Author: David Shama

With the surprising Gophers (7-1) in an all-out blitz to qualify for a New Year’s Day bowl game for the first time since 1962, there will be monitoring not only of the team’s progress on the field but also at the box office.  As of Monday morning an athletic department official reported sales of about 45,000 for Saturday’s Homecoming game against Northwestern in the 64,172 seat Metrodome.  Advance sales for the two other remaining home games are 45,000 for Michigan and 54,000 for Iowa (and we know many of those attendees will be wearing gold and black, not maroon and gold).

These numbers may frustrate and mystify some but they shouldn’t.  The Gophers annual average attendances for 40 years have mostly been in the 40,000 to 50,000 range.  The only major breakthrough was the Lou Holtz era.  In his second and last season here, 1985, the Gophers averaged 60,985, the best home average since 1957. He left behind a season ticket holder base of more than 50,000 and the 1986 Gophers averaged 55,848, the third best mark in more than 40 years.

Hats off to coach Tim Brewster, the staff and Gopher players for an astounding turnaround from last season’s 1-11 performance.  The Gophers are playing winning football, featuring an exceptional turnover-causing defense, and surprising the college football world from Baudette to Bourbon Street.  It’s just that two months of the superb will not undo more than 40 years of problems.  Here’s a primer on why Gopher football attendance has been both mediocre and lousy all these years:

Ineptitude.  The Gophers haven’t won a Big Ten Conference championship since 1967.  During the last 20 years they have never finished second or third in the standings and only six times won half or more of their league games.  Glen Mason, who took the Gophers to seven bowl games between 1997 and 2006, was 32-48 in the Big Ten.  Jim (Geezo-Beezo) Wacker was 8 and 32 in conference games from 1992-1996.

Heartbroken.  In the last 10 years the Gophers frequently had fast starts to their seasons and then showdowns with quality conference opponents only to lose those games.  No defeat was worse than the 2003 loss to Michigan at home when the Gophers blew a 28-7 second half lead and lost 35-28 before a Friday night crowd of 62,374.  A lot of those fans weren’t Gopher regulars and many were boiling mad after seeing the U crumble at the end.  The next week the Gophers drew 38,788 at home against Michigan State.  Being a fan has a lot to do with hope and until this season the Gophers were often consistent in raising expectations, then not being able to deliver.

Purple factor.  No one at the U or over at Winter Park ever acknowledges it publicly, but pro football put a dent in Gopher interest in the 1960s and except for the Holtz years this has been a Vikings town for about 40 years.  There are more NFL fans than college fans here and across the country.  You can make a good argument that with all its tradition, color and variety, college football is a better product but the facts are that in towns where the pros and colleges collide for fan following, the NFL almost always comes out ahead.  Just ask the folks at Miami University where the Hurricanes have for more than 20 years been among the elite of college football but frequently play to non-sellout crowds while the fans turn out in bigger numbers to watch the so-so Dolphins.

Generations lost.  Minnesotans in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s have grown up with little or no interest in the Gophers.  Even alums in those age groups are likely to have passed through Dinkytown without a strong connection to Gopher football.  There are a lot of gray haired folks at Minnesota football games, people who grew up with the tradition of following the program. 

Season tickets.  The Gopher public season ticket sales are about 32,500 for this season.  The student sale a dismal 6,500 among a student population of over 50,000.  When you start each game with a base of 39,000 tickets, it leaves a long distance to reach a 64,000 seat sellout.

Front runner town.  Tough to say it about your home turf, but fans are quick to bail on the local teams.  Start with the Minneapolis Lakers who a few years after they had won the last of their five NBA titles left town because of poor attendance and need for a better playing facility.  The Gopher football team couldn’t even fill its stadium in the late 1960s after winning a national championship in 1960 and the Big Ten title in 1967.  The North Stars left town in 1993 after season ticket sales and overall attendance had failed dramatically after the glory years at the box office in the 1960s and 1970s.  The Twins, who won the World Series in 1987 and 1991, weren’t exactly the toast of the town in the later 1990s when annual attendance dropped to the 1 million to 1.5 million ranges and contraction loomed.  The Wolves were a hot ticket when they went to the Western Conference finals in 2004 but a playoff drought since has shown how indifferent the public can be.  Even the Vikings, by far the most bullet proof to the fickled fandom, have seen ticket sales soften following 6-10 and 8-8 seasons.  The Wild will likely see a fallout of support, too, if Marian Gaborik leaves town and the team begins to lose.

