2016 Attendance

[nodak651]

Just now, Oxbow6 said:

Hmmmmmmmmm......I did that and from a "FB-only fan" that can't make it Saturday and I then got them to someone who would use them. It's not difficult.

Good for you.

[WiSioux]

14 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

There are a good 500 to 1000 "NDSU fans" at every UND hockey game. It is what it is. Those 500 to 1000 would sure make a nice impact at the Alerus if they followed UND football. 

Perhaps they are NDSU grads who do not have their own D1 hockey team to cheer for?

[nodak651]

10 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

....beating on the "hockey-only fans" again. Never gets old does it?

Also, please explain how I was beating on hockey only fans?

[Oxbow6]

4 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

Good for you.

Thanks but I already patted myself on the back a few times already. 

 

[Oxbow6]

4 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

Also, please explain how I was beating on hockey only fans?

Not singling you out but that is a recurring theme in FB threads.......bash the "hockey-only fans".

[bincitysioux]

Just now, Oxbow6 said:

Not singling you out but that is a recurring theme in FB threads.......bash the "hockey-only fans".

That's because they suck.  

[Oxbow6]

1 minute ago, bincitysioux said:

That's because they suck.  

Well........it's all making sense now! 

[SiouxVolley]

Looked like Youngstown St got the highest attended 1st round game with 5322.  Their average attendance was 14,353.  

Only Chattanooga got to 50% of their average with 5238.  Averaged 9494.

1St and 2ND round playoff games routinely draw worse than regular season games, especially on a Thanksgiving weekend.

[SiouxFan100]

I bought tickets early at the 20 yard line. Got an offer from a great season ticket holder that stood in line to get two inside the 40 yard line and sold them to me. Bought them and sold my first two at half price to a couple that have never been to a UND football game in Grand Forks.

[CMSioux]

Do the other schools get to blame their hockey fans? 

[Oxbow6]

14 minutes ago, CMSioux said:

Do the other schools get to blame their hockey fans? 

No......but they do rage blame against their soccer teams. 

[Sioux94]

27 minutes ago, WiSioux said:

Perhaps they are NDSU grads who do not have their own D1 hockey team to cheer for?

^^This

Folks there are NDSU grads that root for UND hockey and go to games, and would never travel up to Grand Forks to go to a football game.  For those who say if hockey can get over 10k, there is at least a 10k plus local fan base right now that should be able to go to football games.  You can't compare UND hockey to UND football.

1. Hockey is truly DI and every year we have players going on to play in the NHL

2. Hockey has 8 DI titles and a ton of Frozen Four appearances in the last 10-12 years

3.  It's the only DI hockey program in the state for people to get behind and follow.

4.  The arena is a 100 Million dollar plus arena that is the best in college hockey and just an amazing venue

I have a couple close high school buddies who went to NDSU and live in Fargo and are Bison season football ticket holders, heck one teaches a few classes at NDSU part time.  They both every year make a trip or two up to Grand Forks for hockey games and fully root for UND to win hockey championships.  They will never do this for UND football.....no matter if the Bison go 0-11 for five years and we win 5 Natty's in a row in football.  So to say there are 11k of people who just went to a hockey game, why don't they all go to the football game on Saturday is apples .vs. oranges.   I'm just making a point here, but it doesn't mean that I don't want 10k for the football game and will be disappointed if we don't get some decent attendance numbers.....and a Win of course!  

[fightingsioux4life]

48 minutes ago, Sioux94 said:

^^This

Folks there are NDSU grads that root for UND hockey and go to games, and would never travel up to Grand Forks to go to a football game.  For those who say if hockey can get over 10k, there is at least a 10k plus local fan base right now that should be able to go to football games.  You can't compare UND hockey to UND football.

1. Hockey is truly DI and every year we have players going on to play in the NHL

2. Hockey has 8 DI titles and a ton of Frozen Four appearances in the last 10-12 years

3.  It's the only DI hockey program in the state for people to get behind and follow.

4.  The arena is a 100 Million dollar plus arena that is the best in college hockey and just an amazing venue

I have a couple close high school buddies who went to NDSU and live in Fargo and are Bison season football ticket holders, heck one teaches a few classes at NDSU part time.  They both every year make a trip or two up to Grand Forks for hockey games and fully root for UND to win hockey championships.  They will never do this for UND football.....no matter if the Bison go 0-11 for five years and we win 5 Natty's in a row in football.  So to say there are 11k of people who just went to a hockey game, why don't they all go to the football game on Saturday is apples .vs. oranges.   I'm just making a point here, but it doesn't mean that I don't want 10k for the football game and will be disappointed if we don't get some decent attendance numbers.....and a Win of course!  

I don't think these are the people UND marketing needs to target. The real targets are the casual sports fans in Grand Forks who are not supporting the program right now, but could get hooked if you get them to a couple of games. Bubba and his team are exciting to watch and it wouldn't take much to get them hooked. We just need to get them in the freaking door.

