Darren Rovell On CFB Attendance

[Bill Orange]

Interesting read.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...ile&rand=ref~{"ref":"http://t.co/sQUi1GBUIO"}

 

[javadoc]

Noted the bit about how at Tennessee, they have data that shows more students show for night games than day games. Hm.

But you gotta take those noon starts dictated by the paymasters.

 

[Orangeman]

Let's just be honest here...society and the fun police have made it harder/impossible for the young demographic to have the kind of experience they want at these events (football games).

Hundreds of thousands of them will go to a weekend rave with electronic music, but the pacification of the tailgating and overall game atmosphere at a football game is not appealing.

This is what "they" wanted, and this is what they're getting. No surprise.

The (seemingly?) heavier enforcement of the over-21 drinking laws can't be helping this...that all takes place behind closed doors or in the form of a pill now. It's not as fun to pop pills in a parking lot I guess.

 

[upperdeck]

how about rewarding the people who do show up.. I know price is not an issue per say but what if they lowered the price when you buy and come back. every year you buy you get 1% off, long time buyers get a real discount over time.

The deal with the kids is something they should be spending more time understanding.. one thing is clear at SU.. the total lack of using the replay board as intended hurts keeping people involved.. the biggest TV you could ask for sits unused for most of the game. they want kids to come early and be entertained then provide them something . so many issues that have gone on year after year.

at cornell they lowered the season ticket package for students to sell more and get more kids interested and thats our major sport of interest

 

[Lawrinson14]

how about rewarding the people who do show up.. I know price is not an issue per say but what if they lowered the price when you buy and come back. every year you buy you get 1% off, long time buyers get a real discount over time.

The deal with the kids is something they should be spending more time understanding.. one thing is clear at SU.. the total lack of using the replay board as intended hurts keeping people involved.. the biggest TV you could ask for sits unused for most of the game. they want kids to come early and be entertained then provide them something . so many issues that have gone on year after year.

at cornell they lowered the season ticket package for students to sell more and get more kids interested and thats our major sport of interest

At ~$50,000 per year, Syracuse students should get free season tickets to basketball and football.

 

[690West]

At ~$50,000 per year, Syracuse students should get free season tickets to basketball and football.

I agree, and ready for this? Its actually $60,000 now.
http://www.syr.edu/financialaid/costofattendance/

 

[upperdeck]

i think the numbers show though that free isnt still going to get them in the door. its almost free now and 25% of the ones bought go unused. price isnt the issue they need to solve.

 

[Scooch]

Enough of these kinds of articles have been shared here that I'd like to think that when there are empty seats in the SU student section this year we won't see moronic posts blasting SU students as being "the worst".

But I'm not optimistic.

 

[Dadarules]

My eldest daughter just started at SU last week and as we were in her dorm room my wife noted that we had not gotten around to buying her the student tickets. Bad parents but it has been a crazy summer so it slipped by. We were talking about the best way to order them for her and she said, "I already bought them." Yes she did it on her own with her own money during the summer. Well done young lady - you can count on her being there for every game. And if history holds true she will not be leaving any games early.

 

[SU2NASA]

i think the numbers show though that free isnt still going to get them in the door. its almost free now and 25% of the ones bought go unused. price isnt the issue they need to solve.

Gametime is a huge percentage of the problem. Night games in the dome are great and whether Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, the students show up in force for them.

 

[upperdeck]

i dont get why a day game has any bearing on when a kid goes to a game. have kids changed so much since i was in school? if anything day games mean nights are free to do other stuff. they arent studying at noon on a sat. atmosphere seems to be what the kids want and really they control much of that themselves.

 

[Lawrinson14]

I agree, and ready for this? Its actually $60,000 now.
http://www.syr.edu/financialaid/costofattendance/

Geez. When I started at SU (less than 10 years ago), full cost of attendance was $40,000. That's a 50% increase in less than 10 years.

This bubble definitely needs to pop soon.

 

[SU2NASA]

Geez. When I started at SU (less than 10 years ago), full cost of attendance was $40,000. That's a 50% increase in less than 10 years.

This bubble definitely needs to pop soon.

