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Offseason Chat: What could make Hard Rock Stadium Better?

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mirvin88 said:
Hello Nasty Dj GIF by Beastie Boys


A new ****** DJ. Whoever it currently is blows.
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Per Brookylndee's post he actually does
 
First off if you compare the student body of miami to uf and fsu , we have less than half the students and over timethat leads to hundreds of thousands less alumni. Miami students are from all over the country and tend to go back after graduation ,where uf and fsu students are mostly from Florida and stay in Florida after graduation. Heck south Florida has more uf and fsu alumni than miami alumni and they aren't going to miami games. To top it off miami is not a blue collar city which support there sports team know matter what , and you will not change this know matter who the dj is
 
I will die on the Canes should come out to the smoke when the beat drops in Put On by Jeezy hill.

The DJ and emcee need to go. More rap, more of the tornado siren. Don't care about anything else.
 
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Pb cane said:
First off if you compare the student body of miami to uf and fsu , we have less than half the students and over timethat leads to hundreds of thousands less alumni. Miami students are from all over the country and tend to go back after graduation ,where uf and fsu students are mostly from Florida and stay in Florida after graduation. Heck south Florida has more uf and fsu alumni than miami alumni and they aren't going to miami games. To top it off miami is not a blue collar city which support there sports team know matter what , and you will not change this know matter who the dj is
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UF students don’t go to their games either. And when they do, they leave at halftime to go to their games either bars in Midtown. Believe me, I’ve been to plenty of very quiet and unattended games in Gainesville, starting in the Muschamp years.

But seriously, how many people here have actually been to those supposed great college towns for games? They are all having issues too. FSU and UF are both downsizing their stadiums because they don’t fill them (FSU’s will be the size of HRS!). Tailgating is boring and scattered across campuses when they aren’t centralized at a stadium or like at The Grove at Ole Miss. Nebraska fans are whining about the lie their boosters keep perpetuating with their sold-out stadium streak, that hasn’t actually been sold out in 20 years. Nick Saban called out Alabama fans for not going to games the last few years of his coaching career. Even the playoffs aren’t selling out.

We’re apparently just the only ones that seemingly get **** on for it. We were #25 in attendance in NCAA last year, despite being one of the smallest schools in D1 (I believe we are bottom 15 in undergrad population). Also, consider South Florida geography. We know a stadium in Coral Gables isn’t possible. But HRS is in a convenient location for those traveling from other locations. Do we really need somewhere closer to campus just for the students? I’m not sure.

When I look at attendance numbers, it seems that the way to improve is really just by improving the schedule and by having a competitive team. People show up for the good Miami teams playing good competition. They do not show up to see BCC or Wake Forest, and they do not show up when the team sucks. And this is nothing new; we know this was the same when we were in the OB. So yes, have a great DJ, make the Gameday experience what the fans want so they enjoy it and get their money’s worth…

But GTFO of the ACC and quit scheduling FCS schools,

And just win, baby.
 
Need to block off the top half of the end zones for the games with low attendance. Figure out an easy way to exchange tickets for other sections if season ticket holders have seats there
 
Everyone saying we are in the top xx% of attendance like I get it but that’s skewed. A more viable stat would be what % of the stadium is full? Minus our one big home game of the year id say we didn’t break 60%, actual butts in seats.
 
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caneingville said:
UF students don’t go to their games either. And when they do, they leave at halftime to go to their games either bars in Midtown. Believe me, I’ve been to plenty of very quiet and unattended games in Gainesville, starting in the Muschamp years.

But seriously, how many people here have actually been to those supposed great college towns for games? They are all having issues too. FSU and UF are both downsizing their stadiums because they don’t fill them (FSU’s will be the size of HRS!). Tailgating is boring and scattered across campuses when they aren’t centralized at a stadium or like at The Grove at Ole Miss. Nebraska fans are whining about the lie their boosters keep perpetuating with their sold-out stadium streak, that hasn’t actually been sold out in 20 years. Nick Saban called out Alabama fans for not going to games the last few years of his coaching career. Even the playoffs aren’t selling out.

We’re apparently just the only ones that seemingly get **** on for it. We were #25 in attendance in NCAA last year, despite being one of the smallest schools in D1 (I believe we are bottom 15 in undergrad population). Also, consider South Florida geography. We know a stadium in Coral Gables isn’t possible. But HRS is in a convenient location for those traveling from other locations. Do we really need somewhere closer to campus just for the students? I’m not sure.

When I look at attendance numbers, it seems that the way to improve is really just by improving the schedule and by having a competitive team. People show up for the good Miami teams playing good competition. They do not show up to see BCC or Wake Forest, and they do not show up when the team sucks. And this is nothing new; we know this was the same when we were in the OB. So yes, have a great DJ, make the Gameday experience what the fans want so they enjoy it and get their money’s worth…

But GTFO of the ACC and quit scheduling FCS schools,

And just win, baby.
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I think the people who cry about an on campus stadium have never actually been to a game at an on campus stadium.

Just getting in/out of campus on a game day is a nightmare. There’s no big parking lot outside the football stadium so that usually means you’re tailgating outside the arts and sciences building or other random spot that’s a half mile walk to the stadium.

Once you’re in, you sit on some rusty bleachers where the fat guy behind you keeps kneeing you in the back because your seat doesn’t have a back. The NCAA relaxed rules on selling alcohol so at least now you can get a beer at most colleges but for decades, you couldn’t. These stadiums are old. Even when they do renovations it’s usually just adding luxury boxes or another level of ****** bleachers. They don’t actually make the stadium experience better for a majority of the people there.

Miami’s attendance is what it is. Big games sell out. FCS teams get 40,000 or less. They could give away tickets to those games and the stadium would still have a bunch of empty seats. They actually do give away a ton of seats to youth football leagues for those games. Maybe they could go independent and just schedule a top 25 team every week and people would show up but that’s just not realistic.

