Not Sure I Can Go Back

[i'vegotwinners]

None of this has anything to do with the state of the football program. Indiana University and Bloomington Indiana are no less attractive than any other B1G school or community.

The atmosphere in Memorial Stadium is bad because the football team playing there sucks ( although I would like to see the hype guy shipped off to Antarctica). The band, the videoboard, the food offerings, the lack of chairback seats, even the price of tickets and parking don't matter. People will not show up to watch a shitty football team ( especially one that has been shitty for so long). People will show up to watch a good football team - even in a shithole town and shithole stadium ( see W. Lafayette, IN.)

Everything, and I mean everything about football gameday in Memorial Stadium and Bloomington, Indiana will be hunky-dorey when the home football team is a competitive program that wins more games than it loses and goes to bowl games consistently. People bitching about congested traffic or anything else regarding the gameday experience will look like infantile whiners to everyone else if the Hoosiers are winning with regularity.

The key to making this happen is to hire the right head coach, nothing more-nothing less. Right now that is 100% the problem. Someone who can recruit better players, hire quality assistant coaches, attract staff who can motivate players and improve their strength and speed and agility. I'm not about to profess that I know who that person is or how to get him to IU - just that all of the other things being brought up in these threads are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. They are simply symptoms and effects of losing football - not the cause. Get the right guy, good talent will want to come here and the players here will get better - and none of us will care about anything else that may not be perfect about IU gameday.

anyone who thinks the cost of parking and admission don't matter, is totally detached from reality, and has never worked in business their entire life..

of course they matter.

and the exorbitant cost affects everyone's expectations.

like Dank, i was always happy just visiting campus and Btown for a day when the team struggled, but sky high prices ended that.

on top of the sky high prices, the amount of advertising and gaudy billboards that has literally taken over the stadium is beyond absurd and low class, especially considering that IU is literally swimming in money and doesn't need the endless nickle and diming.

the "culture" of obsessing over monetizing everything that can be monetized has jumped the shark and gotten out of hand.

i remember several yrs ago when OSU opened the season here with an evening game, on the way to the stadium i walked by an old brick IU building several blocks from the stadium with a parking lot in back.

it was after 7 on a saturday evening, the building was closed, IU's big day in the limelight, and IU had a cop out ticketing every car parked in that lot, all of whom were attending the game and just looking for a place to park. (don't know if they towed anyone or not).

IU just couldn't control itself giving fans the finger when it saw an opportunity for a few extra bucks by f'ing over people who had driven a long way to get here and paid a premium price for tickets..

it wasn't always like that. i remember parking for free in the grass lots for yrs, and that's when IU was more competitive, including the Gonso, Iso, Butcher, yrs.

again, IU is literally swimming in money, the vast majority of which is inherited and doesn't have to do anything for, on top of which has an endowment no doubt in the billions, and doesn't need this jumped the shark level of greed beyond belief.

and let's not forget this is a tax exempt state/city subsidized non profit university, that was never intended to be monetized for literally every cent it could milk from everyone who wandered within it's gravitational pull.

things are way out of control, and this was never the intent of the founders of this institution, nor those who made it great over the centuries.

a malevolent culture has literally taken over,

 

[Jackskip23]

Nope. Nowhere near the stadium.

Then you either haven’t been there or you didn’t look very hard. There Are literally spots everywhere within a ten minute walk of the stadium. You’ve never been there or you’d know better.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

Our stadium and program are so far behind modern football it just hurts to be there.

I wanna sleep until we are competitive again.

Stadium is pretty nice

 

[oldcougar77]

anyone who thinks the cost of parking and admission don't matter, is totally detached from reality, and has never worked in business their entire life..

of course they matter.

and the exorbitant cost affects everyone's expectations.

like Dank, i was always happy just visiting campus and Btown for a day when the team struggled, but sky high prices ended that.

on top of the sky high prices, the amount of advertising and gaudy billboards that has literally taken over the stadium is beyond absurd and low class, especially considering that IU is literally swimming in money and doesn't need the endless nickle and diming.

the "culture" of obsessing over monetizing everything that can be monetized has jumped the shark and gotten out of hand.

i remember several yrs ago when OSU opened the season here with an evening game, on the way to the stadium i walked by an old brick IU building several blocks from the stadium with a parking lot in back.

it was after 7 on a saturday evening, the building was closed, IU's big day in the limelight, and IU had a cop out ticketing every car parked in that lot, all of whom were attending the game and just looking for a place to park. (don't know if they towed anyone or not).

