Remember how great Northwestern season ticket sales were going? Well, ticket sales in general might be going well for Northwestern standards, but today came a reminder that NU still has some catching up to do when it comes to ticket sales. Jon Davis — aka, Twitter's @NUHighlights — tweeted out a couple pictures today of a tarp in the northeast corner of the Ryan Field stands. We asked an NU official if the tarp will be used and they replied, "not if we sell all the tickets." So that means it will likely be used for some games.
Well this is interesting. A little tarp action? pic.twitter.com/iE0n5g045F
— Jon Davis (@NUHighlights) August 18, 2013
A closeup of the tarp pic.twitter.com/HXYYNXh28a
— Jon Davis (@NUHighlights) August 18, 2013
Other teams use tarps, including college football teams, but the reaction hasn't been great. One of those teams is Baylor, and the Bears' SB Nation blog didn't exactly give rave reviews:
Don't do it! RT @sippinonpurple: Oh no. RT @NUHighlights: Well this is interesting. A little tarp action? http://t.co/hA58Dgrx7i
— OurDailyBears (@OurDailyBears) August 19, 2013
For more arguments against tarps, check out the Twitter feeds of @NUHighlights and @sippinonpurple. The main argument: The point of a tarp is to make it look like there are fewer empty seats, but all it actually does is draw attention to the fact that there are empty seats. Plus, while this tarp looks kind of cool, it's not exactly discreet.
Anyways, whether you're pro-tarp or anti-tarp, it looks like the tarp will be making a few Ryan Field appearances this year, but I can't imagine it will be used much — if at all — during Big Ten play. It may be used when Maine comes to town, but once NU gets on national TV against Ohio State, Ryan Field will be filled with people, not tarps.