Kolpack and Izzo Podcast: Why are fans staying away from the Dome and ETSU game previ

https://www.inforum.com/bison-media-...U-game-preview

Really good podcast by Kolpack and Izzo on how to get attendance back up. If we win, next week will be huge but they have some great points

Let's not turn this into another FBS discussion

They both talk about the fan experience, lack of beer sales, and just some short comings of the dome such as seats, wifi, food, music, etc. Kolpack even suggested another sales tax

I would go even further on a Fargodome remodel since we need to stay competitive for concerts and conventions. Other cities have hotels and convention centers attached. We don't even have wifi and a concourse on the west side to stay out of the wind

Surplus is approaching 50 million

When the dome sold out, NDSU didn’t have to invest as much in marketing.

They may have to do more investing, including outreach in the region like they did in the early 2010s. Travel, make appearances, do more events in places outside of Fargo. Make fans feel like they are valued by doing things in other communities.

This was a good listen.

I did find it slightly surprising this game is selling less tickets than second round, but people expect another slaughter.
ETSU seems pretty weak to be a 7 seed, they got lucky to beat Kennesaw at home.

WiFi, Beer sales and fixing the bathrooms are long overdue and would help make games a more pleasant experience for sure.
Some of the other stuff sounded gimicky and won't move the needle. Maybe a massive remodel helps some.

The real issues they mentioned are quite frankly covid, ticket cost, and competition.
People don't want to pay a lot for blowouts, its that simple.

Hard to not have this turn into another bison fatigue thread, because its basically the same topic.

Wtf. Really? Combo of covid paranoia, reject the kneelers fro last fall and boredome.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by PlainsBison

When the dome sold out, NDSU didn’t have to invest as much in marketing.

They may have to do more investing, including outreach in the region like they did in the early 2010s. Travel, make appearances, do more events in places outside of Fargo. Make fans feel like they are valued by doing things in other communities.

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TM only had two luncheons this year and one was on an away game weekend. TM luncheon used to be packed. Then they started to try different stuff like having it on radio at BWW. That drove a bunch of people away that paid the bills and didnt attract the demographic that would supposedly pay them in the future. They tried to lower the price but that drove more away as whose going to pay 12.00 for a cold cut sandwich?

TM listened to the wrong people.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PlainsBison

When the dome sold out, NDSU didn’t have to invest as much in marketing.

They may have to do more investing, including outreach in the region like they did in the early 2010s. Travel, make appearances, do more events in places outside of Fargo. Make fans feel like they are valued by doing things in other communities.

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This ^

Starting in 2012, we stopped having advertising campaigns because every ticket was sold out. Then we stopped which was smart up until the last few years

Anyone remember the 2010 Billboard that had fans holding Bison flags that stuck out the top?

With such an incredible video guy (Mr Anderson), we should be able to get some really good heavily promoted online ads and on regular TV

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 56BISON73

TM only had two luncheons this year and one was on an away game weekend. TM luncheon used to be packed. Then they started to try different stuff like having it on radio at BWW. That drove a bunch of people away that paid the bills and didnt attract the demographic that would supposedly pay them in the future. They tried to lower the price but that drove more away as whose going to pay 12.00 for a cold cut sandwich?

TM listened to the wrong people.

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But didn't they increase memberships? Doesn't matter of you lose engagement

Diminished attendance isn't just an NDSU issue.

https://www.si.com/college/2020/01/1...e-decline-ncaa

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HerdBot

But didn't they increase memberships? Doesn't matter of you lose engagement

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Lets see where the TM donation is this year. The other question is has TM produced more money by having more memberships or increasing TM fees?

You lose engagement from those that pay the bills you are going to eventually lose there money as well.

It's a complicated issue with many contributing factors.

One thing I haven't heard mentioned is simply the number of games over the last decade. I moved away from the MSP area 3-4 years ago, which is the biggest reason my game attendance has gone way down. That said, my attendance had already started dropping because of the shear time and expense of it after year upon year of many games.

In the first few really successful years, I went to nearly all home games and several away games. In the begining, it was like, "I'm not going to miss any of these games, because who knows when this will happen again". The answer turned out to be "every single year" for a decade.

On top of that, every game was an away game for me, living in MSP. Three hour+ drive each way, hotel rooms, tickets, meals and Chub's tabs add up. Not to mention the Mrs. wasn't thrilled I was gone so much (but she is a saint, so I get away with a lot).

My friends who ended up doing nearly all of the work at our tailgate because they were the only ones living in market got burned out on that aspect of it as well.

We're all still fans, but a bit worn out. On top of this, it's become repetitive...like watching the same movie over and over.

From there, many of the things that have been mentioned (which I think of annoyances or improvement opportunities) start to come to mind, but to me they're not the underlying issue. To be clear, I'm not saying they shouldn't be addressed. I recognize that I'm nearing 50 and younger fans will value some of that even more than I do.

Wifi and concessions improvements seem relatively easy and would help. Concourse and bathrooms as well. The security situation deserves more discussion. The USD game was terrible. Even though I had flown up for the game, as I was standing in a REALLY long line I thought, jeez it would be easier to watch the game at the bar. I still went though because I wanted to be able to talk football with PL (thanks PL :))

My two cents anyway. Agree with much of what's been said, but I think the shear number of games (obviously a good thing) has just worn down some of us hard core fans and the security has to be addressed. Talk about a solution in search of a problem.