Dino's Week 6 Pitt Press Conference

[syracuse95]

With a small group as exceptions, including some on this board, the locals are all we have now. That’s the base fan base. Out of town fans including alumni is for the most part non existent now.

I can't say that I blame them. The 50k alumni that graduated over the last 15+ years never saw a team worth returning for. We've been consistently bad and occasionally mediocre over that time. Our high water mark over the last 17 years was a 7-5 regular season, with a lot of 4-8 and 3-9. From 2003-2017 we were 57-101. That hurts the ties that out of town alumni have to the program. Not to mention that for a decade+ our TV coverage was on the Ocho, so most of those alums never even accidentally caught a game on TV. And if they did catch one of our few nationally televised games, we were getting blown out in the 2nd quarter.

It's going to take more than a 4-1 record this year to get out-of-towners back to the dome. Those apathetic students that didn't show up from 2003-2013 are lost forever. If I had graduated in 2015, instead of 20 years earlier, I doubt I make the trip every year like I do now. I wasn't a Syracuse fan when I arrived on the Hill, but the gameday environment and winning football turned me into one. What, over the last 15 years, would have turned a new student into an SU football fan?

The only reason I kept making the trip to games over the last 15 years was because of a fading memory of what it was like 25 years ago, and a belief that somehow it would be that way again. That's a tough sell to a kid that wasn't born when I graduated from college. It was a tough sell to myself before we hired Babers.

We need to keep Babers, keep winning, and keep growing the engagement of the student body in the football program. Do that for 5-7 years and there will be plenty of fans, local and out-of-town, in the dome every game.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I know alums who go on road trips more often than they come back here for a game.

I did get 3 fellow 2007 alums to come to the NC State game halloween weekend. The issue is no alum under 35 remembers good Syracuse football unless you grew up watching as a kid.

 

[SUskibum]

if they come in 5-1 and theres not 45k for UNC, and if/when he leaves after some success, then we'll all look back as this was the day he decided he's outta here. If they do come in 5-1 I'm buying extra tix and giving them away.

Yup. I convinced 2 people from Montana to get here for the UNC game (using my extra tickets). And I convinced 2 more to come up from DC for NCST (also using my extras). (Hope to make the FINE tailgate for both)

What ever number we get for the remaining games it’s still going to be an uptick from the past couple years.

I just hope Dino is paying attention in Jan/Feb when 30k people drive midweek at night, in a snow storm, when its 20 degrees out, to watch JAB.

HCDFB, I promise you, IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME.

 

[JEF44]

It's funny last year I couldn't make a game and couldn't get rid of tickets. This year I regrettably can't make lvll and I have 4 different people at work asking me about them!

 

[OrangeCrush22]

SU, being private, draws students from all over the country who move away upon graduating. SU needs to do all they can to get locals to the games. They're the ones who will live in the area the rest of their lives. That might mean giving away free or discounted tickets, but you have to get people hooked and invested somehow.

 

[JeremyCuse]

We do seem to have students on board now, which is good.

Alum problem is tricky for us. So many don't end up living that close. And I forget what it must have been like to be a student during all these bad years. Probably like being a Kansas football fan, when does hoops start. My 2nd Dome game as a freshman started out with Dar Dar on a reverse running past a stunned Steve Spurrier in front of 49,500 fans who nearly blew the roof off the place. A team that stayed ranked all year. It was easy to get hooked.

On the flip side, many of the big schools that rely on alums are also drawing 30-50k more when you compare full stadium to full stadium.

I'm not pointing fingers, but I do think all around CNY, combined with students, we should be able to get 45k in there. We're not that far off.

Every alum knows an alum that doesn't seem to care. And I'd bet every local knows a local that doesn't seem to care (I know plenty of both). Locals are lower hanging fruit to draw back in. Alums are a longer play.

Chip as usual your thoughts are measured and on point. I would push back a bit on the locals being the low hanging fruit that can be brought back easily. Are they are 1-2K local or surrounding area fans that can be brought back in, absolutely. However, and this isn't directed at you, but I get the feeling from reading this board that people think there are 7-10K people who are on the fence or are somewhat on the fence that choose to stay home or rake leaves (god can we stop with that awful joke by the way) or do whatever versus coming to the Dome. I can say with almost near certainty there is not. There maybe that potential number to draw but its going to take sustained success to draw that group back in, definitely more then this season and maybe even a good year next year. That additional 1-2K that is on the fence can be drawn in and probably drawn in this year if SU markets it correctly and the team can beat Pitt this Saturday. There is definitely increased interest and people are taking notice so a win Sat could definitely see a attendance bump for UNC. That said most locals and alumni are a longer play at this point unfortunately aren't going to be moved by Dino's words or the record at this point. I just hope Dino understands that, part of me fears he doesn't.

