I'm on the 'dislike 12pm homegames' side but will make the best of it. For all those early games, our group has switched to trying post-game tailgates instead. I just wish/hope they would allow the lots/fields to stay open much later than they do (mentioned in a thread a while back that the police usually came by a couple hours after the game to force people to leave).
Three Noon kickoffs announced
- Thread starter RUinNY
- Start date
He should probably be banned as a moderator for that comments. That's not funny. A mod telling someone to kill themselves. Is the BWI? Wow
Last year I believe 9 of the 14 home coming games were noon Eastern starts, which means most were 11 am Central time.
I think we were just spoiled by the 2009-11 seasons, which had only 1 home noon game, but that was an anomaly, as we've had 2, 3 or 4 home noon games 13 of the past 17 seasons & most of those had additional road noon games too.
4 home noon games: 13
3 home noon games: 15, 14, 12, 08, 04, 03, 02, 01, 99
2 home noon games: 07, 06, 05
1 home noon game: 11, 10, 09, 02
For someone who has treated this board as their own personal Facebook for family drama, you have a lot of nerve telling someone this.
I continue to see this myth posted here.
Newsflash: Every single B1G school has 99% of their fans drive in from somewhere on the day of the game.
At Iowa and Nebraska commute time averages in the HOURS usually, and the games out here start at 11:00 AM (some parts of Nebraska are actually in the Mountain timezone, so 10AM for those lucky bastards).
You all have it EASIER for your "noon" starts than we do in the Western division, and it's not even debatable.
Cooldude,
There are a ZILLION activities here in New Jersey on Saturday mornings. How do your fans with children get to games by Noon ?
There are a ZILLION activities here in New Jersey on Saturday mornings. How do your fans with children get to games by Noon ?
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The schools get to pick for homecoming.
Your game is at noon because that's what your admin wanted.
People prioritize sports here. When I was young enough to partake in those activities, virtually every game started at 1:00pm, unless it was the TV game of the week, then it was 2:30. I would play soccer in the morning and we would still get a little tailgating in before kickoff (I grew up in Iowa City, so no travel involved).
When I was in high school, we played freshman football games on Saturday mornings. I would play in the game (more like sitting on the bench:rolleyes:), grab a quick shower in the locker room, and have one of my parents drop me off at the stadium (usually brought a teammate to the game).
People deal with the same issues here that they do everywhere. If people want to make a big game, then they will make sure to schedule around it. If not, they give their tickets to someone else. We all get by in different ways.
Cooldude,
I think a difference here is that it is hard to find people here to take the tickets if you can't use them. The program is not at that point...yet.
I think a difference here is that it is hard to find people here to take the tickets if you can't use them. The program is not at that point...yet.
Living in the Pacific Northwest, I love the noon EST starts. Game is over by lunch time and I have plenty of time to enjoy the great outdoors ( golf, tennis) and get back in time for the prime time games. Cripes, the late PAC 12 games put a nice wrap on the day.
man i didn't even think to check Wiki...I was checking game by game. I probably screwed it up.
If you mean the B1G, I get that.
I doubt Rutgers said, "Yeah, noon seems fine for Homecoming."
I appreciate your input here, but you need to realize that NJ is a completely different beast from the Midwest. I lived in Michigan and Illinois, and also Houston, before moving here. It is night and day when you compare the culture and attitude.
I didn't realize activities other than college football were isolated to New Jersey? The answer, as has already been stated, is you have to prioritize things in life. Sorry, the conferences and television networks don't care about scheduling around your life, nor should they.
I don't enjoy waking up at 4 a.m. to leave Philadelphia and get to State College for noon kicks. But I choose to do so. Fans of countless college programs around the country make similar choices every Saturday morning. You're free to do as you please.
The schools don't necessarily "get to pick." They have some influence, but ultimately, it isn't their choice.
Ridiculous. Have been fortunate to attend many of the away games. PSU has far more Winnebagos and try getting a hotel anywhere close to State College. Nebraska the hotels are packed the day before and literally thousands walked to the game from town. And it wasnt only students. And Spare me the highway driving tales of woe. Far more difficult navigating New Jersey Traffic than Hours on Route 80 where boredom is your primary worry. At Wisc & OSU hotels are packed the day before. Simply no real need for that in NJ. Far more winnabagos at Michigan and Illinois. Guarantee you RU has the highest percentage of fans arriving day of the game. Not winnebagos and not in hotels in town the night before. Hardly a myth!!!
