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Winning Does

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 12:46 pm
by nawlinspete
matter. Winning produces positives, including ESPN predicting a Tulane BOWL APPEARANCE in the Advocare Auto Care Bowl @ the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Now it's time for fans to pay their way into Yulman and to attend our road road games. And to stop whining....

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 1:36 pm
by Aberzombie1892
Of course winning matters and it would be great for Tulane to make a bowl, however, that being said, it's too early to tell fans that they should be buying tickets to home games or paying for flights to FIU. If Tulane starts the season 3-1, then that should be the time for that, but, anything less than that and it would be difficult to blame anyone for continuing to take the wait and see approach.

Personally, I'm still shocked that the Grambling game attendance was so low, but I suppose it makes sense since LSU was playing at the Superdome.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 2:41 pm
by OUG
Of course winning matters, great observation bro.

But saying that one ESPN moron having us in the freaking Cure Bowl against ULL is the metric that should have us excited is deeply weird.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 9:27 pm
by Dave breslin
Winning helps get that poop burger taste out of our mouths that was served for all of the cowdick era. Roll Wave! Sink Navy!

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:20 am
by Wave755
OUG wrote:Of course winning matters, great observation bro.

But saying that one ESPN moron having us in the freaking Cure Bowl against ULL is the metric that should have us excited is deeply weird.
After that pathetic performance against SELA at home on Saturday I doubt seriously whether ULALA is even going to have a winning record this season.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 9:03 am
by lurker123
Wave755 wrote:
OUG wrote:Of course winning matters, great observation bro.

But saying that one ESPN moron having us in the freaking Cure Bowl against ULL is the metric that should have us excited is deeply weird.
After that pathetic performance against SELA at home on Saturday I doubt seriously whether ULALA is even going to have a winning record this season.
I'm in the squishy middle on this. I'm happy Tulane won and more excited about the QB play after remembering last year. ULaLa won its game too, albeit ugly, so it is closer to having a winning season literally. How these teams match up this week against Navy and Tulsa will be better measures of whether our destinies will intersect.

However I do agree on the Bowl. Until the overall record dictates it, I'm not aspiring for the Care Bowl and I bet ULaLa fans aren't either. I don't "care" who the opponent may be there.

Let's finally remember the ESPN writer spent about ten seconds analyzing this or about the time it took him to type it including fixing the typo about what to call ULaLa.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 10:22 am
by nawlinspete
Dave breslin wrote:Winning helps get that poop burger taste out of our mouths that was served for all of the cowdick era. Roll Wave! Sink Navy!
Why do the rest of you not understand what is happening ? A turnaround is in progress and your grousing about attending games because of a seat tax is not only counterproductive it ignores the current reality of FBS ball. If we are to continue in the FBS, yet alone elevate ourselves, this is the new reality. Deal with it.

Stop whining....

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 10:56 am
by sader24
nawlinspete wrote:
Dave breslin wrote:Winning helps get that poop burger taste out of our mouths that was served for all of the cowdick era. Roll Wave! Sink Navy!
Why do the rest of you not understand what is happening ? A turnaround is in progress and your grousing about attending games because of a seat tax is not only counterproductive it ignores the current reality of FBS ball. If we are to continue in the FBS, yet alone elevate ourselves, this is the new reality. Deal with it.

Stop whining....
It's not whining if it's causing people to not buy season tickets. It's just the facts. If we win 8 games a year with home schedules like this one we still won't be selling a lot of season tickets with the current seat taxes. We would have to be 10-11 wins a year. People aren't going to pay seat taxes en masse for Tulane football in the AAC. I know lots of LSU fans that have given up their tickets bc of seat taxes and prices and parking costs etc.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:34 am
by Aberzombie1892
sader24 wrote:
nawlinspete wrote:
Dave breslin wrote:Winning helps get that poop burger taste out of our mouths that was served for all of the cowdick era. Roll Wave! Sink Navy!
Why do the rest of you not understand what is happening ? A turnaround is in progress and your grousing about attending games because of a seat tax is not only counterproductive it ignores the current reality of FBS ball. If we are to continue in the FBS, yet alone elevate ourselves, this is the new reality. Deal with it.

