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Offseason Chat: What could make Hard Rock Stadium Better?

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BilltheCane said:
It starts with filling the place in my opinion. Find ways for folks to get in and out more easily (More Uber options, etc). Super discounted seats for high-schools and youth leagues. Close out the upper deck if attendance is expected to be low. Much more creative thinking on pricing and packaging. I’ve been just a few times, but I recall the best seats (Gold Club?) are oversized, luxury, bright colored, expensive and, therefore, often empty—it’s a lose/lose (and a bad look). Maybe there’s a way to offer standby options for those seats until the ticket holders show, stay if they don’t. They should never go unoccupied. Lower deck seats in general should be thought of like first class seats on an airplane—never empty, and if unused, an upgrade or benefit to the customer you care most about.
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Sporting events are about generating revenue. The reason Hard Rock has specific premium seating areas that are often not full is because they make an enormous amount of money on those seats. Even if the people who own them spend most of the game at the club level bar. Just allowing anyone with a $5 ticket to move and sit in premium seats would eliminate anyone actually paying for them. If you look at college stadiums that are undergoing renovations, many of them are adding similar premium seating areas. Doak Campbell Stadium is doing that exact same thing because those seats generate way more money than cheap bleachers.

As for closing off certain sections or using tarps to cover seats, they can’t do that either. The team annually sells 40-50 thousand season tickets. Many of them are in the cheap seats. It’s just that many fans buy season tickets just to go to the handful of “premium” games and leave those seats unused for games against weak opponents. The team has no idea in advance which “sold” seats are actually going to be used before the game starts.
 
canecrazy23 said:
No it won't. It will get some more people to come but we've always struggled with attendance when it's not a BIG Game.

I mean look at our 2001 NC team at the OB against Temple. There was like 25,000 people there. We had the West Endzone packed as always but the rest of the stadium looked empty.


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Agree. Miami is a big game draw.
But the Temple game was at the OB, so whether the games are held at JRS or near campus is never going to change that dynamic.

The 98 UCLA game is a prime example. #1 team in the country, but held when we weren’t winning. I was there, 46k in attendance.

Had the game been held in 2000-2003, it would have been a sellout.
 
1. People actually going to the games
2. Significantly better music. I’m sorry, but playing “oye morena, que buena estas” does not get our players, recruits, student body and more than half of our fan base hyped. And this is coming from someone who’s Cuban.
3. Light show / other entertainment during timeouts. Even during the FSU game last year, it felt like a morgue at times during the 3 minute breaks….which felt like they were happening one after another. Fans lose interest, energy is drained out of the stadium.
 
Winning cures this, but as pointed out who we play is the biggest determinant. The Notre Dame and Florida games will be sellouts. Can someone explain the issue with tailgating? Whats the problem?
 
This topic pops up every year on this forum and it is a complete waste of time. To paraphrase a Cuban saying, it is "mental *********ion". As someone else noted, local demographics is continually making this increasingly harder in a city that it is not a good sports (attending) town. One thing i would like to see more is getting more local kids at the games with their families, many of whom may not have disposable income, if not time, to regularly attend games. I remember taking local transportation to the games at the OB and seeing these type of folks all of the time. We could use more of this again at the HR but have no idea how this would be achievable. Otherwise, this topic is a waste of time.
 
404Usernamenotfound said:
bum tailgating rules? It’s the ******* Wild West during the tailgate for big games. What rules are you talking about

Also, we get to buy beer at the stadium during the game, which 99% of other schools can’t.
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I have legitimately seen strippers and piles of blow at Canes tailgates. There are no rules.
 
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Hello Nasty Dj GIF by Beastie Boys


A new ****** DJ. Whoever it currently is blows.
 
Cheaper beer
Change the DJ
Invest more in the band / increase band size
Give away tickets more to pop warner and the high schools
Have more former players/ former coaches on the sideline
Change the tailgating rules
Maybe do fireworks or something when they score
Tarp off the empty sections during smaller games
Drop the prices for food I seen other stadiums do this to attract more fans in the stadium
get rid of the fire towers and go with the Smoke and the Helmet like the old days
 
No one is sitting at their house saying "I would have purchased season tickets, but the house DJ sucks", nor are they worried about Don Bailey Jr, the Mario Cristobal of color commentators... "I would have driven down to see us get blown out vs MTSU, but the in game hype man wears white after Labor Day"...

The 2023 season went to zero atmosphere after GT because Mario stole a win from the team with a brain dead coaching decision.

If Mario and Joe are focused on the music, the team better have no weaknesses, be playing for a Natty and not in dogfights with ACC teams we have more talent than...
 
Many of us seem to be in agreement that hosting bigger event games will improve attendance. That's my main focus for a different conference if and when that happens. Were we in the SEC you would see a boom in attendance.

Big10 games would also see an improvement were we to host teams like Mich, USC, PSU, OSU and Neb. However, about half the conference has schools Miami fans DGAF about. NW, Minn, MD, etc.
 
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RF-4CCane said:
Agree. Miami is a big game draw.
But the Temple game was at the OB, so whether the games are held at JRS or near campus is never going to change that dynamic.

The 98 UCLA game is a prime example. #1 team in the country, but held when we weren’t winning. I was there, 46k in attendance.

Had the game been held in 2000-2003, it would have been a sellout.
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I was there as well. One of the hottest days ever at the OB. I was drenched after that game. LOL
 
DTP said:
Sporting events are about generating revenue. The reason Hard Rock has specific premium seating areas that are often not full is because they make an enormous amount of money on those seats. Even if the people who own them spend most of the game at the club level bar. Just allowing anyone with a $5 ticket to move and sit in premium seats would eliminate anyone actually paying for them. If you look at college stadiums that are undergoing renovations, many of them are adding similar premium seating areas. Doak Campbell Stadium is doing that exact same thing because those seats generate way more money than cheap bleachers.

As for closing off certain sections or using tarps to cover seats, they can’t do that either. The team annually sells 40-50 thousand season tickets. Many of them are in the cheap seats. It’s just that many fans buy season tickets just to go to the handful of “premium” games and leave those seats unused for games against weak opponents. The team has no idea in advance which “sold” seats are actually going to be used before the game starts.
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The profit motives are not lost on me. It’s a pricing strategy exercise, informed by math not opinion. I think you find a way to fill every premium seat, like any perishable good (plane tickets, hotel rooms, Christmas trees). It requires creativity, thinking outside the box—maybe you raffle them off to season ticket holders? Maybe there’s a loyalty program where you get points for showing up in the first quarter, earns you a free concession or prize. Whatever, it’s a suggestion to improve what is currently terrible optics and a lose/lose (no revenue for zero marginal cost seats despite plenty of demand.
 
RF-4CCane said:
Agree. Miami is a big game draw.
But the Temple game was at the OB, so whether the games are held at JRS or near campus is never going to change that dynamic.

The 98 UCLA game is a prime example. #1 team in the country, but held when we weren’t winning. I was there, 46k in attendance.

Had the game been held in 2000-2003, it would have been a sellout.
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IIRC UCLA was ranked 3rd behind Tennessee and K-State.
 
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