Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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wavedom
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by wavedom »

tulaneoutlaw wrote:College football, sadly, stopped being about butts in seats a while ago. TV/streaming viewership is king now. If a Thursday opener helps us get more eyeballs, I'm ok with that.

I've also never understood the obsession with student attendance. If every single undergrad showed up would it fill up even 1/3 of the stadium? It would be great if they did, but they aren't the sole reason the stadium isn't full. Win more games, stop laying eggs in big moments and fans of all stripes will come.
Well they sure seemed concerned about butts in seats based on the fact that they constantly bring it up and ask what they can do about it and article after article is written about it.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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waverider wrote:
Baywave1 wrote:
I still can't believe Facebook had the pull to make UAB schedule its game with us during the day.
I assume this is a joke but since you didn’t indicate I will clarify for the others that Facebook had nothing to do with the time. UAB never schedules against Auburn or Bama. Had lsu/Auburn not been at 2:30 that day our game likely would have been. Bama played at 7 that night leaving the noon slot the only “available” time.
Thanks for pointing that out as that is the fact of the matter.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by tulaneoutlaw »

wavedom wrote:
tulaneoutlaw wrote:College football, sadly, stopped being about butts in seats a while ago. TV/streaming viewership is king now. If a Thursday opener helps us get more eyeballs, I'm ok with that.

I've also never understood the obsession with student attendance. If every single undergrad showed up would it fill up even 1/3 of the stadium? It would be great if they did, but they aren't the sole reason the stadium isn't full. Win more games, stop laying eggs in big moments and fans of all stripes will come.
Well they sure seemed concerned about butts in seats based on the fact that they constantly bring it up and ask what they can do about it and article after article is written about it.
Seems like you're talking about multiple "theys", but I'll do my best to infer. Of course Tulane wants to know what they can do about it in regards to Yulman. The school owns the stadium and stands to make more money directly if they can have it full along with good TV viewership rights. But the school isn't going to get much say in when games are scheduled when TV contracts are forking over the vast majority of revenue.

As for articles, sports journalists are always going to look for things to write stories about and flagging attendance is low hanging fruit. You can find articles written on the topic at Alabama and LSU too. Are those programs struggling because of it?
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by Saintgreenie »

TUPF wrote:
wavedom wrote:
Baywave1 wrote:My pitchforks stay in the barn on this one. One less chance to have an oppressively hot day game. Students are in town as it is first week of classes. Tailgating may be meh, true. FIU is probable opponent if you believe internet schedules. They won't travel well so it will just be a home crowd.


Most important thing though is we get to see football in 234 days instead of 236. What's not to like about that? :mrgreen:
Bay- there have been hardly any students at all at these Thursday night openers. The reason is that most students don't have Friday classes anymore so they are gone after class on Thursday. As for the hot day issue just because it's on a Saturday doesn't mean it has to be in the day. Schedule it for Saturday at 7 and see if TV intervenes . This has been a failed attempt and there's nothing wrong with calling Tulane on it.
Gone after Thursday? This isn’t an SEC school where everyone goes home on non football weekends to hang around the Dairy Queen with the rest of 13th grade. It’s the most national university in the country. People don’t “go home”. As for no Friday classes, sounds like good planning although in my day classes were either MWF or TTh, meaning there would have to be lots of long classes on a Thursday to be free on Friday.
MWF classes have shifted to a lot of MW or M or W classes. You can easily get 15 hours in without being overwhelmed on TR (R is Thursday :razz: ) and have Friday off these days. But labor day is the biggest issue here as has already been said.

Really it would be great if we could avoid having a home game labor day weekend at all. It really sucked this year having Labor Day, Fall break (students), and Thanksgiving home games.

Is it possible to schedule games on that mostly dead weekend prior to labor day weekend? I'd rather play that week and have labor day week off.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by GretnaGrn »

I once scheduled all my classes TR as an undergrad. Once. Four day weekends were nice but the Tuesdays and Thursdays were insanely long.

