Empty seats at Lynah

[Dunc]

it is a good question on where all the students were in section A sold or not.  Its not like it was randomly empty.

To be fair I'm guessing the student section was 50% attendance across B and A and then the ppl sitting in A moved over to B open seats (this happens often)

But yes, I can confirm A and B student seats were sold out

[Dunc]

And the two service dogs. Don't forget the service dogs.

Was anyone else worried for the dogs' welfare, being so close to the band? I googled it, and anything above 85 decibels can damage a dog's hearing. In Section M the band was regularly at 87- 89 decibels pregame, according to an app on my phone. I have to think in Section A they would be significantly louder.

One of the two service dogs I was worried about: (photo by Ned Dykes)

Could you tell if they got their "Service Dog" uniforms on FleaBay or were they the Amazon variety?

I took the attached photo between periods. Guessing those are legit service dogs in training, which makes my concern for their hearing even more of an issue, as a volunteer training a service dog should know better.

Yeah that's concerning - definitely too loud there with the band

[upprdeck]

it is a good question on where all the students were in section A sold or not.  Its not like it was randomly empty.

To be fair I'm guessing the student section was 50% attendance across B and A and then the ppl sitting in A moved over to B open seats (this happens often)

But yes, I can confirm A and B student seats were sold out

and its good that it was but that also means like 500 kids didnt show up who bought tickets.. That never happened even 10 yrs ago,

[David Harding]

That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day."  In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked.  Supply and demand.  Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck.  Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall correctly, but the coupon was good for a discount.  Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

From 1968, when I entered Cornell, well into the 1970's, a coupon from the CUAA book would get you into a game if you arrived early enough.  Freshman year I did standing room for every game.  If you wanted season tickets you paid extra after waiting in line for several days, which I did with a group for the next few years.  I don't remember paying extra for football, just having to exchange my coupon for a ticket for each game.

[nshapiro]

That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day."  In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked.  Supply and demand.  Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck.  Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount.  Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

Yes, Yes Yes!
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan.  As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today.  I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

Cornell has figured this out with admissions, where they take a relatively large percentage of ED candidates partly because they want a student body that is happy to be there, rather than kids who didn't get in to HYP.

[Trotsky]

That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day."  In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked.  Supply and demand.  Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck.  Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount.  Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

Yes, Yes Yes!
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan.  As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today.  I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan.  As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today.  I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

Correct.

We also built relationships (ahem, but hockey also) on that overnight.  We met people and because we were in similar positions in the line we formed blocs, and so you had ready-made friend groups going into ticket selection, and those carried over into games.  Even the cheating, where one frat turd would somehow turn into 20 brothers 4 minutes before the door opened, meant there were blocs of comrades in arms.  This all helped with the coordination of cheers, and the encouragement of creativity which has been the single greatest casualty of the change.

[BearLover]

That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day."  In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked.  Supply and demand.  Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck.  Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount.  Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

Yes, Yes Yes!
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan.  As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today.  I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

Cornell has figured this out with admissions, where they take a relatively large percentage of ED candidates partly because they want a student body that is happy to be there, rather than kids who didn't get in to HYP.

Cost of tickets ($250?) isn't trivial for most college students. Most of the rich kids for whom that amount is trivial join frats and sororities, i.e. they're busy with other things on Friday and Saturday nights. Lynah should be more financially accessible to the average student, IMO. And while sure, having to camp out for tickets does build devotion in an ideal world, this is unfortunately not the world we live in anymore. The demand for tickets is nowhere near the level necessary for kids to have to camp out. Until Lynah student seats are selling out, the goal should not be building devotion among the small number of committed hockey fans for whom the season ticket price is trivial. Rather, the goal should be to get more students in the door so demand trends up again.

[Dunc]

That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day."  In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked.  Supply and demand.  Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck.  Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount.  Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

Yes, Yes Yes!
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan.  As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today.  I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

Cornell has figured this out with admissions, where they take a relatively large percentage of ED candidates partly because they want a student body that is happy to be there, rather than kids who didn't get in to HYP.

Cost of tickets ($250?) isn't trivial for most college students. Most of the rich kids for whom that amount is trivial join frats and sororities, i.e. they're busy with other things on Friday and Saturday nights. Lynah should be more financially accessible to the average student, IMO. And while sure, having to camp out for tickets does build devotion in an ideal world, this is unfortunately not the world we live in anymore. The demand for tickets is nowhere near the level necessary for kids to have to camp out. Until Lynah student seats are selling out, the goal should not be building devotion among the small number of committed hockey fans for whom the season ticket price is trivial. Rather, the goal should be to get more students in the door so demand trends up again.

