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

[AuH2O]

My dad was in the ag industry his whole career (but not a farmer). Definitely agree with this. Planting and harvesting season are definitely not a Monday-Friday endeavor.

Who said they were.

These have an impact on attendance, the point is that it gets thrown out year after year as if it is some unique problem to have people that have to work in fall Saturdays. Every college faces this in different sectors and industries.

 

[ISU_Guy]

I agree with much of what you said except for “ISU has virtually no chance”. ISU has its easiest and clearest path to the college football path it’s ever had. And that opportunity will continue well into the future.

Also disagree that people are getting tired of this era of college football. Ratings are WAY up over the last 2-3 years.

I do think it's crazy how Iowa State probably has the easiest path they will ever have to get to the 2nd round of the playoffs we may ever see and also to get rid of the 10-win jinx.. Not that it matters, but in-state rivals like Iowa may never see the 2nd round of the playoffs.

but at the same time, almost everyone who has watched ISU for the past 30-40 years has this mental glitch and knows that we will probably cough up the opportunity somehow. Lose to WVU, UCF, KU, etc.

I keep telling myself to just enjoy the ride, but my ISU glitch sometimes keeps me from doing that.

I agree with most things that are said earlier about money. one thing that I would add is the reason a lot of people don't have money is because its SOOO much easier to spend it now a days with technology. its like a dopamine hit for people to get an amazon package same day.

for example, I ordered food for the family last night through an App, Venmo'd someone and then ordered $150 worth of stuff on Amazon that will be here today and didn't even blink an eye about it.

That would have been a giant pain in the rear in 1993. Probably would have involved me using a lan line, having cash, checkbook, Sears Catalog and instead of next day shipping, would have been 4 weeks.

 

[twojman]

I'm going to enjoy this season...let's get a win Saturday and hope this team is mentally prepared for a tough road trip to WVU.

 

[TrailCy]

Thanks for the feedback! We are somewhat limited by our in stadium info as Iowa State’s corporate partner Learfield charges us $50,000 for the info we are able to share in the stadium (I.e. the signage on the scoreboard) and the pizza in the stadium. So any increased exposure costs US dollars that we want to allocate to players as Learfield controls the stadium advertising.

Iowa State should absolutely require WeWill to get in the stadium for cheaper in their next contract.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Iowa State should absolutely require WeWill to get in the stadium for cheaper in their next contract.

Should just cut Learfield out.

 

[AuH2O]

There is a huge inflow/outflow of ag products during certain times, like harvest.

As someone who spent decades working in or around the above facilities I guarantee they have a large increase in activity during harvest.

Not every farm has the capacity to store all the incoming grain and has to go to the above facilities, and all those facilities take all types of other workers and businesses to operate. Right now is one of the busiest times for grain shipments on railroads etc.

There is a lot of Iowa that everything still revolves around Ag. Everything.

You are right everything has an impact, some more than others, some are constant some hit highs during certain months like sept/oct. Some are starting to wind down at the same time. But saying the ag industry has little impact on game attendance in sept/oct at a place like ISU is just not correct.

It looks like we have about 150 tickets left to sell for a sell out. Are you saying there are not 150 ag workers not able to go to this game? My guess on a weekend like this there are a few thousand give or take that cant go because of ag work. That is not a huge impact, but it very well can be the difference in a sellout vs not.

Any place with storage capacity is going to have more activity, but having worked in the industry too grain receiving and storage operations are not labor intensive at all.
Of course farmers and support people working on a fall Saturday could be the difference in selling an extra 500 or 1000 tickets. But this is not some new thing, and you could say that about a bunch of sectors at every state where a bunch of people are working fall Saturdays.
This always gets thrown out like ISU is in some unique situation. It’s not. Millions of people work on fall Saturdays everywhere in the country and it keeps them from attending games.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Actually, I think a few people at least in here have given concise answers to why it is hard for some people.

I’ve heard reasons why things aren’t perfect.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

I’ve heard reasons why things aren’t perfect.

Translation: it's good for me so who cares?

 

[KnappShack]

The Great Recession was 15 years ago. Yet in this thread and the other thread I see multiple “this is the worst economy
In my lifetime!”. So that gets really old because some people really did lose
Everything during that time.

This is a “it FEELS really bad though” situation. And you ask and no one can say why they feel that way. Or they say Eggs are 2.49 they used to be 1.49!

I lost my job. All of my retirement savings. My wife. My dog even died.

I kept my home by only spending my tax return money for the entire year. This was to feed me. Keep the lights on. Entertainment. All of it.

It sucks when hard times hit, but I can't connect the dots when we had a Great Depression. Not within most of our lifetimes, but things have been pretty ugly before.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

I lost my job. All of my retirement savings. My wife. My dog even died.

I kept my home by only spending my tax return money for the entire year. This was to feed me. Keep the lights on. Entertainment. All of it.

It sucks when hard times hit, but I can't connect the dots when we had a Great Depression. Not within most of our lifetimes, but things have been pretty ugly before.

Aren't you the one talking about how you can't afford anything cause you're a geriatric father to a toddler?

 

[KnappShack]

Aren't you the one talking about how you can't afford anything cause you're a geriatric father to a toddler?

It's expensive to the point of being painful and many can't afford it, but choices were made. The point is our society needs to do a better job helping parents navigate daycare costs.

