Troy S.
Yelp
I Recently went to the UC Temple game at Nippert. The stadium itself was the main attraction for me, as it is one of the oldest in the nation. Make no mistake, the venue itself is pretty good: with only about 34k seats, there really isn't a bad one in the house. I had "limited view" seating and they were great, field level corner end zone seats. I also only paid $10 bucks for them. I also appriciate the rare opportunity to drink at a college game (having gone to OSU and been to a few others, I was tired of drinking pepsi all game). For value and classical college football feel, nippert scores around a 4 star.
That being said, it was a laughable college football experience. Keep in mind, this was a nationally televised game on Friday night, and having your program on prime time with no competition should spark some excitement from your fan base. Arriving about 45 minutes prior to kickoff, I was expecting to see a vibrant, crowded tailgate in the area surrounding the stadium, complete with super fans and drunken fight songs. Instead, I saw a scattered and rather indifferent crowd peacefully making their way into the stadium with little sign of tailgate parties having taken place before. The closest thing was a collection of bouncy castles and childrens pickup football games.
About 70% of the stadium filled at kickoff. They were doing a "red out" and most fans were in some sort of red, although how hard is it to pack a 34k stadium on national tv? There is only a small student section in one of the end zones, which was full of kids smacking plastic blow up sticks together, not really making much meaningful noise. The fans seemed like they were at a baseball game, not a football game. Cheering and making noise while UC was on offense and silent as the grave when the D took the field. Also, I'm not sure if it was just my section or what, but no one really seemed to pay much attention to the game on the field unless a scoring play happened. Half of the student section left at halftime (still a close game) and the stadium was near empty to start the fourth. It seemed more like a social gathering than a college football game.
The food was okay, but nothing special. There was one decent bathroom on my side of the field, otherwise it was portable toilets (really!!!) when nature called.
All in all, this seemed more like a high school football game than a division one college football game. This is the same fan base that claimed to rival local powerhouses such as Kentucky, Louisville, and Ohio State.
Again, the value is awesome for college football, even the beer is sort of cheap ($7). Just don't get your hopes up to see a good college footbal atmosphere, that is, unless a school with a large, travelling fanbase is visiting.