What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Terrible Mariucci attendance

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

5mn_Major said:
Every year, there's lots of competition for attention in the cities. All major pro sports, one of the biggest arts scene between the coasts and thousands of other events going on. The only potential city with the same distractions is Boston...and maybe Ann Arbor. And what percentage of Bostonians follow BC hockey?

This year the Gopher team is pretty bad. So its expected.

In the end, the Gophers year in and year out have quite possibly the largest televised audience in the nation and actively following fan base in the country...so its all good.
Click to expand...

Gophers fans are simply fair weather fans. They will show up if the team is winning and they disappear to their caves to start Fire Lucia threads when they're not.
 
Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

icehawk said:
A lot could be sold this season so far. Take the pain away from the product on the ice.;)
Click to expand...
Started out really slow - bad even - but the team is making visible progress each weekend. So there's that. :)
 
Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

I think a man at a hockey game feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds.
-Andy Dufresne
 
Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Perhaps Gopher Athletics will take a page from UW and start to digitally add fans in the stands for the images used by the media. They could even add a black student, you know, for true diversity.
 
  • Like
Reactions: D2D
Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

St. Clown said:
Perhaps Gopher Athletics will take a page from UW and start to digitally add fans in the stands for the images used by the media. They could even add a black student, you know, for true diversity.
Click to expand...
Ever see the movie Little Big League? My school went to the help out with the filming of that movie as "fans" and there weren't enough people to fill up the Metrodome. So we had to carry around cardboard cutouts of people to help make it look full. Maybe they can do a 'Free Lifesize Cardboard Cutout Person' promotion at Mariucci. It would help those of us who don't have many friends :o:( and also help make the arena look more full. Sounds like a win-win to me!
 
Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

gopher wes said:
Ever see the movie Little Big League? My school went to the help out with the filming of that movie as "fans" and there weren't enough people to fill up the Metrodome. So we had to carry around cardboard cutouts of people to help make it look full. Maybe they can do a 'Free Lifesize Cardboard Cutout Person' promotion at Mariucci. It would help those of us who don't have many friends :o:( and also help make the arena look more full. Sounds like a win-win to me!
Click to expand...
Or if you really want to make it more true to life, you could head over the Mortuary Science School at the U of M and pick up some "stiffs" to put in the seats. :p
 
Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Wisko McBadgerton said:
There's no problem here. Everything is just fine!

<a href="http://imgur.com/AIorfmV"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/AIorfmV.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
Click to expand...

Nice job selecting a picture of a game when they are down 6-2 in the last 3:35 of a game. While I don't agree with leaving before it's over, it does happen.

It is what it is. People buy season tickets on the hope that it will be a good season. They then decide if they will continue to show based on results. I don't agree with that either. Been attending games as a season ticket holder since 1998 and started selling half my tickets about 5 years ago because life changes... Bottom line, I will still go and support until I move away from Minny or I'm dead. Every School has fair weather fans, with the possible exception of UND, and back in the day when UND sucked, even they didn't sell out the old Ralph.

I also think this has more to do with the Big101114 than anything else. Removing old time rivalries has had a huge impact on casual interest.
 
Last edited:
JoeGopher said:
It is what it is. People buy season tickets on the hope that it will be a good season. They then decide if they will continue to show based on results. I don't agree with that either. Been attending games as a season ticket holder since 1998 and started selling half my tickets about 5 years ago because life changes... Bottom line, I will still go and support until I move away from Minny or I'm dead. Every School has fair weather fans, with the possible exception of UND, and back in the day when UND sucked, even they didn't sell out the old Ralph.

I also think this has more to do with the Big101114 than anything else. Removing old time rivalries has had a huge impact on casual interest.
Click to expand...

Teams results will definitely help or hurt attendance, but that isn't the only factor why season ticket holders might attend. I buy season tickets at BU knowing from the start that I'll only use 3/4 of the tickets. (Life happens and other commitments come up). College hockey is a pretty niche market... Let's face it, it is hard to even give away unused tickets to someone who will use them.
 
Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

I think it may be the gold seats. I don't think UMD is having ticket problems and they're having a pretty good year, but when I watch a game on TV I also notice a lot of empty gold seats. Unless Duluth has gone corporate on me..:confused:
 
Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

JoeGopher said:
Nice job selecting a picture of a game when they are down 6-2 in the last 3:35 of a game. While I don't agree with leaving before it's over, it does happen.

It is what it is. People buy season tickets on the hope that it will be a good season. They then decide if they will continue to show based on results. I don't agree with that either. Been attending games as a season ticket holder since 1998 and started selling half my tickets about 5 years ago because life changes... Bottom line, I will still go and support until I move away from Minny or I'm dead. Every School has fair weather fans, with the possible exception of UND, and back in the day when UND sucked, even they didn't sell out the old Ralph.

I also think this has more to do with the Big101114 than anything else. Removing old time rivalries has had a huge impact on casual interest.
Click to expand...
While you are correct about that particular picture, I personally have been a little surprised by what I've seen of MN crowds in the few games of theirs I've watched on tv this year. For instance, I happened to catch portions of the OSU games this past weekend when both were still extremely competitive, early in the third period, and was surprised by the number of empty seats in the prime areas between the blue lines.

I don't think this is unique to Minnesota, however. I think it's a big problem all over college hockey, and it's starting to infect those programs that used to seem immune to the problem, like Wisconsin and Minnesota. North Dakota isn't immune to the problem. It's just that right now they have a pretty good streak of about two decades of good performance. As soon as that changes, or an alternative to the entertainment buck (like a good UND basketball team for once), and it could easily change in Grand Forks as well.

I'm not ready to place the blame on the B1G, but I do think the recent changes in college hockey have had some negative impact. Hockey was always a very regional sport, with small regions. We have greatly expanded the region for each school.

Divesting ourselves of rivals who were geographically close not only affects attendance by causing a waning interest with your own fans, it causes attendance to drop because it's much more likely an opposing fan will drive 50-200 miles to see the game than it is they will fly in from across the country.

Finally, the increase in alternative viewing options, primarily the streaming of games, will only hurt attendance for a sport played in the winter when travel conditions may be less than ideal.
 
Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Wisko McBadgerton said:
There's no problem here. Everything is just fine!

<a href="http://imgur.com/AIorfmV"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/AIorfmV.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
Click to expand...

Somehow they're louder than the real Gopher fans. :confused:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top