Apathy at the U of MN

[mebisonII]

Supposedly, this article is about alcohol sales at the U of MN, but in reality, its more interesting to read the general student comments.

http://www.startribune.com/local/168864656.html

In short, beer and wine for everyone! (of age, and with $7.25 to spend per glass)

But check out these comments:

"The students don't seem to be too interested in going to see the Gophers play," said Ilkka Monson, a nursing student from Minneapolis who sat eating on campus near the stadium. "It seems to be a dying sport at the University of Minnesota -- maybe for the best."

Maybe for the best? Ouch.

Tiffany Glass, a doctoral student studying molecular biology, said none of her friends are talking about the football team or the new alcohol policy. "I hear people talking about molecular biology," she said.

"It's all relative," she added. "I'm sure the game is tremendously important to some people. I just haven't run into them."

To be fair, asking a MB grad student about football is about like asking, well, a FB player's opinion on MB research.

But not to worry, not everyone they talked to was negative:

"If they can improve their revenues with something like that, it seems pretty harmless," said John Phillips of Maple Grove, another student.

Ok, so its not really positive either, but at least its not negative?

This part is negative, though:

But it might not help reverse the trend of three straight years of declining attendance at the new stadium.

Just 3,100 student season tickets have been sold this year -- the school had a goal of 8,000

[bisonmike2]

Supposedly, this article is about alcohol sales at the U of MN, but in reality, its more interesting to read the general student comments.

http://www.startribune.com/local/168864656.html

In short, beer and wine for everyone! (of age, and with $7.25 to spend per glass)

But check out these comments:



Maybe for the best? Ouch.



To be fair, asking a MB grad student about football is about like asking, well, a FB player's opinion on MB research.

But not to worry, not everyone they talked to was negative:




Ok, so its not really positive either, but at least its not negative?

This part is negative, though:

I read it this morning and was cringing at the comments by the students. They have 50K undergrads and can only get 3K to show up. Pathetic.

[BisonTeacher]

I read it this morning and was cringing at the comments by the students. They have 50K undergrads and can only get 3K to show up. Pathetic.

Speaking as a gopher season ticket holder.....if you want students to show up....start winning. YOu can do all the promotion you want...but your fanbase from the early 20s is dying out! start building a tradition by winning. I like Kill. I think hes on the right track. but the only way to get butts in the seats is to win. plain and simple.

[tcbison]

This is a little off topic but the biggest complaint I hear from Gopher season ticket holders this year is they can't sell their tickets for profit like they did last year when they played NDSU, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Iowa at home. They made some good money doing that last year. This year not so much.

[bisonmike2]

Some nice pub for us in the Pioneer Press.
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_...will-be-dakota

[BisonTeacher]

This is a little off topic but the biggest complaint I hear from Gopher season ticket holders this year is they can't sell their tickets for profit like they did last year when they played NDSU, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Iowa at home. They made some good money doing that last year. This year not so much.

Hmmm. We obviously didnt try to sell our tickets for the bison game as most of those in my group are NDSU grads. But we did try to sell them for the nebraska game. Maybe we waited to long, and maybe them losing to michigan State didnt help either, but we couldnt get crap for our seats for that game (the first Nebraska game at TCF) and we sit 50 yard line front row...right behind visitors bench. But that was the only game we've ever tried to sell them for so who knows.

[td577]

It was silly to ask a grad student about the football culture of a school even if it was about serving alcohol. There are two groups that cheer on a team. Undergrads and alumni. In fact, I would guess most graduate students that are into college students are more aligned with their undergrad schools. They interviewed the wrong person. They should have found a few upperclassmen, above 21, and asked them if providing alcohol would encourage their attendance. Looking at the numbers, maybe the grad student was the best they could do.

[BlueBisonRock]

It was silly to ask a grad student about the football culture of a school even if it was about serving alcohol. There are two groups that cheer on a team. Undergrads and alumni. In fact, I would guess most graduate students that are into college students are more aligned with their undergrad schools. They interviewed the wrong person. They should have found a few upperclassmen, above 21, and asked them if providing alcohol would encourage their attendance. Looking at the numbers, maybe the grad student was the best they could do.

You make a lot of good points and because of this make it hard to argue with you....

I have my bachelors from NDSU and am a diehard Bison fan. I earned an MBA from the UofMN and do want to see them succeed, but when the two meet its Bison all the way. So yes, as a former grad student of the UofMN, I do care. But as is made evident from your arguement.... Not that much.

And, Yes. I do wish Jerry Kill success at the U. Of MN, not the other one.

[Twentysix]

I read it this morning and was cringing at the comments by the students. They have 50K undergrads and can only get 3K to show up. Pathetic.

That isn't true. They have 30k undergrads. Its still terrible, but you almost doubled the actual amount. They have nearly 20,000 grad students with a total enrollment right around 50k.

[bisonmike2]

That isn't true. They have 30k undergrads. Its still terrible, but you almost doubled the actual amount. They have nearly 20,000 grad students with a total enrollment right around 50k.

You're right, my bad. Interestingly enough I looked up largest undergrad enrollment and University of Phoenix is number one with over 300,000. Obviously all online students. I surprisingly didn't see UND on that list but because hey love thei online students so much it gave me an idea for their nickname. The could go with the University of North Dakota Phoenix.