Stop whining....
It's not whining if it's causing people to not buy season tickets. It's just the facts. If we win 8 games a year with home schedules like this one we still won't be selling a lot of season tickets with the current seat taxes. We would have to be 10-11 wins a year. People aren't going to pay seat taxes en masse for Tulane football in the AAC. I know lots of LSU fans that have given up their tickets bc of seat taxes and prices and parking costs etc.
Sader's right in the sense that Tulane appears to be charging too much for donations considering that the stadium has only sold out once since 2014. It's unclear whether the attendance of the Grambling game was primarily the result of LSU being in town or whether it was primarily due to the all of the other reasons that one may not attend a Tulane football game (i.e. performance last season, alternative types of entertainment, Tulane's performance in the spring game, Tulane's general football performance and reputation, etc.), but what is clear is that Tulane needs to make attending the games easier for casual fans and one way to accomplish that would be by being more reasonable with ticket donation requirements.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 12:50 pm
by GreenLantern
Aberzombie1892 wrote: Sader's right in the sense that Tulane appears to be charging too much for donations considering that the stadium has only sold out once since 2014. It's unclear whether the attendance of the Grambling game was primarily the result of LSU being in town or whether it was primarily due to the all of the other reasons that one may not attend a Tulane football game (i.e. performance last season, alternative types of entertainment, Tulane's performance in the spring game, Tulane's general football performance and reputation, etc.), but what is clear is that Tulane needs to make attending the games easier for casual fans and one way to accomplish that would be by being more reasonable with ticket donation requirements.
Spot on.

It's very easy to throttle demand for any product by lowering the product's quality. Diminishing quality = diminishing demand. The converse is also true.

Sell the season tickets in Westfeldt for the price of the seat...no donation required. Offer some other meaningful perk to those who wish to make a donation, but don't discourage the average fan's attendance by requiring a donation.

When Tulane football begins to approach the level of excellence we expect, THEN would be the time to attach a surcharge related to the quality of seat. Of course we would all bitch and complain about the increase in prices, but if we are winning, improving, and playing in post-season bowls I'll wager that most would pay the additional charge.

