I remember that game. There was many empty seats and they had a chance to win the North.
If Iowa was in that same scenario, Kinnick would be sold out!
Does ISU have best football fans in America?
- Thread starter HawkeyesAndCubs1023
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I remember that game. There was many empty seats and they had a chance to win the North.
If Iowa was in that same scenario, Kinnick would be sold out!
Rightfully so, if I didn't already have season tickets I wouldn't pay $10 to watch ISU football now when I can sit in the lots and drink beer and watch it on TV
ISU sold a 3 game package to Iowa, UNI and another game of your choice for $99 and then sold a mini package pick 2 of the last 3 games for $39. They should be sold out.
Can clone fan explain why Iowa's tickets are $50 while isu's are $10 if isu and its fans are so awesome?
Because ISU football sucks and Iowa's football team is undefeated? That would be my guess
Actually, I think you have a couple of seasons confused. I suspect the game you recall was the Missouri game, the last game of the 2004 season. ISU had already clinched a tie for the North Division title, and with a win over the Tigers -- who were bad -- would have played in the league championship. It was cold and miserable, but that's not a good enough excuse. Paid attendance was only a shade over 40,000. A lot of us said at the time that it was an embarrassingly small crowd. The team managed to lose in overtime. I will always believe that if there had been a big, supportive crowd, that wouldn't have happened.
The 2000 season is not hard to undertand. ISU had a string of 11 straight losing seasons, and was not challenging for anything. Cyclones had gotten clobbered in two conference home games -- 49-27 by Nebraska and 30-7 by A&M.
That doesn't excuse the low attendance, but it goes a long way toward explaining it.
I think the OP makes a good point regarding the attendance this year considering the state of the program in recent years. However, ISU fans haven't been much different than fans of most other schools over the years. When there's a reason to go, they go; when there isn't, they don't.
In the business world trading revenue for volume is rarely rewarded. In Ames however, it is hailed as great "marketing".
I laughed, I know what you mean... but this is not an applicable example. There is no marginal cost to another fan attending. It is all marginal revenue though.
Are there really groupons for Iowa tickets? Who is selling them?
Edit:
https://www.groupon.com/deals/gl-iowa-hawkeyes-via-fanxchange
I see this, but it specifically says:
MARKET-RATE OFFER
Neither Groupon nor FanXchange owns the tickets to this event or sets ticket prices. FanXchange’s third-party sellers list and sell the tickets. Because FanXchange’s third-party sellers set the ticket price and because pricing is subject to the forces of supply and demand, the price may be above or below face value.
It redirects to this site, which appears to be Groupon-related:
https://groupon.fanxchange.com/
and brings up this for Iowa Hawkeyes: https://groupon.fanxchange.com/event/661004
So it appears to simply be a Stubhub type of service.
Not sure I'd really classify it as groupon, as in daily coupons. Doesn't look like you can sell there though, so I'm wondering who does the selling.
This does appear to be the same for ISU's as well, but clicking through they aren't actually $10, but $11 and $22 and good seats are still rather expensive.
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That FanXchange is trying to sell Iowa/MD 50 yard line tickets for $450+, 20 yard line from $60-75, and end zones over face value. Are people actually buying from this site?
I have no idea if this is true, but an ISU fan on the radio this week guessed there were probably 45k at the TCU game. Having heard guesstimates in the past, that is not incredibly reliable.
Anybody go?
Edit: Just looked up the paid attendance. They were about 9k short of a sellout. That guy's guesstimate on actual attendance was probably pretty accurate.
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As I said before, I can only speak to the west side, but if the east side was similarly populated, I think 45K is a reasonable guess. There are about 42,000 sideline seats in the Jack. So you have to try to guess how many of the empty seats you see there would be filled by people in the end zone and the corners.
Again, if they simply announced both the tickets sold and butts in seats, it would be enlightening.
Reminds me of an old neighbor. His 19 year-old son---nice entrepreneurial spirit---started an auto detailing business out of his garage. Wanted an empire TODAY, so he tried one of those Groupon offers. Practically gave away his services---I think his regular rate was $175 for a full detail (which I thought was worth it---he did great work), but with Groupon he was only getting like $45 per detail. Not sure how it all breaks down, but I know Groupon gets a chunk for doing the marketing/promoting.
It worked to get him customers. Within a few weeks he got a check for $10,000 from Groupon and had a list of customers a mile long. Was booked solid the entire summer. At first he was flying high. Had $10,000 and customers lined up for months.
But then something happened. About a month later he had blown the $10,000 on a small boat, a POS 4-wheeler and god knows what else. He still had business expenses and employees to pay, not to mention his own personal expenses. All this while still having a few months worth of work he'd already been paid for. So at that point, with all the money dried up, he was working for nothing. And soon all of his employees (2-3 friends of his) were nowhere to be seen. Mom and grandma were out helping him. Little brother was out helping him. It was sad.
A few weeks later I'm out washing my truck and my neighbor walks over. I ask about his son's business and he tells me he'd made a huge mistake using Groupon, and that he ended up breaking the contract with them (took him an attorney and who knows how much money to do it). Took on way too many customers and charged practically nothing. He tried to get some of those Groupon customers back, but it never worked out. He ended up shutting down and going to work at Best Buy.
