Can We Talk About The Home Crowd / Lack Of Home Field Advantage?

That open end of the stadium doesn't help matters.

 

Seems to me that they should get rid of that old lottery or waiting list for season tickets and put more seats on sale for games. I keep hearing it is like a 10 year waiting list for tickets. Is that still the case? Honestly I think most of the diehard fans are people who can't afford season tickets but would be more than happy to sit in those empty seats a couple of times a year. I don't live anywhere near Pittsburgh and couldn't afford those prices for tickets any way. We have tons of entertainment in Las Vegas and I really can't afford to go take advantage of that even though it is just down the street. Prices for ball games and concerts have gotten totally out of hand. Players and entertainers are paid way too much money for what they do for a living which in turn drives up ticket prices so that the average Joe can only hear about events or watch them on TV.

 

Problem is those empty seats are owned mostly by season ticket holders.
I still think the should have a certain percentage of games a season ticket holder has to attend to be able to keep their seats.
I bought some tickets off the ticket exchange a couple years ago and the people sitting next to me said the owners of my seats lived in another state and the showed up for one game like ten years ago, but they haven't been seen since.

 

Yep. Scalpers basically.

 

Pretty much. It's not a Steelers game it's an investment and a business for some and that's just wrong.

 

The Steelers website said today's attendance was franchise record: 65,550

 

Tickets sold. Problem is not everybody shows up.

 

Yeah there's no way that many people were there. The upper deck looked like a wasteland. At least the one behind the away bench did.

 

I could be wrong, but I swear I heard Dale Lolley say a few weeks ago on the radio that the Steelers announce the numbers from gate. not tickets sold.

 

That's true. I wonder what # the OP was quoting.

 

I read this in the article By the Numbers on the Steelers website:

65,520 You can't talk about this game without talking about the fans. A franchise record 65,520 members of Steelers Nation made their presence known on a gorgreous day at Heinz Field.

I don't know how they calculate the number though.

 

I guess it really wouldn't surprise me that there would be racket in acquiring season tickets for certain venues - particularly for those whose with loyal fan bases - for the purpose of grinding a profit off of the Stub Hubs/Craigslists of the world. There are certain logistics one would have to navigate to do so over a wide range of locales, but you know what they say about wills and ways.

I think also about different corporations that bulk buy tickets for games as part of special promos or incentives, and how many either fall through the cracks or whose recipients didn't use them.

 

There's a ton of these type sellers on ebay. They get tickets from season ticket holders and resell them. Nothing wrong with a season ticket holder selling tickets to a game they can't make it to, but if you're doing it for the majority of the games then maybe you shouldn't be a season ticket holder.

 

I would love to see the real gate numbers, not just tickets sold. Heinz Field attendance is pathetic and as a Steelers fan living in Wisconsin it pisses me off because I don't have the ability to make games. It hasn't always been like this though, this is something that is new over the last few years. I was at a Steelers-Jets game a few years ago and it wasn't like what I saw today or even a few weeks ago vs the Ratbirds.

 

Once again, there are only two (2) teams that announce actual turnstile count!

The Steelers and the Giants!

http://triblive.com/sports/-topstories/7019586-74/steelers-shows-games#axzz3qyBbo6zt

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on...owner-about-fan-no-show-problem-at-home-games

If they said there was 65k fans there, then that's what was there. It doesn't matter what it looks like on TV or what the perceived sound is on TV. That was the turnstile count.

 

Yes and tickets sold is not an accurate depiction of the number of fans that attended. Alot of those empty seats would likely be tickets that were bought by all of these
scalpers and not sold.. YUK

 

I made the TV. I'm the guy to the left of the D.
My phone blew up.

 

Here are some pictures I took out of the North End Zone club seats, that I had.

 

Yesterday I had the great seats. Was sitting in the new North End Zone club seats. Was 4 rows from the field. Seats are down right awesome when the play is in your end zone. When it's in the other end zone not so good to see anything.

Was disappointed to how many Raiders fans were there yesterday. Had a bunch of them there. To the fact that if they did something good you could hear the fans stick out, which isn't normal.
You guys want to talk about fair weather. Had a guy and his girlfriend or wife. One of the two. Sitting next to me.
When the Steelers went up 28-21. There was 12:30 left I think. He took off with her and told me and the guy I work with, see you later, have a good game. Now this guy had his face painted everything, he looked more die hard than me.

I was just in awe. There was a lot of football left. They missed, the kickoff fumble. The Jesse James touchdown, which these two things happened almost right in front of us. The missed they missed the comeback by the Raiders. They missed Ben going down. Landry coming in and AB doing his thing and winning us the game, and they missed the Boswell Chip shot game winner.

If you guys are ready for this $290 face value ticket!!! A company I do business with gave us these tickets.
We stayed to the end, but let I'll tell you a lot of fans left when we went up 14 points.
But knowing this was the NFL and there was 11 minutes left. I knew there was way too much time!!

 

I think attendance is good... I think they have an issue getting everyone in because it isn't totally full until well into the first quarter, with huge lines at the gates still.

Beginning of third people are still getting food etc.

Also people love to stand on those ramps, so people are obviously not in the seat they bought.

 

Great seats man! I seriously might take you up on that offer. Sounds and looked like the Colts game last year. To be fair only a few teams will show up like that but I was seeing a lot of white/silver on TV yesterday. I was talking to people at the Colts game last year because I was in awe at how many of them showed up and was like whats the deal why this game? One it wasn't too far but almost all of them said "Come on Heinz Field and The Steelers" So apparently everybody wants to be at the stadium and see this team EXCEPT the home fans.

I think the top where the rowdy rowdies and diehards are being almost empty in the 4th is very telling. I don't know if it's the acquisitions or what but the city isn't behind this team.

Only team in the league that has this issue. We need to stop with the excuses. Read post above from somebody that was actually at the game yesterday.

 

I've been going to games every year for over 10 years. The problems is not the people who go to the games.

The stadium is the problem in my eyes, it should be even bigger... and totally enclosed.

In some ways the city might be to blame, I think they rely on a lot of out of towners for attendace. Pittsburgh area alone might not fill the stadium especially in down years. That, and lack of initial funds is why Heinz field isn't as big as it should be.

Those club seats right on the field is tough because they have the option to just go inside and watch the game. Maybe a few more normal seats on the field would help.

 

The Raiders do have a good fan base I will give them that.
Plus I'm not sure If they play Buffalo or Cleveland this year at their places.
So I guess if you wanted to see the Raiders live, you would have to go see them in Pittsburgh.

 

Awesome. You're gonna need to frame that.