Saw this tweet tonight:

Spoke with @SeanTFrazier about the changes fans will see at Huskie Stadium this season, and what could be in store for the future.

HuskieWire ‏@HuskieWire 4h

Will have a story tomorrow

I doubt the story will be anything informative, prob more speculation

http://www.huskiewire.com/mobile/article.../index.xml

Huge Sean Frazier fan.. the guy gets it..

I like where he is going, but really no new information in that article.

(04-02-2014 02:15 AM)huskiehog64 Wrote:  I like where he is going, but really no new information in that article.

That's usually what we get from Steve Nitz and Huskiewire

I just wish Bathroom improvement and create open space on the west side. knock down some walls.

and here it is...

“Having a 24,000-seat arena, only having the ability to give 2-3,000 seats to a BCS team coming in is not going to get it done for us,” Frazier said. “It doesn’t work that way. Not only do they have the fear factor of getting their butt beat by us, we’re also only going to give them only 2-3,000 seats on top of it.

“That just doesn’t work. It’s not the real world. People don’t know scheduling if they think that that’s going to happen. I think for me, is that I’m a very aggressive scheduler, and we’re going to put ourselves in a situation to be competitive every year, but our infrastructure also has to get better.”

(04-02-2014 07:34 AM)BobL Wrote:  and here it is...

“Having a 24,000-seat arena, only having the ability to give 2-3,000 seats to a BCS team coming in is not going to get it done for us,” Frazier said. “It doesn’t work that way. Not only do they have the fear factor of getting their butt beat by us, we’re also only going to give them only 2-3,000 seats on top of it.

“That just doesn’t work. It’s not the real world. People don’t know scheduling if they think that that’s going to happen. I think for me, is that I’m a very aggressive scheduler, and we’re going to put ourselves in a situation to be competitive every year, but our infrastructure also has to get better.”

Thanks Bob L...beat me to it.

Nice of SF to put it out simply and in print . Maybe it'll help those who haven't been able to understand previously.

(04-02-2014 07:34 AM)BobL Wrote:  and here it is...

“Having a 24,000-seat arena, only having the ability to give 2-3,000 seats to a BCS team coming in is not going to get it done for us,” Frazier said. “It doesn’t work that way. Not only do they have the fear factor of getting their butt beat by us, we’re also only going to give them only 2-3,000 seats on top of it.

“That just doesn’t work. It’s not the real world. People don’t know scheduling if they think that that’s going to happen. I think for me, is that I’m a very aggressive scheduler, and we’re going to put ourselves in a situation to be competitive every year, but our infrastructure also has to get better.”

hmmm
just spitballin here, feel free to knock me if you want, but
why would we only have 2-3,000 tickets to give? What do they (name teams) want? 10,000? 15,000? 20,000? Nobody really wants that except maybe (maybe) Wisconsin or Iowa or ND (of teams that may realistically schedule us at home). We already gave away a home game vs. Wisconsin. Notre Dame is not happening. Just not happening. And maybe Iowa is difficult to work out at Huskie stadium (though being inventive, probably not impossible). So. . . what are the realistic possibilities?

If a name team wants 10,000 tickets for their fans and is wiling to pay a good market rate for them, do the deal. Supply and demand will raise ticket prices. NIU will make more money, and be better able to bring in higher tier teams. We can't possibly turn a deal down with a team because they want more than 2-3,000 tickets. I would see no problem giving them up to 15,000 tickets if they want them.

I am sure Frazier understands this (at least I hope so) and that is not what he meant in that quote. He was focused on selling the need for updrades in Huskie Stadium (some that are relatively easy to do) and not on creating preemptive excuses for poor scheduling.

I think at this point in time, the fear factor of the potential opponent i.e., that they may lose, and for what, that is the bigger problem. If we were no better than mediocre at best and were willing to payout competitively, they would come. Although, laugh and mock if you want, and then answer seriously, what about Toledo? They have scheduled some good home opponents? What enables them to do it that we can't? The "fear factor" doesn't explain that.

(04-02-2014 08:07 AM)chihuskie Wrote:  

(04-02-2014 07:34 AM)BobL Wrote:  and here it is...

“Having a 24,000-seat arena, only having the ability to give 2-3,000 seats to a BCS team coming in is not going to get it done for us,” Frazier said. “It doesn’t work that way. Not only do they have the fear factor of getting their butt beat by us, we’re also only going to give them only 2-3,000 seats on top of it.