So after that long winded nugget, the moral of the story is, letting people buy or watch your product for practically nothing with the hopes of repeat business later on, when you're probably going to have to raise your prices to actually make money, seldom works.
I get what Iowa State is trying to do, but at some point they'll have to raise prices to make some real money. Question is, if the product continues to be sloppy, who's going to buy it?
I don't think the analogy works. I think there's a misconception here by some posters regarding the percentage of tickets that are sold at a discounted rate.
They sold something north of 30K season tickets this year. Let's say for purposes of discussion that they had 15K walk-ups for UNI and Iowa who didn't buy tickets for any other games. What's the down side of selling those seats for, say, Okie State at whatever the market will pay?
Selling 15K seats at a dollar apiece doesn't increase the cost of holding the game by a penny. ISU gets $15K plus more people in the seats -- who also pay for parking and greatly overpriced concessions.
Long story short: 15,000 fans at $5 a head is better than 0 fans at $40 a head.
They sell season tickets at a pretty heavy discount too. Like I said, smoke and mirrors. When comparing ISU attendance to pretty much everybody else, you are comparing apples to oranges. Compliment their marketing department for the attendance, but the fans are shopping at the Walmart of college football. There is a reason we call it Half Price Stadium here in Central Iowa.
http://m.cyclones.com/mobile/ViewArticle.dbml?atclid=897730&DB_OEM_ID=10700&
http://m.cyclones.com/mobile/ViewArticle.dbml?atclid=897730&DB_OEM_ID=10700&
I honestly have no idea what point your are trying to refute. Did somebody claim ISU sold out the place with the highest-price tickets, or what?
Still refuting the best fans in college football idea, which you seem to agree with, but also I don't think most Iowa fans understand that when you show the season ticket numbers. It isn't what they imagine. They likely say to themselves "wow! 30k season tickets!" Well, that doesn't tell the whole story. They likely imagine those tickets costing a minimum of $400. That isn't the case. Obviously the OP had no idea, or he likely wouldn't have started this thread.
There is a perception of "ISU football fan" right now that is completely overblown. I'm kind of sick of listening to it, and the Iowa fans outside of Central Iowa have no idea what the reality is.
I considered bringing up that 2004 Missouri game you referenced earlier, but I didn't feel like it at the time. It may have been one of the most embarrassing examples of major college football attendance ever...EVER. One of, if not the biggest game in ISU football history. I realize the tickets sold were over 40k, but I would be shocked if there were 30k fans in the stands. I am not exaggerating. I really believe there were less than 30k in the stands. It was cold, it was windy, and it was a disaster.
Sorry. This whole subject is kind of stupid, obviously it is a pet peeve of mine.
There is a perception of "ISU football fan" right now that is completely overblown. I'm kind of sick of listening to it, and the Iowa fans outside of Central Iowa have no idea what the reality is.
I considered bringing up that 2004 Missouri game you referenced earlier, but I didn't feel like it at the time. It may have been one of the most embarrassing examples of major college football attendance ever...EVER. One of, if not the biggest game in ISU football history. I realize the tickets sold were over 40k, but I would be shocked if there were 30k fans in the stands. I am not exaggerating. I really believe there were less than 30k in the stands. It was cold, it was windy, and it was a disaster.
Sorry. This whole subject is kind of stupid, obviously it is a pet peeve of mine.
I hope you are right but you realize we very well could be coming up on that scenario here because if we keep winning then we will be able to clinch the West division with a win against Purdue at home in a few weeks. And last I checked that game has a ton of unsold tickets still.
You can't really judge one side by the other. The west side often has empty seats in the visitor sections, depending on how well the opponents travel. Most Big 12 opponents are a fair distance away. The east side are the student sections.
Are the 3 game mini packs included in the 30k season ticket number we keep hearing about? Just a simple yes or no please.
I am a diehard Hawk fan and have been for 35 years. I graduated from ISU in the early 90s (i.e. Walden years). I used to work for the school newspaper and cover the athletic teams (wrestling, football, basketball). I think the best way to describe ISU fans is they are "enduring." ... Enduring ... Meaning, they are more tolerant than most fan bases. I won't say they are "better fans" ... they are just more tolerable and their expectations really aren't that high (i.e. wrestling, football). If they have a coach the fanbase really likes and finds entertaining, etc., (i.e. Orr, Walden, Rhoads) they are willing to put up with losses on the court/field. Fred turned out to be a really good coach. And Rhoads is not. Walden was not a good coach. Orr was above average but he was a God in Ames.
My vet I go to in Des Moines. He is in his 60s ... Been an ISU season ticketholder forever ... We had a talk about this during one office visit. He admits the athletics at ISU are generally average at best (taking into account the entire athletic program) but he still goes to the games because he has always done it. Even though many times he expects defeat, he still goes for the "event" itself. He "accepts" that ISU football will never be a consistent winner. He said "that's just the way it is."
