Can't Wait Until PSU Next Year

[JoeCollege]

Agree, what else can they do to appeal to locals, dirt cheap tickets and beer..

• Parking in the Dome
• Free parking, in the Dome
• Guarantee SU scores 4 touchdowns per quarter against a Top 5 team every game.
• SU players to provide lawn mowing and leaf raking services the other 6 days a week.
• Shoot on sight any "fan" that dares to stand and get into the game at any time.
• Less action, more in-house broadcast commercials from Mr. Excitement.
• Apple orchards instead of new buildings so familes can have quality time too.
• Never, ever punt again.
• Guarantee that 80% of all third downs get converted.
• Free beer at tailgates. Tailgate parties that take place in the Dome- walking is just too much!
• A free hug from the cheerleader or dance team member of your choice.
• A post game departure system that eliminates those horrendous 15-20 minute waits to get on the road and have to drive (gasp!) a whole hour or more home.

There. I think that should take care of it. If TGD can find a way to implement the above, I predict attendance (Actual, not announced) would skyrocket to probably a good 25-29,000 for every home game.

 

[Scooch]

Hoops has been able to build the infrastructure to ensure that it should always be competitive. It has always been in one of the top leagues, gets the top teams in. And if momentum starts to slip, it only takes one superstar recruit to stop the bleeding (see Anthony, Carmelo). SU fans feel that pride of knowing their stadium gets more people than anyone else.

Syracuse football has been at a disadvantage from the top teams of college football in many ways. Some of that is alleviated with ACC membership. But it's a big reason why CNY local support is constantly sitting at the minimum level. It's like the polar opposite of a school like, say, Nebraska. They feel like football is upper echelon and always will be, and they come out in droves. They feel like basketball is an uphill climb they can never make, so there is probably a very small, half empty stadium base of fans, and all the others are doing something else.

I agree that it's strange though because football is such a craze in every other part of the country. In CNY, they still get the national Sunday support (it's required by law in this country), but not Saturdays. Or Fridays, at least not nearly at the level of other parts of the country.

Yup.

With a few years as an exception here and there, SU hoops fans have believed their team can win a national title, or at least compete for one, for nearly 30 years running. SU has finished in the top 25 poll twenty-three times and has been in the tournament twenty-five times in the past 30 years. Plus people know going to the Dome they're going to see star players and an exciting brand of ball.

SU had one dream season of national title hopes, and only one other season where we even got through September unbeaten (1991) in the past 25 years. I mean it's been twenty years since we didn't have a loss (or 2, or 3) in September. Real hard to build attendance momentum that way.

And let's be real, in the past 10 years the program is 43-79. That's brutal, and watching most games has been an exercise is self-torture. Honestly, we should be having threads about how remarkable it is that we've been able to average ~40K for the past decade with a product that lousy.

 

[Scooch]

And I'll add that these passionate threads about attendance amuse me. We're in a decade of suck, of course attendance is lousy.

If SU goes on a run, and storms into the Dome at 7-2 to play a top 25 Louisville team on November 10th, and we don't have 46K+ in the place, THEN I'll be concerned.

 

[rrlbees]

You know Chip.

You discredit the uniqueness of the beer thing, the super cheap seats with great sitelines, and for that matter playing in a facility that keeps people warm and dry in a place that is cold and wet.

If you want to say the guy that invested a lot gets little in return next to the guy sitting 15 yards away in the $10 seat then I think that's fair.

Your thinking micro and instant gratification. The cheap seats and beer do nothing to build a long term growing fanbase. Not for locals, not for alum.

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[baggerbob]

We have the 1st part of getting fans to the dome in place now, exciting offense and attacking defense. Now we need to start winning games, and fans will come. Jimmy realized this fact long ago, syracuse fans follow winners, but want to be entertained at the same time.

 

[Bayside44]

Your thinking micro and instant gratification. The cheap seats and beer do nothing to build a long term growing fanbase. Not for locals, not for alum.

