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Attendance, Heart of the problem?

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PSUVikings2

Active member
These are some great times, great time to be a Viking. Glanville sure has turned this program around, and he hasn't even coached a game yet. I think Jerry can put W's in the left column and bring fans to the games, but is the problem farther then that. I thought to myself, look at Oregon, look at Oregon State, or any school for that fact. They have huge stadiums but they also have the space to have those stadiums. I feel Glanville will bring lots of people but what about those people that see his commercial and think "Why would I drive into the heart of a huge city, struggle with traffic, just to see this team play".

Do you think the Vikings need to find a stadium elsewhere? Somewhere with more parking, easier to access? What do you fans think the issue is? Why are we averaging only 7K a game when we are located in the City of Portland?
 
Well for one I wonder if people can be excited about seeing games against Weber State, Sac State, etc. By people I mean simple college fans than don't have a connection to the program other than living in Portland.
 
laxVik said:
Well for one I wonder if people can be excited about seeing games against Weber State, Sac State, etc. By people I mean simple college fans than don't have a connection to the program other than living in Portland.
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That is an issue that we could never fix sadly. No FBS school will travel to an FCS school, thought there was talk of UNLV going to play Montana in Missoula, never happened though.
 
First mistake... thinking that I'd heard University of Louisville was downtown. Nope, closer to Churchill Downs, so plenty more parking.

Google Map Link

University of Cincinnati... I won't bother with the Google, because the campus isn't downtown, but I'm challenged to find substantial parking. Of course, UC is challenged to fill Nippert Stadium.

Try to get in a land swap with Portland Public Schools since they seem to be considering moving from the current Lincoln HS campus. Also, remember the freeway cap idea? Ever seen the Walgreens over the freeway in Reno? One of the bigger mistakes Portland has made recently was assuming that capping the freeway had no value, when in fact it created new downtown "land" that could have been sold for a pretty penny. Of course, it might be a stretch to assume that a couple of parcels could have been made available for free to PSU... just thinking out of the box here.

Is a astically transit-friendly city like Portland suffering due to lack of parking downtown on fall Saturdays? Or are the suburban types ly afraid of Portland? I'm not sure the "parking" argument isn't a little bit hype... but I'm not sure there's a greater social issue that isn't hyped enough, either. Sucks to be on the fence here, but I have a knack for finding fences to sit on.
 
Whoa.

B - o - m - bastic?

D - e - a - t - hly?

Interesting filter you got there, sir.

I do claim some amusement from the other board about crying and whining for tailgating in a stadium next to a powerful neighborhood in a city possessed of a goal of getting people to leave cars at home... but I'm silly that way. Doubly silly when saying all this and singing "Wings of an Eagle" at Timbers games (I can guess how that will play in the filter.)
 
Think like this: Pretend Oregon or Oregon State were actually located in Portland and they were in the stage of their development of deciding where to put their football stadium. They didn't want to play at PGE because they wanted their own stadium.

By the power of their alumni and in-resident state officials, where do they end up having it built (as a show and centerpiece of political and economic power)?
 
I think one would have to consider view of the Willamette River, view of Mount Hood and a show of power and visibility within the city---a landmark point of pride for the city.
 
5thAvenueVik said:
I think one would have to consider view of the Willamette River, view of Mount Hood and a show of power and visibility within the city---a landmark point of pride for the city.
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That would be a good idea, any exact spot you can think of?
 
Parking issue? Bah!

I've been going to games for years and I don't consider parking an issue. I park downtown (east of 405) and walk over. Heck, I walk further to get to the stadium when I go to a UO game. Plus, MAX drops off right out front of PGE Park, so you can get to the stadium from anywhere.

20k for PSU football playoff games in the 80s (minus MAX at the time) and nearly 30k for World Cup Soccer. If people want to see the event, they'll show, no matter how bad the lines to the bathroom are, or how expensive the beer is.

The problem is identity.

PSU is an urban university. Why would an urban university play football outside of the urban area? The situation isn't the best at PGE Park for playing games there (it's a retro baseball park for one), but don't move football out of the downtown area.

There are two reasons for the problem. PSU has been a commuter university, and the Athletic Department has been on auto pilot for years. Both of those items *seem* like they are being addressed. Traditional student numbers are getting better, and the Athletic Department seems to have woke up at the controls and pulled up on the stick...
 
Parking issue? Bah!
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Not saying we have one now, but if attendance begins to grow things could get crowded.

Maybe we should just restructure P.G.E Park to be a bowl instead of a baseball field....Oh wait, thats a different story /users/31/07/37/smiles/784240.gif /users/31/07/37/smiles/595146.gif Move to Pendleton you damn beavers /users/31/07/37/smiles/700923.gif J/K
 
BY THE WAY...

I tuned in on an interview with the Pres/GM of the Boise Hawks Tuesday night. First words I hear; "Portland Beavers could be the team, but they'd have to buy us out."

Obviously, this was a discussion about the prospects of Boise getting AAA. The next sentence, for that matter, concerned a Houston interest that seems to be targeting baseball teams and apparently has considered Boise. Boise may have passed up Colorado Springs in the market size game, headed to pass up Omaha and Albuquerque down the road, so that's not out of the realm of possibility.

Given that Merritt Paulson just bought the Beavers and Timbers, one wonders why people in Boise are talking about the Beavers moving. Paulson was on channel 8 (probably the Sunday night sports show) winking about the possibility of bringing MLS to Portland, something that wasn't part of the discussion when he bought the teams. Something funny is going on here.
 
martymoose said:
Parking issue? Bah!