If Troy Dannen is scanning Tulane forums to read the pulse of fans (and I'll bet that he is), he is hearing the same complaint from a lot of us. How about it Mr. D? At this point in the resurgence of Tulane sports, consistent sellouts in Westfeldt should net an increase in revenue compared to having a handful of fans who are willing to pay a donation. Run the numbers and see for yourself.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 1:14 pm
by Show Me
When the stadium first opened (new curiousity) there was tremendous demand. Instead of filling the demand Tulane elected to go the route of let's take advantage of these new fans.
A co-worker friend of mine was a former player with 3 boys ages 6-13. The perfect demographic that Tulane needs. As a general football fan he wanted to sit as close to midfield as possible. He called Tulane and asked about getting the best seats available and they told him for $10,000 he could get what he wanted. He was so insulted that he vowed never to go back. His kids now will never be Tulane fans. The Glazer Club was a huge money grab. Outside of the regular folks that do go religiously to the games the rest went to blue bloods that only attend for homecoming. It's too bad so many great seats go to waste and so many poor ones have a ticket surcharge.
Tulane always puts the cart before the horse.
Win first, create real demand, then expand or charge a seat license if the demand outstrips capacity. This isn't Northern Iowa.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:06 pm
by RobertM320
sader24 wrote:It's not whining if it's causing people to not buy season tickets. It's just the facts. If we win 8 games a year with home schedules like this one we still won't be selling a lot of season tickets with the current seat taxes. We would have to be 10-11 wins a year. People aren't going to pay seat taxes en masse for Tulane football in the AAC. I know lots of LSU fans that have given up their tickets bc of seat taxes and prices and parking costs etc.
And to put that in perspective, how many 10+ win seasons have we had in the last 67 years? Exactly one, if I'm not mistaken.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:50 pm
by sader24
I didn't go to the Tulane-Grambling game, I also didn't go to the LSU game. I don't think the LSU game did much to hurt our attendance, maybe a couple hundred people. You have to think anyone interested enough to go to the LSU game was going to stay home and watch it if it was in Houston anyway. Any way you want to slice it, if guys like me aren't buying season tickets we are in trouble.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:38 pm
by winwave
Yep.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:32 pm
by wavemania
Yep, this will be the second year in a row that I haven't bought season tickets. Been a season ticket holder since the early 90's and been going to games since the 70s. I refuse to pay a surcharge and will be dammed if I am going to sit in the end zone. Can't see cr@p when the game is at the other end.The longer I stay away, the less likely I will come back.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 7:03 am
by DfromCT
Can't you buy great seats on the short side of the stadium without paying a seat license fee? We did in 2014.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:27 am
by Aberzombie1892
sader24 wrote:I didn't go to the Tulane-Grambling game, I also didn't go to the LSU game. I don't think the LSU game did much to hurt our attendance, maybe a couple hundred people. You have to think anyone interested enough to go to the LSU game was going to stay home and watch it if it was in Houston anyway. Any way you want to slice it, if guys like me aren't buying season tickets we are in trouble.
I would say more than a couple of hundred. LSU, casual football, and even Tulane fans in the New Orleans metroplex had an opportunity to see a ranked LSU open the season against a respectable opponent in New Orleans with a new coach and a new offense at a far cheaper ticket price than it would cost them to see the game, or pretty much any other game, at LSU's home stadium. Those factors are worth at least a few thousand sports fans that would have attended Tulane v. Grambling choosing to instead see LSU v. BYU.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:09 am
by GreenLantern
DfromCT wrote:Can't you buy great seats on the short side of the stadium without paying a seat license fee? We did in 2014.
If you are referring to the west (press box) side, I sit in 121 and pay a $500 donation. I have really enjoyed my seating location except now that many season ticket holders are giving up their spots, there are more visitors than Tulane fans in the area. During the Grambling game, my wife and I were lone green shirts in a sea of black and gold.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:24 am
by lurker123
GreenLantern wrote:
DfromCT wrote:Can't you buy great seats on the short side of the stadium without paying a seat license fee? We did in 2014.
If you are referring to the west (press box) side, I sit in 121 and pay a $500 donation. I have really enjoyed my seating location except now that many season ticket holders are giving up their spots, there are more visitors than Tulane fans in the area. During the Grambling game, my wife and I were lone green shirts in a sea of black and gold.
I know focus above has been on some longtime Tulane fans just not buying tickets. Other issue as noted here are some Tulane fans not using their tickets and reselling them to others. As I understand it, 121 is mostly sold out to season ticket holders but perhaps I'm wrong.

However I would guess also that in best American sports fan tradition, some of those folks sitting around you took executive action and moved from their purchased ticket locations in other parts of the stadium. Nothing like a free upgrade!

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 12:20 pm
by DfromCT
I just looked up tickets for the ARMY game. There's plenty of seats available in 119-122 which stretch approximately from one 15 yard line to the other. Even in 120, 121 and 122 there's a ton of seats, and those sections required a lesser donation for season tickets. 119, where we had seats in 2014, requires no donation and so long as you're not too low, gives you a pretty good view of the whole field.

The important thing that Dannen and the Sports Administration doesn't seem to understand is that there is no supply-demand issue that validates seat license fees, particularly the four figure ones. ANYONE can walk up to the stadium and get a ticket to any game on our schedule. Heck, more often than not, a person can find a ticket for free. That's how little demand there is at this time. The notion of buying one season ticket at $300 gives you one loyalty point versus donating $300 and getting 300 loyalty points is ludicrous. I'm not surprised our season ticket sales are off.

