Gameday Stadium Experience - Virginia

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JSC 76
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7:18a, 11/3/25
Weather: perfect. Attendance: pathetic.

A group of young men at the top of section UU (in the sun) participated in that wild new craze that's sweeping college football stadia across the country: taking off your shirts.

The mic men have been completely relieved of their responsibilities. All cheering is now "led" (and I use that term loosely) by the Hype Man on the stadium PA who bellows MAKE SOME NOOOISE alternating with 'GET LOUUUUDD" every now and then. At one point the video board got involved and we were instructed to do an alternating "Go/Bears" through video instruction. It didn't work.

Speaking of the video screen: there were no replays shown, ever. And there were many plays I would much liked to have seen again.

The Hype Man, who I hope is encouraged to find another line of work soon, bellowed that we should all stand up and cheer for the Peet's Coffee Lucky Row. This is just noise pollution. I'm supposed to go crazy because people I don't know, through no effort of their own, got a free cup of coffee? How about...no thanks, I'll pass.

Did anyone stay through the post-game? We remained until the Band played (from their seats) Lights Out/Fight for California, and then headed for the exits. As we were walking down the street alongside the stadium we could hear the sounds of "One More River" coming from inside. I bring this up because, of the many dumb changes to Cal football in the past several years, the one that pisses me off the most -- and i mean this sincerely -- is that the Band doesn't march out of the stadium playing OMR anymore. So if they're doing it somewhere I'd like to know.
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82gradDLSdad
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In reply to JSC 76 • 7:31a, 11/3/25
JSC 76 said:
Weather: perfect. Attendance: pathetic.

A group of young men at the top of section UU (in the sun) participated in that wild new craze that's sweeping college football stadia across the country: taking off your shirts.

The mic men have been completely relieved of their responsibilities. All cheering is now "led" (and I use that term loosely) by the Hype Man on the stadium PA who bellows MAKE SOME NOOOISE alternating with 'GET LOUUUUDD" every now and then. At one point the video board got involved and we were instructed to do an alternating "Go/Bears" through video instruction. It didn't work.

Speaking of the video screen: there were no replays shown, ever. And there were many plays I would much liked to have seen again.

The Hype Man, who I hope is encouraged to find another line of work soon, bellowed that we should all stand up and cheer for the Peet's Coffee Lucky Row. This is just noise pollution. I'm supposed to go crazy because people I don't know, through no effort of their own, got a free cup of coffee? How about...no thanks, I'll pass.

Did anyone stay through the post-game? We remained until the Band played (from their seats) Lights Out/Fight for California, and then headed for the exits. As we were walking down the street alongside the stadium we could hear the sounds of "One More River" coming from inside. I bring this up because, of the many dumb changes to Cal football in the past several years, the one that pisses me off the most -- and i mean this sincerely -- is that the Band doesn't march out of the stadium playing OMR anymore. So if they're doing it somewhere I'd like to know.


Agree with you on all counts and there are probably a dozen more. Give students free tickets,
start rebuilding traditions and then stick with them...for decades. Marketing 101.
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JSC 76
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7:50a, 11/3/25
Sometimes, I get philosophical and try to take the long view: I imagine our ancestors were annoyed when we stopped serpentining after a win, or stopped doing the "Oski-Wow-Wow" cheer. Things change.

But then I come to my senses. These are *my* traditions and they've been in place for 50 years, dammit. Quit screwing with them.
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HoopDreams
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8:10a, 11/3/25
The Mic men/ women led lots of yells. There were fewer students so it probably wasn't as easy to hear

There were some replays shown. You just have to be watching the board at the right time

I didn't hear the cannon one hour before kickoff this game. It was a great new thing this season. Anyone hear it?
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TomBear
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8:59a, 11/3/25

We were able to see activity in the student section, and some activity by the band. But we couldn't hear anything because of the audio assault on our ears from the "DJ". As had happened in the last home game, I saw the student section trying to rally the "Go Bears" with alumni, but no one could hear, again, because of the "DJ".

The game has been taken totally away from the students and fans and given over to the pimps in marketing.

As for Cal Band's exit: I don't even stay for the post game "show" anymore because there isn't any. They just sit in the stands and play a few songs, and then I'm told they now gather at north tunnel and do OMR before marching out. No more marching out to "Lights Out" , which is what kept me and whoever I brought to the games staying until they left.