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Those cheap seats provide a very affordable product. Just about anyone can go at those pricepoints. And not at nosebleed levels either.

Strip beer out of the Dome and see what happens. couchburn

 

[Ozcuse]

How's that, because alumni move 5 to 6 hours away from SU after graduation? Forget the fact that the school does shockingly little to cultivate the sports donor, but those hoop games that fill up in DC, NY, Philly, etc are grad heavy.

If basketball had about 5-8 years of sucktitude they wouldn't be filling out arenas either.

I really don't want to put that theory to the test however.

 

[Chip]

You know Chip.

You discredit the uniqueness of the beer thing, the super cheap seats with great sitelines, and for that matter playing in a facility that keeps people warm and dry in a place that is cold and wet.

If you want to say the guy that invested a lot gets little in return next to the guy sitting 15 yards away in the $10 seat then I think that's fair.

The only problem with the beer thing is that I would bet most of the locals who attend games do not know that beer isn't served at nearly every other college football facility. They probably just think it's something that every stadium has these days. So in that respect, I think bees may be right in that it's not something that brings them in. You're right though, take it away and watch the chaos that ensues.

Same probably applies, maybe to a lesser degree, to the cheap tickets and the perfect views from everywhere. If you don't know how much worse it is elsewhere, then you don't know what kind of deal you are actually getting.

But for me? Yes, I've been to a few college stadiums in my day, and the beer (and the view) keeps me coming back to the Dome. Vendors seek me out now, not the other way around.

 

[SUbear]

The funny thing is if you travel around upstate NY all you see is people wearing SU gear. Stores have SU signage all over the place. You go around NJ and you cannot find anything RU. If you polled CNYers and asked them who their favorite CFB team is, the majority of them would say SU. So how is it that an area of 750k can only get 5% to show up on Saturdays? And this is all in a one horse town BTW. There really is no alternative CFB or Pro.

For whatever reason CNY is a BBall area and does not have a passion for FB. Which is different from the rest of the country.

You have short memory. The attendance dropped as Syracuse onfield performance plummeted. CNY fans insist on competitive teams. Noone wants to watch a team that is repeatedly getting killed. Shaw's attitude when fans tried to warn of their unhappiness did not help. Then Robinson put the nails in attendence coffin. SU will have to consistently win fora while to hope to reinvest many. Really not much different than for improved recruiting.

 

[TexanMark]

Eh, $10 tixs do not do a thing for long term building of the fanbase. It's being very shortsighted and looking for the quick fix. It's the difference between one guy getting a hooker and another being happily married.

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We get hookers with $10 tix too! What a country!

 

[rrlbees]

We get hookers with $10 tix too! What a country!

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[Cuseman78]

I don't think it is very productive or helpful to point fingers and argue over what areas of the SU fanbase are the best (or the worse) but for the record, I agree that the majority of the SU fans at the game were from upstate NY.

From what I saw, I think there were around 3K of neutral fans there, about 18K of USC fans and 18K of SU fans. No question the NYC area fans on the whole did not turn out...at best they had perhaps 5K show up. Not a knock on the diehards on this board...as you say, SU alums in general do not do a good job supporting the program and they never have.

Whatever the breakdown of fans was, we should all be able to agree that bringing 18K of SU fans to Met Life for a game against the #1 team in the country was a pathetic showing, a shockingly bad number, and the lack of interest shown by SU alums, particularly those in the NYC area, is going to have major ramifications regarding scheduling future games in the NYC metro area.

This is a ridiculous post. You can tell where people are from how? Utter nonsense.

 

[Bayside44]

This is a ridiculous post. You can tell where people are from how? Utter nonsense.

Mustaches...

 

[Cuseman78]

Mustaches...

Excellent point...and I didn't see many. I think people get a skewed vantage point depending who you're hanging/tailgating with. I was hanging with NYC people, so I assumed that the crowd was mostly NYC alums. Tom was hanging with CNYers. The truth is nobody knows what the crowd make-up was. It was a disappointing turn-out, by the fan base as a whole. Win football games and that will change -- at the Dome and at MetLife.

