Crowd Today

[Eurocat]

If you live anywhere near Chicago, and most fans who go to games live in some reasonably close radius. (100 miles, 200 miles??) you have the chance to go to Wrigley at least 81 times a year if you desire. A football game at Wrigley is a curiosity, but once you have seen one or two it’s not that big a deal.

Spot on.

The first time we did this freaking Game Day was there because of the novelty. The NYTimes and Washington Post did articles. Live reports from local TV stations. Northwestern playing a game at Wrigley! How cool is that!

That wore off. This year the game was on the Big Ten Network and it featured the number two team in the country!

Simple fact is for BUCKEYE fans, it was what it was for us nine years ago so they turned out. Plus they have a ton of fans in Chicago.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Wrigley looked pretty good on TV. Not ideal, obviously, but it has been improved each year.

Having the teams on opposite sidelines was a big plus.

 

[NUChicago]

We have had this discussion weeks ago, months ago. NU has a small cosmopolitan enrollment, where only a fraction of NU students are from Illinois. Taking in account that the student body is upper crust with parents paying a small mint for them to attend NU, I think that their studies would take top priority. And let's be honest, the future of NU football is looking kind of bleak at the moment. You want to get butts in the seats, then win! I was excited initially about Braun and Lujan, but not so sure if the FCS thing is going to really pan out well for us now. As those that attended the game stated, it wasn't a good look for homecoming stands to be filled with 90% Buckeye fans. The program needs to gin up something positive and soon!

And we have had factors erode our fan base:
21/22 unwatchable football
Pro-Fitz post Schill debacle
Anti-Fitz post Schill debacle
Gragg (still pisses me off he is on the NU payroll, single-handedly the worst hire in the most critical time in college athletics)
Schill

Our new AD has a ton to dig out from and winning is the only solution to bring fans back.

 

[CatManTrue]

And we have had factors erode our fan base:
21/22 unwatchable football
Pro-Fitz post Schill debacle
Anti-Fitz post Schill debacle
Gragg (still pisses me off he is on the NU payroll, single-handedly the worst hire in the most critical time in college athletics)
Schill

Our new AD has a ton to dig out from and winning is the only solution to bring fans back.

Football is also a dying sport in America. Parents like @MRCat95 and I realize that our children are much smarter than us. And, thus, they do not need to play football (but, if they do, rest assured that they will be properly coached!).

Baseball is booming! The Yankees laid an egg in the World Series, but Aaron Judge is built like the ideal NFL tight end. And he has a $360M contract to crush home runs, not get concussions.

My sons? I’m teaching them to love all sports. Most of all: baseball, basketball, swimming, and wrestling. 🏊‍♂️

Matt Grevers was a goofball but a good egg. 🥚

 

[CatManTrue]

Having the teams on opposite sidelines was a big plus.

I love stealing the other team’s signals when I coach. It is one of the most fun things to do on the opposite sideline.

Braun seems smart enough to steal signals.

 

[Gatabowl]

Wrigley looks incredible on TV and is a unique experience for players and fans. The novelty and marketing are amazing. “Oh yeah, Northwestern gets to play there and other teams don’t unless they’re playing them” is cool.

At issue is we get our asses kicked every time we play there.

 

[loyolacat]

Was watching the Tennesee-Georgia game and it was packed and raucous and made me wonder what the players at NU feel when they seldom get that environment? or if wanting to play in that environment is one of the reasons they choose to leave? Always make senior game, hell or high water , but this year? All the ILL fans will be home for Thanksgiving and will be hauling the relatives to the game while NU fans will have vacated Chicago for the weekend....Could be another bad scene. Course I do remember the Barnett years and Dyche being packed to the last row....Wonder what the plan is when the new stadium is built to keep the thing full and purple?

 

[NUChicago]

Was watching the Tennesee-Georgia game and it was packed and raucous and made me wonder what the players at NU feel when they seldom get that environment? or if wanting to play in that environment is one of the reasons they choose to leave? Always make senior game, hell or high water , but this year? All the ILL fans will be home for Thanksgiving and will be hauling the relatives to the game while NU fans will have vacated Chicago for the weekend....Could be another bad scene. Course I do remember the Barnett years and Dyche being packed to the last row....Wonder what the plan is when the new stadium is built to keep the thing full and purple?

who knows with the new stadium, the product is not great and our game day experience is poor. Our band is small and lame, the PA announcer is monotone, and there is zero effort put in pumping up the crowd. I sound like a downer, but I will have tickets in the new stadium, but NU has reverted to a glorified high school experience.

 

[catfans5]

I was a season ticket holder (2 tickets) since my daughter entered NU in 1999. I added 2 tickets 12 years ago, NU now has me listed as having ST for 12 years not 25-correctable error -fat chance. I lived 1000 miles away and made 1-3 games a year but gave my tickets to board members, never sold them. Attending games at the beginning was fun, win or lose but for the last 10 years, it was painful to watch NU because of "complimentary football" with an offense from years gone by.

There are almost 12 million potential OSU fans and probably less than 100 K NU alumni , very few of whom ever had any interest in football

Coach Braun has the answer, field an exciting winner and support will follow. NU's administration should look at today's game and realize that allowing 85 superior athletes matriculate will eliminate the embarrassment of a red Wrigley Field

You are an exception, not the rule.

