Talk:Memorial Stadium (University of Minnesota)

National Championships
The existing page refernced six "mythical" championships for the Gophers during the period of time the stadium was in existance. Considering all six are recognized by the NCAA (I added the link) I don't see how they are mythical. To indicate otherwise either invalidates all national championships prior to 1950 or 1997 depending on which change in how championships were decided/recorded you define to be non-mythical. It may be redundant or off topic to mention them at all let alone in the detail I added them in which case the entire reference perhaps should be deleted or moved to the University page. I didn't want to just erase the word mythical without explanation or justification either since whoever put it in in the first place would just replace it etc... 128.104.4.30 18:14, 30 September 2005 (UTC)gvarsity

Attendance
It was my understanding that attendance actually increased upon moving to the Metrodome. I added the citation note. A cursory look at the University of Minnesota media guide for 2006 seems to validate that attendance was running higher.

Last five years at Memorial Stadium
1977

Date UM Opp. TV Att.

9/10 W 10 Western Michigan 7 29,619

9/24 W 27 UCLA 13 41,076

10/1 W 19 Washington 17 31,895

10/15 W 13 Northwestern 7 39,021

10/22 W 16 Michigan (1) 0 44,165

11/5 L 10 Michigan State 29 30,600

11/19 W 13 Wisconsin 7 30,742

1978

Date UM Opp. TV Att.

9/16 W 38 Toledo 12 31,223

9/23 L 10 Ohio State (16) 27 55,200

10/7 L 14 Oregon State 17 35,083

10/14 W 22 Iowa 20 51,381

11/4 W 32 Indiana 31 39,797

11/18 W 24 Illinois 6 25,388

1979

Date UM Opp. TV Att.

9/8 W 24 Ohio 10 33,435

9/15 L 17 Ohio State (15) 21 ESPN 43,515

9/29 W 38 Northwestern 8 33,998

10/6 W 31 Purdue 14 47,281

10/27 T 17 Illinois 17 46,449

11/17 L 37 Wisconsin 42 37,274

1980

Date UM Opp. TV Att.

9/13 W 38 Ohio 14 35,114

9/27 L 7 USC (5) 24 55,115

10/18 L 14 Michigan 37 56,297

10/25 W 24 Iowa 6 58,158

11/8 W 31 Indiana 7 NCAA* 30,092

11/15 L 12 Michigan State 30 30,329

1981

Date UM Opp. TV Att.

9/12 W 19 Ohio 17 40,086

9/19 W 16 Purdue 13 WLFI-TV 41,530

9/26 W 42 Oregon State 12 NCAA* 30,890

10/10 W 35 Northwestern 23 45,949

10/31 L 13 Michigan (15) 34 ON-TV 52,875

11/7 W 35 Ohio State (18) 31 WOSU-TV 42,793

11/21 L 21 Wisconsin 26 SNI 47,125

Move to Metrodome 1982-1986
1982

Date UM Opp. TV Att.

9/11 W 57 Ohio 3 56,168

9/25 W 41 Washington State 11 50,653

10/2 L 24 (19) Illinois 42 CBS 63,684

10/16 L 21 Indiana 40 61,865

10/23 L 16 Iowa 21 KSTP-TV 63,872

11/13 L 7 Michigan State 26 57,146

1983

Date UM Opp. TV Att.

9/17 L 13 Nebraska (1) 84 KETV-TV 62,687

9/24 L 20 Purdue 32 41,839

10/15 L 17 Wisconsin 56 WKOW-TV 62,689

11/5 L 23 Illinois (6) 50 WCIA-TV 35,514

11/12 L 10 Michigan (9) 58 WSTN-TV 40,945

1984

Date UM Opp. TV Att.

9/8 W 31 Rice 24 50,576

9/29 L 22 Ohio State (3) 35 WOSU-TV 47,543

10/6 W 33 Indiana 24 44,786

10/20 L 28 Northwestern 31 56,934

10/27 L 13 Michigan State 20 47,427

11/17 W 23 Iowa 17 CS-TV 63,479

1985

Date UM Opp. TV Att.

9/14 W 28 Wichita State 14 KMSP-TV 56,094

9/21 W 62 Montana 17 KMSP-TV 55,700

9/28 L 7 Oklahoma (3) 13 TBS 62,446

10/5 W 45 Purdue 15 TBS 59,503

10/26 L 19 (20) Ohio State (9) 23 64,455

11/9 W 27 Wisconsin 18 64,571

11/16 L 7 Michigan (8) 48 TBS 64,129

1986

Date UM Opp. TV Att.

9/13 W 31 Bowling Green 7 51,317

9/27 L 20 Pacific 24 50,270

10/11 W 44 Northwestern 23 58,177

10/18 W 19 Indiana 17 52,960

11/1 L 23 Michigan State 52 TBS 57,408

11/22 L 27 Iowa 30 TBS 65,018

A common tendancy in sports is to blame the stadium (or uniforms, or band and cheerleaders) on the woeful performance of the team. When the team is good, attendance is good. And it does not matter what the venue is.


 * That's fine. My point was that as the article says a selling point of the Metrodome was going to be increased attendance, but I do believe that "in the long run" (as I also added in the artcile) that it did not.  You are correct that after the move to the Metrodome the attendance increased.  But after the first few years in the Metrodome attendance returned to the depths of where it was in Memorial stadium.  The first 6 years of the Metrodome (1982-1987) were the 6 highest attendance years, until in finally 2005 broke throuht that.  Then in 1988 attendance dropped, and starting in 1989 it was once again very low and remained there for the next several years.  In fact, the years of 1989 - 1993 (years 7 - 11 of the metrodome) were the lowest 5 years in the Metrodome.  It's pretty clear to me anyway that 1989 - 1993 proved that the stadium alone was not the long term answer to increase attendance at the games (as the proponents said it would).  These particular years were about as bad as they had been in the final years of Memorial Stadium.

Attendance Rank by year

1. 1985 60,985 2.  1982 58,898 3.  1986 55,848 4.  1987 53,131 5.  2006 52,206 6.  1984 51,791 7.  2005 49,024 8.  1983 48,735 9.  1995 48,574 10. 2004 47,573 11. 2000 47,352 12. 1999 45,441 13. 1997 44,898 14. 1988 44,665 15. 2003 44,148 16. 1996 43,519 17. 2001 43,485 18. 1994 42,309 19. 2002 41,785 20. 1998 41,642 21. 1990 40,585 22. 1993 39,996 23. 1989 39,607 24. 1992 37,908 25. 1991 36,369

Gopher backer 19:15, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

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