“That just doesn’t work. It’s not the real world. People don’t know scheduling if they think that that’s going to happen. I think for me, is that I’m a very aggressive scheduler, and we’re going to put ourselves in a situation to be competitive every year, but our infrastructure also has to get better.”

hmmm
just spitballin here, feel free to knock me if you want, but
why would we only have 2-3,000 tickets to give? What do they (name teams) want? 10,000? 15,000? 20,000? Nobody really wants that except maybe (maybe) Wisconsin or Iowa or ND (of teams that may realistically schedule us at home). We already gave away a home game vs. Wisconsin. Notre Dame is not happening. Just not happening. And maybe Iowa is difficult to work out at Huskie stadium (though being inventive, probably not impossible). So. . . what are the realistic possibilities?

If a name team wants 10,000 tickets for their fans and is wiling to pay a good market rate for them, do the deal. Supply and demand will raise ticket prices. NIU will make more money, and be better able to bring in higher tier teams. We can't possibly turn a deal down with a team because they want more than 2-3,000 tickets. I would see no problem giving them up to 15,000 tickets if they want them.

I am sure Frazier understands this (at least I hope so) and that is not what he meant in that quote. He was focused on selling the need for updrades in Huskie Stadium (some that are relatively easy to do) and not on creating preemptive excuses for poor scheduling.

I think more like 4-5k is what they want. I see no problem with giving them that if that is what it takes.

(04-02-2014 08:07 AM)chihuskie Wrote:  

(04-02-2014 07:34 AM)BobL Wrote:  and here it is...

“Having a 24,000-seat arena, only having the ability to give 2-3,000 seats to a BCS team coming in is not going to get it done for us,” Frazier said. “It doesn’t work that way. Not only do they have the fear factor of getting their butt beat by us, we’re also only going to give them only 2-3,000 seats on top of it.

“That just doesn’t work. It’s not the real world. People don’t know scheduling if they think that that’s going to happen. I think for me, is that I’m a very aggressive scheduler, and we’re going to put ourselves in a situation to be competitive every year, but our infrastructure also has to get better.”

hmmm
just spitballin here, feel free to knock me if you want, but
why would we only have 2-3,000 tickets to give? What do they (name teams) want? 10,000? 15,000? 20,000? Nobody really wants that except maybe (maybe) Wisconsin or Iowa or ND (of teams that may realistically schedule us at home). We already gave away a home game vs. Wisconsin. Notre Dame is not happening. Just not happening. And maybe Iowa is difficult to work out at Huskie stadium (though being inventive, probably not impossible). So. . . what are the realistic possibilities?

If a name team wants 10,000 tickets for their fans and is wiling to pay a good market rate for them, do the deal. Supply and demand will raise ticket prices. NIU will make more money, and be better able to bring in higher tier teams. We can't possibly turn a deal down with a team because they want more than 2-3,000 tickets. I would see no problem giving them up to 15,000 tickets if they want them.

I am sure Frazier understands this (at least I hope so) and that is not what he meant in that quote. He was focused on selling the need for updrades in Huskie Stadium (some that are relatively easy to do) and not on creating preemptive excuses for poor scheduling.

I think at this point in time, the fear factor of the potential opponent i.e., that they may lose, and for what, that is the bigger problem. If we were no better than mediocre at best and were willing to payout competitively, they would come. Although, laugh and mock if you want, and then answer seriously, what about Toledo? They have scheduled some good home opponents? What enables them to do it that we can't? The "fear factor" doesn't explain that.

Toledo has a larger capacity plus the ability to add temporary seating...

Toledo top 5 attended home games:

36,852 vs. Navy (2001)
36,502 vs. Northern Illinois (2001)
34,950 vs. Minnesota (2001)
34,900 vs. Marshall (2000)
33,040 vs. Indiana State (1994)

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2013/...igan-game/

Connecticut normally allots 3,000 tickets to visiting opponents, but the contract with Michigan requires UConn to reserve 5,000 tickets for the Wolverines. In order to keep the same amount of season ticket opportunities, UCONN plans to add 2,000 temporary seats to the stadium’s capacity. While the Huskies have had numerous games in past years where crowds reached the 40,000 capacity, the additional seats, along with this game’s high demand for tickets, are sure to set a new record for football attendance.

Far-away teams like Fresno State would not be sending more than 2K - 3K here. Neither would UCF, USF, etc. Scehduling some decent mid-majors should not be a problem with tickets.

(04-02-2014 08:20 AM)BobL Wrote:  

(04-02-2014 08:07 AM)chihuskie Wrote:  

(04-02-2014 07:34 AM)BobL Wrote:  and here it is...

“Having a 24,000-seat arena, only having the ability to give 2-3,000 seats to a BCS team coming in is not going to get it done for us,” Frazier said. “It doesn’t work that way. Not only do they have the fear factor of getting their butt beat by us, we’re also only going to give them only 2-3,000 seats on top of it.