Not hopeless.  The Holtz years and occasional big crowds since indicate the Gophers could significantly create a larger fan base if they were to capture the public’s attention in a credible way.  Holtz wasn’t here long enough to win a lot of games (10 in two years) but he was perceived as a winner.  Brewster doesn’t have Holtz’s proven resume so he must do it all on the field.  Give the Gophers two or three consecutive years of New Year’s Day bowl games and watch the fan interest soar.

Next year the Gophers give up about 14,000 seats to move into the 50,000 capacity new TCF Bank Stadium.  Because of smaller capacity and increased season ticket sales, sellouts for all home games are expected before the first game on September 12.  The stadium is built for expansion and the state has the ticket buying potential to one day demand just that.

As of late yesterday afternoon there were about 2,000 tickets remaining for Sunday’s Vikings-Houston game at the Metrodome, according to an e-mail from a club executive. Fans can purchase tickets via Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com, or by visiting the tickets page on www.vikings.com.

The Texans (3-4) are 0-3 on the road this season, with losses to Pittsburgh, Tennessee and Jacksonville.   After losing their first four games of the season, the Texans have won three straight.

The Miami Dolphins have gained attention by running single wing plays this season.  The old-time formation hasn’t been popular since the 1940s and 1950s.  It was last used by the Gophers in 1953 and the Vikings, who began playing in 1961, never have run the single wing.

Former Gopher quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn, now the rookie head coach of the Redskins, has Washington off to a 6-2 start with running back Clinton Portis leading the NFL in rushing at 944 yards.  Ex-Bethel head coach Chris Meidt, who had no pro or college playing experience, is an assistant coach in his first season, too.

Former Vikings defensive end Erasmus James has played limited minutes with the Redskins, appearing in four games but has no tackles.  He’s listed at second team defensive end on the depth chart.

Ex-Gopher quarterback Marc Trestman, the St. Louis Park native, is in his first season as head coach of the Montreal Alouettes.  The team is in first place in the East Division of the Canadian Football League with a 12-5 record.  Former Cretin-Derham Hall coach Andy Bischoff is an assistant in Montreal.

Here’s an interesting quote on Washingtonpost.com from Virginia’s Marquis Weeks after returning a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown on September 11: “That was just instinct.  Kind of like running from the cops.”

Chris Coste, the 35-year-old Fargo native and catcher playing with Philadelphia in the World Series, is hitless so far in four at-bats as a designated batter.  He didn’t make the major leagues until he was 33-years-old.

Sporting News ranks 2009 Gopher basketball recruits Royce White of Hopkins and Rodney Williams of Cooper as the No. 30 and 32 best senior prospects in the country.  The magazine labeled Williams as the “best leaper” among the top 50 players.

Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom, who had a breakout season in 2006-07, is still probably among the NHL’s most underrated players.  He is tied for fifth in save percentage among NHL goalies at .932.  He is second in the league in wins with a 6-0 record.

The undefeated Wild (6-0-1) is at home tomorrow night against Montreal and fans are invited to wear costumes to celebrate Halloween.  Fans 14 and under have the opportunity to win prizes, and the “best-dressed” adult will be invited to do the “Let’s Play Hockey!” announcement before the game.  Kids can “trick or treat” with the Wild’s mascot, Nordy, and the top three winners of a best costume contest will be introduced during the first intermission.  The winner receives an autographed jersey.

The Wild are at Dallas tonight where the club record is 0-6-2 in the last eight games.

The Wolves, 6-2 in preseason, open their home and regular schedule tonight against a Sacramento team that was 1-7 in exhibition games.  The Kings, who traded star forward Ron Artest to Houston during the off-season, are led by guard Kevin Martin who averaged 20.7 in the pre-season, tops on the team.

Gopher senior guard Emily Fox was selected to the pre-season all-Big Ten team by media and the conference coaches.  Fox was all-Big Ten last season after she finished fourth in scoring averaging at 17.2 points per game, and had 4.50 assists per game (third in the Big Ten) and 2.89 steals (second in the conference).

Minnesota was projected to finish fourth in the Big Ten by the media, and fifth by the coaches.  Minnesota had a 20-12 overall record in 2007-08, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Gophers tied for third (with Purdue) in the conference standings at 11-7.