 

[MikeSU02]

s

Eh, $10 tixs do not do a thing for long term building of the fanbase. It's being very shortsighted and looking for the quick fix. It's the difference between one guy getting a hooker and another being happily married.

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Not only that, but if $10 seats and beer were compelling enough, it would be working. This isn't some hypothetical we are discussing. SU offers those things and it is not working.

I've said this a million times, but SU needs to be Syracuse's college team before it is anything else. You can't be in over a decade of mediocre / terrible football and expect people to just come because you are pricing the tickets according to the product. A craptastic product should not cost premium prices.

Now, I think the team is headed in the right direction, love the new offense and I feel there is a real buzz being generated for the hardcore fans, but we are still on a 7 game losing streak and haven't gotten back to being a team that expects to be in the top 25.

Because of that, and just something that I feel should be done anyway, SU should have a group that is solely focused on the local community outreach. I think a lot of locals would appreciate a pat on the back or a thank you and being recognized for support. I think it would go a long way to instilling the pride of being a Syracuse fan.

Syracuse does not have a built in culture of football fanaticism like other areas of the country. There needs to be added value to the game day experience. Especially when you can sit at home and watch the game on a crystal clear 50" TV.

 

[Alsacs]

You have short memory. The attendance dropped as Syracuse onfield performance plummeted. CNY fans insist on competitive teams. Noone wants to watch a team that is repeatedly getting killed. Shaw's attitude when fans tried to warn of their unhappiness did not help. Then Robinson put the nails in attendence coffin. SU will have to consistently win fora while to hope to reinvest many. Really not much different than for improved recruiting.

I agree with this my Junior year was 2005 and the Dome was loud and packed for Greg Robinson's first game. The locals helped fill up the Dome there was about 45k that day I believe. If Greg Robinson hadn't 'ed things up so badly the CNY crowd would have come out to the games. GROB from 2005-2008 KILLED Syracuse Football. While Doug Marrone has brought us back to the Coach P 2002-2004 days we need to get back to the SU 1991-2001 days before the Dome will be full. The ACC honeymoon should last the next two years and we should see crowds over 40k but to get back to the 45k+ we need to see on the field results.

 

[mountaincuse]

s

Not only that, but if $10 seats and beer were compelling enough, it would be working. This isn't some hypothetical we are discussing. SU offers those things and it is not working.

I've said this a million times, but SU needs to be Syracuse's college team before it is anything else. You can't be in over a decade of mediocre / terrible football and expect people to just come because you are pricing the tickets according to the product. A craptastic product should not cost premium prices.

Now, I think the team is headed in the right direction, love the new offense and I feel there is a real buzz being generated for the hardcore fans, but we are still on a 7 game losing streak and haven't gotten back to being a team that expects to be in the top 25.

Because of that, and just something that I feel should be done anyway, SU should have a group that is solely focused on the local community outreach. I think a lot of locals would appreciate a pat on the back or a thank you and being recognized for support. I think it would go a long way to instilling the pride of being a Syracuse fan.

Syracuse does not have a built in culture of football fanaticism like other areas of the country. There needs to be added value to the game day experience. Especially when you can sit at home and watch the game on a crystal clear 50" TV.

Probably a good idea. Or just have Jim Brown show up door to door and eyeball the homeowner until they purchase tickets.

 

[sutomcat]

Working off this:

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/big-ten/penn-state-nittany-lions.php

On that page is a link to this story, which says the games in Syracuse and State College have not been finalized.

Link

I have been waiting for an announcement on this for some time. Hope it comes soon.

The staff has really been struggling to schedule since Rob Edson left. A 1-1-1 with Penn State would be a great move, and one that I support totally. A single game in NJ? No, that would be another in a series of bad scheduling moves.