[Trotsky]

There are 16k undergrads now.  I swear in the early 80s it was 12k.  I'm surprised hockey hasn't been able to hold onto its status as a golden ticket, given limited supply (the Fenway Effect).  The additional seating may have absorbed some of that increase.

I suppose the strong attendance in the 60s and 70s can be ascribed to being a national contender, and the 80s as a Miracle By-product.  

So presumably the thing to do is to become a perennial national contender again.  Purely for attendance purposes, you understand.

[Dunc]

The demand for tickets is nowhere near the level necessary for kids to have to camp out.

I agree with basically everything you said, especially that prices should be more accessible to all students. However, in regards to camping out, it really was not that long ago where this was still required for the dedicated students to get good tickets they wanted - my sister was here from 2013-2017 and I remember her camping out for tickets every year (except maybe the last iirc? Which I think is when they changed to online or a diff system?)

Perhaps it wasn't as intensive of a "camp out" as a while ago where if you weren't in line you wouldn't get a ticket at all, but it definitely was still important to get in line early in order to secure good seats in the section you wanted (B)...

The reason I bring this up is because there is certainly an equivalent of this "camping out" for todays setup that is perhaps equally if not more painful lol... since tickets release on the site at a random time on a set day, all of the most faithful students spend the entire day reloading the page waiting for the drop. (Our equivalent of a line). In my opinion this is the modern equivalent to standing outside in a line among fellow faithful, but I do have to say standing in a line sounds much more enjoyable as it obviously allows you to build more rapport among the community - but people still buy tickets with others in blocks so I don't think this new method detracts from that.

Meanwhile most casual faithful end up only securing their season tickets once they see the announcement on big red tix or Cornell men's hockey social media that the tickets have dropped - by the time they make social media posts a large majority of B is taken and the better seats in the other sections are taken

So I guess my point is I think there would be enough interest in season tickets for people to camp out (or at least in a similar fashion to what "camping out" meant in 2013-17), but I think the larger issue just falls in the fact that yes season ticket prices are higher than most casual fans would be interested in - and that's what's limiting the "camping out" for season tickets to be at the same level of farther in the past

Another factor is Covid and the fact we were limiting like 1/4 attendance in student sections for the majority of 21/22 season... which was the right decision for safety but definitely hurt student interest since that right there greatly limits the amount of students who *even can* be interested

[BearLover]

There are 16k undergrads now.  I swear in the early 80s it was 12k.  I'm surprised hockey hasn't been able to hold onto its status as a golden ticket, given limited supply (the Fenway Effect).  The additional seating may have absorbed some of that increase.

I suppose the strong attendance in the 60s and 70s can be ascribed to being a national contender, and the 80s as a Miracle By-product.  

So presumably the thing to do is to become a perennial national contender again.  Purely for attendance purposes, you understand.

Cornell has been a perennial national contender for many years now. Particularly in the past six seasons, Cornell has made the NCAAs 5 out of 6 times, getting a 1-seed twice. In multiple different seasons we've been ranked #1 in the country. Clearly team success is not high on the list of variables affecting attendance.

As for camping out, I think people have in mind literally camping out overnight with tents. When I was a student in the early 2010s, there was nothing like that anymore. I remember there being some kind of online lottery with preference to prior season ticket holders and then waiting on line at Bartels for like 30 minutes before we could select tickets. I was able to get really good seats all four years without much hassle at all.

[Trotsky]

So presumably the thing to do is to become a perennial national contender again.  Purely for attendance purposes, you understand.

Cornell has been a perennial national contender for many years now. Particularly in the past six seasons, Cornell has made the NCAAs 5 out of 6 times, getting a 1-seed twice. In multiple different seasons we've been ranked #1 in the country.

I was more thinking 1 seed every year for 20 years in a row, to test the thesis.

[upprdeck]

Cornell is just dealing with the same attendance issues almost all sports are.  Why the students have decided to go elsewhere is the bigger issue.  Its not like they didnt sell the tickets the kids just dont show up consistently any more.

[Trotsky]

Maybe sports generally are losing their appeal.

Living in the limelight, the universal dream
For those who wish to see;
Those who wish to be, must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation, the underlying theme

Maybe the little bastids prefer to actually live.

[arugula]

How was attendance in 19-20?  That should be the realistic goal. Everything since is upside down and then the chain of tradition was broken by the lost season followed by the semi attendance season.