POLL: Season Opener Night Game at Goodman?

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Football POLL: Season Opener Night Game at Goodman?

This topic contains 29 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by sundayamqb sundayamqb 7 years, 3 months ago.

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 30 total)
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  • #29957
    van
    van
    Participant

    I would be happy just to know who the opening game opponent is, top secret future schedules and all

    #29967

    richb-1
    Participant

    Hawktalker says (if I understood correctly) that lights have not helped Lafayette attendance. Maybe someone has better figures, but I disagree. They have led the league in attendance 5 of the last 7 years. Despite poor to terrible teams. They must have even beaten us in attendance one year when we hosted THE GAME.

    Lighting the walkways to the stadium. Primary walkway would just be to the East of the Field Hockey Stadium. Use those stanchions for most of that lighting. The walkway from the North Parking lot would be mostly lit from the west side of the stadium. Lighting the North Side parking should be no more expensive than lighting the Field Hockey Field, Maybe only a little more than a Little League Field.

    I mentioned before, had a couple of friends attend a 2012 game for first time in Goodman. When they noticed no lights. One called his son who is in that business and got a quick estimate of $35,000 for one day, including parking.

    As I posted on the BB page, let the students use the North Parking lot. Let them stay all night to party if they want. Breathalyze each car before it leaves. If they don’t have a sober driver, they stay the night. (They will learn to always have a sleeping bag like I still do)

    Sunset for Sat after Thanksgiving 2017, 4:37 PM –end of civil twilight 5:07 (end of possible playing time).
    Sunset for the next Sat 2 minutes later.

    #29970

    TMH
    Participant

    van,
    the schedule is on our website. Just go into schedule and click on 2017

    #29976
    sundayamqb
    sundayamqb
    Participant

    I like the Thursday night before Labor Day idea. Options:

    — Use temporary lights
    — Play at Bethlehem’s high school stadium
    — Play at Laughayette (just kidding)

    But …

    Two other thoughts, including THE HUGE, undiscussed one (No. 2 2 — below):

    1) The 12:30 time is great for alums who live in the multiple-state area (2 to 4-hour drive). Folks can drive up in the a.m., tailgate and get home before too late without having to stay over.

    2) There’s a much bigger issue we rarely discuss, but one that affects all universities

    Is there any research on it?

    Issue: Why does attendance stink at universities like Lehigh (and many FBS schools, too)?

    My guess is ours has gone down (at least as a proportion of the student body) since the days when freshman had to wear their dinkies to the game. Later, when I was there. it was a 5-minute walk to the stadium (we tailgated in our houses and dorms, if we didn’t wake up at noon).

    My guess is co-education has affected attendance — and so has moving the stadium to the valley. We have more international students, many of whom would rather study than engage in university social activities.

    I apologize for the generalizations.

    BUT …

    What does the research show? And how can we use that research to boost attendance and engagement in university athletic programs?

    Without this research, the discussion on lights and stadium improvements are fun diversions, but lacks the data to determine whether changes would be effective.

    #29980

    richb-1
    Participant

    Co-education began 17 years before the closure of Taylor Stadium. I think throughout that error attendance remained steady, Lehi-Laf was always 18,000-19,300, with 2-3000 temp seats.

    Attendance remained good with the switch to Goodman through at least 2001, probably for a couple more years. Although i suspect the percentage of students was down, But easier Driving and parking increased Alumni and “Townie” attendance.

    OK, so Attendance likely began a sharp downturn with the Ghast presidency. Many of the students and I knew both undergrad and grad, hated Alice.

    A note on FBS attendance. Temple played, last Saturday, at Navy the American Conference Championship Game. About 100 miles away. As I watched, it looked like half (more likely one quarter) of the fans were the Midshipmen.

    • This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by  richb-1.
    #29983

    toddcudd
    Participant

    re: student attendance – no real “evidence” here, but just a thought on a possible link.
    Thinking about the timing of the student attendance decline – as the move to Goodman was happening, there were other big changes happening on campus too. Specifically, social policy on campus was changing dramatically. Gonna sound like the old man, “when I was young..” thing – but anyway:
    My first couple years there (end of the 80s), campus police largely were there to make sure students didn’t hurt themselves or anyone else. The only “busts” I recall were when somebody got caught taking a leak in a public place on The Hill.
    By the time I left, it was much different. LU added their security guys – the “brownies”. The relationship became very different, adversarial. The mission of these guys was to bust up parties and enforce new social policies. The difference was very noticeable at tailgates, too.
    Without starting a debate about whether those changes were “good” or “bad”, I think they made a difference. Hang out in a safe space somewhere, or risk hassle from LU PD or the brownies?

    #29986

    lfnadmin
    Keymaster

    I think the attendance declines aren’t attributable to any one Lehigh president or one Lehigh policy, they are systemic and cut across all levels of college football. For lack of a better word, you know what the real culprit is? Globalization of sports. Every sporting event competes with every other sport now – a good EPL soccer game competes with Penn State football which competes with Lehigh football which could compete with a critical baseball pennant game. Thirty years ago, college football was a consuming, all-day event without much real competition. It’s simply not anymore.