 

[baggerbob]

Probably need to find out with a 9 game cofernce schedule,when we have 5 games away, don't want to play Penn St away one of those years.

 

[Chip]

On that page is a link to this story, which says the games in Syracuse and State College have not been finalized.

Link

I have been waiting for an announcement on this for some time. Hope it comes soon.

The staff has really been struggling to schedule since Rob Edson left. A 1-1-1 with Penn State would be a great move, and one that I support totally. A single game in NJ? No, that would be another in a series of bad scheduling moves.

I think we've had a lot of good scheduling moves. Home and homes with Wake Forest, Northwestern, Minnesota, BC (pre our ACC move), Georgia Tech (pre our ACC move), Navy (might get cancelled due to ACC move). Mixed in some MAC teams. 1AAs when we had to.

I don't get where all the bad scheduling moves are. USC? Ok, I see that. PSU until 5 seconds ago was 1-1-1, and thought of as a great move. ND is what it is. You can argue it's bad, but I bet a lot of people would argue it's good. @ Mizzou, extenuating circumstances. We didn't just call Mizzou and say I have a great idea, can we come play there and you never have to return a game? Getting Wyoming last minute to come to the Dome and then buying our way out of the return? I don't think that was a bad move. We cancelled the VT series, which is what they wanted as much, if not more, than us. ECU still owes us a game.

Scheduling non conference is more challenging for a school like SU than most. Primarily because have to schedule FIVE of them while we were stuck in crap-ville, the Big East.

I really don't see where it has been so bad.

 

[Scooch]

SU has not appeared in the top 25 since the end of the 2001 season. That's a drought of 10 seasons, and counting.

I don't know why we argue about attendance. Read that first sentence again.

 

[otisco]

Mustaches...

And/or waist line and/or generally disgruntled look.

 

[Orangetradition44]

Im talking about away game / travel attendance. You're illustrating my point. The alumni / locals support hoops. They do not support football. But its the alumni who should play a significant role in travel game attendance... As you point out, away bball is heavily alumni because our alumni live in a 6 hour radius of Syracuse.

People are explaining the move to NY/NJ on the grounds that we are reaching out to alumni, and YET Mark is asking more CNYers to come to the game next year, when it was pretty damn clear that a large majority of the FANS that did attend actually travelled from upstate.

So in my opinion, the attendance issue was squarely on the alumni... MANY of whom live within 1-hour of the city, not on the locals. Just my opinion.

How's that, because alumni move 5 to 6 hours away from SU after graduation? Forget the fact that the school does shockingly little to cultivate the sports donor, but those hoop games that fill up in DC, NY, Philly, etc are grad heavy.

 

[Bayside44]

Im talking about away game / travel attendance. You're illustrating my point. The alumni / locals support hoops. They do not support football. But its the alumni who should play a significant role in travel game attendance... As you point out, away bball is heavily alumni because our alumni live in a 6 hour radius of Syracuse.

People are explaining the move to NY/NJ on the grounds that we are reaching out to alumni, and YET Mark is asking more CNYers to come to the game next year, when it was pretty damn clear that a large majority of the FANS that did attend actually travelled from upstate.

So in my opinion, the attendance issue was squarely on the alumni... MANY of whom live within 1-hour of the city, not on the locals. Just my opinion.

On away game attendance we've drawn well at BC, RU, and UConn where we have a good amount of alumni. I've been to UNC where we drew well (alumni and CNY transplants) and UVa (ditto). Playing in an 82K seat stadium was needlessly ambitious...there are stadiums in NY where we could've played where it would not have looked like a lax crowd.

 

[Cuseman78]

People are explaining the move to NY/NJ on the grounds that we are reaching out to alumni, and YET Mark is asking more CNYers to come to the game next year, when it was pretty damn clear that a large majority of the FANS that did attend actually travelled from upstate.
.

What are you basing this ridiculous claim on? You have no idea where 15-20k fans originated from.