If you want sell outs and a larger following, you need casual fans. Those fans turn into regulars. It’s a huge problem. Rutgers will never fill the seats if this doesn’t get fixed. And there is more room around the stadium, lawn or Werblin center, lawn of welcome center. No issue with room at Penn State but even they park in any empty space as close to the stadium they can find.
Ticket prices the same for football, but required donation for the lots is up
- Thread starter wheezer
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They’ll show up at the big games regardless of parking. Again, plenty of parking for games. It’s not going to be in a premium lot.
There is no master plan. They wing it as they go for each project. That's why we will end up with something that doesnt make sense.
Our "World Renowned Turf Management Program" is a total myth. Graber bought into that and the whole program was embarrassed - That is the reason we went to Field Turf. That is a fact.
They'll show up once. After experiencing the hassle, they'll never come back.
Do you know what casual fans do at the big house? They take an Uber from 2 miles away, then walk back after the game along railroad tracks. It cost me $200 + to park at Penn State and it was money well spent because I didn’t have to wait an hour + after the game. My friend had back surgery and couldn’t walk much.
Rutgers parking is the best situation out there.
If people don’t want to park at the RAC, they can park in New Brunswick then Uber or walk to the stadium. Or they can take a train and then Uber or take a Rutgers bus to the stadium. If people are motivated, they’ll figure it out.
That's the issue Al, we need to find a way to get people motivated
E.g., start winning
Cute, but you ignore the point. Yes, once the team starts winning regularly, has a big year and gets lots of publicity, ala 2006, you'll have a lot of casual fans and bandwagon fans show up. But once they experience the hoops the walk up fan now has to jump through, they will not become a regular fan or a season ticket holder.
Then they would be replaced by new "bandwagon" fans.
Rutgers would be the only school ever to have a Top 15 team and an empty stadium? Because of parking?
The reality is new fans would have never even heard of Blue or Yellow lot.
They will never know what was lost.
Winning (a big if) papers over everything.
And yes, I'm half quoting Thanos.
The fact that this thread is 10 pages is ridiculous. Haven't seen anyone complaining on any other platform. The group here is a bunch of whiners over a few bucks.
That's completely untrue, but don't let facts get in your way.
People will complain about anything here. A few bucks extra for a second pass shouldn't get people this angry.
A revolving door of casual fans? Yeah, that'll really earn the school some money. It's your dedicated fans and season ticket holders that raise the bar, that invest in the program, that donate.
If Rutgers has a consistent Top 15 team year to year, that's a whole different story. But that didn't happen in 2006, did it? Rutgers slid out of the Top 25 midseason in 2007, never cracked it in 2008 and made a brief appearance for a week in 2009. How'd that work out for attendance in our newly expanded stadium?
Agreed.
This is all predicated on Rutgers football actually being successful and enticing fans for non-tailgating reasons.
The point is that winning would keep fans attending (new and old) regardless of parking situation since new fans wouldn't even know what "Blue Lot" even means.
I would imagine the AD believes the reduction in parking is worth it for "future success" (I have no idea if they are accurate).
Again, there's a difference though. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, we were winning with records of 8-5, 8-5 and 9-4. But we weren't a nationally ranked team. I just believe it's going to be very difficult, especially in this new era of NIL, of ever getting into national prominence where we are consistently in the Top 15 as you stated above. Don't get me wrong, we get into that strata and we will have no problem filling the stadium. But 7-6 to 9-4 without even cracking the Top 25 will not accomplish that.
will say it again; parking is a hassle and it keeps people away
when you limit the parking further, you make it even more difficult and push fans away
Rutgers needs to address all the building and parking concerns in a strategic fashion and stop doing things piece meal
when you limit the parking further, you make it even more difficult and push fans away
Rutgers needs to address all the building and parking concerns in a strategic fashion and stop doing things piece meal
They do things as they fundraise. Unless there is magically a donor willing to write a $50M check this is how they'll have to do it.
People love to complain.
Be the solution, not the problem...
This 100% percent
If Rutgers does not resolve the Parking problems we will struggle to ever get 40,000 into the Stadium.
That is the problem, and that's why we have a hodge podge of poorly sited facilities.
This is not how "they have to" do it. As an Urban Planning graduate from Bloustein, that now works in facilities planning for a different state agency, not much gets me more worked up than issues like this. This is laziness and bravado, plain and simple.
WHERE IS THE ATHLETICS FACILITIES MASTER PLAN THAT WAS SUPPOSEDLY STARTED 4 YEARS AGO???
As is often the case, the problem lays on both sides (RU1000 / "build it and they will come") with the solution somewhere in the middle.
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Having been to every B1G away stadium, RU has fantastic parking for football & that includes parking at the RAC, most schools only the major donors have parking within eyesight of the stadium & from what I am told the donation levels exceed $25,000 per year at most schools. Most fans walk nearly a mile from parking lots to attend & don’t complain about it
Here's the thing. The parking situation at Rutgers is an advantage. It lends itself to the great tailgating scene that we, as RU fan's enjoy. It is really something that should be valued, and promoted by Rutgers.
Instead, Rutgers looks at the lots as open space for development. Worse still, they dont seem to have any coherent plan to do that very well. Development of athletic facilities could be done without ruining this asset.
Facilities like the Welcome center could have been built in numerous other locations as well.
The reasoning that "our parking situation is better than otehr schools have" is just not a valid reason for eliminating this advantage.
That welcome center is prime example number one. Why the hell was it located there, away from the rest of the campus?
I've said many times, the Prez needs to shitcan everyone in the athletics office and start new. we have very few competent people on board
comparisons are not good because each situation is unique. You are also wrong in that not every BIG stadium parking situation is like that.
I'll say it again since you and some others don't seem to get it. RU makes far more money with a full stadium and should be doing EVERYTHING to get people to go to games for a multitude of reasons no educated person should need to be told.
this new parking endeavor is a colossal fk up
I think it's fair to say most of us don't define $1,500 as "a few extra bucks".
That $1500 includes any seat gifts for any sports you might have tickets for. Chances are if you're looking in green lot you have more than 5 tickets on your account across multiple sports. So yeah it's a few extra bucks.
To the AD (it seems) "doing EVERYTHING" means building these facilities (fieldhouse, welcome center, etc) which leads to future success which fills the stadium. This is more beneficial than using the land for parking.
Everyone would agree winning fills the stadium better than great parking (we already have great parking and an empty-ish stadium).
However, the real argument is actually: are they allocating these resources (money, land, time) appropriately for future success???
Can't answer that one.
I'm with you on overhauling the AD and opening the books.
Not to take money away but to ensure they are best utilizing the resources they have.
The black lot is literally half a mile away from the yellow. It’s much cheaper. Crazy everyone thinks they should be in yellow or better.
I’m not ignoring the point. Casual fans will only want to go to the big games. They don’t care about the lesser games regardless of parking situation.
Why does it have to be on College Ave? There is plenty of space on Busch Campus (near the dorms and academic buildings) and Livingston Campus for it.
Casual fans: Don't. Buy. Season Tickets. Don't donate. Don't become invested in the school and the sports programs.
I don't think it is actually entitlement. You walk through the blue and yellow lots on any game day, even for the games against boring teams like Wagner--you will find that a majority of the fans in those lots have had season tickets for 20, 30 or more years. They have had an ownership stake in Rutgers football through a LOT of very bad years of football and still continue to buy season tickets and parking passes. Maybe there is a sense of entitlement on the part of Rutgers Athletics kicking these long time loyal fans to the curb when they perhaps should be getting some sort of long time loyalty accommodation or discount.