    I do think draconian tailgate rules do have an overall effect, but in that vein I think President Simon has done a GREAT deal to build up goodwill in that area. President Gast, I think, basically thought of athletics as “delegate and forget”, but Simon is an enthusiastic follower and supporter of all Lehigh teams, without losing focus on the bigger picture.

    Which goes back to a night game. What a night game would do is add a one-time “special event” feel to the beginning of the year. I strongly feel that opening day is the most critical day on the calendar for establishing attendance the rest of the year, not just for students but for other fans, too. Freshmen who go to a football game on 8/31 and have a memorable, great time on that day are much more likely to go to more games during the year, and also more likely to go to games after graduation, too. Certainly my Freshman year experience of going to games is a huge factor in my own life – I spent a lot of time going to games today.

    #29987

    richb-1
    Participant

    It was disappointing that president Ghastley was not a sports fan, since she actually was a varsity T&F athlete at USC. I suspect she and Pete Likens were the only Varsity Collegiate athletes among the last 5 Presidents. Obviously downturn in attendance could not be her fault entirely, but it can’t be pure coincidence that the biggest declines were her years.

    Because Allentown and Bethlehem stadiums are used by 3 schools each there will be occasional competition from those games, but really, otherwise fall HS sports are not played on Saturday night. yeah, there will still be playoff baseball and FBS football on TV. Students have more to do Saturday afternoons than in the 60s – 80s, more club sports for one thing, but usually Saturday night is for partying. Let them party in the north parking light. (heck I could even see a “local band” in the North parking lot for an hour or two after the game)

    Remember that home football games and wrestling meets use to be “all university events” few activities were to be scheduled opposite them.

    #29988

    TMH
    Participant

    Actually, I love the idea of an “event” game like that. I would have it on a non-holiday weekend, preferably during the warmer months against a notable OOC opponent. I would have it at 7:00 on a Saturday and have the entire day build up to it. Think of Yankee Stadium (while blocking out the result) on a smaller basis. Perhaps soccer games in the afternoon followed by orchestrated parties (perhaps at Ulrich or Stabler), special invites to alums etc. Of course this will require lighting well beyond the actual stadium.

    Any of that seem reasonable?

    #29989

    TMH
    Participant

    Alice actually was a sports fan. I saw her and talked to her at numerous sporting events. The difference with this President is predominately personality, energy and vision.

    As noted above, there is no one reason for the decline in attendance at athletic events but for the casual fan, television and PLN is the major culprit. I’ve talked to numerous people who stopped going to games as they got older, preferring to watch it on TV in the comfort of the home. Even on campus, the tailgate has been replaced with MOCOs (morning cocktail) parties on campus and then watch the game on TV.

    #29990

    TMH
    Participant

    One more idea.
    In order to make it a bit more palatable for the Administration, forget the lights in Year #1. Move a game to 3:30 (sunset is about 7:30), complete with activities leading up to the game. Follow it up with either a concert at Stabler or a dance party at Ulrich. Make it part of freshman orientation.
    Just a thought!!

    #29991

    lfnadmin
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=29990]One more idea.
    In order to make it a bit more palatable for the Administration, forget the lights in Year #1. Move a game to 3:30 (sunset is about 7:30), complete with activities leading up to the game. Follow it up with either a concert at Stabler or a dance party at Ulrich. Make it part of freshman orientation.
    Just a thought!!

    [/quote]

    This is a great idea! Maybe a postgame food option (a huge pizza thing) and then a concert.

    #29993
    van
    van
    Participant

    well the Nova game this coming year could be a great test of a 3:30 start

    #29994

    toddcudd
    Participant

    Love the idea, especially tying in with some kind of freshman event. Build habits early!

    #29999
    sundayamqb
    sundayamqb
    Participant

    [quote quote=29988]Actually, I love the idea of an “event” game like that. I would have it on a non-holiday weekend, preferably during the warmer months against a notable OOC opponent. I would have it at 7:00 on a Saturday and have the entire day build up to it. Think of Yankee Stadium (while blocking out the result) on a smaller basis. Perhaps soccer games in the afternoon followed by orchestrated parties (perhaps at Ulrich or Stabler), special invites to alums etc. Of course this will require lighting well beyond the actual stadium.

    Any of that seem reasonable?

    [/quote]

    I like it, but I’m not a kid on campus:

    Morning XC meet, soccer game(s), bands, football, dance, dunk tanks, carnival atmosphere, food/gourmet coffee free w/meal plan swipes — daylong LU freshmen fall festival.

    BTW: I think LFN is right on internationalization of sports on TV Saturday afternoons. It’s what I watch if I’m free on Saturdays, and I’m old and don’t play EA FIFA like these kids do.

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