[bincitysioux]

2 hours ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Spread the word, buy some tickets for family and friends or just hand the suckers  out.

Be proactive.

Culture change has to start somewhere. It's not even on all the supporters for the big first step; Bubba and the team have already completed the initial steps. 

Dont settle for the lazy excuse of contemporary inadequateness.

As far as being proactive about supporting this program and urging others to do so as well, I feel like I've done my part over the years.

I'm not making excuses for anyone.  I'm simply being a realist about what I think the fan turnout will be for this game.  If the attendance IS 8,000 that would be about a 49% increase over each of the last two playoff games held at the Alerus, and back in those days students actually turned out for football in good numbers.

 

[bincitysioux]

1 hour ago, Sioux94 said:

 

1. Hockey is truly DI..............

Seriously, you are going  to go there? 

[iluvdebbies]

1 hour ago, Sioux94 said:

 

 Hockey is truly DI

Here we go again....this should bring out the hockey bashers. Which should lead to a increase in attendance for the FB playoff game on Saturday. What this thread is all about. True UND fans NEVER rip on another UND program.....no excuses.

[nodak651]

2 minutes ago, iluvdebbies said:

Here we go again....this should bring out the hockey bashers. Which should lead to a increase in attendance for the FB playoff game on Saturday. What this thread is all about. True UND fans NEVER rip on another UND program.....no excuses.

I don't really think people are bashing UND hockey fans in this thread?  They just want more to come to the games...  

[nodak651]

FYI, I just ran a dot counting software program to count the remaining seats available on ticketmaster.  Came back at 3,761 available seats.  This doesn't count the student section.  Not sure how accurate it is though 

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

About 3700 tickets available. Plus potential student seats not taken, as you mentioned.

Plus, I noticed lower 500 seats in section 217 is reserved for the visiting team and therefore more empty seats will show up there when visiting team doesn't sell them all.

So there's potential for 5000 available seats?

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

On the positive side, looks like we might do better with attendance than every first round game yesterday.

[Sioux94]

1 hour ago, iluvdebbies said:

Here we go again....this should bring out the hockey bashers. Which should lead to a increase in attendance for the FB playoff game on Saturday. What this thread is all about. True UND fans NEVER rip on another UND program.....no excuses.

I didn't mean to bash UND football if that is what you are thinking.  I follow the football team a LOT closer than hockey so by no means did I mean to bash UND football.  Hockey is at the top level at the collegiate level that is a fact.  FCS has a lot of talented guys in it though and it's a pretty high level of football and fun to watch.  UND hockey has a lot closer ties to players going pro though than football, which fans love seeing.  That is the only point I was trying to make while trying to point out that the makeup of the fan base is slightly different and some of the reasons why if there were 11k at a hockey game on Friday night, why it doesn't immediately translate into 11k at a football game the next day.

[geaux_sioux]

33 minutes ago, Sioux94 said:

I didn't mean to bash UND football if that is what you are thinking.  I follow the football team a LOT closer than hockey so by no means did I mean to bash UND football.  Hockey is at the top level at the collegiate level that is a fact.  FCS has a lot of talented guys in it though and it's a pretty high level of football and fun to watch.  UND hockey has a lot closer ties to players going pro though than football, which fans love seeing.  That is the only point I was trying to make while trying to point out that the makeup of the fan base is slightly different and some of the reasons why if there were 11k at a hockey game on Friday night, why it doesn't immediately translate into 11k at a football game the next day.

All FCS schools are D1 in every sport and that's the end of the silly conversation.

[Oxbow6]

19 minutes ago, geaux_sioux said:

All FCS schools are D1 in every sport and that's the end of the silly conversation.

Any chance we can get some "experts" here to breakdown the old school 1A and 1AA FB divisions and what is "truly D1"? 

[Cratter]

I see Studs and Bubs are hockey only fans.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-football/4167421-und-footballs-rushed-2014-recruiting-class-producing-big-results-2016#.WDtezmwNJ5k.twitter

[UND-FB-FAN]

Football, just as it is everywhere else in the country, is the most popular sport in North Dakota (just assess the number of NFL/Vikings fans). The $100 M Ralph Engelstad Arena and its amenities bring in several folks who are not diehard hockey fans, or not even hockey fans at all for that matter. So, where are all these football fans for UND home games? Well, the NDSU vs. UND argument occurs in the minds of many; when UND produces an obvious advantage over NDSU then I would expect UND will increase their attendance a bunch. In the meantime, its important for UND marketing and us - the supporters - to get the word out as much as possible that UND is quickly closing the gap with NDSU. All of these factors combined, along with UND doing the essential which is to continue winning, will lead to better attendance. 

The most disappointing thing in this whole attendance issue is that we've seen over 10,000 THIS SEASON (in fact, UND had over 11,000 vs USD this season); therefore, you would think UND could get at least that for their first DI playoff game!!! The nosedive that attendance takes as the year progresses is interesting, particularly since it appears to be independent of the opponent or game importance.