Would winning change this? Yes, but not overnight, and not with this schedule. FWIW: Army beat Navy last December, and will be every bit as tough a victory as Navy this weekend. I'd rather see the game at West Point, but it's not happening this year.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 12:51 pm
by winwave
Army did beat Navy but that was when Worth was injured. They were a different team and Abey was just seeing his first playing time. Monken is a good coach and is improving Army but they haven't established themselves the way Navy has. The toughest part of playing Army this year is that it's the week after Oklahoma . Glad we have a bye after that stretch with two triple option teams and the Sooners.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 1:52 pm
by tpstulane
DfromCT wrote:I just looked up tickets for the ARMY game. There's plenty of seats available in 119-122 which stretch approximately from one 15 yard line to the other. Even in 120, 121 and 122 there's a ton of seats, and those sections required a lesser donation for season tickets. 119, where we had seats in 2014, requires no donation and so long as you're not too low, gives you a pretty good view of the whole field.

The important thing that Dannen and the Sports Administration doesn't seem to understand is that there is no supply-demand issue that validates seat license fees, particularly the four figure ones. ANYONE can walk up to the stadium and get a ticket to any game on our schedule. Heck, more often than not, a person can find a ticket for free. That's how little demand there is at this time. The notion of buying one season ticket at $300 gives you one loyalty point versus donating $300 and getting 300 loyalty points is ludicrous. I'm not surprised our season ticket sales are off.

Would winning change this? Yes, but not overnight, and not with this schedule. FWIW: Army beat Navy last December, and will be every bit as tough a victory as Navy this weekend. I'd rather see the game at West Point, but it's not happening this year.
We had access to 3 extra tickets in the Westfeldt Club last game. Couldn't give them away.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 5:16 pm
by DfromCT
winwave wrote:Army did beat Navy but that was when Worth was injured. They were a different team and Abey was just seeing his first playing time. Monken is a good coach and is improving Army but they haven't established themselves the way Navy has. The toughest part of playing Army this year is that it's the week after Oklahoma . Glad we have a bye after that stretch with two triple option teams and the Sooners.
Army BEAT UP both division winners (Navy and Temple) from the AAC that played in the 2016 AAC championship game. (Remember, we have 4 conference wins all time) They absolutely dominated in both games. The Temple game was on the road, opening a much hyped season for Temple. They almost beat Navy a year earlier, when they were improving as their season progressed. This is Monken's fourth season, they're a more established program than Tulane is at this point. We struggle with Army when they stink. They don't stink any more. Hopefully we don't either, but that remains to be determined.

And oh by the way, Abey played a LOT more than Worth did the week before (versus Temple) and played better than Worth did in that game. Abey had 174 yards from scrimmage versus Worth's 51.

You started this argument, Fido. I'll let you have the last word, once again (because that makes you think you won the argument!!!!!) Pity the fool who doesn't know what he doesn't know. :mrgreen: :roll: :roll: :mrgreen:

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 6:26 pm
by winwave
Well you see it as an argument b/c that's what you like to do. I see it as a discussion. I never said they stink. They are improved. I wouldn't say they dominated either game. Beat Temple 28-13 and Navy with back up QB 21-17.Of course Abey had better numbers than Worth b/c as you noted he played longer in the game due to Worths injury. To say he was better than Worth last season is a joke. They only had one talented team that they played and that team wasn't a good TEAM last year. Yet ND toyed with them and crushed them 44-6. It was no contest. As I said they catch us after Navy and Oklahoma. Playing two triple option teams is tough. You have to be so mentally tough and it's hard to do that twice in such a short period. That's our biggest concern with that game.

Re: Winning Does

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 6:59 pm
by OUG
winwave wrote:Army did beat Navy but that was when Worth was injured. They were a different team and Abey was just seeing his first playing time. Monken is a good coach and is improving Army but they haven't established themselves the way Navy has. The toughest part of playing Army this year is that it's the week after Oklahoma . Glad we have a bye after that stretch with two triple option teams and the Sooners.
I actually think Army is going to be tough this year. No, they aren't as good as Navy, but they don't need to be in order to give us a very tough game and potentially a loss. Fearthewave podcast (this is a better listen than the weekly coaches show, and must-listen for any Tulane fan) had the Navy Blogger on this week, someone who knows the Army program very well, and thinks they could win 9/10 games this season. He went into a lot of detail on it.

We match up well with both Navy and Army because our interior DL and MLBs are good enough to stop the dive. Well, they were last year. This year, we will know in 24 hours.