Defending the fans

[OrangePA]

You can't measure your fan base in your best years or your worst years. Measure them in your mediocre years if you want an accurate view. We have an 8-5 team who won a bowl game against a good team, an we have 25,000 fans. I don't want to hear excuses about the economy, or starting 0-2, or the offense being bad, or the parking, et al. We need more fans. We better start cultivating them. Because right now it's not that they are staying home. They don't exist.

This is an excellent post.

We finished 8-5, won a bowl game, have been playing some exciting football with a new QB, we are now in the ACC, we come off a 52-0 win and we draw the worst crowd I have ever seen in all my years at the Dome.

You're right - fans should be judged on how they react to mediocre years. Our fans do not react well.

 

[two3zone]

We don't recruit well for football, until that changes we will not have a top tier team and will not put butts in the seats. There is just no buzz with SU football, there is no excitement for SU football, there is no relevance to SU football outside of the Syracuse area. When we become relevant and have a legit shot at an ACC title or a major bowl game before the season the Dome will be packed, until we get some 4 and 5 star recruits it's not going to happen. It doesn't help that there are only 3 players in the top 100 high school players coming from the north east (all from NJ). Why would a kid in Florida or Texas or any of these other southern states want to come to Syracuse to play? Football isn't a northeastern sport like it used to be and probably will wont ever be again.

 

[JeremyCuse]

No but when this team really gets rolling I hope that changes ... I had my first beer with my dad over an SU football game ... wasn't quite 21 but who was paying attention ... For a lot of the people on this board you can't replace the memories the university and their football and hoops programs give us ... I was 9 when I decided I was going to school there ... went ... got my degree ... saw as many games as possible before and after graduation and loved every minute of it and wouldn't trade it for anything. Someone posted that it isn't the communities responsibility to sell this program and I agree ... but for me ... I will sell the hell out of it to my children ... my family and my friends ... SU was more than I ever could have asked for when it comes to life experiences and the more people that share that sentiment the better.

I agree I try to sell Syracuse athletics to as many people as possible and I encourage them to come to the games via football, basketball, or lacrosse. Unfortunately Syracuse the community has changed in both good and negative ways. Immigration has helped Syracuse's economy but many immigrants aren't familiar with Syracuse football and didn't grow up with the exposure to it we had, its hard to expect them to be attending games. A lot of old Syracuse fans have moved away or as morbid as it sounds have died, in a lot of cases there not being replaced as the population goes down or those voids are being filed by a younger generation/immigrants with no ties to Syracuse athletics or the football program. I am not even going to touch the poverty issue or amount of people on the govt dole in this area.

 

[All4SU]

In this thread people take a simple issue and analyze it to death.

You're completely wrong. And here's why...

 

[two3zone]

This is an excellent post.

We finished 8-5, won a bowl game, have been playing some exciting football with a new QB, we are now in the ACC, we come off a 52-0 win and we draw the worst crowd I have ever seen in all my years at the Dome.

You're right - fans should be judged on how they react to mediocre years. Our fans do not react well.

Problem is we haven't been mediocre for a couple of years, we've been awful or average for over a decade. We're 53-84 since 2002 with 2 winning seasons in that time.

 

[longislandcuse]

This is an excellent post.

We finished 8-5, won a bowl game, have been playing some exciting football with a new QB, we are now in the ACC, we come off a 52-0 win and we draw the worst crowd I have ever seen in all my years at the Dome.

You're right - fans should be judged on how they react to mediocre years. Our fans do not react well.

You're arguing points that everyone in this forum agrees with. We are all huge fans and follow the program closely. However, outside of fans like us you're argument means nothing because we looked awful the first 2 weeks and beat Wagner. That's not getting fringe fans to go to a noon tilt against Tulane.

 

[All4SU]

Problem is we haven't been mediocre for a couple of years, we've been awful or average for over a decade. We're 53-84 since 2002 with 2 winning seasons in that time.

We've been mediocre for 4 years. And that's conceding the end of last season when SU was better than mediocre. SU was a good team the last half of the season. A GOOD team. And we may become a good team again this year.

 

[two3zone]

We've been mediocre for 4 years. And that's conceding the end of last season when SU was better than mediocre. SU was a good team the last half of the season. A GOOD team. And we may become a good team again this year.

