Rutgers attendance problems and how to fix them
- Thread starter RutgersRecruiting
- Start date
It was one of the many suggestions I have put forward to Athletics…the free refill if you buy a certain cup at the venue. Similar to what Great Adventure does.
With the amount Rutgers pays for the day (I believe they are also fed) not sure how Athletics is coming out ahead.
Unless any fines involved go directly to RU instead of Piscataway, Middlesex County or NJ?
Between the Yellow, Blue and Scarlet lots at 6 games this season, don't recall seeing a single police officer on foot or on an ATV in any of the lots. Closest was standing/parked outside the lots. Anybody else have problems with "tailgate police?"
On lines to enter. Not a single issue in 6 games. However, we always enter at least 30 minutes before kickoff and don't go to the busier gates (West side).
Not that this is anything new but I was definitely thinking this at half time of the game vs MD. I already have tinnitus, and then you throw on the constant PA at full blast and talking to my group during half time was a chore.
I feel there is the thought that a loud PA makes people talk and thus yell louder, turn up the volume of the PA and it turns of the volume of the crowd. But I think there is a negative effect of crushing conversation, and that diminishes crowd volume.
Not to mention at a college setting, the downtimes in between game play, especially half time should be a chance for people to converse.
I guess "win" and "competitive" need to be defined. In the B1G East my definition would be 8-4.
1. Every other pro and college stadium I have been to. MetLife, the Rock, every facility in Indy I went to for the NCAA Basketball last year, to name a few.
2. Yes, the entertainment/public service announcements or sales promo's, off the field is too much, or as some have said, poorly executed.
I should not have to hid a bag of Starbursts in my pants before I go into the stadium. There is no logical or justifiable reason to not be allowed.
Do fanbases of successful cfb programs worry about free refills and bringing their bagged hardboiled egg into the stadium?
So much about these threads is so painfully nickel-and-dime small-time, it's clear why we have limited crowds and no money.
So much about these threads is so painfully nickel-and-dime small-time, it's clear why we have limited crowds and no money.
Concessions at Michigan (just one example because I went to a game there for us a few years back) were more expensive than ours. And that's in an area with a much lower COL.
I get it could get expensive all in, but that's why there's tailgating. Other than a drink I don't know why anyone loads up on concessions if they needed to tailgate before. And the concessions are cheaper than MetLife or PNC.
I hate threads like this. Frankly, didnt read the OP or any of the 4 pages that followed.
you want more fans: WIN.
yeah, yeah cliche. but truth is that is 99.9% of the issue. 99.99%.
lowering the price of hot dogs is the remaining 0.01%
you want more fans: WIN.
yeah, yeah cliche. but truth is that is 99.9% of the issue. 99.99%.
lowering the price of hot dogs is the remaining 0.01%
I have said something similar over the years too.
There are three types of the bolded above: win, WIN and WIN.
Most of us have only seen the win part with a tiny taste of WIN.
We really have never gotten to the WIN category IMO which I would categorize now as a NYD game and/or an appearance in Indianapolis.
The funny thing is, for us, we really just have to get to that win/WIN stage for a lot of the problems mentioned in the thread to go away. Especially now with our location and being in the B1G.
An 8-4 here, with a B1G East schedule, means two things: we beat somebody(s) and a really good bowl destination. And that would be received around these parts as almost (the first time anyway) as if we were 10-2.
Last edited:
agreed, but the stadium experience appears to be insufferable now. I'll watch them win from home, and hold off getting hearing aids. I know I sound like an old fart, but why can every other school in our conference create a college experience in their stadium, but we have a cheesy NBA arena experience in ours?
Ours is pretty much a carbon copy of Penn State's, with lion roars thrown in once in a while at the Maryland game.
This, as I said before, is what will do it.
Just WIN (capitals emphasized) and it all goes away. B1G time.
They don’t matter because of the W. As you said, successful CFB programs…we ain’t it.
So in the meantime…
Can't believe there's been four pages of this. Haven't read past page 1 but guys and gals- we had a full stadium with similarly priced tickets 10-15 years ago. What was different? More competitive team and more entertaining/exciting experience. Win games, let the fans cheer instead of goofy stadium sounds, and improve concessions a little and it'll be the place to be.
In the yellow lot, I've seen police patrols, but not nearly as intrusive as they were in seasons past.
And I agree about the lines to enter. If one arrives a bit earlier, the lines are minimal (or none). If one arrives just prior to the game, the lines are very long. It's unreasonable to expect that there won't be lines if everybody is arriving to enter the stadium at the same time. I suspect that would be a problem at every stadium in the country. Easy to solve, arrive a bit earlier (or later, I suppose).
As somebody that has been in a lot of other venues it doesn't appear so.
It says much about some of our fans/posters seemingly.
Some of our fans would get the vapors and pass out if they had to live with the Michigan Stadium bag policy.
NO BAGS ALLOWED.
No purse, no fanny packs.
Bringing a camera or binoculars - Leave the cases in the car not allowed.
