Brady calls out Gillette Stadium fans

[gregz0r]

I JUST regained my voice back from the yelling i did. I did my part d%#*!@t!

 

[BradyFTW!]

Sucks, but it's a reality of having ticket prices where they are. You can't price the diehards out then be mad when you're left with a lot of the wine-and-cheese crowd.

 

[Patspsycho]

In the old Foxboro Stadium with metal benches, people stayed the whole game. In big, comfy Gillette Stadium, fans leave at the first sign of a blowout by either team or a decent lead by the home squad. Such a different crowd than it used to be. I almost wish they went back to the benches again so people would stand-up and scream when the defense is on the field. Gilllette has NO home field advantage as far as the fans are concerned.

The old Boston Garden was the same. The ticket prices drive out the true fans.

 

[FCB02062]

Have to admit we left before the final whistle, maybe a couple of minutes. But that was born out of wanting more beer and food in the parking lot and already knowing the Pats would win...

 

[FebruaryThirdOhTwo]

He's not going to be able to change the traffic pattern overnight, but Kraft certainly can get some of those restaurants and stores there in Patriots Place to honor some type of discount for fans that stay the whole game, maybe presenting their ticketstub for 10% off a whole meal, or 15% off a purchase over $50 at EMS or whatever. It's not exactly a perfect solution but it's certainly a compromise that will help keep people there for the duration.

 

[SuperPatsFan]

The old Boston Garden was the same. The ticket prices drive out the true fans.

Then maybe Tommy should point a finger at Kraft's rapacious greed.

(JMHO).

 

[mcsully]

Tom's actually wrong. I've been to more Jet games then him and I've seen their fans leave for years when their team is winning or losing..

Problem with Gillete and people leaving is for three reasons

1. State Police.. They let people cross the street in herds at different times instead of saying every 7 minutes let everyone move from one end of the street to the next.. Plenty of times before I lived in Foxboro I would be leaving a game, drive out and watch people cross the street and then drive 10 feet and get stopped again.. Plus I had a couple of experiences when a way was supposed to be open and the troopers blocked it.. When asked why, I basically was told to screw..

2. Parking when going into the stadium. Multiple times I've seen on attendant point a car one direction and when the car gets there another attendant tells themnot to park there.. No ryme or reason

3. Route 1. ONly way in, only way out. Should have expanded the lanes..

 

[nabwong]

What about having a separate parking lot further away and providing a shuttle service? I don't think that costs a lot more money. Give the priority to the people who take the buses in.

 

[jmt57]

While comfy seats and tickets to the Pats being a chic trendy item with the whine and cheese crowd may be a part of it, in my opinion the biggest issue is the way the stadium was constructed; it simply doesn't retain sound as well.

As for the old crowd versus new crowd topic, perhaps society's (and the law's) view of drinking and driving comes into play a little bit. The percentage of inebriated fans when Schaefer Stadium opened was higher then it is with today's crowd, and that portion tends to be louder (unless or until they pass out.) They were also more likely to stay till the end, planning a post-game tailgate while the parking lot cleared. On the other hand there are not as many fights, fewer people puking on your shoes, nobody gets electrocuted, and the Pats can even play games at home at night.

I'm not giving a pass to that segment of the crowd that doesn't use their vocal chords enough; just saying there's a little more to it than meets the eye. As for those that look for a reason to leave early, that too is unfortunate; however that has as much to do with the location as anything. If the stadium was more centrally located and fans did not have to deal with Route 1 and the corresponding amount of time to travel home from the game, then it stands to reason fewer fans would leave early. Swap locations with Fenway Park or TD Garden, and there'd be no issue with Pats fans leaving early but there certainly would be with fans of the Red Sox, Celtics or Bruins.

I'm not saying low crowd noise or early exiting is acceptable; just suggesting there are circumstances when comparing to early Pat fan bases or other team's fans that should be considered.

 

[hyperpat]

By building a comfortable stadium with good sight lines, Kraft made the game experience better for the fans, but made it worse for his team -- the stadium is too open and doesn't hold sound, so less home field advantage. Wonder if the sound holding aspect of the stadium was ever considered by the architects or by Kraft's people.

It seems that adding seats to the open end would make it louder, make more seats available to fans and increase the Kraft's revenue. Only big downside would be to further increase traffic problems.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Hell YEAH Tommy! Calling out my Father in law.! Loves leaving a game early then watching the end from home. Never fails to explain how much time he is saving. Drives me batty. Next time I walk home.

Why even go? If you want to save time and don't mind seeing the game on TV you can save plenty of time (and money too) by just watching the whole game on TV.