 

[JeremyCuse]

It's funny last year I couldn't make a game and couldn't get rid of tickets. This year I regrettably can't make lvll and I have 4 different people at work asking me about them!

I think the good start and the win over FSU has got that fan that is usually on the fence on the bandwagon or ready to make the jump. That fan is usually a follower of SU who while not a diehard is more then just a casual fan. An overall successful year can get that second tier fan, that casual person with the family of 3 or 4, to think hard about maybe spending the money to see SU versus fighting 1800 people at Beak and Skiff in the middle of October.

 

[qdawgg]

I think the dome can be mostly filled on a somewhat regular basis. Since Marrone was the coach, we've had some games that were well attended or just crazy loud, like marrone's first game. So the people willing to come at some point are there. As Chip pointed out, it seems there's quite a bit more student support this year too. I think once the team shows it's going to win more games than not, fans will marginally show up to some games and really show up to "important" games. But there have been some games with some decent crowds considering the history since Grob. That makes me optimistic that HCDB will start to see more support.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I think the dome can be mostly filled on a somewhat regular basis. Since Marrone was the coach, we've had some games that were well attended or just crazy loud, like marrone's first game. So the people willing to come at some point are there. As Chip pointed out, it seems there's quite a bit more student support this year too. I think once the team shows it's going to win more games than not, fans will marginally show up to some games and really show up to "important" games. But there have been some games with some decent crowds considering the history since Grob. That makes me optimistic that HCDB will start to see more support.

Well Marrone's first game was well attended because Grob was finally gone, Marrone looked and sounded like a guy who knew what the hell he was doing, add in Paulus and a National TV game week 1 and you had all the ingredients for a very well attended game. There weren't a ton of those types of games though the rest of Marrone's tenure. We had a few in the 40's especially in 2012 when we really got things going again. We had a couple of good size crowds in the 40s the last few years but thats been because SU flooded the market with really cheap tix or gave them away. Wildhack doesn't want to go that route and I think he's making the right call, its just going to take a bit to get everyone back on board but we are definitely on the right track.

 

[CuseGrad94]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... Babers asked the fans to have faith... Now, I'm asking that he have faith, belief without evidence, that attendance will get better. We are so close.

I love this... We should have SWC75 say this when he calls in to the coaches show this week. We will 85% fill the Dome eventually.

 

[Trueblue25]

This years attendance is trending up despite national decline.

To Dino,

Beat Pitt and prove you can get to 6 wins. There’s our evidence and that’s when you’ll see 40,000+ routinely.

Im a huge Dino fan, but we gotta keep winning.

 

[CuseGrad94]

Chip as usual your thoughts are measured and on point. I would push back a bit on the locals being the low hanging fruit that can be brought back easily. Are they are 1-2K local or surrounding area fans that can be brought back in, absolutely. However, and this isn't directed at you, but I get the feeling from reading this board that people think there are 7-10K people who are on the fence that are somewhat on the fence that choose to stay home or rake leaves (god can we stop with that awful joke by the way) or do whatever versus coming to the Dome. I can say with almost near certainty there is not. There maybe that potential number to draw but its going to take sustained success to draw that group back in, definitely more then this season and maybe even a good year next year. That additional 1-2K that is on the fence can be drawn i and probably drawn in this year if SU markets it correctly and the team can beat Pitt this Saturday. There is definitely increased interest and people are taking notice so a win Sat could definitely see a attendance bump for UNC. That said most locals and alumni are a longer play at this point unfortunately aren't going to be moved by Dino's words or the record at this point. I just hope Dino understands that, part of me fears he doesn't.