IU just couldn't control itself giving fans the finger when it saw an opportunity for a few extra bucks by f'ing over people who had driven a long way to get here and paid a premium price for tickets..

it wasn't always like that. i remember parking for free in the grass lots for yrs, and that's when IU was more competitive, including the Gonso, Iso, Butcher, yrs.

again, IU is literally swimming in money, the vast majority of which is inherited and doesn't have to do anything for, on top of which has an endowment no doubt in the billions, and doesn't need this jumped the shark level of greed beyond belief.

and let's not forget this is a tax exempt state/city subsidized non profit university, that was never intended to be monetized for literally every cent it could milk from everyone who wandered within it's gravitational pull.

things are way out of control, and this was never the intent of the founders of this institution, nor those who made it great over the centuries.

a malevolent culture has literally taken over,

You are the world champion dead-horse beater on every topic you broach. What you say here ( and have said in a thousand other threads) is not untrue. I actually agree with you about pricing strategy. What I'm saying is that if you have a winning football team, people will pay what you ask and fill the stands. Having a big crowd doesn't make the players or coaches better and from where I sit, it simply means more people in the short run see how bad you are. Kentucky routinely drew a huge crowd for years and still burned through about a dozen coaches who couldn't win consistently. They appear to have found the right guy, and I'm guessing nobody is complaining about prices, stadium atmosphere, etc. And I'm betting that in today's environment of multiple entertainment options, four-hour games starting at all hours of the day, every big game a fan wants to watch available for view, if UK was posting the kind of results as IU the past three seasons the place would be half-full.

I'm not saying the things you mention wouldn't make a difference in the number of butts in the seats, particularly early in the season. What I'm saying is that by late October people aren't going to come watch a shitty team that isn't remotely competitive (let alone one that has no possibility of making a minor bowl) no matter what you charge or what other entertainment you throw at them. Those who do show up, are still going to leave when they realize their team has no possibility of winning. Get a coach who can field a winning team first, and people will show up - and likely not ever complain about anything else that happens inside or outside the stadium on game day.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

Madison is a great town, but there's no places to tailgate close to the stadium.

Never been to Minnesooota - I thought it was downtown?

Madison is great but the tailgating is spread out like so many places.

 

[Jackskip23]

anyone who thinks the cost of parking and admission don't matter, is totally detached from reality, and has never worked in business their entire life..

of course they matter.

and the exorbitant cost affects everyone's expectations.

like Dank, i was always happy just visiting campus and Btown for a day when the team struggled, but sky high prices ended that.

on top of the sky high prices, the amount of advertising and gaudy billboards that has literally taken over the stadium is beyond absurd and low class, especially considering that IU is literally swimming in money and doesn't need the endless nickle and diming.

the "culture" of obsessing over monetizing everything that can be monetized has jumped the shark and gotten out of hand.

i remember several yrs ago when OSU opened the season here with an evening game, on the way to the stadium i walked by an old brick IU building several blocks from the stadium with a parking lot in back.

it was after 7 on a saturday evening, the building was closed, IU's big day in the limelight, and IU had a cop out ticketing every car parked in that lot, all of whom were attending the game and just looking for a place to park. (don't know if they towed anyone or not).

IU just couldn't control itself giving fans the finger when it saw an opportunity for a few extra bucks by f'ing over people who had driven a long way to get here and paid a premium price for tickets..

it wasn't always like that. i remember parking for free in the grass lots for yrs, and that's when IU was more competitive, including the Gonso, Iso, Butcher, yrs.

again, IU is literally swimming in money, the vast majority of which is inherited and doesn't have to do anything for, on top of which has an endowment no doubt in the billions, and doesn't need this jumped the shark level of greed beyond belief.

and let's not forget this is a tax exempt state/city subsidized non profit university, that was never intended to be monetized for literally every cent it could milk from everyone who wandered within it's gravitational pull.

things are way out of control, and this was never the intent of the founders of this institution, nor those who made it great over the centuries.

a malevolent culture has literally taken over,

Some of the lowest ticket prices in the Big Ten. Still.

 

[DANC]

Then you either haven’t been there or you didn’t look very hard. There Are literally spots everywhere within a ten minute walk of the stadium. You’ve never been there or you’d know better.

I've been there several times and there's no tailgating around the stadium.

There may be tailgating, but not around the stadium. I don't call a 10 minute walk - 1/2 mile - close to the stadium.

 

[DANC]

Madison is great but the tailgating is spread out like so many places.

Don't tell your buddy, Ordy.

 

[Indymoon]

What do you mean?

View embedded media

I guess IU is so bad they didn't make the list.

Note that the top 5 teams are B10 east!

 

[Courtsensetwo]

Don't tell your buddy, Ordy.

I don't have to.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

I've been there several times and there's no tailgating around the stadium.

There may be tailgating, but not around the stadium. I don't call a 10 minute walk - 1/2 mile - close to the stadium.

There are a couple of very small lots around the stadium, but the vast majority of parking is in small lots all over creation. Some damned near the lake. The atmosphere inside CR is really good. The tailgating sucks.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

I don't have to.

See, he is right there hanging on every word.