Are ISU fans at their wits end when it comes to supporting Iowa State?

[cyfan92]

Inflation is killing our family budget. Especially after our 3rd child was born this spring...

We had fun at one tailgate this year but cannot really afford much else.. I need a meaningful raise before Cyclone athletics gets more of my budget

 

[NWICY]

I have tickets to the game, but unfortunately since it is a night game I won't be attending because we have our racing championships that night. I was hoping for an 11 AM kickoff so I could have done both. But racing takes priority because there is money on the line.

Well if you bet enough on the game, that works to.
Good luck this weekend.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

The team has not won enough in the past to get more than the hard core fans to go to games and support the team. Start having 8/10 win seasons for a decade or more and you are going to see people getting on the bandwagon and sellouts happening more often.

Throw in the fact, money is tight for a lot of people and the prices for tickets, parking and tailgating go up every year, and a lot of people are fine going to a game or two and watch the rest on the new 65-83 inch LD TV at home. Cheaper drinks and no lines at the bathroom, invite some friends over and its almost as good as being at the game without the hassle.

 

[cycloner29]

I'm just not into college football as much anymore with the NIL bs and conference realignment. The only time I'll go anymore is when i get free tickets to the K-State game.

Sporting events in general are also pricing out the average fan. I'd rather stay home and watch for free.

I bet you are a blast at parties! Spoken like a hawk fan. Talk tough on a message board, yet too cheap to go to any games. No wonder you are NoCreativity. Keep enjoying life in mom and dad's basement.

 

[KnappShack]

It’s not just ISU, it’s everyone asking for money.

We love to go to games and have cheap seats at top of stadium. Also park for free on campus. Not sure since we are old how long we can do that. Also pay into Cyclone Club.

Get junk asking us to give to ISU in our will. Yeah whatever pittance is left will go to the five sons. I would like to just contribute to university as a whole in some way similar to Cyclone Club so should investigate that. We did help four sons get five ISU degrees.

On Monday, we had 17 pieces of mail. One was the water bill, the other 16 were various causes asking for money. We have only ever given money to one of the junk mail causes, a memorial gift to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

Somehow CF makes you feel like a bad fan if you are not paying for a suite, parking, NIL, premium CF, only eat We Will pizza and beer, and don’t have the Athletic Department as the sole beneficiary in your will. Add in the endless charitable causes that fill a full paper recycling bag of crap every day and it is somewhat overwhelming.

*hugs*

*looks into your eyes*

YOU are a good fan

 

[CascadeClone]

I have 2 kids under 6 and an enlarged prostate.

I'm not in a spot to donate anything.

Sperm?

 

[awd4cy]

A few things I think are killing it.

1. Realignment. Our home schedule really stinks this year. Season ticket sales were down and that makes it harder to also fill up the rest of the seats with single game tickets. When the premier ticket is Kansas State after thanksgiving, that doesn’t excite people.

2. Economy. People are really feeling it and money isn’t going as far today. I think people are tightening on what they are spending on. When the cost of everything keeps skyrocketing and the price of Iowa State football tickets also goes up, it’s an easy choice to cut out.

3. Convenience. I know this is a big thing for me. Used to go to games all the time. Don’t care as much anymore cause I’ve found it’s just easier watching on tv and doesn’t take away my entire Saturday. Plus I sometimes don’t catch the entire games anymore cause 4+ hours seems like the norm anymore and they keep doing things to make actual football time played shorter and commercials longer.

 

[ISULibrarian]

I mean, I would like to go to the game this weekend, but just like everyone else, life happens. I have a good friend's 40th birthday party, and there's a conflict. Nevermind the cost, as everyone has noted. My husband enjoys tailgating, but he's not an ISU grad and he doesn't care that much about football in general. He also works every third weekend, so season tickets never make sense for us. And we have three kids, so unless we can get grandparents to watch them, it's either paying an obscene amount for a babysitter, or a more obscene amount to have the kids attend while barely enjoying the game, because they are ages 7 and under. He'll go once or twice a season with me when he's available, but it's not a priority. And when we are paying out the nose for tickets? Forget about it. We are going to KC for the KU game, and that's our game this year.

 

[awd4cy]

I can't imagine any ISU fan who had season tickets for decades decided to stop going because they want to support NIL instead.

I'm sure quite a few don't support NIL to a great extent because they already spend a lot on tickets. That makes total sense.

I remember in Mac's early years when we had a way smaller stadium capacity and needed freaking UNI to help get a sellout. This week's panic is really overblown.

The only real threat to ISU's football fandom at this point is the collapse of college football as a whole because of what the Big Ten is trying to do. All of college football could become a weakened minor league sport of 20-40 teams at some point and then everybody on the outside would see support more like FCS football. There's not some future where there are 50-60 thriving college football fan bases and ISU is not one of them, there is a potential future where only 20-25 fan bases care and ISU isn't one of them because they were squeezed out, then at some point even those 20-25 lose popularity because they've turned themselves a minor league sports and practically no sports fans nationwide are alumni or have local connection to so few programs.

We really need to get to a point where we get back to more regional rivalries. Playing Houston, UCF, Cincinnati every week just isn’t going to generate the same excitement as it was when we were playing Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma type teams every week. I have to think many other schools are facing this too. Can’t imagine deep down Nebraska fans would rather have Rutgers, Maryland, Northwestern and UCLA come to town than the old days of having Oklahoma, Kansas State, Missouri, etc.