I honestly don’t think there’s a way that they can expect 65,000 people to show up for non marquee games. We just don’t have the fanbase. Very few teams have the fans to sell out 80,000+ seats every week. We were 26th notionally in a year where the top home games were a 2-10 FSU team and 6-7 Virginia Tech. With Florida and Notre Dame on the schedule this year it should put us over 60,000 average for the first time since like 2002.
 
1. There are just too many commercials, video games on the Jumbotron, and constant cancer awareness segments that kill any momentum for fans to actually engage with the game.

2. The music is overdone. It ends up drowning out the crowd and makes it feel like we’re supposed to be quiet. And most of the music feels more like we’re at a club than a football game. What happened to the classics like the “Hey Song,” “We Will Rock You,” “Thunderstruck,” or even “Move *****”? Those used to get people hyped.

3. We need to bring back Sebastian from the OB days. The ibis and the band used to play a much bigger role in building the atmosphere. Now Sebastian does the CANES chant once and that’s it. He used to do it two or three times and had more fun bits around the stadium. He should be moving through the crowd and getting everyone involved, not just the student section.

4. Let’s go back to our real pregame traditions. Do more crowd chants like “Orange” and “Green” from both sides of the stadium. That stuff brought energy. People don’t care to show up to pregame because it’s boring as ****.

5. Invest on a bigger band. Think outside the box and get serious in this department. That band is flat out embarrassing.

6. Where all the pop warner football kids? Does Miami not want to look 5 steps ahead and build for the future?

I really wish the athletic department paid more attention to these things. The lack of focus on the little details is disappointing and way overdue.


gabednconfused said:
Hey CIS-

With another season approaching, I think it's time we get real about the game day experience at Hard Rock Stadium. As much as we all love the Canes, it's no secret that HRS doesn’t give off the energy or atmosphere that college football is known for—and it’s hurting the game day experience (IMO).

Between the long distance from campus, the sterile NFL vibe, and bum tailgating rules, it’s just not stacking up to what you see at schools like LSU, Michigan, or even FSU (ugh). The thing is—we’re not helpless. I am sure the AD wants fans in the stands and creating noise. So what if we put our heads together and came up with a list of practical, realistic ideas to help make things better this fall?

I'm planning to compile the best suggestions and send them to the AD or someone involved with stadium ops.

Here are a few prompts to get the conversation going:
  • How do we get more students to games? (None of them attend anymore, which is WILD)
  • What tailgating fixes are actually doable?
  • Can we get an on-site uber lot for those who didn't drive? (Currently have to walk to Walmart to catch an uber)
  • What makes other schools’ gamedays better—and how can we copy it?
  • What in-stadium improvements would help atmosphere and energy?
  • Is there a way to make parts of HRS feel more “ours” (banners, traditions, lighting, music)?
One example I was thinking was the seat color- because its teal, on TV it looks like 12 people showed up when we played Duke. Could just put green t-shirts over the seats for the fans to hide the seats and more match typical fan colors (or orange or white etc...)

Go Canes 🤙
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DTP said:
I think the people who cry about an on campus stadium have never actually been to a game at an on campus stadium.

Just getting in/out of campus on a game day is a nightmare. There’s no big parking lot outside the football stadium so that usually means you’re tailgating outside the arts and sciences building or other random spot that’s a half mile walk to the stadium.

Once you’re in, you sit on some rusty bleachers where the fat guy behind you keeps kneeing you in the back because your seat doesn’t have a back. The NCAA relaxed rules on selling alcohol so at least now you can get a beer at most colleges but for decades, you couldn’t. These stadiums are old. Even when they do renovations it’s usually just adding luxury boxes or another level of ****** bleachers. They don’t actually make the stadium experience better for a majority of the people there.

Miami’s attendance is what it is. Big games sell out. FCS teams get 40,000 or less. They could give away tickets to those games and the stadium would still have a bunch of empty seats. They actually do give away a ton of seats to youth football leagues for those games. Maybe they could go independent and just schedule a top 25 team every week and people would show up but that’s just not realistic.

I honestly don’t think there’s a way that they can expect 65,000 people to show up for non marquee games. We just don’t have the fanbase. Very few teams have the fans to sell out 80,000+ seats every week. We were 26th notionally in a year where the top home games were a 2-10 FSU team and 6-7 Virginia Tech. With Florida and Notre Dame on the schedule this year it should put us over 60,000 average for the first time since like 2002.
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You are exactly right. And many of those teams are reducing capacity to make their stadiums into a more NFL stadium-like experience, with club-level seats, more suits, etc. They are modeling those college stadiums after our stadium - you know, the one that everyone wants to play in every year in either a NY6 bowl or playoff/championship game. I am sick of everyone denigrating our situation as if our stadium sucks.

The population is aging. People have comfortable living rooms and awesome TVs. Tickets are expensive. These old stadiums suck and are not handicapped-accessible. College towns make you get hotels for a TWO-NIGHT MINIMUM at PREMIUM PRICES. My friend in Gainesville made his b-school tuition both years by subletting his place away game weekends for thousands a weekend.

I would also love everyone in here to go look at the NCAA stats website and see ALL the teams whose attendance we beat last year. Y’all will be surprised. Oregon, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Florida State…all behind us in average attendance.

We averaged 59,931 last year. The next group of teams, in the 62-67,000 range, which we should be in this year? Virginia Tech, BYU, Ole Miss, Michigan State, Arkansas, Mizzou, and Washington. We’re really not doing that badly, y’all.

Donate to the program.
Support the kids.
Buy the gear.
Go to the games (if you can).
Quit your **** *****ing.
 
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