Except that's exactly what happened. Iowa always has homecoming at 11:00. Schools like Indiana that struggle with attendance usually choose 2:30.
Why on Earth would the B1G care what time your homecoming game starts?
It is for homecoming.
Why do you think they're announced this early?
The matchups are generally unappealing (take a look at that list of dog games. Woof!) and they're spread out over multiple weeks. There's not even one semi-attractive matchup anywhere on that list.
The networks don't care about Illinois/Rutgers or Purdue/Northwestern. Not every game is that important.
What the hell is with this Winnebago crap? This is like the 8th time I've seen someone post that here.
I have been to approximately 200 B1G games in my life, and most of the league schools, and have never one time, EVER, observed a Winnebago or other recreational vehicle, anywhere, at any point in time, on the day of a game. I have never been to PSU so I will take your word for it that it is the RV capitol of the world on a fall Saturday. That is absolutely not the case in Iowa City, Madison, Lincoln, Champaign, or anywhere else in the West.
Iowa has 70,000 fans at every single game (OK, 65,000 since our attendance has been down lately).
In the entire area here there might be enough hotel rooms for a couple thousand people. MAYBE. And a few hundred of those rooms are gong to the visiting team, coaches, and support staff. Not to mention the Iowa team themselves since they all stay in hotel rooms the night before a home game. There are 60-67,000 or so fans (depending on if it's a sellout or not) driving to the game THE MORNING OF, from hours away. Many people leave at 4:30 in the morning just to get a decent parking spot.
Spare me this woe is me crap. You are not special in any way, shape, or form.
Yeah, Lincoln has maximum hotel occupancy on a game weekend. Know why? Because there are hardly any rooms, that's why. And for good reason, because they would sit absolutely vacant for the 360 non-football Saturdays each year. You think they build thousands and thousands of hotel rooms to only get 6 days of use out of them a year (12 days if you count a 2-night minimum)?
It's the same thing in State College. THERE AREN'T ANY ROOMS THERE, that's why you can't get one on a Friday before a game, not because 20,000 some-odd people are staying over. Why do you think it is that crappy hotels in Ann Arbor and East Lansing can charge $300 a night for a Super 8 (I know, because I've stayed there)?
You know next to nothing about this conference or how it operates. There are goat herders in Outer Mongolia that are more clued in than you are.
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- you're seriously overestimating the # of people who can't make Noon games (especially HC). To say "tons" is forgetting that, instead of kids, some will just bring friends instead.
- WOW! People have to drive more than a single HOUR for a football game? Heaven's (pun intended) forbid!
- and those "many people" can take the damn 1/2 day for HC OFF
...listen, I HATE noon starts but, geeze, you make it sound like it's impossible to attend.
Nuts, As a fan of Rutgers sports since 1976,not saying impossible--all I am saying is (and I assume you have been a fan a long time too), that we still have a relatively small percentage of the the 9 million people in New Jersey who want to come to the games. You know that even many of our "fans" use every excuse in the book not to come. We've all heard We Stink,the other team stinks,it is too hot,it is too cold, it MIGHT rain, it MIGHT snow,I can't get a good parking space anymore,the guy next to me is fat,the kids behind me throw food,the woman in front of me talks on her cell phone,the food stinks,the food selection is too small,and on and on and on. For SOME people the Noon starts are just another excuse,but for others,they make the difference between being able to make a game (or at least make it on time) or telling kids that they can't go play in their own practice or game.Just my two cents.-- One thing I would like to see that would help increase the crowds is for Rutgers and the high schools that have lights sit down and see if there is a way to try to avoid schedule conflicts by having high schools play on Friday nights when Rutgers has a Saturday afternoon home game. When I mentioned this a few months back, I was basically told I had just suggested people should switch from using spoons to using folded leaves when they had soup.
I think it would be easier and much more profitable to stay in the Big Ten and just hand these out to all the crybabies at noon games. You paint a picture that no one can attend noon games. Please, stop! People with kids just need to make a decision. As I do with 8pm games as I work Sundays. It's my decision and not worth complaining about. It's not life or death if they play their games/activities and get to the game right before kickoff. Or if it's a big game they really want to go to they can choose to pull their kids from whatever is going on to go to the game. Or talk with their leagues about scheduling around Rutgers games if there is enough parents that have conflicts. And most parents aren't taking young kids to 8pm games either!
