I estimated 300+ Rice fans at the ND tailgate. The fellow next to me at the stadium said he'd heard that we'd sold 1000 tickets.
But, AS ALWAYS, we were scattered throughout an entire section of the stadium, from the first row to those high in the upper deck. And AS ALWAYS, this terribly diluted our (vocal) impact at the game, not to mention the fact that a chance for a much better gameday experience for our fans was missed YET AGAIN.

SURELY, SURELY it must be EASY to simply insist that our seating at away events is continuous.

Of course we also didn't even get a room on campus large enough to hold a third of our tailgaters. We had to shovel our food and leave the party, just so others could sit down to eat.

Looking for more donations and fan support???? duh!!

When I went to the ND/BYU game last year teh BYU fans were all in the upper SE corner of the stadium. I thought that was where ND sold tickets to away fans.

Or did many of our fans get tickets from places other than our ticket office? If that's the case (as I did last year at aTm), it's our fault.

The section of Rice people seated in the first ~10 rows around the 10 yard line near our cheerleaders and the NDROTC people were players' family so that section should be excluded from this discussion.

I agree with Barney. From various sources, I heard we might have sold upwards of 500 tickets for the and game. And although most of us were in the same area, the Rice contingent was definitely diluted with (very nice) ND fans peppered throughout.
Also agree with the observations about the tailgate. Good food. I had a great time. But we were in two or three rooms which really adversely affected the experience. It might have been unavoidable, though. I think all the food was prepared in that one spot. And perhaps larger single venues were already spoken for. Lots of ND fans eating in that hall, too.
I hope the A&M tailgate addresses those issues.

Well I've already checked into tickets for the Army game, and the Army ticket office tells me that the "visitors" sections are Sections 2-4 -- which is in the endzone. If you're signing up for the game tickets packaged with the tailgate/brunch, I suspect this is where you'll be. Personally, I want to be "between the 30's" so I can see the whole field of play, so I'll be getting my tickets separately.

(09-01-2014 03:37 PM)Barney Wrote:  I estimated 300+ Rice fans at the ND tailgate. The fellow next to me at the stadium said he'd heard that we'd sold 1000 tickets.
But, AS ALWAYS, we were scattered throughout an entire section of the stadium, from the first row to those high in the upper deck. And AS ALWAYS, this terribly diluted our (vocal) impact at the game, not to mention the fact that a chance for a much better gameday experience for our fans was missed YET AGAIN.

SURELY, SURELY it must be EASY to simply insist that our seating at away events is continuous.

Of course we also didn't even get a room on campus large enough to hold a third of our tailgaters. We had to shovel our food and leave the party, just so others could sit down to eat.

Looking for more donations and fan support???? duh!!

It's great to see so many people notice opportunities for improvement for the next athletic event involving a chance for alumni engagement. But wouldn't it make more sense for people to direct their thoughts/comments to those who can make changes rather than just post them in this forum? I'm sure the athletic office (713-348-4077 or athl@rice.edu) and the alumni office (713-348-4057 or alumni@rice.edu) would love to hear from you!

(09-01-2014 09:42 PM)CrabCake Wrote:  It's great to see so many people notice opportunities for improvement for the next athletic event involving a chance for alumni engagement. But wouldn't it make more sense for people to direct their thoughts/comments to those who can make changes rather than just post them in this forum? I'm sure the athletic office (713-348-4077 or athl@rice.edu) and the alumni office (713-348-4057 or alumni@rice.edu) would love to hear from you!

Great idea!
Barney and greyowl, please let us know how your conversations go. Thanks!

(09-04-2014 12:16 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 09:42 PM)CrabCake Wrote:  It's great to see so many people notice opportunities for improvement for the next athletic event involving a chance for alumni engagement. But wouldn't it make more sense for people to direct their thoughts/comments to those who can make changes rather than just post them in this forum? I'm sure the athletic office (713-348-4077 or athl@rice.edu) and the alumni office (713-348-4057 or alumni@rice.edu) would love to hear from you!

Great idea!
Barney and greyowl, please let us know how your conversations go. Thanks!

Agree. very good idea.

Dr K is still new here. We have a chance to bring issues like this to his attention early on and hopefully they will be acted on promptly.

Can't answer for the A&M game, but looks like we have a much larger venue (vs. Notre Dame) for the West Point tailgate, as we're in the Grand Ballroom.

Even for bowl games, ordering as an owl club 500+ donor got me in the nosebleeds in Memphis. Students had better seats but were way separated from general sales. I can only support the school for so long knowing i can jump on stubhub and get cheaper tickets(rice games aren't too popular:) at a way better location to actually watch the game(front row end zone was cheaper than my upper deck seats by game week). The ticket office really needs to push for something better because I do not plan on getting shafted anymore. (armed forces bowl, upper bowl seats as well).

I think in a bowl game they have more pull, but yeah away games you take what you can - I assume. I believe UT and Aggies put away teams in the upper corners too?

As I said in another thread, my tickets to A&M (from Rice Ticket Office) this year are in Section 30. Behind the end zone. Looks like they are low enough down to assure minimal vision down the field. Last year I bought seats from Stubhub. East side. Thirty rows up. 25 yard line. In the shade. Better view, but had to endure the game fielding remarks from insufferable fans dressed in Maroon.
I'm happy to sit in the Rice section this year.

(09-04-2014 12:16 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(09-01-2014 09:42 PM)CrabCake Wrote:  It's great to see so many people notice opportunities for improvement for the next athletic event involving a chance for alumni engagement. But wouldn't it make more sense for people to direct their thoughts/comments to those who can make changes rather than just post them in this forum? I'm sure the athletic office (713-348-4077 or athl@rice.edu) and the alumni office (713-348-4057 or alumni@rice.edu) would love to hear from you!

Great idea!
Barney and greyowl, please let us know how your conversations go. Thanks!

Still waiting to hear back.....

For any of you interested, a response:

1. The athletic department feels it has to accept what the home team offers us in terms of tickets. In the case of the ND game, that was two (or three) separate blocks of tickets, instead of one. (I wonder if that actually was ND's plan from the beginning, or whether we simply asked for too few initially, and then had to ask for more later...?)
2. The problem with all the ND fans in our sections is simply that ND fans bought tickets through the Rice office. This may be well understood already by many of you, but it wouldn't have dawned on me before. At places like ND and A&M, there may be such high demand that their fans routinely seek tickets from the opponents' block. Our athletic department tries to limit this effect by offering the initial block only to donors and Owl Club members. The fact that there were so many ND fans even within THIS block suggests to me that many Rice donors may have either scalped their tickets or given them away to ND friends?
3. At common away events in all other sports, Rice fans may not simply know better, or don't bother, to order tickets through the Rice office. A campaign to better inform Rice alumni in this regard might help.

Well, at least I'm assured that the Athletic Dept is aware of this problem.

On the flip side, I will say that the ND fans around me were extremely courteous and friendly.

(09-09-2014 12:51 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  On the flip side, I will say that the ND fans around me were extremely courteous and friendly.

And most importantly, they didn't have cowbells.

(09-09-2014 12:51 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  On the flip side, I will say that the ND fans around me were extremely courteous and friendly.

They certainly were. And curious, too. One nearby ND fan commented on the number of Rice players that jogged to the end zone and had a personal moment before the game and at the half. She said that they had never seen players from any other team do that.