Sept 18 | Purdue

[Some Irish Bloke]

I'm going on record to say I hated BK's response to the poor attendance last Saturday. Basically I'm too important to worry about such things, and fuck those that did come if they are unhappy.
Would it have been so hard to show the fans some love and say hey we love playing in full stadiums, and we love for you to watch us play?

I mean USC isn't even a sell out. I made a donation to the Rockne Club so I can make sure I get tickets, and it wasn't even needed. $218 for a ticket in the upper bowl endzone, and BK can't be bothered to show some love to the fans.

Also, great timing to show your indifference right after "Peacock" weekend and the lack of execution your team has shown in 2 weeks.


Rant over, back to loving BK again.

He did say in his post-game presser that he thought the fans were great and had an impact, especially late. It didn't sound like only 60k, I'll say that. In his defense, he has a million things going on every week, but I completely agree he shouldn't have brushed it off as "we have a marketing department for that." It would have been nice for him to opine for more attendance.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

What are the reasons these games are not sell outs or not even close to sellouts? Is it solely Covid concerns? 60K last weekend is pathetic. Is the fanbase turning into a California fan base now? lol.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

What are the reasons these games are not sell outs or not even close to sellouts? Is it solely Covid concerns? 60K last weekend is pathetic. Is the fanbase turning into a California fan base now? lol.

I think it's looming COVID fears and let's not act like these games are super affordable. They have the tiered pricing now, but say you want to go with your family, $50 a pop for upper-bowl endzone probably adds up pretty quick. I think they need to adjust prices to the demand? Who knows.

He also said he isn't sure if fans look at a game like Toledo as a marquee match up which could be part of it. But I think COVID is probably the biggest factor at play.

 

[Irish#1]

I think it's looming COVID fears and let's not act like these games are super affordable. They have the tiered pricing now, but say you want to go with your family, $50 a pop for upper-bowl endzone probably adds up pretty quick. I think they need to adjust prices to the demand? Who knows.

He also said he isn't sure if fans look at a game like Toledo as a marquee match up which could be part of it. But I think COVID is probably the biggest factor at play.

Agree, I think with the variant having its turn, there's still a lot of people hesitant to mesh in a large crowd.

 

[dublinirish]

I think it's looming COVID fears and let's not act like these games are super affordable. They have the tiered pricing now, but say you want to go with your family, $50 a pop for upper-bowl endzone probably adds up pretty quick. I think they need to adjust prices to the demand? Who knows.

He also said he isn't sure if fans look at a game like Toledo as a marquee match up which could be part of it. But I think COVID is probably the biggest factor at play.

wasn't it like $92 for the cheapest ticket last weekend?

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

wasn't it like $92 for the cheapest ticket last weekend?

Without fees the cheapest Purdue ticket via the ND ticket office is $70. For USC, which is also not sold out, it's $110.

Cincinnati has sold out. Which tells me there's going to be a lot of black and red in the stadium on October 2nd.

 

[Free Manera]

ND Stadium is going the way of Yankee stadium. 1. Too many people are priced out, and 2. a lot of "corporate" people that buy tickets don't want to bring friends/clients/family to watch the less interesting games.

Empty seats are better than opposing fans in the seats though, and that totally could happen against teams that travel well.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Without fees the cheapest Purdue ticket via the ND ticket office is $70. For USC, which is also not sold out, it's $110.

Cincinnati has sold out. Which tells me there's going to be a lot of black and red in the stadium on October 2nd.

Yeah I think Toledo might have been $50ish for the cheapos?

I hope not in the bold....I know a lot of Irish fans who were really looking forward to this match up, so I'm hoping the demand was there on our end. It was also a cheaper tier than USC and UNC, for arguably the best team on our schedule. I'm sure Cincy will travel well, but I'm not worried of a UGA style takeover.

 

[pumpdog20]

Two kids from the the Hawkeye state visiting this weekend.

I don't know how to do the fancy attach tweet things. Blair Sanderson says Asa Newsom and Kai Black visiting for purdue game.

 

[NDPhilly]

Crowd issues should not be too surprising. Average age of people at ND games definitely skews to the older end of the spectrum. A lot of people will still be hesitant to get on a plane and sit in a packed stadium when Covid is still circulating. ND doesn't have the crowd within driving distance that a Michigan or OSU does.

Example - My 60 year old dad who's an alum usually flys out to a few games a year to meet up with his college buddies. His "usual crowd" has a few hesitant people that aren't willing to travel. Usual 5 tailgates have been cut back to just 2 for Cincy and USC games so my dad will only be attending those.

Think something effect is the biggest reason.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Another big reason is that ND fans generally travel longer distances, there's less of a local following, compared to say Ohio State, Alabama or Georgia.

I think it's a lot easier to justify a 45 minute drive up to Athens or Tuscaloosa for a game than planning a 3 hour flight to Chicago and then a 2 hour drive to South Bend and paying for lodging. Not only more financially taxing, but a lot more travel means a lot more possibilities to contract COVID.