As to the numbers, the comparison is that of apples to oranges, I did some checking. ND and NU have the same number of undergraduates. For 2022, NU had 22,000 folks in degree programs. The numbers are smaller, but the disposable income is much higher. There were some good years in a row under Fitz, but NU grads just did not step up which is why you a sea of red when Nebby, OSU, and Wisconsin come to town.

 

[CatManTrue]

Wrigley looks incredible on TV and is a unique experience for players and fans. The novelty and marketing are amazing. “Oh yeah, Northwestern gets to play there and other teams don’t unless they’re playing them” is cool.

At issue is we get our asses kicked every time we play there.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

It’s sad. The school does very little to promote the program. There just isn’t much reason for the locals to support the program when it seems the school could care less.

 

[FanatiCat]

You are an exception, not the rule.

As to the numbers, the comparison is that of apples to oranges, I did some checking. ND and NU have the same number of undergraduates. For 2022, NU had 22,000 folks in degree programs. The numbers are smaller, but the disposable income is much higher. There were some good years in a row under Fitz, but NU grads just did not step up which is why you a sea of red when Nebby, OSU, and Wisconsin come to town.

22,000 seems like a really high number. Although some grad students may appreciate Big Ten football, you can easily exclude med school, law school, whoever else is at the downtown campus, the 21 online programs, and the part time MBA students.

Anyway, it’s not comparable to ND because they’re like the Catholic Harvard and have a national following based on that demographic.

 

[Baz=Heisman]

I think his point was, NU needs to put a winning product on the field to draw fans. Wasn't the 2013 game at least half purple at Ryan Field? NU came in 4-0 and had game day and people showed up.

Yes. And that atmosphere was amazing. Still get chills watching the intro with Brent and Herbie on YouTube. Chicago will join us but we have to have a B+/A- season at worst.

 

[Baz=Heisman]

22,000 seems like a really high number. Although some grad students may appreciate Big Ten football, you can easily exclude med school, law school, whoever else is at the downtown campus, the 21 online programs, and the part time MBA students.

Anyway, it’s not comparable to ND because they’re like the Catholic Harvard and have a national following based on that demographic.

They also have minimum qualifiers so they can get any player on the board. We can’t. And we should hold the line on standards otherwise what’s the point of “college sports”?

 

[FanatiCat]

They also have minimum qualifiers so they can get any player on the board. We can’t. And we should hold the line on standards otherwise what’s the point of “college sports”?

NU admissions needs to get over itself then. Stanford, Duke and ND can do this. Can program insiders opine on whether student athletes would simply not be able to pass NU classes if we lowered the standards?

 

[NUChicago]

It’s sad. The school does very little to promote the program. There just isn’t much reason for the locals to support the program when it seems the school could care less.

Keep in mind an organization is reflected by it's leadership. JP tried to market to Chicago, but had mixed results. Gragg did not want to talk to people so he was clueless in any form of Marketing. NU did have have Mike P (focusing on the position not the man) who was in charge of branding, marketing etc. Take a look at NUSports.com, we have four "marketing" staff and they look all but 22 years old. I am surprised the new AD has not made any staff changes as we went from a top talent pool to this....

 

[catfans5]

22,000 seems like a really high number. Although some grad students may appreciate Big Ten football, you can easily exclude med school, law school, whoever else is at the downtown campus, the 21 online programs, and the part time MBA students.

Anyway, it’s not comparable to ND because they’re like the Catholic Harvard and have a national following based on that demographic.

The excuse is always the numbers. The numbers I quote are from NU. NU is not small like Wake or Rice. Every year, undergrad graduates about 2k. NU grads should be buying year in year out at a minimum of 20k season tickets. They just aren’t. They have the money. Most everyone who sit near me in section 107 did not attend the school. My one buddy who attends with us and fully supports the program went to a small undergraduate school and then grad school at NU.

 

[NUCat320]

It’s sad. The school does very little to promote the program. There just isn’t much reason for the locals to support the program when it seems the school could care less.

Chicagos Big Ten team also had no notable impact.

There are just a lot more options than when NU drew at program-record highs in the late 90s. (And Wildcat Vision didn’t set the world on fire until post-2000. So the facilities and a/v were always substandard.)

 

[kelloggcat]

We have two kids at NU. They tell us that the workload is demanding and that doing well is very difficult. These are high achieving kids who put a lot of effort in and they can struggle to keep up. They, and a lot of their friends, do attend games. They were both at Wrigley yesterday.

I don't think they would mind if admissions relaxed standards somewhat for football. But it's a slippery slope. You do need to be able to contribute in class and actually master the material. Using tutors and just getting by really doesn't help the academic environment on campus. That said, we should be be more like Duke and Vandy and less like Stanford. Not sure we have to go all the way to ND or USC level admissions, but I'd be curious what would happen if we did.

Bottom line is that there are way more OSU (alums and otherwise) in chicago than there are NU alums. Engaging NU alums can't be our only strategy. We have to build a local and regional fanbase of people who just like college football. And as Braun said, we have to be decent.

Hopefully with AI we can come up with better strategies to keep visiting fans from getting so many tickets.

Ps. there is a giant disconnect between the marketing department at Kellogg and the football team. That's a cheap and available resource that they should be leaning on.