 

[Tunescribe]

Same. Stupid. Debate. Every. Damn. Year.

I've missed only two home games since 1994. I've never understood why people leave games early. There's just no good reason for it.

 

[The Brandon Five]

By building a comfortable stadium with good sight lines, Kraft made the game experience better for the fans, but made it worse for his team -- the stadium is too open and doesn't hold sound, so less home field advantage. Wonder if the sound holding aspect of the stadium was ever considered by the architects or by Kraft's people.

It seems that adding seats to the open end would make it louder, make more seats available to fans and increase the Kraft's revenue. Only big downside would be to further increase traffic problems.

This.

10 char

 

[reflexblue]

Acoustics are one thing, fans sitting on their hands is another.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Okay, I'll bite. I thought it was going to say that the crowd wasn't loud at Gillette on Sunday, and I was going to strongly disagree, then suggest that Brady take some of his new salary and close in the open end of the stadium, which will fix the problem .

However, his complaint was about people leaving early, and while a lot did, a good amount stayed too. The irony is, once Brady has the game in hand a lot of people leave early to get a start on the parking lot that is Route 1 after the game. So, he should either make games more exciting (kidding!) or work with Mr. Kraft to come up with a solution to the ridiculous traffic problem that plagues Gillette Stadium (not kidding). PS - Jets fans leave early too, at least they did when I went to a game there years ago, and, you guessed it, Brady had the game well in hand by the 3rd quarter.

For every other NFL stadium that I have been to (and I've been to at least 1/2 dozen others) getting out is not an hours-long process, so people probably feel better about staying until the end of a game, even when the outcome is well in hand. Hardly anyone leaves Pats games early if there is a real contest going on.

Flame away.

Yup. Second worst traffic in the NFL (as discussed on here recently).

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/40/629690-tomtom-makes-official-gillette-stadium-traffic-among-worst.html

 

[resdubwhite]

Acoustics are one thing, fans sitting on their hands is another.

Hey. Sometimes Tapas can be served cold. And you could get frostbite.

I mean come on.

 

[shmessy]

The old Boston Garden was the same. The ticket prices drive out the true fans.

It's the IRS tax rules that do it.

Look around any stadium built in the last 10 years.

See alot of glass????? See alot of almost gated off 'premium sections'? See alot of corporate hospitality tents in the concourse or just outside the stadiums????

Yes?

Now remember this nugget next time you see all that - - - those are paid for on a tax deductible basis by corporations.

It won't be far off before we see an all-glass enclosed stadium somewhere - - Jerry Jones' new place is coming close.

 

[reflexblue]

Same. Stupid. Debate. Every. Damn. Year.

I've missed only two home games since 1994. I've never understood why people leave games early. There's just no good reason for it.

If i'm not mistaken there was a thread last week about Gillette having the second worse traffic problem of any stadium. Could that be it, could that be why fans leave early?

 

[Patspsycho]

Okay, I'll bite. I thought it was going to say that the crowd wasn't loud at Gillette on Sunday, and I was going to strongly disagree, then suggest that Brady take some of his new salary and close in the open end of the stadium, which will fix the problem .

However, his complaint was about people leaving early, and while a lot did, a good amount stayed too. The irony is, once Brady has the game in hand a lot of people leave early to get a start on the parking lot that is Route 1 after the game. So, he should either make games more exciting (kidding!) or work with Mr. Kraft to come up with a solution to the ridiculous traffic problem that plagues Gillette Stadium (not kidding). PS - Jets fans leave early too, at least they did when I went to a game there years ago, and, you guessed it, Brady had the game well in hand by the 3rd quarter.

For every other NFL stadium that I have been to (and I've been to at least 1/2 dozen others) getting out is not an hours-long process, so people probably feel better about staying until the end of a game, even when the outcome is well in hand. Hardly anyone leaves Pats games early if there is a real contest going on.

Flame away.

This is not on Kraft, but on the town of Foxboro. Foxboro still has done nothing about the atrocious stoplights that bookend the stadium on both ends of route 1. Even on game days, they still give an equal amount of green light time to the dead side streets.

 

[BradyManny]

For every other NFL stadium that I have been to (and I've been to at least 1/2 dozen others) getting out is not an hours-long process, so people probably feel better about staying until the end of a game, even when the outcome is well in hand. Hardly anyone leaves Pats games early if there is a real contest going on.

The traffic around Foxboro after games is a real issue.

That said, I don't think what Brady said is wrong. Year after year, player after player cites his disappointment in the fans at the games, one way or another. I don't mean to rehash this debate, merely point out that when the face of the franchise does it, maybe its time for someone in the organization (Kraft) to think about what can be done to fix it.