(12-01-2022 01:04 PM)The Grinch Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 12:15 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 11:57 AM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 08:18 AM)epasnoopy Wrote:  Probably going to be his best offer. He should take it. I really enjoy Hawaii and it could be a fun year of living for him.

Other than the state. That's a program that's in an even worse position than us. Timmy looks incredibly lost as a head coach. Their facilities make NIUs look like the pros.

They are playing football in a track stadium at the moment, with temporary stands around the perimeter. Their identity on both sides of the ball doesn't even seem like football.

Heh, I'd go there lol. Just go enjoy a year of college in Hawaii, great weather, awesome snorkeling, and some delicious Hawaiian bbq.

Good for him. He's already graduated and is from DeKalb. Why not go spend some time playing football in Hawaii before you have to go out and get a job?

I wasn't aware he graduated but if he did, he majored in Sports Management which...I think is the same major I had (but with a slightly different name).

If so, and if he got into a grad program at Hawai'i in the field or in something related to what he wants to do, then go for it and get as much of it paid for because grad school is expensive.

Also, I got that degree and I'm still not 100% sure what job prospects there are for it other than going back to school, tacking on a teacher's certificate and becoming a PE teacher (speaking from experience...).

(12-01-2022 12:15 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 11:57 AM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 08:18 AM)epasnoopy Wrote:  Probably going to be his best offer. He should take it. I really enjoy Hawaii and it could be a fun year of living for him.

Other than the state. That's a program that's in an even worse position than us. Timmy looks incredibly lost as a head coach. Their facilities make NIUs look like the pros.

They are playing football in a track stadium at the moment, with temporary stands around the perimeter. Their identity on both sides of the ball doesn't even seem like football.

Heh, I'd go there lol. Just go enjoy a year of college in Hawaii, great weather, awesome snorkeling, and some delicious Hawaiian bbq.

Hawaiian BBQ is ONOLICIOUS! It's beautiful back home. But it's also crazy expensive. A lot of the hyper inflation prices up here, are just normal prices back home ...in 2006

(12-01-2022 01:20 PM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 12:15 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 11:57 AM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 08:18 AM)epasnoopy Wrote:  Probably going to be his best offer. He should take it. I really enjoy Hawaii and it could be a fun year of living for him.

Other than the state. That's a program that's in an even worse position than us. Timmy looks incredibly lost as a head coach. Their facilities make NIUs look like the pros.

They are playing football in a track stadium at the moment, with temporary stands around the perimeter. Their identity on both sides of the ball doesn't even seem like football.

Heh, I'd go there lol. Just go enjoy a year of college in Hawaii, great weather, awesome snorkeling, and some delicious Hawaiian bbq.

Hawaiian BBQ is ONOLICIOUS! It's beautiful back home. But it's also crazy expensive. A lot of the hyper inflation prices up here, are just normal prices back home ...in 2006

Kinda hard to get all those things like gas, oil, and many food items way out into the middle of the Pacific Ocean especially when they can no longer buy Russian oil.

I’m sure this is being addressed in STF’s post season analysis to make everything all better.

Frazier has not made any meaningful and certainly not successful effort to put fans in seats. It is NOT the fan's fault.

I do not know if Frazier even thinks it's a problem. I think he does not. If he did, he would take action, right? I think he is satisfied. So... there you go.

To be fair, I think COVId years attendance hit Illinois schools more than other some other states. So, the numbers aren't totally the be all and end all. But it doesn't really change the trend before or after COVID. So, ... shrugh.

We are a directional school with limited financial resources. I am happy we have been able to win so many MAC Championships. I guess the hope that a cryptocurrency multimillionaire will donate large sums of money is fleeting

(12-05-2022 01:20 PM)chihuskie Wrote:  Frazier has not made any meaningful and certainly not successful effort to put fans in seats. It is NOT the fan's fault.

I do not know if Frazier even thinks it's a problem. I think he does not. If he did, he would take action, right? I think he is satisfied. So... there you go.

To be fair, I think COVId years attendance hit Illinois schools more than other some other states. So, the numbers aren't totally the be all and end all. But it doesn't really change the trend before or after COVID. So, ... shrugh.