WhiteBus,
When youth leagues schedule around Rutgers events,then I know we have arrived as a sports program ! I get what you are saying,though. What we really need is for the fan base to get so big,that it is no problem for people to give their tickets to others and know there is a line of people waiting to use them. I would guess in Lincoln,Tuscaloosa,Knoxville,Columbus,College Station,Norman,etc.,there are plenty of takers when someone has some seats available.
When youth leagues schedule around Rutgers events,then I know we have arrived as a sports program ! I get what you are saying,though. What we really need is for the fan base to get so big,that it is no problem for people to give their tickets to others and know there is a line of people waiting to use them. I would guess in Lincoln,Tuscaloosa,Knoxville,Columbus,College Station,Norman,etc.,there are plenty of takers when someone has some seats available.
That was my point earlier. We know years in advance of the 6 or 7 Rutgers home games. Leagues should have no problem working around it.
There is no perfect time for everyone. However, with just a few weekends in the fall it should be easy for everyone to make a game if they really wanted to. Are noon games ideal? No. But I feel they are better for families than 8pm games when you not leaving the parking lots until 1am.
Never gonna happen and Here's why... We have to many kids, leagues, and not enough fields. We can barely find enough hours in the day for the kids in my town to play their games. No way we can casually say...yea we won't do Saturday's. I'd be happy if we could get all the HS's to play Friday.
Sure it can happen. You get half the parents or just the parents with the best players and say we can't make it at 2pm any Saturday. Move it to 9am. I've been past many fields in the morning that are vacant at that hour, its the league leadership that want it easy to fit in their schedule, not yours.
The biggest soccer complex in in Bucks County, 30 miles from the stadium isn't active until noon. I pass many fields going to games in the early am.
And again if you have kids you have to make a choice, what do you and the kids really want to do? Sometimes you can't do both no matter what the start time. Welcome to parenthood.
New Brunswick has two hotels. Two! And they are not very big. Fortunately they are nice but very few crappy hotels like those in East Lansing and Ann Arbor.
Stayed in Wisconsin in a hotel that was a converted dorm. Many more Hotel rooms than NB as also State Capital. Huge amount of fans came in the night before and stayed the night after for Freakfest? Many in horrible weather walked to the games and student union.
Have seen plenty of Winnabagos at Michigan and on the golf course. Lots of shuttles to the game from the hotels we stayed at from people who came in the night before.
At Illinois the Rutgers tent was next to the lot for Winnebagos and converted buses of which there were plenty. And reserved spots as well!!!! You must have missed that on your 200 visits.
PSU is the Winnebago capital of the world. You should see it. More hotel rooms in State College as well as far more private home rentals. Have done it many an occassion. We all hate State but it is a cool scene.
Made it out to Nebraska and many of the fans we met made a whole weekend out of it. Sorry but far more than RU. Many more hotel rooms in Lincoln. Gov't city? Thousands of fans were there the night there before the game. Literally thousands of fans walked to the game after just waking up and it wasn't just students crossing River Road.
Spare the drive woes. Have made the Route 80 drive many times. It may be long but it is easy. New Jersey driving and traffic is far worse and much more difficult than the straight line of 80.
Who is claiming to be special? Just guarantee RU has the highest percentage of people who drive to the game on game day. Probably highest percentage of peopled who drive immediately home after the game as well. Even us goat farmers and Garden Staters can figure that out! It's not rocket science and you don't need 200 + B1G games to come to the same conclusion. Maybe you should work on your own reading comprehension and look up the definition of percentage.
And BTW, my knowledge of the B1G is perfectly fine. Go RU! We know we are stuck with noon games. I think we are entitled to vent a little bit about Homecoming. My God, two years the B1G scheduled an RU homecoming in November. Predictably it was awful.
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New Brunswick has two hotels???? There are plenty of hotels by Rutgers Stadium. Weak sauce!
NJ is not different it is just that RU does have a fanbase that puts RU Football first. The Giants and Eagles would have 70,000 at a Saturday noon kickoff.
To the guy saying he's been to 200 Big Ten games and there aren't a lot of fans who drive RVs .... you must've been to 200 year of Illinois vs. their FCS opponent games .. when Ohio State came to RU, they brought about 50 RVs themselves, half of them converted to Buckeye-mobiles. Not to mention Michigan, Penn State (goes without saying) ... I think RU has about 5 that park in the Scarlet lot.
And that's because Rutgers only allows 5 or 6 in the Scarlet Lot. Walk over to the Blue Lot sometime
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