Yes, we've been a .500 team the past four years I understand that but we weren't coming off a national championship before that we were coming off 8 years of the worst football these school has ever seen hence the lack of excitement of playing .500 football. Losing some great players as well as essentially your whole coaching staff isn't going to invoke more confidence in this program. Remember, some of these fans thing Jim Boeheim should be shown the door, you think they'll put up with .500 football?

 

[Cheriehoop]

Right because no one knew it existed? One of the most prestigious journalism schools in the world .. really? Lexington has a metro population of 472K+ doesn't seem to hurt them at all ...

SU stats have 63% of its graduating students in 2010 coming from outside NY state. I think that makes a huge difference between us, Lexington and most large universities. Of the 37% from NYS how many do you think are from metro Syracuse or move outside the state after graduation? 79% of Kentucky's larger undergraduate enrollment are from Kentucky. I do think that makes comparisons very difficult. I imagine that majority of alumni like yourself find it logistically difficult to be season ticket holders because of distance vs a program like Kentucky.

 

[sufandu]

Part of the issue is that the northeast is a pro sports region. Compare that with the south, which is a college sports region. With as bad as Buffalo and Cleveland have been, they still have solid attendance. If the University of Georgia played a game the same day and time as the Falcons you'd have twice as much interest in the Georgia game compared to the Falcons in the state of Georgia.

 

[wfschrec]

SU stats have 63% of its graduating students in 2010 coming from outside NY state. I think that makes a huge difference between us, Lexington and most large universities. Of the 37% from NYS how many do you think are from metro Syracuse or move outside the state after graduation? 79% of Kentucky's larger undergraduate enrollment are from Kentucky. I do think that makes comparisons very difficult. I imagine that majority of alumni like yourself find it logistically difficult to be season ticket holders because of distance vs a program like Kentucky.

I am talking existing population though ... and you are also talking new graduates which only raises the number of fans in the area ... its kind of apples to oranges ... there are still nearly 200K more people residing in the area vice what is around Lexington ... this has no bearing on graduating students that is pre-existing population, part of the big problem with keeping graduates in that area is the job market ...

 

[wfschrec]

Part of the issue is that the northeast is a pro sports region. Compare that with the south, which is a college sports region. With as bad as Buffalo and Cleveland have been, they still have solid attendance. If the University of Georgia played a game the same day and time as the Falcons you'd have twice as much interest in the Georgia game compared to the Falcons in the state of Georgia.

There is truth to that however SU does not play on the same day as the pro franchises and nor does UGA ... so it really is a moot point.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

In other words, front runners.

Consumers

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[bevosu]

I live 30 mins from Athens ... 45 mins from Atlanta ... I literally have more to do around me in a one hour radius than I ever did in CNY ...

Oh yeah! I bet you can't go swimming in Onondaga lake anytime you want.

 

[wfschrec]

Oh yeah! I bet you can't go swimming in Onondaga lake anytime you want.

LOL .. yeah I miss those days ... floating with the four eyed fishes.

 

[rrlbees]

True, but Syracuse is a real front running town.

Worst I have ever seen.

Sorry bud, but you GREATLY use that word too generously. I bet there are very very few teams, college or pro, that don't draw better when they win, sometimes much better. Especially when you consider a dozen years of being a ho him .500 program or worse.


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[sufandu]

There is truth to that however SU does not play on the same day as the pro franchises and nor does UGA ... so it really is a moot point.

I was comparing cultures. The northeast simply doesn't care as much about college sports, therefore there is less support. The UGA-vs-Falcon comment was an illustration of how it is the opposite in the south, so it isn't a moot point.

 

[anomander]

Most people don't care about su football. It's just a fact. We are a basketball school. Period.

i'm not buying that. sure there is no argument basketball has had a much better following, and success since the early 2000's, but just because we are currently better at basketball it doesn't make us solely a basketball school. Now this doesn't make us a football school either. each program has been better at a particular point in their history, but you can't ignore the history the football program has, and relatively recent success and discount it. Schools like Indiana who have no football history, but a rich basketball history are basketball schools. same goes for Duke where the basketball program is the only one who has ever had success. just because basketball has been dominant for the past decade or so doesn't make us a basketball school, were just really freakin good

 

[Chip]

Was the attendance yesterday sad, yes. Do we need to get more people in the building, especially against weaker opponents, yes. However, lets take it down a notch on ripping the fans. We, have one of the best, if not the best fan-bases for Syracuse college basketball. We battle Kentucky for attendance records year in/ year out and take over arenas up and down the eastern seaboard.

