I am die hard IU. I want to be a die hard football fan but man does this program make it tough.
Last night is the first game I have attended in awhile. It was first time I took the entire family (6 people- 2 adults and 4 children) and we picked up pretty good tickets IMO (West Side of stadium facing Assembly Hall) around the 45 yard line and about halfway up the stadium. Great seats to watch the game in IMO. Just a few thoughts:
1. What the school charges for parking is pretty ridiculous. I know, I know...all the others are doing it but I can tell you that going to an IU football game is pretty expensive for what you get. After fees the tickets for 6 were running up around $300...which was actually probably an OK deal for the tickets. If you wanted to park at the stadium those passes were $40 to $50. You could pay $30 to walk across a highway to a grass lot at the church or find another place close by on campus. We ended up paying $35 to park at a lot off 17th, just past Fee. So $335 before you have bought any concessions, any gear, etc.
2. So that price could be livable if the crowd had any energy at all. I give it to the student section early and those who stuck around to the very long and drawn out end. The students on the East Side that stayed to the end started to move from side to side of the stadium in order to have noise as close to Akron as possible. Good on them. However, the team lost 60% of it's student support at halftime up 7-3 and they took what little energy was in the stadium with them.
3. We must have a bunch of fans with money to burn. We lost a whole bunch of fans at halftime in general. I had fans in my area who were giving play by play updates while watching the Notre Dame/OSU game on their phone. They also left at halftime. Thanks for the money for the school I suppose but what a waste.
4. The flow to a televised college game is awful. Even without OT that game just drug the whole night. I have a few younger kids and one of them (who is a complainer) said the game was moving slower than a turtle. He wasn't wrong.
5. We have huge screens in the stadium and we don't show replays. There were several plays that led to some questions for the fans at home and we never got a replay of the call. Someone also in my hearing range was vociferously complaining about the huge screens that are basically used to sell you stuff. Like one big commercial as the background noise. And if the replays incite the crowd, good. Anger is something that can be directed, let that fill out some time as opposed to giving me the next advertisement.
6. It was band night. Bunch of high school bands there. Seymour had a pretty big presence in the West Side corner in the first half. All those bands packed up and hit the road after their halftime performance. As a program you would think you would want those folks to stick around....
Anyways, I know most of you are diehards and wanted to give you a look from a casual. I don't know if I would do a night game again. Not as the program currently sits.
Last night is the first game I have attended in awhile. It was first time I took the entire family (6 people- 2 adults and 4 children) and we picked up pretty good tickets IMO (West Side of stadium facing Assembly Hall) around the 45 yard line and about halfway up the stadium. Great seats to watch the game in IMO. Just a few thoughts:
1. What the school charges for parking is pretty ridiculous. I know, I know...all the others are doing it but I can tell you that going to an IU football game is pretty expensive for what you get. After fees the tickets for 6 were running up around $300...which was actually probably an OK deal for the tickets. If you wanted to park at the stadium those passes were $40 to $50. You could pay $30 to walk across a highway to a grass lot at the church or find another place close by on campus. We ended up paying $35 to park at a lot off 17th, just past Fee. So $335 before you have bought any concessions, any gear, etc.
2. So that price could be livable if the crowd had any energy at all. I give it to the student section early and those who stuck around to the very long and drawn out end. The students on the East Side that stayed to the end started to move from side to side of the stadium in order to have noise as close to Akron as possible. Good on them. However, the team lost 60% of it's student support at halftime up 7-3 and they took what little energy was in the stadium with them.
3. We must have a bunch of fans with money to burn. We lost a whole bunch of fans at halftime in general. I had fans in my area who were giving play by play updates while watching the Notre Dame/OSU game on their phone. They also left at halftime. Thanks for the money for the school I suppose but what a waste.
4. The flow to a televised college game is awful. Even without OT that game just drug the whole night. I have a few younger kids and one of them (who is a complainer) said the game was moving slower than a turtle. He wasn't wrong.
5. We have huge screens in the stadium and we don't show replays. There were several plays that led to some questions for the fans at home and we never got a replay of the call. Someone also in my hearing range was vociferously complaining about the huge screens that are basically used to sell you stuff. Like one big commercial as the background noise. And if the replays incite the crowd, good. Anger is something that can be directed, let that fill out some time as opposed to giving me the next advertisement.
6. It was band night. Bunch of high school bands there. Seymour had a pretty big presence in the West Side corner in the first half. All those bands packed up and hit the road after their halftime performance. As a program you would think you would want those folks to stick around....
Anyways, I know most of you are diehards and wanted to give you a look from a casual. I don't know if I would do a night game again. Not as the program currently sits.