 

[Clonefan32]

It's just a cost/benefit analysis for me. The all-in cost of taking my family of 6 would be somewhere around $600-700. There just isn't that much value in going when I can watch it from the comfort of my home.

 

[ISU_Guy]

I think this is why you are seeing really nice new stadiums being built with less capacities. other than a handful of schools, or game when there is a marquee match up, its hard to fill a stadium anymore for reasons mentioned above.
i really like the point about regional rivalries also. killing some of these leagues, visitor travel now.

I am getting older now, but there is something really nice to watching the game with just a couple of people in a man cave with 4 other games going on and multiple screens.

on a side note, some of us should get a ISU purple heart for some of the garbage we sat through in the 90's. Maybe that is why I am the way I am. Ha!
27 ISU wins in the 90s......

 

[CYdTracked]

It is getting more expensive to attend in all aspects so just like a lot of professional sports teams have seen declines in attendance over the years eventually you are going to out-price some college fans as well. I have season tickets to both FB and MBB and attend some WBB games when I can but I also am not paying for the better seats either. We try to get the best seats we can without being a donor to NCC which limits what sections we can get tickets in and even those non-donor sections have been gradually creeping up in price lately. I love going to games, I rarely miss home games I have season tickets to but I also have 2 kids in activities that is making it harder to juggle not missing their stuff and going to a game too. My priority is not having the best seats or allotting X amount of dollars towards ISU Athletics as it's only entertainment that I don't really get a return on investment on other than the roller coaster of emotions that comes with being an ISU fan and the gameday expiriences.

Just like professional sports I think with all the added costs and money being asked of the average fan there will be a price point where you will see certain people draw a line and stop buying season tickets or attending games. I'm glad there are fans out there willing to pay for premium seating, donate to the higher levels of the NCC, and donate to the collective to help keep ISU athletics competitive. I'm never going to tell someone how to spend their money and we all have different views on what we spend our money on. For me, I will support athletics in my own way even if that is at a much lower financial level than others, but I have other priorities in life that my hard earned money can go towards like saving for my kids education, saving for retirement, and paying down debt that comes before putting more dollars towards other things that I mostly get entertainment value from.

 

[Saul_T]

There's a real reason that TV rights are what is driving college sports right now and in my opinion the fans and the athletic departments are to blame. AD's are getting greedy with ticket prices while every single game is available to watch or stream on a device. If I can stay home and watch my team and not pay +$500 just to take my family to a live football game, I'm going to do it.

 

[ClubCy]

If people think this years home slate stinks do not look at next years.

 

[ZorkClone]

If people think this years home slate stinks do not look at next years.

At least we have Iowa. I think people can get excited about BYU and Kansas(TBD) and Arizona and ASU are at least legit P5 schools unlike UCF and Cincinnati.

Edit: 2026 actually seems like a banger of a year on the Big12 home slate Cincinnati, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Utah, West Virginia

 

[Cyclonsin]

At least we have Iowa. I think people can get excited about BYU and Kansas(TBD) and Arizona and ASU are at least legit P5 schools unlike UCF and Cincinnati.

Agreed. I think I would be more excited about those conference home games than this year's.

Although my football budget for next season is being devoted to Dublin, anyway.

 

[awd4cy]

If people think this years home slate stinks do not look at next years.

I just did. Looks quite a bit better.

 

[2speedy1]

With the cost of living going up, they mostly just priced me out of it.

My season ticket value no longer was worth it. I can buy tickets to games in similar seats for a lot less then what I was paying for tickets plus donations. There just wasnt enough incentive to continue my season tickets, not enough value in the end.

Not to mention kids getting more and more involved with activities that are always on weekends. So in turn I can spend a fraction on tickets to a few games when I am able and use the money saved to go on vacation or to a bowl game etc.

I have posted on here before, ISU has some of the highest ticket prices and donor requirements in the conference and really in all CFB. I know there are reasons for this, but it also is hurting our numbers, especially when people have less and less to spend on entertainment etc.

Everyone and everything wants money. Give to the Cyclone club, Gridiron club, Alumni Association, NIL's Now plural, and that is just ISU, if you have kids in school or activities or involved in anything in your town or life they all want money. Dont forget to subscribe to 15 different streaming services and stand alone channels, and lets not forget to subscribe to a credit monitor because everyone releases your personal info every other minute. Not to mention paying double for your insurance and taxes and groceries and on and on.

At some point people have to decide where to give or not to give and what is worth paying for and what is not.

Unfortunately, ISU just priced themselves out of it for me, at least currently, I hope to come back to season tickets in the future but it just didnt pencil out for me this year anymore.

 

[Gunnerclone]

We really need to get to a point where we get back to more regional rivalries. Playing Houston, UCF, Cincinnati every week just isn’t going to generate the same excitement as it was when we were playing Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma type teams every week. I have to think many other schools are facing this too. Can’t imagine deep down Nebraska fans would rather have Rutgers, Maryland, Northwestern and UCLA come to town than the old days of having Oklahoma, Kansas State, Missouri, etc.

There’s the regional aspect with these new schools but also the aspect that they were G5 like two years ago. It’s just not the same as playing against peers. And I say this fully understanding we don’t have a good history, but we’ve always been at the top level.

 

[isufbcurt]

Well if you bet enough on the game, that works to.
Good luck this weekend.

LOL but I don't bet on sports.