“That just doesn’t work. It’s not the real world. People don’t know scheduling if they think that that’s going to happen. I think for me, is that I’m a very aggressive scheduler, and we’re going to put ourselves in a situation to be competitive every year, but our infrastructure also has to get better.”

hmmm
just spitballin here, feel free to knock me if you want, but
why would we only have 2-3,000 tickets to give? What do they (name teams) want? 10,000? 15,000? 20,000? Nobody really wants that except maybe (maybe) Wisconsin or Iowa or ND (of teams that may realistically schedule us at home). We already gave away a home game vs. Wisconsin. Notre Dame is not happening. Just not happening. And maybe Iowa is difficult to work out at Huskie stadium (though being inventive, probably not impossible). So. . . what are the realistic possibilities?

If a name team wants 10,000 tickets for their fans and is wiling to pay a good market rate for them, do the deal. Supply and demand will raise ticket prices. NIU will make more money, and be better able to bring in higher tier teams. We can't possibly turn a deal down with a team because they want more than 2-3,000 tickets. I would see no problem giving them up to 15,000 tickets if they want them.

I am sure Frazier understands this (at least I hope so) and that is not what he meant in that quote. He was focused on selling the need for updrades in Huskie Stadium (some that are relatively easy to do) and not on creating preemptive excuses for poor scheduling.

I think at this point in time, the fear factor of the potential opponent i.e., that they may lose, and for what, that is the bigger problem. If we were no better than mediocre at best and were willing to payout competitively, they would come. Although, laugh and mock if you want, and then answer seriously, what about Toledo? They have scheduled some good home opponents? What enables them to do it that we can't? The "fear factor" doesn't explain that.

Toledo has a larger capacity plus the ability to add temporary seating...

Toledo top 5 attended home games:

36,852 vs. Navy (2001)
36,502 vs. Northern Illinois (2001)
34,950 vs. Minnesota (2001)
34,900 vs. Marshall (2000)
33,040 vs. Indiana State (1994)

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2013/...igan-game/

Connecticut normally allots 3,000 tickets to visiting opponents, but the contract with Michigan requires UConn to reserve 5,000 tickets for the Wolverines. In order to keep the same amount of season ticket opportunities, UCONN plans to add 2,000 temporary seats to the stadium’s capacity. While the Huskies have had numerous games in past years where crowds reached the 40,000 capacity, the additional seats, along with this game’s high demand for tickets, are sure to set a new record for football attendance.

what you don't want to see is an opposing team being able to buy our season tickets just to get the game they play us in HS.

(04-02-2014 08:22 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Far-away teams like Fresno State would not be sending more than 2K - 3K here. Neither would UCF, USF, etc. Scehduling some decent mid-majors should not be a problem with tickets.

+1


I still dont see the issue with allocating 4k tickets to a visiting team.

Remember that most people on this board have season tickets or go to multiple games every year. Getting a better offering for season ticket holders is nice but not the primary reason. If we get a bigger name school to come into HS, it will bring in more casual fans.

(04-02-2014 08:40 AM)klake87 Wrote:  Remember that most people on this board have season tickets or go to multiple games every year. Getting a better offering for season ticket holders is nice but not the primary reason. If we get a bigger name school to come into HS, it will bring in more casual fans.

...who will hopefully get hooked on the experience and become season ticket holders who then wont care if NIU is playing a P5 team or another MAC team because they will just be there for the atmosphere.

IMO this all a set up which will be the excuse to add rounded out corners to the stadium. Not that its bad idea, just likely the only way the plan can get approval even with enrollment going down...aka less athletic money.

(04-02-2014 08:38 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(04-02-2014 08:22 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Far-away teams like Fresno State would not be sending more than 2K - 3K here. Neither would UCF, USF, etc. Scehduling some decent mid-majors should not be a problem with tickets.

+1


I still dont see the issue with allocating 4k tickets to a visiting team.

I don't understand that either. And like DF says, good, far-away teams won't bring that many fans anyway.

I agree that, in a vacuum, NIU should just be like hey if Wisconsin wants 10,000 guranteed seats to play in Huskie Stadium then just give it to them, but it's just not that simple. It's the same thing as offering huge discounts to games the week of the game in order to get asses in the seats. You're alienating your season ticket holders and local fans. If you get Wisconsin to play in Huskie Stadium, but only 14,000 are NIU fans and 10,000 are Wisconsin fans are you really doing anything to build a fan base? No, so what's the point of even playing it? Just go to Madison and let them write you a fat ass check.