 

[FWIrish4]

Probably a discussion for another thread, but all of these examples drive the main point home: ND has an older fan base that is pretty national. They absolutely need to find a way to start grabbing the attention and dollars of younger fans to match the recent success on the field. That’s why the potential of Peacock and streaming is so frustrating to me (I’m 29 btw). It will complete inhibit their ability to expand the the fanbase, let alone make it harder for recruits to watch.

 

[BeauBenken]

Probably a discussion for another thread, but all of these examples drive the main point home: ND has an older fan base that is pretty national. They absolutely need to find a way to start grabbing the attention and dollars of younger fans to match the recent success on the field. That’s why the potential of Peacock and streaming is so frustrating to me (I’m 29 btw). It will complete inhibit their ability to expand the the fanbase, let alone make it harder for recruits to watch.

I agree. I have nothing against our older fans or the fact that we are a national brand, but we should be able to sell tickets to anyone in driving distance easy peasy. Hell I wanted to go up to the Toledo game, but I am not going to pay $50 per ticket to watch that game from the upper deck.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Probably a discussion for another thread, but all of these examples drive the main point home: ND has an older fan base that is pretty national. They absolutely need to find a way to start grabbing the attention and dollars of younger fans to match the recent success on the field. That’s why the potential of Peacock and streaming is so frustrating to me (I’m 29 btw). It will complete inhibit their ability to expand the the fanbase, let alone make it harder for recruits to watch.

Honest question....would it?

I honestly think ND was testing the waters, not Peacock. By that, I mean it would totally be a ND thing to partner streaming with Apple TV, Amazon, Google, Netflix, or anyone else.

Amazon paid a king's ransom for Thursday night football. I have no doubt that ND has a wondering eye towards partnering with a non-traditional partner for streaming. As far as getting the eyes of the younger generation.....aside from it likely being more convenient for them to watch, you can partner with twitch for specific commentary or features (like the Nick Super Bowl for example), you could have add on games / events synched up with the broadcast, probably significantly more stats/data, etc. Think of it this way.....join your private chat room to live stream the ND game with your family across the nation.

This is all going to happen sooner or later. My money is that ND thing to do here would be to be the first one to do it.

 

[Irish#1]

I agree. I have nothing against our older fans or the fact that we are a national brand, but we should be able to sell tickets to anyone in driving distance easy peasy. Hell I wanted to go up to the Toledo game, but I am not going to pay $50 per ticket to watch that game from the upper deck.

You got me curious, because I don't think $50 is unreasonable. I did a quick check of OSU, scUM and UGA prices and ND's prices are in line with those. Kansas cheapest ticket is $35 for nose bleed.

 

[dublinirish]

https://i.imgur.com/jp9OwNw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YgMBdBE.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3pjXpT2.jpg

am @ Purdue for work this week and i had to pop down and snoop they practice

 

[Irishize]

Honest question....would it?

I honestly think ND was testing the waters, not Peacock. By that, I mean it would totally be a ND thing to partner streaming with Apple TV, Amazon, Google, Netflix, or anyone else.

Amazon paid a king's ransom for Thursday night football. I have no doubt that ND has a wondering eye towards partnering with a non-traditional partner for streaming. As far as getting the eyes of the younger generation.....aside from it likely being more convenient for them to watch, you can partner with twitch for specific commentary or features (like the Nick Super Bowl for example), you could have add on games / events synched up with the broadcast, probably significantly more stats/data, etc. Think of it this way.....join your private chat room to live stream the ND game with your family across the nation.

This is all going to happen sooner or later. My money is that ND thing to do here would be to be the first one to do it.

Where Peacock failed was when you take away something that fans could watch for free and charged them…it better not be a worse product when they agree to pay for it. The time delay was inexcusable. I had to get off Twitter b/c the beat writers were tweeting 3-5 plays ahead of the stream.

 

[tko]

Come get some Purdue!

 

[BeauBenken]

You got me curious, because I don't think $50 is unreasonable. I did a quick check of OSU, scUM and UGA prices and ND's prices are in line with those. Kansas cheapest ticket is $35 for nose bleed.

Well I guess I'm just poor.

I think you're crazy if you wouldn't rather sit at home with the drink of your choice than pay that.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

FSU was an unknown and Toledo was a short week. If ND has it in them to right this ship then it will have to start on Saturday.

 

[RDU Irish]

You got me curious, because I don't think $50 is unreasonable. I did a quick check of OSU, scUM and UGA prices and ND's prices are in line with those. Kansas cheapest ticket is $35 for nose bleed.

You can't compare to OSU, scUM and UGA - those are huge state universities with enormous fan bases within stones throw of campus. Teams like Kansas might charge for individual game tickets but they have season tickets and promos that damn near give tickets away - how many tickets are sold at full price there? I know Duke and UNC have cheap season tix and promos while NC State has more football culture and is a harder ticket. Whenever ND gets on someone's home schedule they package that game with others to effectively jack up the price and sell a lot of tickets that people will never show up for and/or dump on the secondary market for a song.

There is a cultural shift, younger people less patience for spending 4 hours in the stadium enjoying endless TV timeouts than the blue hairs. It is a known issue amongst all athletic departments, not unique problem to Notre Dame. But I agree that the number of folks traveling further creates a different dynamic for ND.