Another thing to consider ... Lots of ISU graduates end up in Des Moines. Ames is about a 25-minute drive away. If I was 20 minutes away from Iowa City I would have season tickets for about every sport. The DSM metro has a lot of people. Yes, there are tons of Hawk fans here but ISU has plenty of them and I know many of them who indeed have season tickets to lots of sports simply because it is a short drive away.
ISU has its core (though small) diehards who stick with the team through thick and thin. No matter what, they are there. I think ISU has more "casual fans" than Iowa does. Example: I sit in an office with 7 ISU fans. Four of them have season tickets to ISU football. I know more about ISU football than 3 of the 4. That's not exaggerating. I know who ISU is playing next. I know the point spread, etc. I know more player names. It's not because I purposely follow ISU football ... I just like sports in general. Two of the three I talk with don't know most of the names of the players. But what they do know is "Fred Hoiberg" ... and Fred is God to them because he "one of them." Rhoads was a local boy (Ankeny) and they loved him for the first few years and his "I'm so proud to be your coach" speeches ... And well, the last two seasons have shown that the off-the-field rah, rah stuff only works so long if you aren't winning. Rhoads will be gone after this season. Even so, the next coach will come in ... And the fans will continue to be patient ... ISU doesn't have high expectations in football because for the most part, it's simply not a successful football program. Basketball, as of late, HAS had some success and so now some ISU fans have raised their expectations and they "expect" ISU to make the Elite 8 or Final Four ... So some success on the basketball court has raised their expectations ... And now they bring in a coach with no ties to ISU ... and he is following in the footsteps of "God." So ISU fans will be impatient if Prohm does not have some of the success Fred experienced. And for Prohm, if he experiences any success whatsoever, he will quickly move onto some place else (i.e. like Chizik did) ...
So no, ISU fans are not "better fans" ... they are just humble fans with few expectations because they haven't experienced much success (the programs as a whole during their existence). If you haven't experienced much success and become "conditioned" to "hating/wanting to beat Iowa" and "upsetting a team or two" along the way .. then life is okay. ISU has it's core diehards but many of them are casual fans ... much like I am casual fan of the Steelers. I love the Steelers but don't follow them nearly as closely as I do the Hawks.
My vet I go to in Des Moines. He is in his 60s ... Been an ISU season ticketholder forever ... We had a talk about this during one office visit. He admits the athletics at ISU are generally average at best (taking into account the entire athletic program) but he still goes to the games because he has always done it. Even though many times he expects defeat, he still goes for the "event" itself. He "accepts" that ISU football will never be a consistent winner. He said "that's just the way it is."
Another thing to consider ... Lots of ISU graduates end up in Des Moines. Ames is about a 25-minute drive away. If I was 20 minutes away from Iowa City I would have season tickets for about every sport. The DSM metro has a lot of people. Yes, there are tons of Hawk fans here but ISU has plenty of them and I know many of them who indeed have season tickets to lots of sports simply because it is a short drive away.
ISU has its core (though small) diehards who stick with the team through thick and thin. No matter what, they are there. I think ISU has more "casual fans" than Iowa does. Example: I sit in an office with 7 ISU fans. Four of them have season tickets to ISU football. I know more about ISU football than 3 of the 4. That's not exaggerating. I know who ISU is playing next. I know the point spread, etc. I know more player names. It's not because I purposely follow ISU football ... I just like sports in general. Two of the three I talk with don't know most of the names of the players. But what they do know is "Fred Hoiberg" ... and Fred is God to them because he "one of them." Rhoads was a local boy (Ankeny) and they loved him for the first few years and his "I'm so proud to be your coach" speeches ... And well, the last two seasons have shown that the off-the-field rah, rah stuff only works so long if you aren't winning. Rhoads will be gone after this season. Even so, the next coach will come in ... And the fans will continue to be patient ... ISU doesn't have high expectations in football because for the most part, it's simply not a successful football program. Basketball, as of late, HAS had some success and so now some ISU fans have raised their expectations and they "expect" ISU to make the Elite 8 or Final Four ... So some success on the basketball court has raised their expectations ... And now they bring in a coach with no ties to ISU ... and he is following in the footsteps of "God." So ISU fans will be impatient if Prohm does not have some of the success Fred experienced. And for Prohm, if he experiences any success whatsoever, he will quickly move onto some place else (i.e. like Chizik did) ...
So no, ISU fans are not "better fans" ... they are just humble fans with few expectations because they haven't experienced much success (the programs as a whole during their existence). If you haven't experienced much success and become "conditioned" to "hating/wanting to beat Iowa" and "upsetting a team or two" along the way .. then life is okay. ISU has it's core diehards but many of them are casual fans ... much like I am casual fan of the Steelers. I love the Steelers but don't follow them nearly as closely as I do the Hawks.
Yeah I do think ISU does well with the gameday experience and tries to accommodate the fans since the product on the field is what it is
Don't know about best fans, but hawks have the most band wagon fans. Cannot turn around in Omahole without running into one.
Keep the insightful comments coming! So thought-provoking ... Please be sure to share more engaging and well thought-out comments in the future as many of us will await your next nugget of intelligence....
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