As for student attendance, it's a poor excuse. That's opening weekend (as set by the NCAA). Every college has stuff going on that weekend; heck, seems like Saturday would be WORSE for student attendance (Thursday night you can leave for the beach Friday morning; Saturday pretty much wrecks the weekend). I am more sympathetic to the folks coming from out of town or with work schedules that make it hard to attend. All that being said, prior posters are right that TV drives this horse, and if playing on Thursday night means better exposure then so be it.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by wavedom »

tulaneoutlaw wrote:
wavedom wrote:
tulaneoutlaw wrote:College football, sadly, stopped being about butts in seats a while ago. TV/streaming viewership is king now. If a Thursday opener helps us get more eyeballs, I'm ok with that.

I've also never understood the obsession with student attendance. If every single undergrad showed up would it fill up even 1/3 of the stadium? It would be great if they did, but they aren't the sole reason the stadium isn't full. Win more games, stop laying eggs in big moments and fans of all stripes will come.
Well they sure seemed concerned about butts in seats based on the fact that they constantly bring it up and ask what they can do about it and article after article is written about it.
Seems like you're talking about multiple "theys", but I'll do my best to infer. Of course Tulane wants to know what they can do about it in regards to Yulman. The school owns the stadium and stands to make more money directly if they can have it full along with good TV viewership rights. But the school isn't going to get much say in when games are scheduled when TV contracts are forking over the vast majority of revenue.

As for articles, sports journalists are always going to look for things to write stories about and flagging attendance is low hanging fruit. You can find articles written on the topic at Alabama and LSU too. Are those programs struggling because of it?
It was all the "theys" because they have all gone on about it for several years now. It obviously does hurt Alabama and LSU or they wouldn't carry on so. LSU has taken steps such as trying to improve traffic flow and opening a beer garden in the stadium. Those schools certainly get a lot more money than us but they aren't competing with us. They are competing with the top programs in the country and they want to maximize every resource at their disposal. Those butts in the seats also don't just come with paying for the price of a ticket. They pay substantial fees to get the right to buy those tickets. So they are very important.

It's not long hanging fruit. It's a very important topic.

As for Tulane it would help to fill the stadium but due to its small size there's not much to be made as evidenced by the first season. I'm sure you remember the thread back then that included the senate minutes where they sidestepped answering what they made that season off the stadium. People seem to forget the other side of the ledger. As for TV our money is already set as to what we get from that contract. There's been nothing shown to say this was mandated by TV. If so please point it out to us all.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by tulaneoutlaw »

I never said this scheduling was mandated by TV. I don't have any information on that front beyond what the average person here does. I'm sure the decision to schedule on Thursday is at least partially based on the fact that doing so means there is a better chance this game gets on TV. Though it hasn't been announced yet, I'm 99% certain this will get picked up by a network. Not likely so if we play on Saturday.

I get it, I'm an out of towner and don't make games often and you're probably a season ticket holder or at least attend regularly and you're upset with this move. That's fine, you're entitled to your opinion. I might be too were I in your shoes. I don't disagree that it would be great to have a full stadium with people paying premiums for seat licenses and buying gobs of concessions and parking. If Tulane can do things, within reason, to make this vision happen, I'm all for it. I'm just not against scheduling on Thursday night if it helps us and at this point I think it does more good overall than it does harm for the minority of fans who can make any given home game. Perhaps my perception and understanding of things is just skewed.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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wavedom wrote:
waverider wrote:
Baywave1 wrote:
I still can't believe Facebook had the pull to make UAB schedule its game with us during the day.
I assume this is a joke but since you didn’t indicate I will clarify for the others that Facebook had nothing to do with the time. UAB never schedules against Auburn or Bama. Had lsu/Auburn not been at 2:30 that day our game likely would have been. Bama played at 7 that night leaving the noon slot the only “available” time.
Thanks for pointing that out as that is the fact of the matter.
OK I did say it half tongue in cheek but I'm glad to learn it. My reaction is it didn't work although I understand what they are trying to do. UAB made perhaps 3000 butts in the seats totally miserable with a literal midday game. It could have had the same crowd if not a little more with a night game and made for a much more pleasant experience. Just my view.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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We would avoid any Friday afternoon classes so we were heavy M-TH. Friday afternoons were set aside for the Fair Grounds (when running) then back to campus so not to miss free beer on the Quad.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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I don’t like weeknight games during the season, for the opener it’s a good idea, and a no brained when the opponent is FIU
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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At the coaches meeting this week it was reported that D1 coaches “unanimously approve” of the idea of eliminating Friday night games in order to keep the focus on high school games.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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waverider wrote:At the coaches meeting this week it was reported that D1 coaches “unanimously approve” of the idea of eliminating Friday night games in order to keep the focus on high school games.
We played about half of our games in HS Saturday afternoon. I personally liked that better since I could sleep in and wasn't in class all day. I really hated OOC road Friday night games since we were in traffic on a bus for a long time.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by gerryb323 »

