much to tailgate.

[UNDBIZ]

30 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

You also have to be in line the night before most games to get into the lots where alcohol is allowed and it is an absolute cluster. Unlike UND, they don't differentiate between parking and tailgating (which is allowed in all lots) however they do have lots where alcohol is prohibited. We laughed at the fact that people would line up that early and then they only charge $5 but we weren't complaining. Also pretty sure the guy taking money couldn't do math, but again, not complaining.

It'd be nice if UND's tailgating area was busy enough to be a cluster though.

[jdub27]

8 minutes ago, Cratter said:

So you're saying they have 3 times the demand and the price is three times cheaper? (Is that math right? Ha)

Maybe the Alerus should look into it for people that wish to not drink and/or not pay so much to tailgate.

NDSU charges the same whether you drink or not and the same whether you tailgate or not. UND offers a $5 parking option and people can walk over to the tailgating lots, including tailgate village. Champions Club members at the Varsity level and above who are season ticket holders get at least one free parking pass where they can tailgate. All Champions Club members have access to free food in the Champions Club tent.

How many people that want to tailgate for one or two games only, don't at UND because of the cost? It'd be an interesting move for UND/Alerus Center to make single game tailgating cheaper than "season" tailgating, knowing that the single game lot doesn't fill up. Seems like it could further kill the atmosphere by spreading out tailgaters even more. It's amusing that paying an extra $20 more than people who paid for season tailgating passes is that big of an issue. I'm guessing they have determined that cost hasn't been prohibitive or they would have changed it.

 

11 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

It'd be nice if UND's tailgating area was busy enough to be a cluster though.

Agree 100% but I'm hoping they would at least a semblance of organization instead of people literally running in from all directions through the lots while vehicles are driving in, cutting them off trying to save spots and just generally trying to get run over.

[Cratter]

I do keep hearing Grand Forks is a lot more expensive place to live than Fargo.