I can see these electronic only tickets really hamstringing the game day buyers who could scalp a $10 ticket at kickoff plus a lot of older folks with extra tickets eating them b/c of the voodoo involved in transferring. For normal electronic tickets they are easy to dump on StubHub which makes for a better secondary market - these were quirky IMO with the required ND ticket office account. Let me download them cleanly to StubHub or TickPick and free up the secondary market.

 

[Mattmags]

https://ndsmcobserver.com/2021/09/lettertofrjenkinsandjackswarbrick/

 

[dublinirish]

https://ndsmcobserver.com/2021/09/lettertofrjenkinsandjackswarbrick/

The University has become elitist

this line made me lol

 

[EvilleIrish]

Well I guess I'm just poor.

I think you're crazy if you wouldn't rather sit at home with the drink of your choice than pay that.

That's where I'm at...the prices have gotten outrageous.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Probably a discussion for another thread, but all of these examples drive the main point home: ND has an older fan base that is pretty national. They absolutely need to find a way to start grabbing the attention and dollars of younger fans to match the recent success on the field. That’s why the potential of Peacock and streaming is so frustrating to me (I’m 29 btw). It will complete inhibit their ability to expand the the fanbase, let alone make it harder for recruits to watch.

I'm a bit confused, are you inferring that the ND fan base is shrinking? I don't think that's the case...and sorry if I'm misinterpreting. The portion of the fan base that generally attend games, might be on the older, "blue-blood" side. But if you look at the TV ratings, ND fandom isn't going anywhere. I'm not an alum, but my grandparents grew up in South Bend and relocated to MI, and I'm a third, hell maybe even fourth generation of ND fans in the family. And I don't anticipate that changing.

I think the difference is what Beau kind of alluded to: Are millennials or Gen Z as likely to make a trip and spend more money with the enhancements TV has made? At-home entertainment is wildly advanced compared to what the "blue-bloods" experienced. So as season ticket holders go away, I think there's less and less taking their spots, and fans like me pick my battles and attend 2-3 times a year as opposed to going for all 6 or 7. I have colleagues who are scUM alum who gave up their season tickets for the same reason; they'd rather just watch from home and go to a game or two every year.

You schedule programs from the group of 5 (Cincy is a different story) be prepared to have empty seats charging $50 or so a pop, plus travel and lodging expenses.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

I don't think the difference is necessarily that younger fans don't want to make a trip. The relative cost of tickets is much higher for them than prior generations and they have relatively less money.

Just running a quick image search, a Notre Dame vs. Tennessee game ticket in 1990 cost $19.00. After inflation adjustment that's right around a $40.00 price in 2021 dollars. That same ticket today would probably cost three times that amount. And if you want to scalp there are more cost layers than in ye olde days when people were posting up on a street corner.

As a kid I used to get free tickets to bad games just by waiting until midway through the first quarter. I doubt that still happens.

 

[irish o'phile]

I’m flying from LA this weekend to watch this game and my Rams at Colts. Can’t wait.

If you guys think these seats are expensive, check out SOFI. I plan to go to Stanford too to watch ND. Prices are up there over couple of years ago there too. I think it’s across the board. Maybe it’s the inflation.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Fair, but a lot of our issues that day were BK and Chip Long appearing to try and develop Wimbush by forcing him to stay back in the pocket and go through his progressions, rather than take off and run, which was always his biggest strength. IIRC, he had a TON of running lanes that he simply ignored and it was pretty obvious he was instructed to do so to try and improve his passing game.

I'm not looking ahead past Purdue and it pains me to say that. George Karlaftis is a projected first round pick and we couldn't contain Jermaine Johnson against FSU with our first string LT....

I get that the game plan for that game was awful, but it wasn't just the game plan. The line in general was just flat out bad and getting pushed around.

Keep in mind, that was also a MUCH worse defensive front than Toledo's. It's actually quite remarkable to look back on that 2018 Ball State game and see just how immensely inept we were.

To put it in context, we scored 24 points and 418 yards of total offense.

Ball State gave up an average of 35 points and 470 yards of total offense to MAC level competition. In fact, only 1 FBS team was held to less points than us all season, that being 23 from Central Michigan, the literal worst team in the MAC that year.

Toledo is still...y'know Toledo, but they are very likely to win the MAC this year and could finish 11-1. That Ball State team would've probably lost to this Toledo squad by like 30.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

SP+ projects that we win by 7 (ND 33 - Purdue 26):

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/espn_billc/status/1438120586790723584?s=21[/TWEET]

 

[texbender]

I think it's looming COVID fears and let's not act like these games are super affordable. They have the tiered pricing now, but say you want to go with your family, $50 a pop for upper-bowl endzone probably adds up pretty quick. I think they need to adjust prices to the demand? Who knows.

He also said he isn't sure if fans look at a game like Toledo as a marquee match up which could be part of it. But I think COVID is probably the biggest factor at play.

Agree, ND is on the edge of pricing families out of the gameday experience. Everything is expensive besides the tix. I tailgated, where the price is right. After entering the stadium, the only thing I purchased was a water at halftime...lukewarm and just under $5.