the key numbers are not the sales for the individual days, but you have to compare them to the average attendance for that season (to try and remove other factors such as season ticket sales). Look up the 'thoughts on thursday night game' thread from earlier today and i posted all those numbers.
Attendance for NDSU
- Thread starter twojman
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the key numbers are not the sales for the individual days, but you have to compare them to the average attendance for that season (to try and remove other factors such as season ticket sales). Look up the 'thoughts on thursday night game' thread from earlier today and i posted all those numbers.
I personally don't hate the Thursday game. It is different and can be a fun getaway. It does really hurt tailgating and creates new difficulties for a lot of people.
If it would ever mean that we could get on real TV for the game, I would be 110% behind it.
For now, I think attendance will be the deciding factor.
Or the fact that single game tickets are not sold outside of Iowa's allotment and hillsides.
That was what Pollard snuck by us after the 2007 "buy a season ticket to see Iowa" campaign. He has done something similar this year and no one even batted an eye lash at it.
If this were pre-2007, $90 or not, we would get well over 55k.
You can't buy a ticket for $90 even though that is supposedly face value. You CAN get a hillside ticket for $60 or a minipack for $99.
Compare the season ticket sales for each of those seasons as well. In 2005 we had over 44,000 people while having season ticket sales of a little less than 28,000. The next year we sold MORE season tickets and had LESS people attending our home opener. That is a telling statistic right there. In 2007 we sold more than 36,000 season tickets. I would be willing to bet money that if we went to a Saturday nite game on Labor Day weekend that attendance would top 50,000 or be very close. I am actually giving away a couple of tickets that I bought for my kids because of the Thursday nite conflict and getting off from their jobs early enough and lining up a sitter for their kids on a weeknight. Saturday afternoons and Saturday nights in September are the best. NO Saturday night games in November. Too freaking cold IMO.
If we had more than 57,000 people, they would be backed up to the fence on the backside of the hill. A lot of people I talked to that bought hillsides for that game couldn't see ANYTHING. Sure, we could probably get 100,000 people inside the fence, and I have no doubt Pollard would sell them the ticket if they wanted to stand there and look at the back side of the stadium, but I think there gets a point where people won't be an available ticket because they don't want to stand *** to elbow to possibly catch a glimpse of the game.
The Thursday game was a big factor in two of our tailgate crew to not renew their season tickets. To a lot of people, not the hard-core ISU message board fans, getting off work is tough for weekday games. There are so many fans that have to travel 2-plus hours to get to Ames for the games. Not only does this affect taking off work on Thursday but it kills your Friday as well.
I really do expect this to be the final Thursday game for Iowa State. As it might be good for the students it's bad for the people that pay good money for tickets.
I really do expect this to be the final Thursday game for Iowa State. As it might be good for the students it's bad for the people that pay good money for tickets.
I've always wondered WHY the students are going home over that weekend. They've only been in Ames for a couple of weeks at that point. Do they miss Mommy and Daddy that much? Suck it up.
I don't have any problem taking vacation for the Thursday game and if there were TV involved, I'd be all for it. Without TV (Mediacom Connections doesn't count), I'm neutral. I do love watching CFB all day Saturday...something I'd miss if I were tailgating at JTS.
I don't have any problem taking vacation for the Thursday game and if there were TV involved, I'd be all for it. Without TV (Mediacom Connections doesn't count), I'm neutral. I do love watching CFB all day Saturday...something I'd miss if I were tailgating at JTS.
I never once went home over that weekend, except for once during the day, and I was back in Ames that night. Never understood it at all. There were always some good parties in Ames that weekend.
I think i did my freshman year... but after that i didnt either. As you said, too much going on. Though more people left town my last 2 years when we switched to thursday games.
The rationale that the students will go home and miss the game is a bogus argument IMO. Those students that have season tickets will STAY and watch the game. When I was a student and had season tickets, going home was NOT an option if we had a football game.
This probably has more to do with our officials wanting to get the game done on Thursday nite and still have the whole Labor Day weekend for a family trip. I would really like to see a Saturday nite game myself. Plus I think by having a Saturday nite game that you would find the fans of a lot of our opponents more likely to show up and buy tickets as well if they are available.
IMO, ALL Cyclone games are great. But the Thursday nite games are my least favorite.
One factor that never seems to come up in this debate is practice time. I believe by scheduling the thursday game, that ISU gets a copule hours extra on field practice time that otherwise would not be allowed by the NCAA. The formula for computing the number of allowed practices and time on the field is ridiculously complex, but the two big factors are:
1) you can only hold 20 hours of on-field practice per week while classes are in session but you can hold as many hours of on-field practice in a given day as you like when classes are not in session.
2) practices can start a maximum of 24 (or some number of) days prior to the first game.
If your first game is earlier, then you can start practice earlier and since more of your practices are before classes start, you can get more on-field practice time.
Like I said, the formula the NCAA uses is ridiculously complex and uses practice units with some conversion ratios and there's all kinds of rules on practicing on days after competitions and limiting the number of practices that can be held on back-to-back days and many other nuanced rules. I could be wrong, but I believe we end up with more on-field practice time by having the Thursday game and that's all the convincing I need to support the Thursday gameday strategy.
1) you can only hold 20 hours of on-field practice per week while classes are in session but you can hold as many hours of on-field practice in a given day as you like when classes are not in session.
2) practices can start a maximum of 24 (or some number of) days prior to the first game.
If your first game is earlier, then you can start practice earlier and since more of your practices are before classes start, you can get more on-field practice time.
Like I said, the formula the NCAA uses is ridiculously complex and uses practice units with some conversion ratios and there's all kinds of rules on practicing on days after competitions and limiting the number of practices that can be held on back-to-back days and many other nuanced rules. I could be wrong, but I believe we end up with more on-field practice time by having the Thursday game and that's all the convincing I need to support the Thursday gameday strategy.
I think this is a great point if it turns out to be accurate. Another thing to consider is the gap between the 1st and 2nd game. Typically, a team improves the most between the 1st and 2nd game, and this allows us a couple extra days to do so.
And as for the argument that some of you are making that students shouldn't need to go home that weekend, just because you think they shouldn't doesn't mean that they don't. This was one of the biggest drivers for moving the game, and if the athletic department still feels that this is an issue for us, I don't see us making a move.
Agreed! I said something to this effect (with much less detail) in the other Thursday game thread.
The second game that they get that practice time for this year is the Iowa game. Also, it helps make up for the holiday the next week.
On top of the players getting more practice time, the coaches get more time to look at tape of how ISU played in the first game. That will help with the next weeks practice. CPR and crew can look at film or ISU Friday and Saturday and then start watching tape of Iowa's first game as well after that.
Regardless of attendance it will be intimidating for NDSU. Whether it's 30,000, 40,000, or 50,000, it will be the biggest crowd their players have ever seen. And Mediacom is helping out as well -- it will also be the first time their players have ever played on TV.
Are you just ignorant or plain stupid?
If you don't know something to be a fact why do you post it?
NDSU played in front of more than 50,000 twice at Minnesota. Many players on the current team were there and played in one or both of these games. As for the TV comment give me a break. NDSU has been on FSN on at least 2 occasions and a dozen more times on various regional networks since going DI.