Last year I finally gave up my season tickets after decades of coming up from SoCal. This year, I bit the bullet and decided to come up for 4 games (missing on the Friday night game because Friday's are impossible for me).

But the enjoyment of "Cal Spirit" and the organic Cal gameday experience I loved are gone. All that's left is the game itself, and I can watch that on my couch for FAR less money.
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82gradDLSdad
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In reply to HoopDreams • 9:02a, 11/3/25
HoopDreams said:
The Mic men/ women led lots of yells. There were fewer students so it probably wasn't as easy to hear

There were some replays shown. You just have to be watching the board at the right time

I didn't hear the cannon one hour before kickoff this game. It was a great new thing this season. Anyone hear it?

We got there right around that time, a little late for us. I thought we missed it. That new cannon shot an hour before the game scares the crap out of me given that it is relatively quiet and nothing is going on.
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Bobodeluxe
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9:06a, 11/3/25
" pimps in marketing"

The magic of Berkeley Bears football
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JSC 76
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In reply to HoopDreams • 9:36a, 11/3/25
HoopDreams said:

There were some replays shown. You just have to be watching the board at the right time


After a UVA punt (during the 3 minute commercial break) I went to the bathroom. Normally, If I missed the Bears first play from scrimmage all I'd miss is Kendrick Raphael up the middle for 1 yard. This time I emerged from the tunnel just in time to see Raphael in open field heading for the end zone. I missed the double pass.

So I watched the video board in eager anticipation of a replay. None came.
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sycasey
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In reply to HoopDreams • 9:42a, 11/3/25
HoopDreams said:
The Mic men/ women led lots of yells. There were fewer students so it probably wasn't as easy to hear

This.

The real issue is that people don't come to the games. If you had a full stadium a lot of this "hype man" stuff would feel more appropriate. When it's half full it feels pathetic.

People don't come to the games because the team is consistently disappointing. You can see it every year: there is a game or two early on that draws a decent crowd, because it looks like this year Cal might be breaking through. I saw it at the Duke game: good crowd, people were hyped up and ready to party. Then the second half started and all of the energy deflated quickly as Cal got run over on the field. Those people haven't come back.

Same pattern last year, for the Miami game. Great game, hyped crowd, then Cal coughs up the lead and deflates everything. Those people didn't come back. 2023: Good crowd for the Auburn game, would love to see us beat an SEC team on national TV. Cal loses while scoring 10 points. People didn't come back. It's because we just can't win these games under Wilcox and build momentum. Fans don't believe they will see a good game, so they spend their time elsewhere.
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Golden One
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In reply to JSC 76 • 10:16a, 11/3/25
JSC 76 said:
Speaking of the video screen: there were no replays shown, ever. And there were many plays I would much liked to have seen again.


Doesn't really make any difference, because the video screens (minitrons) are so damn small that you can't see the replays clearly even if they did play them.
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JSC 76
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7:58a, 11/4/25
Two other trivial musical points I left out of the OP.

Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is a great song but not for karaoke. I've been hearing it for 40 years, but when they put the lyrics up on the video board it was the first time I understood a single word of the lyrics.

The last few games we've played "Mr Brightside" at the start of the 4th quarter -- something we've ripped off from Michigan, which has been doing that for a few years.
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kal kommie
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In reply to JSC 76 • 8:15a, 11/4/25
JSC 76 said:
Sometimes, I get philosophical and try to take the long view: I imagine our ancestors were annoyed when we stopped serpentining after a win, or stopped doing the "Oski-Wow-Wow" cheer. Things change.

But then I come to my senses. These are *my* traditions and they've been in place for 50 years, dammit. Quit screwing with them.

Traditions which are being destroyed today are frequently either not being replaced by new ones or the new traditions contain much less school spirit or program tradition.

The band used to play 5x more per game during time outs, including playing traditional Cal Marching Band songs like Golden Bear, Stanford Jonah and Roll On. That's been replaced by generic noise blasted through the speakers.

The band used to play for the defense a lot more. A turnover or 3rd down stop was always celebrated with Big C. A sack was always celebrated with Iron Man. They often neglect the former now and have totally dropped the latter. The band also used to provide a drum line between downs much more often, though it's hard to blame them for not doing so anymore because you can hardly hear it over the generic noise blasted through the speakers.

The band used to be front-and-center. Now it is shunted to the side and difficult to hear on the northern end of Memorial.

The band used to send contingents around the stadium to serenade individual sections. They no longer do that and why bother when they would have the electronic noise blasted over their music?