windywave wrote:
waverider wrote:At the coaches meeting this week it was reported that D1 coaches “unanimously approve” of the idea of eliminating Friday night games in order to keep the focus on high school games.
We played about half of our games in HS Saturday afternoon. I personally liked that better since I could sleep in and wasn't in class all day. I really hated OOC road Friday night games since we were in traffic on a bus for a long time.
A lot of northern states do Saturday day games for warmth purposes I think. Friday night lights is a much more common thing in the South and California. I liked playing Friday nights fwiw
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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gerryb323 wrote:
windywave wrote:
waverider wrote:At the coaches meeting this week it was reported that D1 coaches “unanimously approve” of the idea of eliminating Friday night games in order to keep the focus on high school games.
We played about half of our games in HS Saturday afternoon. I personally liked that better since I could sleep in and wasn't in class all day. I really hated OOC road Friday night games since we were in traffic on a bus for a long time.
A lot of northern states do Saturday day games for warmth purposes I think. Friday night lights is a much more common thing in the South and California. I liked playing Friday nights fwiw
In the "olden" days (pre-espn), butts in the seats were incredibly important because only ABC had the TV contract and only showed 2 games per Saturday. To maximize attendance, the northern climes played day games because they were warmer than night games; southern teams played at night through mid-October so as to deal better with the heat, then would start scheduling day games later in the season to again deal with warmer conditions during the day. Obviously, when the TV contracts opened up mid-80s, all things changed and TV started putting games on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at all times. Now even Tuesdays. Is it better than before? Yes. Does it mean that lesser teams like in the AAC have to play at odd times? Yes, that's the cost of having so many teams and networks wanting to max out revenue. It's the cost of doing business. Clearly, the student-athlete's needs are secondary.

Tulane concentrates on butts in the seats for a variety of reasons. First, there is such a disparity in TV revenues with the P5, the only way to help the budget disparity is to get all of the money we can out of parking, concessions, tickets, etc. Second, if we were ever to get into a P5 conference (although that seems to have quieted down for now) is to show that we have an active fanbase. A half-empty stadium is not a good look. Third, we need butts in the seats to get a richer TV contract through the AAC, proving we are a desirable product to market, not only eyeballs on the TV set but a growing fanbase that comes to the games.

Someone said on YOGWF many years ago that people would start coming to the games once it became an "event"--a party. The Dome didn't offer that atmosphere and an on-campus facility would be a partial cure. Well, we have that atmosphere, pre-game, now. Still, no real change. Students don't even walk in even though they are a two minute walk from Yulman and M&D have already paid for it. Personally, I think the type of student we admit are not hyper-sports type of students and the culture of Tulane is not sports-friendly, just my HO. What we need to get is the out-of-towner who can come to NOLA for two weekends a season; and the locals who want to buy season tix because we are competitive and a fun team to watch and its good family entertainment for a reasonable buck. I don't think that formula ever changes for Tulane.

And I agree about Friday night games--they'll not be successful because of the HS games and we should avoid scheduling them at all cost. In fact, when it first began, I think it was ECU. Their coach agreed to a Friday night ESPN game and it p!ssed off the NC HS coaches something awful. So much so that that ECU had trouble recruiting and ultimately had to fire their coach, who was previously successful. Man, how times have changed.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by WaveProf »

Also worth noting that the 2020 season opener (against Southeastern) has been slated for a Thursday night game since it was first signed/set a year or two back.