$33,000 in 1998

 

[SU2NASA]

i dont get why a day game has any bearing on when a kid goes to a game. have kids changed so much since i was in school? if anything day games mean nights are free to do other stuff. they arent studying at noon on a sat. atmosphere seems to be what the kids want and really they control much of that themselves.

You have to look at it as a football gameday is a day made for one event. Night games mean you can wake up late, spend your afternoon tailgating/drinking, go to the game, and then finish off the night partying. Look at the evening games we've had the last few years against WVU, Louisville, etc. You get bigger student turnout, the environment is better, and it's more fun for everyone. And the team seems to have responded well.

 

[Scooch]

i dont get why a day game has any bearing on when a kid goes to a game. have kids changed so much since i was in school? if anything day games mean nights are free to do other stuff. they arent studying at noon on a sat. atmosphere seems to be what the kids want and really they control much of that themselves.

When your own college's team isn't great, and you're a sports fan, one might be inclined to skip your own noon start to watch a better game on TV in the comfort of your dorm room or off campus apartment. Especially since you can roll outta bed at 11:45 am to do it.

I know the thought that a student might not be blindingly loyal to his or her alma mater that way offends the old school types here, but it's reality.

More and more people want to attend "events" and night games foster that more for the reasons SU2NASA mentioned.

I've mentioned this fact before here but it bears repeating... the majority of young sports fans say they prefer to watch a game on TV vs. in person.

 

[elimunelson]

As a graduate, i'm comfortable saying this: It's not worth 60k a year. I'm sorry but that's an outrageous sum to pay for a school that has fallen out of the top 60. It pains me to say that b/c I love the school, etc but for 60k no thanks.

Regarding the ticket situation, it's just not as important to students anymore. Every kid on campus has tvs, internet, etc. If you can't get kids to go to games in the SEC, that says it all to me.

 

[Lawrinson14]

As a graduate, i'm comfortable saying this: It's not worth 60k a year. I'm sorry but that's an outrageous sum to pay for a school that has fallen out of the top 60. It pains me to say that b/c I love the school, etc but for 60k no thanks.

Regarding the ticket situation, it's just not as important to students anymore. Every kid on campus has tvs, internet, etc. If you can't get kids to go to games in the SEC, that says it all to me.

I agree 100%. You could pay for 3 kids to go to a state school (~$20,000) for the price of one student going to SU.

Also, let's think about this rationally. At $60,000 per year, SU's student body is going to have a much larger percentage of affluent students than most other big name schools. This means less wings, beer, and sports types.

 

[RF2044]

I know the thought that a student might not be blindingly loyal to his or her alma mater that way offends the old school types here, but it's reality.

I've mentioned this fact before here but it bears repeating... the majority of young sports fans say they prefer to watch a game on TV vs. in person.

I think the statement above is an enormous factor. It all depends on dedication / fandom, and with the modern expanded proliferation of game coverage, it is far easier to be "blindingly loyal" to an out of region team than it was back when I was in college. Full disclosure: I didn't attend SU, but I went to school an hour away and made every effort to make it back for a ton of hoops / football / lax games throughout my undergrad days. And when SU was on the road, etc. I almost always caught the games on TV. But that was fairly easy because SU games were carried as part of regional cable televsion coverage, so I didn't have to "work" [i.e., go to a sports bar or something along those lines] to catch them--they were on the local channels. Similarly, I was able to get WSYR radio coverage [albeit faded] for the games that weren't televised.

Students today have a billion more sports channel options than back in the '90s when I was in school. There's also internet game broadcasts that exponentially broaden volume / selection. So back in the day, I could either watch the local team, or whatever other random games were being televised locally if I didn't happen to follow the local team. That isn't a limitation today's students have to deal with anymore

But at the end of day, I think Scooch's point above is the crux of the matter. You either love the team or you don't. If you do, then it is virtually unfathomable to miss games, and you'll go the extra mile to see them. If you don't, you won't be bothered with making the effort--especially with so many other options at your disposal.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Winning games, big name opponents, and atmosphere. It's why a lot of SU students come out for hoops and not football. Not to mention the amount of tv timeouts in a football game, which is when SU does all those ads/dumb promotions. The DJ last year was a nice start, but they need to keep finding new ways to keep energy levels up during all these stoppages.