Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

I think some of you believe there are these fans just waiting to go to these games. Like I said there were about 5 scalpers with about 20 tickets in hand offering $5 tickets last Saturday an hour before kickoff on Bryant drive. A queue of fans isn’t going to help the problem if no one is in Tuscaloosa.

There are ways to help the problem like getting rid of the upper deck student section and making it a first come first serve thing for students, but these fans that y’all believe that are just waiting around for a chance to get in are about as real as a Ole Miss western division title.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

RollTide_HTTR said:

While I don't think its the only issue we haven't had a big OOC home game since what? Penn State in 2010?

Was the student section as bad for the Arkansas State game?

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How is a H/H going to solve a 11am directional school game attendance ?

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

crimsonaudio said:

https://twitter.com/kyle_burger/status/1047629100209324036

https://twitter.com/abc/status/1047629100209324036

I'm 100% behind CNS on this one. I say students get in first-come, first-served and if there are empty seat, they’re given to a queue of fans. At the end of the season, look at the average usage and reduce the student section accordingly. You want those cheap seats? Better show up to every game.

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The same thing should apply to season ticket holders. If you miss a game, you should forfeit a game next year. If you sell your seat, then you lose a game next year.

No, I'm not serious. This game is held on campus, and if the kids aren't interested in sitting in the upper deck of their stadium on their campus, then so be it. So what? If you're not enrolled or working at the University, you are a guest/visitor. Frankly, I'd rather see the student section larger and in the lower deck.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

Here’s an idea...make the game affordable for an average family and you might have more people in the stands. They would be willing to make the trip to see Bama play whoever when it is not financially feasible right now. Use the que idea to make the games more attractive for people to travel. Right now, it is downright ridiculous how much an average family has to fork out money wise just to go see a Bama game.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

81usaf92 said:

How is a H/H going to solve a 11am directional school game attendance ?

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It may or may not but it feels somewhat silly to complain about attendance when the best OOC game you are giving the students/fans is Arkansas State.

And seriously, was the attendance as bad for the Arkansas State game? If not that would possibly imply scheduling marginally better teams would at least help.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

Tide Rev said:

Here’s an idea...make the game affordable for an average family and you might have more people in the stands. They would be willing to make the trip to see Bama play whoever when it is not financially feasible right now. Use the que idea to make the games more attractive for people to travel. Right now, it is downright ridiculous how much an average family has to fork out money wise just to go see a Bama game.

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$5 tickets is not cheap enough for these fans that are hoping for a chance to go?

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

RollTide_HTTR said:

It may or may not but it feels somewhat silly to complain about attendance when the best OOC game you are giving the students/fans is Arkansas State.

And seriously, was the attendance as bad for the Arkansas State game? If not that would possibly imply scheduling marginally better teams would at least help.

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Arkie st- It was good but not great until the game got out of hand.

But the H/H thing with a huge opponent is not going to solve the attendance issue with a September 11am kickoff vs LLU is my point. We can’t get into to business of loading up P5 teams to replace these lower FBS teams so it’s a fact of life that we are stuck with them. All we can hope for is that we avoid the 11am kickoffs until October

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

81usaf92 said:

It was good but not great until the game got out of hand.

But the H/H thing with a huge opponent is not going to solve the attendance issue with a September 11am kickoff vs LLU is my point.

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Probably not but it would sound less ridiculous to ask fans to stay for that game if you were giving them something like a big home and home every couple of years. I know it would at least encourage me to stay for/go to some of those games if I was still a student. I know its not the main issue with attendance but it definitely couldn't hurt.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

For anyone who turned off their TV early, pls turn in your TV or give it to someone who will watch the whole game. Oh, having the sunshine on the screen is a lame excuse. Man up.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

81usaf92 said:

$5 tickets is not cheap enough for these fans that are hoping for a chance to go?

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For those out of state that require hotel(gouged) accommodations, automobile expense, multiple meals, parking, and the stress level for those expenses, it can still be daunting with a free ticket.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

RollTide_HTTR said:

Probably not but it would sound less ridiculous to ask fans to stay for that game if you were giving them something like a big home and home every couple of years. I know it would at least encourage me to stay for/go to some of those games if I was still a student. I know its not the main issue with attendance but it definitely couldn't hurt.