I sometimes wonder what our attendance would be IF we only had 6 home basketball games a year. One game against a conference, national player (Duke) 3 against decent conference opponents (Louisville, UVA, NC St) and two against mid-major or smaller schools (Vermont and UCONN ) . These 6 games are all played on Saturday, what would the attendance be? I would guess with that little supply available to you they could easily pack 45k in for Duke (obviously with Dome allotting that much), 40K for the rest at minimum. Again this is saying there isn't a bad seat in the house and same ticket prices.
I am not sure if i explained my point well here but, I do think there is enough of a local fan base to get this done year in and year out IF we can make this an event that people want to be "seen at". IMO opinion Cuse has always been an "event town". Basketball is an "event", we need football to become one.

 

[sutomcat]

I thought they called holding not a PF.

One of the announcers called it holding. I think he misinterpreted the call.

I bet it was Blackledge. He is a bone head.

 

[CousCuse]

they need to lower capacity quickly and not tell dino. put some fake luxury boxes with dummies in the upperdeck corners

Q

 

[Orangello]

One of the announcers called it holding. I think he misinterpreted the call.

I bet it was Blackledge. He is a bone head.

Mink confirmed a hold

Syracuse football long snapper Matt Keller out for season

 

[Trueblue25]

The fact that tickets in my section (319) were $110 each for fsu and uconn was a little bit outrageous as well.

Be smarter, sell packages of 5 tickets for 125

 

[OrangeXtreme]

One of the announcers called it holding. I think he misinterpreted the call.

I bet it was Blackledge. He is a bone head.

Well, he's a Penn Stater.

 

[RF2044]

I think the good start and the win over FSU has got that fan that is usually on the fence on the bandwagon or ready to make the jump. That fan is usually a follower of SU who while not a diehard is more then just a casual fan. An overall successful year can get that second tier fan, that casual person with the family of 3 or 4, to think hard about maybe spending the money to see SU versus fighting 1800 people at Beak and Skiff in the middle of October.

Sustained success is key, though. I was hopeful that the win over FSU would induce some more people to attend the next game against connecticut, but the crowd there was lousy [as was the opponent, admittedly].

But if we follow up the exciting game against Clemson with a win, and then are 5-1 heading into a home game against a vulnerable UNC where we can achieve bowl eligibility, then I could see the casual fans beginning to pay attention. Want to see at least 40K in the stands the rest of the way. When

The reason for what I state in the first paragraph is that we've had many exciting moments over the last decade or so where we'd have a big win, and people would get excited, only to have us take a step backward and not capitalize on the momentum. I think our casual fanbase [not the diehards] are conditioned to channel their inner Who and not get fooled again, and be slower to come around.

When Dino came out of the tunnel against both FSU and uconn, the first thing he did was look around to see what the crowd was. That's the final component of this rebuild -- we need fans in the stands. Because all of the other elements are there for this program to be successful under this head coach and coaching staff. I'm not sure if we can get to 49K sellouts, but we damn sure should be able to at least get ~40K in there -- Dino Babers and the kids deserve it, and its up to the local community to deliver.

 

[Trueblue25]

Well, realistically, what can the die hards do to help out here? A lot of us already have multiple season seats and urge people to the games/hold tailgates

 

[RF2044]

Well, realistically, what can the die hards do to help out here? A lot of us already have multiple season seats and urge people to the games/hold tailgates

I think that SU needs to take concerted action, like offering discounted tickets or specials to the UNC game to draw the crowd in. Even if it ends up costing you some gate revenue [which can partially be made up for by concessions sales, btw].

 

[gbo]

The fact that tickets in my section (319) were $110 each for fsu and uconn was a little bit outrageous as well.

Be smarter, sell packages of 5 tickets for 125

$110 for UConn??? You can't be serious.

 

[Trueblue25]

I think that SU needs to take concerted action, like offering discounted tickets or specials to the UNC game to draw the crowd in. Even if it ends up costing you some gate revenue [which can partially be made up for by concessions sales, btw].

Yeah i mean, can’t make money off people that arent there.

 

[Trueblue25]

$110 for UConn??? You can't be serious.

It may have been just fsu? Not sure

 

[AAM62]

Dino: I hope the community saw a team they can get behind. I hope we are doing out part of putting something on the field they can be proud of.

Fans need to get to the Dome. I don't know what the University does to promote and market but they should be slamming the airwaves and local television commercials.

They go straight to digital with all the cool hype videos but tv is probably the way to go given the demographics in the area.

 

[gbo]

It may have been just fsu? Not sure

$110 for any college game is crazy.