Lets look at the Basketball fan success.. Great recruiting, consistent top 10 teams, consistent big games, great rivalries, played and will play in the best basketball conference in all of college basketball and knock on wood, we always start off the season well.

Lets look at the football team. One of the worst teams in D-1 under G-Rob, Marrone took over and turned us around but the term "turning us around" needs to be looked at under an objective microscope. Under DM's 4 years we went to two lower tier bowls. We haven't recruited well up until now and we played in the worst Power Conference in College Football. Who wants to watch a bad to mediocre Syracuse team play Cincinnati at noon? Not the casual fan. We keep scheduling like we're a Top 5 team and start every season behind the 8-ball so before the casual fan can even get excited we're 0-2. I need to question your sanity if you thought we'd have a good attendance showing at 12:30 against Tulane sitting at 1-2 with some of the worst football I have ever seen played in Games 1 and 2. Games 1 and 2, against big name opponents, those were the games I guarantee you the "casual fan" watched and then turned off at halftime of the NW game to say "Here we go again, can't wait til Basketball season"

Bottom Line: We need to win! That's it, that's all. Just get it done. I don't care if we have to follow Rutgers formula for a few years. To quote a great Syracuse alum "Just Win Baby" Win and the Dome will fill itself. (I don't know if that last statement makes any sense but it sounds dramatic so i'm going with it.)

SU Football will never be at the level that SU Basketball is right now. Elite top 5 national program. So if that's what it is going to take, then put a fork in the fan discussion.

For the record, it's one of my worries about what's hurting SU Football attendance. GRob has been gone for 5 years, we can't play that card forever.

ACC is the lifeline. Let's see if it works.

 

[retro44]

Um UK nearly sold out their game vs Kent St at home last year for football ... and they are one of the worst teams in the SEC ... sorry but you are wrong. They had over 48K in attendance ... honestly you can't defend our fans ... they are awful.

Tell us again...where do you live.

Why is it some of the most vocal on here live out of state.

 

[longislandcuse]

SU Football will never be at the level that SU Basketball is right now. Elite top 5 national program. So if that's what it is going to take, then put a fork in the fan discussion.

For the record, it's one of my worries about what's hurting SU Football attendance. GRob has been gone for 5 years, we can't play that card forever.

ACC is the lifeline. Let's see if it works.

I think continuously going to bowl games would help a lot. Also win one of these early season tough games or stop scheduling like this. Starting off 0-2 isn't going to energize a fan base. I definitely don't think we need to be a top tier program to get the fans back but we do need to win at a better clip than we're at.

 

[wfschrec]

Tell us again...where do you live.

Why is it some of the most vocal on here live out of state.

I live in GA ... when I was there I had seasons ... at least I showed up during the Robinson era ... which is more than I can say for most ... but hell next time I'll pass up job opportunities so I can stay there and make you happy and provide myself the right to say what I wish about a fan base I witnessed live and in person for 15 years ...

 

[wfschrec]

I was comparing cultures. The northeast simply doesn't care as much about college sports, therefore there is less support. The UGA-vs-Falcon comment was an illustration of how it is the opposite in the south, so it isn't a moot point.

Yes it is moot because they don't occur on the same day .. Falcon attendance has been good enough to get them a new stadium and UGA is always sold out but we'll just ignore that detail ... whatever.

 

[rrlbees]

Per my previous comment you can throw the private vs public nonsense right out the window .. it isn't a valid argument ... if the attendance was this bad in the 80-90s then I would agree ... sorry that excuse doesn't work when its the only game in town for a 662K+ sized metropolitan area.

Let's turn this around. Instead of asking what is wrong with the fans, ask what SU has done differently/wrong between the 90's and now.


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[wfschrec]

Sorry bud, but you GREATLY use that word too generously. I bet there are very very few teams, college or pro, that don't draw better when they win, sometimes much better. Especially when you consider a dozen years of being a ho him .500 program or worse.

There is merit to the fact that winning can impact attendance but ours is really really drastic.