The 2021 season opener (at home vs Oklahoma) is currently slated for a Saturday, but I suspect that television will determine if that game is Thursday or Saturday, not Tulane.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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gerryb323 wrote:
windywave wrote:
waverider wrote:At the coaches meeting this week it was reported that D1 coaches “unanimously approve” of the idea of eliminating Friday night games in order to keep the focus on high school games.
We played about half of our games in HS Saturday afternoon. I personally liked that better since I could sleep in and wasn't in class all day. I really hated OOC road Friday night games since we were in traffic on a bus for a long time.
A lot of northern states do Saturday day games for warmth purposes I think. Friday night lights is a much more common thing in the South and California. I liked playing Friday nights fwiw
as college football has grown with the insane amount of games televised on Saturdays, even the schools up north are playing on Friday nights to avoid the conflict. My high school in suburban Boston put lights in at least 15 years ago.. they added field turf a couple of years ago... and our team sux donkey balls plus resides in the smallest or second smallest division in E Mass (based on enrollment size).
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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private schools in the western half of Virginia often played games on Saturdays. One of the silliest things around IMO
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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gerryb323 wrote:
windywave wrote:
waverider wrote:At the coaches meeting this week it was reported that D1 coaches “unanimously approve” of the idea of eliminating Friday night games in order to keep the focus on high school games.
We played about half of our games in HS Saturday afternoon. I personally liked that better since I could sleep in and wasn't in class all day. I really hated OOC road Friday night games since we were in traffic on a bus for a long time.
A lot of northern states do Saturday day games for warmth purposes I think. Friday night lights is a much more common thing in the South and California. I liked playing Friday nights fwiw
Not warmth necessarily because we played games in October and November under the lights. It was just easier I think operationally and more parents and students could attend.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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Johnny Mac wrote:
gerryb323 wrote:
windywave wrote:
waverider wrote:At the coaches meeting this week it was reported that D1 coaches “unanimously approve” of the idea of eliminating Friday night games in order to keep the focus on high school games.
We played about half of our games in HS Saturday afternoon. I personally liked that better since I could sleep in and wasn't in class all day. I really hated OOC road Friday night games since we were in traffic on a bus for a long time.
A lot of northern states do Saturday day games for warmth purposes I think. Friday night lights is a much more common thing in the South and California. I liked playing Friday nights fwiw
as college football has grown with the insane amount of games televised on Saturdays, even the schools up north are playing on Friday nights to avoid the conflict. My high school in suburban Boston put lights in at least 15 years ago.. they added field turf a couple of years ago... and our team sux donkey balls plus resides in the smallest or second smallest division in E Mass (based on enrollment size).
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by krewe of ham and eggs »

you know what helps mitigate the cold weather at a football game? availability of hot chocolate
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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krewe of ham and eggs wrote:you know what helps mitigate the cold weather at a football game? availability of hot chocolate
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by WaveProf »

I’m probably going to be sorry that I asked, but did anybody ever actually complain about hot chocolate at yulman? I’ve been noticing that as an ongoing joke but I don’t know if it just came as a parody of our types of complaining or if it actually was articulated by somebody
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

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windywave wrote:
Johnny Mac wrote:
gerryb323 wrote:
windywave wrote:
waverider wrote:At the coaches meeting this week it was reported that D1 coaches “unanimously approve” of the idea of eliminating Friday night games in order to keep the focus on high school games.
We played about half of our games in HS Saturday afternoon. I personally liked that better since I could sleep in and wasn't in class all day. I really hated OOC road Friday night games since we were in traffic on a bus for a long time.
A lot of northern states do Saturday day games for warmth purposes I think. Friday night lights is a much more common thing in the South and California. I liked playing Friday nights fwiw
as college football has grown with the insane amount of games televised on Saturdays, even the schools up north are playing on Friday nights to avoid the conflict. My high school in suburban Boston put lights in at least 15 years ago.. they added field turf a couple of years ago... and our team sux donkey balls plus resides in the smallest or second smallest division in E Mass (based on enrollment size).
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by gerryb323 »

WaveProf wrote:I’m probably going to be sorry that I asked, but did anybody ever actually complain about hot chocolate at yulman? I’ve been noticing that as an ongoing joke but I don’t know if it just came as a parody of our types of complaining or if it actually was articulated by somebody
Yes. But if fewer people crashed alumni tailgates, maybe Yulman could afford to carry hot chocolate.
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Re: Fritz had a press conference to wrap up the season.

Post by windywave »

WaveProf wrote:I’m probably going to be sorry that I asked, but did anybody ever actually complain about hot chocolate at yulman? I’ve been noticing that as an ongoing joke but I don’t know if it just came as a parody of our types of complaining or if it actually was articulated by somebody

Yes
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