Blaming fans is obviously short sighted, but our fans stink. We weren’t drawing in the mid 2010’s when we were going to Detroit every year. Part of it is because DeKalb/Sycamore has 60,000 people in it, but you combine the small population size, shrinking enrollment, MACtion, and less people going to sporting events across the board and this is what you get. It’s not a coincidence 75% of the MAC is in the bottom 25 in attendance.

I will say, while attendance is shrinking I doubt very much ticket revenue is. Frazier and his staff have prioritized revenue over asses in the seats. Back in the Phillips/Compher days we just gave away thousands of tickets to MACtion games. We don’t do that anymore. Tickets were greatly discounted back then too, they aren’t anymore.

We can argue which is more important, revenue or actual people attending games, I’m just saying strictly from a $$ standpoint I doubt we’re any worse off now than we were when we were averaging like 16,000 people a game.

Let’s be fair, the worst attendance was going to a Mac school no matter what.
That’s a given. We had a terrible year so that makes us a candidate to be at the very bottom. Oh yeah, our fan base also kinda sucks. Oh well

(12-05-2022 03:24 PM)7 Wrote:  

(12-05-2022 01:20 PM)chihuskie Wrote:  Frazier has not made any meaningful and certainly not successful effort to put fans in seats. It is NOT the fan's fault.

I do not know if Frazier even thinks it's a problem. I think he does not. If he did, he would take action, right? I think he is satisfied. So... there you go.

To be fair, I think COVId years attendance hit Illinois schools more than other some other states. So, the numbers aren't totally the be all and end all. But it doesn't really change the trend before or after COVID. So, ... shrugh.

Blaming fans is obviously short sighted, but our fans stink. We weren’t drawing in the mid 2010’s when we were going to Detroit every year. Part of it is because DeKalb/Sycamore has 60,000 people in it, but you combine the small population size, shrinking enrollment, MACtion, and less people going to sporting events across the board and this is what you get. It’s not a coincidence 75% of the MAC is in the bottom 25 in attendance.

I will say, while attendance is shrinking I doubt very much ticket revenue is. Frazier and his staff have prioritized revenue over asses in the seats. Back in the Phillips/Compher days we just gave away thousands of tickets to MACtion games. We don’t do that anymore. Tickets were greatly discounted back then too, they aren’t anymore.

We can argue which is more important, revenue or actual people attending games, I’m just saying strictly from a $$ standpoint I doubt we’re any worse off now than we were when we were averaging like 16,000 people a game.

The thing is that the actual game was long ago turned into a TV show. The broadcasters (ESPN) decided that they had too much Saturday content and not enough weekday content. So they bought the MAC for weekday games. Understood. But I still thought that the studio audience was a necessary part of the TV show. You know, the actor tells a joke... the studio audience provides the laugh. Or the contestant tells an answer and the audience claps. etc. That is what I though and have argued for years -- that to have a great product to sell, you need that studio audience (fans in the stands-- game day atmosphere). But apparently I was wrong.

Or was I? Is our revenue stream actually higher with no effort to attract more fans? Or is it lower? Or the same.

I understand your point, and you may be right that it may be basically the same -- but that does not seem right to me. Fans in seats-- excited fans-- means parking revenue, concessions revenue, interest that can translate to more tv viewers, higher broadcast rights fees in the future, merchandise sales, student recruitment, player recruitment, student pride in the school, alumni pride in their school, increased donations to the school, more name recognition and prestige for alumni, etc.

We here thought attendance was not good when it was around 13,000. I agree there are a lot of factors why it is down. No doubt. But my question is what did Frazier due to fight against that trend. From what I have seen, the answer is very little, and that is being generous.

(12-05-2022 05:12 PM)chihuskie Wrote:  

(12-05-2022 03:24 PM)7 Wrote:  

(12-05-2022 01:20 PM)chihuskie Wrote:  Frazier has not made any meaningful and certainly not successful effort to put fans in seats. It is NOT the fan's fault.

I do not know if Frazier even thinks it's a problem. I think he does not. If he did, he would take action, right? I think he is satisfied. So... there you go.

To be fair, I think COVId years attendance hit Illinois schools more than other some other states. So, the numbers aren't totally the be all and end all. But it doesn't really change the trend before or after COVID. So, ... shrugh.