I've been going to games for years and I don't consider parking an issue. I park downtown (east of 405) and walk over. Heck, I walk further to get to the stadium when I go to a UO game. Plus, MAX drops off right out front of PGE Park, so you can get to the stadium from anywhere.

20k for PSU football playoff games in the 80s (minus MAX at the time) and nearly 30k for World Cup Soccer. If people want to see the event, they'll show, no matter how bad the lines to the bathroom are, or how expensive the beer is.

The problem is identity.

PSU is an urban university. Why would an urban university play football outside of the urban area? The situation isn't the best at PGE Park for playing games there (it's a retro baseball park for one), but don't move football out of the downtown area.

There are two reasons for the problem. PSU has been a commuter university, and the Athletic Department has been on auto pilot for years. Both of those items *seem* like they are being addressed. Traditional student numbers are getting better, and the Athletic Department seems to have woke up at the controls and pulled up on the stick...
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I agree with this. Parking is not the problem. If the event/game at PGE is big enough and has some buzz, people will figure out how to get there.

The two biggest problems are 1) a lack of buzz/big time feel that will attract casual sports fans and 2) a lack of support from within PSU.

#1 is due to playing in a hokey stadium and playing small time opponents. We need to get minor league baseball out of PGE so that stands can be added on the east side to make for a more traditional MLS/college football stadium. This, combined with a few additions like improved scoreboards, will make the football games seem like big time events that you don't want to miss. Obviously, I think this has to be addressed before we can attract bigger opponents to PSU.
#2 is due to PSU's history as a commuter school and the lack of direction from PSU's administration over the last 15 years. We moved up to Division I, which was a good move, and then basically sat around without any major facilities upgrades or increases in marketing budgets. The makeup of PSU's student body is changing somewhat, so I think student and alumni involvement will increase, but only if the administration welcomes it.

This issue about building a new stadium away from downtown is nonsense. UO or OSU would never do this. The ideal situation for any school is to have your own on campus facility. This isn't really an option for PSU's campus, but PGE is about as close as you can get. It is a 10-15 minute walk or 5-10 minute streetcar/MAX trip from campus and is centrally located for fans coming from Gresham, Vancouver, Salem, or Hillsboro.
 
forestgreen said:
Good post ManofVision. Don't forget about a new sound system at PGE, the current system sucks.
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You mean the "State-of-the-art sound system" that was put in during the renovation?

How they list "State-of-the-art sound system" on pgepark.com is beyond me. It was probably easier to hear William H. Taft's speech in 1909 than it is to try to hear who made the last tackle. :-\
 
[quote'Pounder"]I tuned in on an interview with the Pres/GM of the Boise Hawks Tuesday night. First words I hear; "Portland Beavers could be the team, but they'd have to buy us out."[/quote]

Really........ /users/31/07/37/smiles/eusa_th2.gif
 
I would love to see the Beavers move. I wish more people and media were paying attention to Paulson. If he moves/sells the Beavers and brings MLS to an altered PGE, he could be a huge help to PSU without ever giving a dime.
 
You can't expect to Build Rome in a day...when I lived in Portland..went to all the games...Division II...if I remember correctly, we drew 10 to15,000....and 19 to 23,000 for playoffs... Division II (wow)....Pokey and his Elephant and a great Team....if People would realize that teams like Texas A & I Kingsville...and Pittsburg State..can draw 20,000 to old Civic..the University has no one but themselves to blame for the decreased attendance...The Big Sky is a good Conference....if we draw..like we did back in the Pokey Days..only at this level...then we can look elsewhere....and move foward...but now we have to draw like Montana and accel at this level... and I haven't seen that to the extent of the past...Civic is fine, the centralized location makes the experience enjoyable ....the light rail is a Godsend...all people have to do is use it.. I have great memories of my time there..and I tell everyone I see..and talk to about my College Football team...Portland State...and I have alot of expectations for this year...really excited...and looking foward to competing at a High Level...like a Montana...a New Hampshire..a Delaware...Georgia Southern..Appalachian State...that is where our thoughts should be...If you play good, they will come..has nothing to do with the Beavers..cause if they weren't there, that would be another problem for Portland being a ONE Sport town...I guess I have talked too much..lol..and I hope others understand my points... go Viks... : )
 
tfarrell23 said:
You can't expect to Build Rome in a day...when I lived in Portland..went to all the games...Division II...if I remember correctly, we drew 10 to15,000....and 19 to 23,000 for playoffs... Division II (wow)....Pokey and his Elephant and a great Team....if People would realize that teams like Texas A & I Kingsville...and Pittsburg State..can draw 20,000 to old Civic..the University has no one but themselves to blame for the decreased attendance...The Big Sky is a good Conference....if we draw..like we did back in the Pokey Days..only at this level...then we can look elsewhere....and move foward...but now we have to draw like Montana and accel at this level... and I haven't seen that to the extent of the past...Civic is fine, the centralized location makes the experience enjoyable ....the light rail is a Godsend...all people have to do is use it.. I have great memories of my time there..and I tell everyone I see..and talk to about my College Football team...Portland State...and I have alot of expectations for this year...really excited...and looking foward to competing at a High Level...like a Montana...a New Hampshire..a Delaware...Georgia Southern..Appalachian State...that is where our thoughts should be...If you play good, they will come..has nothing to do with the Beavers..cause if they weren't there, that would be another problem for Portland being a ONE Sport town...I guess I have talked too much..lol..and I hope others understand my points... go Viks... : )
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Good post tfarrell23, well put.
 
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