Topic: Do Herd Football Fans Owe An Apology To Herd Seniors?

[herdgadfly]

The comment about whining about reseating is unfair to fans who have had their seats for a decade or so, only to have the powers-that-be decide that first dibs don't apply anymore. I would be thoroughly pissed if it happened to me.

But this whole subject of attendance problems is common everywhere. Seat prices are rising to cover stadium building and maintenance costs, higher scholarship costs and the new greed emanating from the larger bowl championship conferences.

[lexkyherdfan]

Some thoughts/questions.  Wonder how much of that $120 million UK spent on football stadium upgrades came from giant food retailer, Kroger, since the University changed the stadium name from Commonwealth to Kroger Field?

Also, since VA Tech has had a quarter century of continuous bowl appearances and overall football success going back to fairly early in Frank Beamer's coaching tenure, its natural to assume some drop off in their attendance given this season's disappointing record and performance.  Believe if they beat UVA and the Herd game is played, there will be a pretty good crowd in Lane Stadium, absent some totally freakish winter weather event!!!

Kroger paid to name the field after all the work was done at UK. Whatever it was they paid is a drop in the bucket compared to the fund raising they done.  The stadium wasn’t all that has been renovated.  Go look at what they did for a practice field.  Also take a look at their new baseball stadium and soccer and softball complexes.

Kroger gave some money but P5 and TV money along with donations built those facilities. UK has plenty of alumni that donate money.  I can also promise you there are MU alumni that have plenty of money that don’t donate to Marshall.  And I know this because I personally have worked on getting them as donors. Marshall to them was a final path to where they are now and UK was their undergrad and hometown/home state school so their money goes there.

[MarshallGrad]

The whole "players deserve better" never set well with me. The players deserve the scholarship they are playing for. The love of the game is, I would hope and expect, the motivating factor in their playing. The paying customer in the form of a fan doesn't owe any player, senior or not, to show up out of some sense of obligation to a student that is already getting what he was promised.

If you want to start legitimizing the expectations of a player relative to paying fans obligations to show up, then you have to offer the fan the same consideration about the expectations over whether their money is respected by the program, team, coaches, and players. Fans don't owe players anything, senior day or not. I am a fan of anything Marshall. I provide my financial support to show that fan dedication.  I root for no other University.

I say to players and coaches, play the game, appreciate the scholarship/salaries to do what you love, use the opportunity given to display your talents, appreciate the fans that do pay to watch.....because they don't have to be there. Give them a reason to want to buy a ticket and then drop the "players deserve" nonsense. These aren't servicemen coming back from a tour of duty. It's a game.

[svherd]

The whole "players deserve better" never set well with me. The players deserve the scholarship they are playing for. The love of the game is, I would hope and expect, the motivating factor in their playing. The paying customer in the form of a fan doesn't owe any player, senior or not, to show up out of some sense of obligation to a student that is already getting what he was promised.

If you want to start legitimizing the expectations of a player relative to paying fans obligations to show up, then you have to offer the fan the same consideration about the expectations over whether their money is respected by the program, team, coaches, and players. Fans don't owe players anything, senior day or not. I am a fan of anything Marshall. I provide my financial support to show that fan dedication.  I root for no other University.

I say to players and coaches, play the game, appreciate the scholarship/salaries to do what you love, use the opportunity given to display your talents, appreciate the fans that do pay to watch.....because they don't have to be there. Give them a reason to want to buy a ticket and then drop the "players deserve" nonsense. These aren't servicemen coming back from a tour of duty. It's a game.

Well said.

[herdorbust]

The whole "players deserve better" never set well with me. The players deserve the scholarship they are playing for. The love of the game is, I would hope and expect, the motivating factor in their playing. The paying customer in the form of a fan doesn't owe any player, senior or not, to show up out of some sense of obligation to a student that is already getting what he was promised.

If you want to start legitimizing the expectations of a player relative to paying fans obligations to show up, then you have to offer the fan the same consideration about the expectations over whether their money is respected by the program, team, coaches, and players. Fans don't owe players anything, senior day or not. I am a fan of anything Marshall. I provide my financial support to show that fan dedication.  I root for no other University.

I say to players and coaches, play the game, appreciate the scholarship/salaries to do what you love, use the opportunity given to display your talents, appreciate the fans that do pay to watch.....because they don't have to be there. Give them a reason to want to buy a ticket and then drop the "players deserve" nonsense. These aren't servicemen coming back from a tour of duty. It's a game.

Great post!!!

[The Right Stuff]

Hey champ why don't you just quit going to the games if you hate everything that much.

TRS
MU 71

[coalherd]

Kroger paid to name the field after all the work was done at UK. Whatever it was they paid is a drop in the bucket compared to the fund raising they done.  The stadium wasn’t all that has been renovated.  Go look at what they did for a practice field.  Also take a look at their new baseball stadium and soccer and softball complexes.

Kroger gave some money but P5 and TV money along with donations built those facilities. UK has plenty of alumni that donate money.  I can also promise you there are MU alumni that have plenty of money that don’t donate to Marshall.  And I know this because I personally have worked on getting them as donors. Marshall to them was a final path to where they are now and UK was their undergrad and hometown/home state school so their money goes there.

lexkyherdfan, you have to realize the differences between Lexington/Central KY and Huntington/Tri-State.  One is growing and fairly prosperous overall and the other is stagnant and declining.  UK has hundreds of graduates/alumni who stay in that area, start their families, become vested in the community and STAY involved with UK.  Thus that school has an ever growing alumni/fan base who are vested in and interested in the school, settled in the area, and are economically prosperous enough to be able to support UK financially.

MU, on the other hand, has a relatively smaller number of grads who annually stay in the greater Huntington area, due to the obvious lack of economic opportunities, i.e., good, well paying jobs, and, therefore, out of necessity scatter to the 4 winds to find their place in society.  Over time, many/most of these grads lose contact and interest in MU as they settled into their lives, jobs and families elsewhere.  The ties to MU grow weaker and more distant and, naturally, the inclination to support MU wanes.  Explains why, in large part, the number of MU alumni who contribute to the school is several percentage points lower than the national average percentage of alums who support their respective alma maters.

[elginherd]

lexkyherdfan, you have to realize the differences between Lexington/Central KY and Huntington/Tri-State.  One is growing and fairly prosperous overall and the other is stagnant and declining.  UK has hundreds of graduates/alumni who stay in that area, start their families, become vested in the community and STAY involved with UK.  Thus that school has an ever growing alumni/fan base who are vested in and interested in the school, settled in the area, and are economically prosperous enough to be able to support UK financially.

MU, on the other hand, has a relatively smaller number of grads who annually stay in the greater Huntington area, due to the obvious lack of economic opportunities, i.e., good, well paying jobs, and, therefore, out of necessity scatter to the 4 winds to find their place in society.  Over time, many/most of these grads lose contact and interest in MU as they settled into their lives, jobs and families elsewhere.  The ties to MU grow weaker and more distant and, naturally, the inclination to support MU wanes.  Explains why, in large part, the number of MU alumni who contribute to the school is several percentage points lower than the national average percentage of alums who support their respective alma maters.

And what I highlighted contributes to the relatively low numbers of higher ed grads living here compared to the total remaining population.

My wife, my then baby daughter & I were somewhat at the start of this trend when we left back in 1983 and didn't move back until 34 years later.  Of the guys and girls that I ran with at Fairland, exactly none of them remain in this area. Neither of my brothers (FHS) lived here past the age of 18. Of my 2 daughters' 11 first cousins, exactly one lives in the area.