Blaming fans is obviously short sighted, but our fans stink. We weren’t drawing in the mid 2010’s when we were going to Detroit every year. Part of it is because DeKalb/Sycamore has 60,000 people in it, but you combine the small population size, shrinking enrollment, MACtion, and less people going to sporting events across the board and this is what you get. It’s not a coincidence 75% of the MAC is in the bottom 25 in attendance.

I will say, while attendance is shrinking I doubt very much ticket revenue is. Frazier and his staff have prioritized revenue over asses in the seats. Back in the Phillips/Compher days we just gave away thousands of tickets to MACtion games. We don’t do that anymore. Tickets were greatly discounted back then too, they aren’t anymore.

We can argue which is more important, revenue or actual people attending games, I’m just saying strictly from a $$ standpoint I doubt we’re any worse off now than we were when we were averaging like 16,000 people a game.

The thing is that the actual game was long ago turned into a TV show. The broadcasters (ESPN) decided that they had too much Saturday content and not enough weekday content. So they bought the MAC for weekday games. Understood. But I still thought that the studio audience was a necessary part of the TV show. You know, the actor tells a joke... the studio audience provides the laugh. Or the contestant tells an answer and the audience claps. etc. That is what I though and have argued for years -- that to have a great product to sell, you need that studio audience (fans in the stands-- game day atmosphere). But apparently I was wrong.

Or was I? Is our revenue stream actually higher with no effort to attract more fans? Or is it lower? Or the same.

I understand your point, and you may be right that it may be basically the same -- but that does not seem right to me. Fans in seats-- excited fans-- means parking revenue, concessions revenue, interest that can translate to more tv viewers, higher broadcast rights fees in the future, merchandise sales, student recruitment, player recruitment, student pride in the school, alumni pride in their school, increased donations to the school, more name recognition and prestige for alumni, etc.

We here thought attendance was not good when it was around 13,000. I agree there are a lot of factors why it is down. No doubt. But my question is what did Frazier due to fight against that trend. From what I have seen, the answer is very little, and that is being generous.

Yeah, I guess my point was he’s done things to try to help revenue from tickets even if he hasn’t necessarily prioritized actually asses in seats.

I think incentivizing season ticket value and premium seating options are the two biggest changes Frazier has brought in. It’s hard to argue they aren’t doing much to try to get more people into the stadium though.

I agree that the numbers are fudged across the board in college football.

I was at the eastern Illinois game this year (decent thursday crowd) and Vandy which i thought was a solid saturday crowd for NIU. either way, I agree, we as a fanbase need to do better

At this point, attendance will be dismal. Interest in NIU football is diminishing. What NIU needs to do is have teachers and staff talk up the benefit of enjoying your college days. After college, you start adulting, which sucks, enjoy your college years and then come back to get away from adulting. I have been out of school 35 years. The only time now when I do shots is tailgating.

We need a bigger stadium!!!

(12-08-2022 03:33 PM)klake87 Wrote:  At this point, attendance will be dismal. Interest in NIU football is diminishing. What NIU needs to do is have teachers and staff talk up the benefit of enjoying your college days. After college, you start adulting, which sucks, enjoy your college years and then come back to get away from adulting. I have been out of school 35 years. The only time now when I do shots is tailgating.

Post college life for some has been MUCH better lol

Disappointing about attendance but short of going 12-0, it’s going to be a challenge. Cherish the good times and wins. Have plans for academic donations and some football as my career continues.

NIU experience has always been what we make of it. Many don’t and *****. Some do the work and reap the benefits.

2023! The Hard Way!

(12-15-2022 06:05 PM)brandsxb Wrote:  We need a bigger stadium!!!

You misspelled “better”.

(12-15-2022 07:52 PM)jjprender Wrote:  

(12-08-2022 03:33 PM)klake87 Wrote:  At this point, attendance will be dismal. Interest in NIU football is diminishing. What NIU needs to do is have teachers and staff talk up the benefit of enjoying your college days. After college, you start adulting, which sucks, enjoy your college years and then come back to get away from adulting. I have been out of school 35 years. The only time now when I do shots is tailgating.

Post college life for some has been MUCH better lol

Disappointing about attendance but short of going 12-0, it’s going to be a challenge. Cherish the good times and wins. Have plans for academic donations and some football as my career continues.

NIU experience has always been what we make of it. Many don’t and *****. Some do the work and reap the benefits.

2023! The Hard Way!

HULKAMANIA BROTHER. My thoughts exactly.