The students, the band and the team used to be together behind one sideline and are now scattered across the stadium.

There didn't used to be a hideous deck replacing the architecture of the south end in service of wealthy people who can't drink while sitting in normal stadium seats like normal people, something 20 years ago I would have expected Stanford more likely to do than Cal.

You used to be able to hear the person two seats over trying to tell you something unless they picked a bad time to try to speak like while the crowd is roaring. Now "the vibe" so ruthlessly oppresses the sound waves that at practically all times you must either shout for someone to hear you or you must get right next to them.

The experience has become so much more plastic, filled so much more with the same cookie cutter elements you see at every other football stadium whose gameday experience is controlled by corporate marketing groupthink.
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RedlessWardrobe
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8:27a, 11/4/25
Even at last night's basketball game, when the ball goes out of bounds and there is a 15 second break in the action, the piped in music has to start immediately and isn't turned off until the ref hands the ball to the inbounding player. I mean, really?
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annarborbear
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9:34a, 11/4/25
Other than ignorance of and disrepect for Cal traditions, is there any real reason for any of this? I would rather be assaulted by blaring commercials where I at least know we are making some money.
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boredom
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11:35a, 11/4/25
maybe I'm just getting old but it occurred to me at the Virginia game that this felt like a Sabercats game from 20 years ago. The super loud piped in music, the fireworks, etc. Nothing about it felt like Cal (except the putrid on field product, that was vintage Cal). At one point they even piped in a recording of the Cal band while the band was right there.
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sycasey
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In reply to boredom • 11:37a, 11/4/25
boredom said:
At one point they even piped in a recording of the Cal band while the band was right there.

Was it near the end of the half when the band is walking down to get ready for the halftime show? That's very common.
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boredom
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In reply to sycasey • 11:43a, 11/4/25
sycasey said:
boredom said:
At one point they even piped in a recording of the Cal band while the band was right there.

Was it near the end of the half when the band is walking down to get ready for the halftime show? That's very common.

no, the band was in their seats. I think it was when someone was performing on the field? I just remember hearing it coming through the speakers and looking at the band sitting there.
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annarborbear
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12:06p, 11/4/25
We would have to appoint an Old Blue as head of marketing and of the game day experience to change any of this. Bringing in non-Cal people and/or younger alumni who have no knowledge of how it used to be leaves us in a hopeless situation.
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HoopDreams
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12:19p, 11/4/25
I like the fire works from the top of the stadium and on the field

...I do miss the two Rally people pulling the smoke bombs ahead of the band ... that was original and fun ... they should bring that back
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Big C
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In reply to annarborbear • 1:11p, 11/4/25
annarborbear said:
Other than ignorance of and disrepect for Cal traditions, is there any real reason for any of this? I would rather be assaulted by blaring commercials where I at least know we are making some money.

We keep hearing that "people like it" / "young people like it" / "everybody's doing it".

I'm highly skeptical. I think if you peel away the layers, somewhere under there you'll find some Millennial with a non-Cal degree in Marketing who is trying to justify his/her existence.
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LunchTime
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In reply to JSC 76 • 5:21p, 11/4/25
JSC 76 said:
Weather: perfect. Attendance: pathetic.

A group of young men at the top of section UU (in the sun) participated in that wild new craze that's sweeping college football stadia across the country: taking off your shirts.

The mic men have been completely relieved of their responsibilities. All cheering is now "led" (and I use that term loosely) by the Hype Man on the stadium PA who bellows MAKE SOME NOOOISE alternating with 'GET LOUUUUDD" every now and then. At one point the video board got involved and we were instructed to do an alternating "Go/Bears" through video instruction. It didn't work.

Speaking of the video screen: there were no replays shown, ever. And there were many plays I would much liked to have seen again.

The Hype Man, who I hope is encouraged to find another line of work soon, bellowed that we should all stand up and cheer for the Peet's Coffee Lucky Row. This is just noise pollution. I'm supposed to go crazy because people I don't know, through no effort of their own, got a free cup of coffee? How about...no thanks, I'll pass.

Did anyone stay through the post-game? We remained until the Band played (from their seats) Lights Out/Fight for California, and then headed for the exits. As we were walking down the street alongside the stadium we could hear the sounds of "One More River" coming from inside. I bring this up because, of the many dumb changes to Cal football in the past several years, the one that pisses me off the most -- and i mean this sincerely -- is that the Band doesn't march out of the stadium playing OMR anymore. So if they're doing it somewhere I'd like to know.