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I just can’t agree. Yeah you are giving fans another home game with a quality opponent but you are also asking them to endure a September 11am kickoff against a team we are going to run out of the stadium by the 2nd quarter. Had the game been a 230 or 6 pm kick then I doubt CNS goes on a rant this week.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

AlBamaWagg said:

For those out of state that require hotel(gouged) accommodations, automobile expense, multiple meals, parking, and the stress level for those expenses, it can still be daunting with a free ticket.

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Yeah I’m not talking about out of state fans, I’m talking about all these fans a lot of people believe that would go if a ticket was cheap enough for it to make sense. My issue with this idea of a queue is that you would have to have interest for these kinda games for it to work.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

Best way to fix it:

-Remove block seatings for fraternity and sorority, if they don't show up and release the tickets to the public.
- Find a way to improve gameday experience for the students and fan.
-Find a way to encourage student to come to the game...

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

If the idea is to open seating up to some sort of "on-call" general public queue, I actually think the system should work like this:

1) All student seating is open (first come, first serve), no block seating for organizations.

2) Event staff opens up the student seating section by section. Event staff opens new seating as the currently opened section fills up.

3) At 30 minutes to kick, student seating is closed and any remaining sections are open to the general public.

4) "On-call" general public seating will require some system where you swipe your CC for a charge hold to get a voucher (QR code) that is scanned upon entry at the "on-call" student gate. If scanned in, the system will charge your account with whatever the AD wants to charge for this seat. (Hey, they're trying to raise funds folks and haven't ever said no to a way to monetize this gameday experience in the last few decades). They'll need this two-part system so the entry process is expedited and not bogged down by payment.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

Didn't we have this whole argument like five years ago and they closed the block seating sections for either a few games or the rest of that season?

The student participation was pretty pathetic, but if you look at the one picture, the regular seats only look about 1/3 filled as well.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

#5 to my system: if the students aren't filling up the sections well enough, they start reapportioning seats for the following season. I hate this because I think the college sports experience should be for the students but if the students don't show up then give it to the alumni and fans.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

This is the one thing that I really disagree with Saban on. If you want to keep fans in the seats, then don't just completely shut the offense down in the second half, which is what we have done this year in every game. Put the back-ups in and let them run the offense. I'm not saying that will keep everyone engaged, but it is much more entertaining than watching Mac Jones handoff to a backup RB for an off-tackle run every play.

The other thing that bothers me about this is, we have too many garbage games. If the SEC isn't going to 9 conference games, then I would like to see us schedule another Power 5 team. Many Power 5 teams are already doing this, and there is no reason we can't or shouldn't.

It bothers that Coach Saban lectures the fans, who spend a considerable amount of money, about how to be fans. No matter how you want to characterize Alabama football, at the end of the day it's entertainment. If you stop entertaining once you have a 5 touchdown lead then why should I feel obligated to remain in attendance.

For the record, I have never left an Alabama game with more than five minutes left.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

AlBamaWagg said:

For those out of state that require hotel(gouged) accommodations, automobile expense, multiple meals, parking, and the stress level for those expenses, it can still be daunting with a free ticket.

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Agreed, for the big games. But I only spent $200/night for the Ark State game and stayed 5 minutes from the stadium. I could have spent much less if I stayed further away. IMO, the lesser games are a bargain for fans, with or without a family, as long as you are within driving distance (say, 500 miles). We spent $500/night for aTm, so I get that pricing out many, but the smaller games are affordable.

Re: Saban was "disappointed" to see the student section half-full during the UL game

81usaf92 said:

Yeah I’m not talking about out of state fans, I’m talking about all these fans a lot of people believe that would go if a ticket was cheap enough for it to make sense. My issue with this idea of a queue is that you would have to have interest for these kinda games for it to work.

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Yeah those fans exist in the same place as the replacement season ticket holders for the ones that have their tickets taken away for selling too many on stubhub.

I’m an out of state season ticket holder. I’m going to 3 games this year and selling the rest on StubHub. I’m not going to spend $500+ on 2 nights in a hote in Tuscaloosa to watch an 11am game from some directional school.