For me young kids means no trips to Italy and bulk purchases. I drive a beat up Ford and a 10 year old Toyota.

But this is much different than the Great Depression when 25% unemployment was a thing. These weren't 2 income homes for the most part. So almost 25% of households didn't have any income. I've been without food. I've been hungry. It sucks. Truly truly sucks. I've lived it and feel for anyone going through it. But in the big picture our economy doesn't compare to the Depression.

For us in 2024 it's unfathomable. Things can be tight without being the worst economy ever. I've never lived in an era where people say, "Goddam! Things are perfect right now! I got all the cash and ***** I'll ever need!"

Edit: geriatric??? Sonsabitches

 

[Gunnerclone]

Translation: it's good for me so who cares?

It’s not perfect for me, it’s not perfect for regular people, but what is different about that than pretty much any other time in my life? Nothing.

 

[Cydkar]

Yesterday on Williams and Blum, CW was questioning why the Baylor game wasn't sold out. He was wondering if fans are just tired of giving to ISU, NIL, We Will, sports etc.
If we are, why does every show have betting odds? We are paying the next guy for tailgate parking spots, they list about 5 to 6 lot per game. How do they get access to all the good parking spots? I called ISU and they told me I am allowed 1 with my ticket purchase. (You can buy a season ticket and get a parking spot for almost less than what you are paying tickets on the secondary market and this person's parking for 1 game). I see tickets listed for $50 at least above face value and more with Ticketmaster fees. So, why isn't Jack Trice sold out of their season ticket allotment?

I'm fine and so are my wits.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

It's expensive to the point of being painful and many can't afford it, but choices were made. The point is our society needs to do a better job helping parents navigate daycare costs.

For me young kids means no trips to Italy and bulk purchases. I drive a beat up Ford and a 10 year old Toyota.

But this is much different than the Great Depression when 25% unemployment was a thing. These weren't 2 income homes for the most part. So almost 25% of households didn't have any income. I've been without food. I've been hungry. It sucks. Truly truly sucks. I've lived it and feel for anyone going through it. But in the big picture our economy doesn't compare to the Depression.

For us in 2024 it's unfathomable. Things can be tight without being the worst economy ever. I've never lived in an era where people say, "Goddam! Things are perfect right now! I got all the cash and ***** I'll ever need!"

Edit: geriatric??? Sonsabitches

Who said anything about the great depression and today?

 

[3TrueFans]

I'm fine and so are my wits.

Nice wits.

 

[CycloneSpinning]

In my case... my own. Because in reality those are what matter to me and my family, my income, costs and overall budget.

How much has my income increased. Less than 3% per year the last couple years and expecting about the same for the next year. My wife's significantly less than that.

How much have my costs increased. Some things more than others, insurance, close to doubled, groceries double, taxes at least 50%, car loan rate several percent, which adds a lot per month, cost to eat out, about double, (fast food much more than sit down, in many cases) costs to travel hotels etc just guessing about 30-50% increase, costs for things like toiletries, car repairs, household items etc have all seen significant increases over the sub 3% per year rate of the CPI.

Sure my investments are up, but its not like I am pulling out those capitol gains, I am taking some dividends to cover some increases in costs currently though. And it is very dependant on the stock and sector, as some are not doing very well. But thanks to a few bangers my portfolio looks pretty good. And I believe I am probably in the minority with my investments and my house paid off.

That doesnt mean what I have budgeted for things like season tickets, donations and entertainment, etc has not been significantly decreased because of the current cost of living. What I have for those things is not infinite and when costs for necessary items goes up, it pulls directly from the unnecessary budget.

The CPI has a lot of flaws of which have been covered a lot by many financial sites etc like the one I posted above. It just doesnt do a good job of showing actual real cost of living increases and least not comprehensively, it has a lot of limits to what it actually shows. In reality you probably have to look at several indexes, to get an actual comprehensive look at the overall picture.

Ultimately while inflation has stabilized in the recent few months, most consumers are still trying to adjust to the inflation over the last few years. Its not like any of the products we regularly purchase will ever reduce their prices or increase their sizes to recover for shrinkflation.

This is a great response and very relatable for me. I also think when inflation hits, it’s very natural to take a look at things and reassess what you want to keep in your budget. Some things are cut because you don’t want to dip into savings. Other things are cut because you have a hard time mentally justifying the cost for such a thing. Maybe some day they come back into the budget…maybe they don’t. There’s certainly a psychological impact from inflation.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

It’s not perfect for me, it’s not perfect for regular people, but what is different about that than pretty much any other time in my life? Nothing.

And in the context of this thread that means ISU isn't getting enough money for NIL.

 

[ISULibrarian]

Who said anything about the great depression and today?

Thinking he misread the Great Recession as Great Depression.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Thinking he misread the Great Recession as Great Depression.

Only way that makes sense at all but Knapp is generally a thoughtful poster so I was going to give him the chance to respond before assuming as much.

 

[Big_Sill]

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.

Very well said.

I believe another significant factor observed in my age group / circle: Increased kids activities / sports. I know so many long time season ticket holders who gave them up due to kids sports. They just end up picking 2 or 3 football games to attend that work around kids activities schedules.

Has always been a factor, but activity schedules are increasingly demanding.