The stadium PA system is literally the worst thing that has happened to Cal football since Holmoe.

A shrill idiot screaming "GOOOOOOO!" into a mic at 115db instead of having fans yell it. Idiot yell leaders using it at 115db to destroy the cadence of a Cal spell out with their own flair so no one in the stadium can respond with proper timing.

And the best use of it we have ever seen is the stadium "C----A----L C---A---L C--A--L C-A-L CAL CALCALCALCALCALCAL" with the percussion miced up... that hasnt been done for way too long.

Of all the stupid hype ideas, for me, that is what we should have during the break between 3rd and 4th quarters.

The restraint at start. The length of the cheer allows people to STFU and realize whats happening to get involved. The build up through the tempo. The ABSOLUTE frenzy of screaming CALCALCALCALCAL... What a shame that instead we have an idiot doing a call and response with the PA doing the call at 90db louder than the response.

The band not going on the field post game is gross. The march up and march out was the best part of Cal football for like 60 years.

The third down hype with a bear fart "Turn down for what..." The Song About San Francisco at a Cal game (which EASILY could have been edited to be about ... I dunno, not SF?)...

Honestly, the best thing that could happen to Cal football would be to get rid of the sound system.



I will say that the alignment of brands using movies is the best Cal ad I have ever seen. I dont know why its not the University ad for TV. Every time I see it I get hyped. It ties the identities together so well.


Regardless, like I said, My kids cant tolerate games. My youngest asks every "stay home day" if there is a football game. Every time we get to the stadium and the incessant concert level noise starts he asks to go home. The older one wants nothing to do with inside the stadium.

If it was crowd noise, that is energy. Its tolerable. Its something you contribute to. Something that creates excitement and agency. What Cal has done with the PA system is brutal. Not only does it fail at what it tries to do, it takes agency away from fans, reducing involvement that cannot possibly approach the volume of those idiotic speakers.

******* its bad. I know posters here put a lot of money into it, but volume does not equal quality. Volume doesn't build hype. So bad. I honestly never thought I would have kids who loved campus and the band and despised even sitting in the stadium (with hearing protection... in an empty stadium). sigh.
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LunchTime
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In reply to kal kommie • 5:29p, 11/4/25
kal kommie said:
JSC 76 said:
Sometimes, I get philosophical and try to take the long view: I imagine our ancestors were annoyed when we stopped serpentining after a win, or stopped doing the "Oski-Wow-Wow" cheer. Things change.

But then I come to my senses. These are *my* traditions and they've been in place for 50 years, dammit. Quit screwing with them.


There didn't used to be a hideous deck replacing the architecture of the south end in service of wealthy people who can't drink while sitting in normal stadium seats like normal people

This has nothing to do with "wealthy people" and everything to do with filling the quarter of the stadium that is covered in tarps with something so its not so obvious Cal is at 30% capacity of a 25% tarped stadium.
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LunchTime
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In reply to annarborbear • 5:30p, 11/4/25
annarborbear said:
Other than ignorance of and disrepect for Cal traditions, is there any real reason for any of this? I would rather be assaulted by blaring commercials where I at least know we are making some money.

We pay THEM!
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LunchTime
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In reply to annarborbear • 5:32p, 11/4/25
annarborbear said:
We would have to appoint an Old Blue as head of marketing and of the game day experience to change any of this. Bringing in non-Cal people and/or younger alumni who have no knowledge of how it used to be leaves us in a hopeless situation.

Bring in a T A&M or Ohio State person... really anyone who has been associated with a school that has tradition and they would 100% ensure tradition was captured as the most valuable thing we have. Tradition is the sauce. Doesnt matter the pot.

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LunchTime
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In reply to Big C • 5:34p, 11/4/25
Big C said:
annarborbear said:
Other than ignorance of and disrepect for Cal traditions, is there any real reason for any of this? I would rather be assaulted by blaring commercials where I at least know we are making some money.

We keep hearing that "people like it" / "young people like it" / "everybody's doing it".

I'm highly skeptical. I think if you peel away the layers, somewhere under there you'll find some Millennial with a non-Cal degree in Marketing who is trying to justify his/her existence.

Give me data. I will do the causal analysis for free. Seriously. If there is any value to it, I will find it.

I suspect there is none.
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Bobodeluxe
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7:06p, 11/4/25
I always thought that fairly new calcalcalcal… was REALLY LAME.