No satchels, clear or otherwise, with blankets and sweaters wrapped around the contraband peppers and egg sandwich.
They used to have that a long time ago: buy the travel mug and get free refills of coffee.
It’s not clear if he would have been DC. It was alway nebulous.
Who were we competing with for GS service at the time we hired him ? This is a rhetorical question
100% spot-on. We've lost the "casual fan" and the last 5-6 graduating classes. That's a HUGE % of what SHOULD make up the fan base. WIN, WIN, WIN and they WILL be back. It's that freakin' simple.
I held 2 larger scale (20-25 person) tailgates this season for OSU and Wisconsin. For OSU, everyone packed up and came inside. Most were right back outside within 20 minutes. For Wisconsin, 3 of us went in, while the rest opted to keep the party going outside. Who could blame them? Both games were out of hand early in 2Q.
This is exactly why I don’t believe the numbers that RU announces to be so egregiously inflated. Every organization (pro, college, minors etc) is going to announce distributed tickets as opposed to scanned tickets. I’d bet for many of these games, especially given the timing and weather we had this year, thousands elected to simply stay at their tailgates.
If I don’t park in Scarlet, Green, Yellow or Blue and were down 14-0 with 8 min left in the 1Q, what’s my rush to pack up and make a 15 walk over? It sucks, but it’s true.
Winning cures everything.
This is exactly why I don’t believe the numbers that RU announces to be so egregiously inflated. Every organization (pro, college, minors etc) is going to announce distributed tickets as opposed to scanned tickets. I’d bet for many of these games, especially given the timing and weather we had this year, thousands elected to simply stay at their tailgates.
If I don’t park in Scarlet, Green, Yellow or Blue and were down 14-0 with 8 min left in the 1Q, what’s my rush to pack up and make a 15 walk over? It sucks, but it’s true.
Winning cures everything.
Yes, this season the MCSO was noticeably less noticeable in the Blue Lot it seemed.
Last Saturday we were joking that their activity level seemed to drop off entirely with the decreased temperature. Maybe they are cold blooded?
More good points. In so many other threads, people climb over each other to talk about luxury cars (or impractical, stupidly overpackaged cars they bought solely for cool factor), eight-figure houses, five-star hotels and restaurants, 150-in TVs, etc, etc.
Yet when it comes to RU football, they cry about $2 extra for a pretzel or hot dog, which they could very easily NOT BUY for a 3.5-hour game they'll probably leave halfway through, or about not being able to bring in food and drink. Outside of medical dietary restrictions, why exactly do you expect a business that derives income from the sale of food and beverage to invite you to bring your own?? Do you also try to bring your own homemade iced tea and apps when you go to those Michelin-starred NYC hot spots?!
Mindnumbing.
And yes, and winning is it. Without it, no way is lowering prices or otherwise empowering absolute cheapskates going to make up in volume what it loses in $$ per transaction. And with it, you raise, not lower, prices.
It really wasn't. It was very clear for anyone with cells enough to operate a self-serve gas pump.
Definitely correct. The disc golf tourney circuit must have been a doozy this entire year.
The problem is that as dedicated fans, our definitions will be different than "casual fans" or the public.
We recognize that consistent 8-4 in the BIG East is great considering schedule and opponents.
"Outsiders" would just see 3rd/4th in the division, usually losing to the elite teams and barely (or not even) in the Top 25.
And they are only going to show up for event games and disappear after losses/blowouts.
It's just something that will always be an issue regardless of how many bottles of water the stadium stocks in September.
I don't actually often see the folks who appear to be financially comfortable complaining about the price of tickets or parking or concessions.
However, spend time in high-end luxury or performance car forums and you'll find plenty of very wealthy people who whine and complain about the price of everything. I'm thinking, you have 50 cars, the least of which cost you $350K, many of which cost $1MM+, housed in a distribution center sized garage you purpose-built to show off your cars. And you're complaining about the price of gasoline? Seriously?
Upon occasion, someone will mock one of the complainers. And the complainers always say they didn't become well off by throwing money away. I'm skeptical, but whatever.
Personally, I couldn't care less what RU tickets or parking or concessions (or gasoline) cost. But I still think the school should do what it can to draw people to Piscataway on Saturdays, and for a lot of people (of all income groups), they will care about the costs of stuff, especially when we're not winning. Once we're winning, by all means, jack the prices up. But for now, do what can be done to build the fan-base.
This.
I would pay more than the $7 for the souvenir cup vs. the $5 paper cup Hot Chocolate for a refill.
Only problem is they are constantly running out of beverages before halftime. Mickey Mouse.
The issue isn’t so much what the police presence and conduct was this year, it is what it was for so many years. A decade or so of driving away potential new, young, loyal fans and it’s going to be very hard to ever get them back.
This is the point as many young alums and parents of present students will confirm.
If the rules have changed and it’s cool to be in the Lots again as a student watch how quickly they return no matter what the record of the team.
Similar threads