Otherwise, mostly agree. High volume, outside of REAL crowd noise just totally sucks, and other than the ridiculous length of the games, is the reason I HATE TO GO TO THESE GAMES.
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kal kommie
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In reply to LunchTime • 9:41p, 11/4/25
LunchTime said:
kal kommie said:
JSC 76 said:
Sometimes, I get philosophical and try to take the long view: I imagine our ancestors were annoyed when we stopped serpentining after a win, or stopped doing the "Oski-Wow-Wow" cheer. Things change.

But then I come to my senses. These are *my* traditions and they've been in place for 50 years, dammit. Quit screwing with them.


There didn't used to be a hideous deck replacing the architecture of the south end in service of wealthy people who can't drink while sitting in normal stadium seats like normal people

This has nothing to do with "wealthy people" and everything to do with filling the quarter of the stadium that is covered in tarps with something so its not so obvious Cal is at 30% capacity of a 25% tarped stadium.

They didn't tarp off the south end zone before they put up the premium suite deck.
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ColoradoBear
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In reply to kal kommie • 10:56p, 11/4/25
kal kommie said:
LunchTime said:
kal kommie said:
JSC 76 said:
Sometimes, I get philosophical and try to take the long view: I imagine our ancestors were annoyed when we stopped serpentining after a win, or stopped doing the "Oski-Wow-Wow" cheer. Things change.

But then I come to my senses. These are *my* traditions and they've been in place for 50 years, dammit. Quit screwing with them.


There didn't used to be a hideous deck replacing the architecture of the south end in service of wealthy people who can't drink while sitting in normal stadium seats like normal people

This has nothing to do with "wealthy people" and everything to do with filling the quarter of the stadium that is covered in tarps with something so its not so obvious Cal is at 30% capacity of a 25% tarped stadium.

They didn't tarp off the south end zone before they put up the premium suite deck.


Thing is the outdoor suites are not that expensive. Especially compared to the club seats. Maybe $125/ ticket?

I'm positive they wanted to tarp the endzone first and thought what could they do with that space so they didn't take as much heat for tarping. So premium outdoor boxes is what we got. It also helps create some false sense of scarcity in that once they sell any of those tickets, they can't take them down all year.

Remember the marketing people calling Miami and the Big Game as sellouts last year @ 52428?

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kal kommie
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In reply to ColoradoBear • 1:10a, 11/5/25
ColoradoBear said:
kal kommie said:
LunchTime said:
kal kommie said:
JSC 76 said:
Sometimes, I get philosophical and try to take the long view: I imagine our ancestors were annoyed when we stopped serpentining after a win, or stopped doing the "Oski-Wow-Wow" cheer. Things change.

But then I come to my senses. These are *my* traditions and they've been in place for 50 years, dammit. Quit screwing with them.


There didn't used to be a hideous deck replacing the architecture of the south end in service of wealthy people who can't drink while sitting in normal stadium seats like normal people

This has nothing to do with "wealthy people" and everything to do with filling the quarter of the stadium that is covered in tarps with something so its not so obvious Cal is at 30% capacity of a 25% tarped stadium.

They didn't tarp off the south end zone before they put up the premium suite deck.


Thing is the outdoor suites are not that expensive. Especially compared to the club seats. Maybe $125/ ticket?

I'm positive they wanted to tarp the endzone first and thought what could they do with that space so they didn't take as much heat for tarping. So premium outdoor boxes is what we got. It also helps create some false sense of scarcity in that once they sell any of those tickets, they can't take them down all year.

Remember the marketing people calling Miami and the Big Game as sellouts last year @ 52428?

$125 (if indeed that is the price) is a lot for what is essentially minor league pro football. It's 3x the GA price of a seat on the north end zone and more than what a 4-ticket family plan costs. And originally you couldn't even buy them on a single game basis. "Wealthy" is relative but for a working-class family, attending the game on the terrace would be a large expense.

As for whether the deck was just pretext for the tarps, they didn't seem to need a pretext in the past but who knows, maybe you have it right. Regardless, the deck is unsightly independent of the tarps (which obviously are also unsightly) and is antithetical to what used to be the culture of Cal football at Memorial Stadium.

It really is something that not too long ago I would have expected Stanford to do and us to ridicule. In my eyes, it's just another unwelcome change (though more minor than most of the other unwelcome changes).
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Bobodeluxe
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6:44a, 11/5/25
Lock the gates to create scarcity.

Let's do lunch fellow brainiacs of the marketing world.
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sycasey
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7:02a, 11/5/25
Once we start selling out the rest of the seats we can worry about the tarped end zone.
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glutton
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In reply to HoopDreams • 12:41p, 11/5/25
HoopDreams said:
The Mic men/ women led lots of yells. There were fewer students so it probably wasn't as easy to hear

There were some replays shown. You just have to be watching the board at the right time

I didn't hear the cannon one hour before kickoff this game. It was a great new thing this season. Anyone hear it?


I haven't heard the cannon 1 hour before the last 2 games.
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HoopDreams
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In reply to glutton • 6:30p, 11/5/25
glutton said:
HoopDreams said:
The Mic men/ women led lots of yells. There were fewer students so it probably wasn't as easy to hear

There were some replays shown. You just have to be watching the board at the right time

I didn't hear the cannon one hour before kickoff this game. It was a great new thing this season. Anyone hear it?


I haven't heard the cannon 1 hour before the last 2 games.

I remember hearing it the game before, but it really depends where you are at the time
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In reply to kal kommie • 12:24p, 11/6/25
kal kommie said:
LunchTime said:
kal kommie said:
JSC 76 said:
Sometimes, I get philosophical and try to take the long view: I imagine our ancestors were annoyed when we stopped serpentining after a win, or stopped doing the "Oski-Wow-Wow" cheer. Things change.

But then I come to my senses. These are *my* traditions and they've been in place for 50 years, dammit. Quit screwing with them.


There didn't used to be a hideous deck replacing the architecture of the south end in service of wealthy people who can't drink while sitting in normal stadium seats like normal people

This has nothing to do with "wealthy people" and everything to do with filling the quarter of the stadium that is covered in tarps with something so its not so obvious Cal is at 30% capacity of a 25% tarped stadium.

They didn't tarp off the south end zone before they put up the premium suite deck.

That's kind of true, but they did close that entire section in 2022 when building the deck, and then the sections adjacent in 2023. Similar to what Tedford did prior to 2007 with the "Blue" and "Gold" Zones, the stadium was clearly too large for the attendance, and closing sections was the goal.

Before July 30th, neither existed.
When they repaved the field with the new script California, for the 2022 season, they tarped the endzone and built the deck.

For the 2023 season they tarped the sections around the deck.

I did also find a cool picture of the USC 2015 game
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In reply to kal kommie • 12:26p, 11/6/25
kal kommie said:
ColoradoBear said:
kal kommie said:
LunchTime said:
kal kommie said:
JSC 76 said:
Sometimes, I get philosophical and try to take the long view: I imagine our ancestors were annoyed when we stopped serpentining after a win, or stopped doing the "Oski-Wow-Wow" cheer. Things change.

But then I come to my senses. These are *my* traditions and they've been in place for 50 years, dammit. Quit screwing with them.


There didn't used to be a hideous deck replacing the architecture of the south end in service of wealthy people who can't drink while sitting in normal stadium seats like normal people

This has nothing to do with "wealthy people" and everything to do with filling the quarter of the stadium that is covered in tarps with something so its not so obvious Cal is at 30% capacity of a 25% tarped stadium.

They didn't tarp off the south end zone before they put up the premium suite deck.


Thing is the outdoor suites are not that expensive. Especially compared to the club seats. Maybe $125/ ticket?

I'm positive they wanted to tarp the endzone first and thought what could they do with that space so they didn't take as much heat for tarping. So premium outdoor boxes is what we got. It also helps create some false sense of scarcity in that once they sell any of those tickets, they can't take them down all year.

Remember the marketing people calling Miami and the Big Game as sellouts last year @ 52428?

$125 (if indeed that is the price) is a lot for what is essentially minor league pro football. It's 3x the GA price of a seat on the north end zone and more than what a 4-ticket family plan costs. And originally you couldn't even buy them on a single game basis. "Wealthy" is relative but for a working-class family, attending the game on the terrace would be a large expense.

As for whether the deck was just pretext for the tarps, they didn't seem to need a pretext in the past but who knows, maybe you have it right. Regardless, the deck is unsightly independent of the tarps (which obviously are also unsightly) and is antithetical to what used to be the culture of Cal football at Memorial Stadium.

It really is something that not too long ago I would have expected Stanford to do and us to ridicule. In my eyes, it's just another unwelcome change (though more minor than most of the other unwelcome changes).

$125 per ticket is the rate for the back of the endzone to the 15 yardline from Cal.
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