Now that it appears there's a good chance that the program is trending upward again along with all the discussion on attendance it got the wheels spinning in the cranium. Apologies as the following will be long as I think out loud here.
The keys to success with this issue whether it be the Syracuse football program, the Chiefs or any team is getting fans to identify with the team as theirs. For so long this wasn't happening on the hill. Whether it was the rude ushers or ticket office people we all encountered or the previous admins ("Get a life" and "not in the business of firing coaches" fully acknowledging there was some unfair hyperbole with this), or the interactions some had with parts of the athletic dept. (me trying and failing to get the '59 National Championship ED and team signed ball donated up there), etc., the end result is a lack of connection with the program.
Combine the now decades long poor performance, add on all the other gripes legit or not (Dome location, style of play, etc.), all together is it any really wonder that there's attendance issue. Of course not. The question of course what can be done now to start to reverse the trend. Here's what can be done, at least a start.
Now the good thing is it's already started. Or at least I think it has. The attitudes and treatment received by the ticket office and general demeanor off all the ushers I've run across the last several years is light years better than it was years ago. Someone up there must have instituted some basic training on simple customer relations.
Now they need to take it to the next level. If you can get people to feel connected to the program as "their team" once again it will be easy to get people beyond their perceived greivances and logistical concerns (again Dome location, tix prices, concession, and even team performances). Simple basic customer service taking it to the next level which as noted some of which has already started.
In my line of work it affords the opportunity to really have a good feel on the pulse on the community through the exposure to a lot of people in it. And for right or for wrong people hold on to grudges and perceived slights. Now I have no idea if this is better or worse than elsewhere in the country but there's two things I continue to hear about in this town that bothers people (still!) and is often mentioned in sports discussions. Which I can only assume continues to effect attendance. Add in reading some of the comments in Axes it still apparently resonates today which to deny continues to be self defeating.
One is people are still upset about the baseball stadium being where it is and not being downtown the result it contributes to why they don't go. Now I know for me I've always said it made sense to put it downtown as it would attract the marginal baseball fans like me who'd end up going to more games simply for something more to do after a night out in the city. Made sense then, still makes sense today as a lost opportunity and is at least a part of the reason why they continue to have such attendance issues up there.
The other thing I continue to hear is how disconnected people feel from the university the genesis of it being the comments from SU referenced earlier that I also read in Axes article (again fans need to "get a life", etc.).
We need to forget for a second whether this should be an issue all these years later or if it's for right or for wrong. Need to forget if its legit or not. And rather simply acknowledge the end result of all this is a huge disconnect many of the locals feel. It's what they feel. This is simple reality whether one wants to acknowledge it or not as evidenced by the continued attendance concerns (it's not JUST poor performance, jobs leaving, greying of past fans, etc.).
Now let me preface the next comments by saying the Chiefs new guy HAS improved substantially the game day experience at a Chiefs game by light years, has brought energy and enthusiasm and is doing many good things long needed. But they continue to have abysmal attendance up there. Why? Mostly because of the disconnect/lack of connection and identification so many feel to that team, in part because of the location fiasco. They continue to fail in the big picture as noted by very weak attendance.
Like SU what is needed is an out of the box thinking by someone willing to put their neck out on the line and do something not easy and different. That is admit past errors, address concerns, perceived grievances (again for right or for wrong, legitimate reality based or not), and make public statements to help themselves get their programs better connected to the community they want to attend their games. In effect, to quote Jerry Maguire, help me to help you!
It's simple really. You want to be a success? Do the things most people don't want to do, yes work hard but work freaking smart too. Address the obvious. The obvious being so few people feel connected to your programs! The result being they don't want to go to your games.
In the case of the Chiefs I had the opportunity to talk to the Chiefs head guy recently and tried to bring up the issue that I have no question would help him to help himself. Address the old issue in some way shape or form about the stadium location that for right or for wrong continues to rankel so many, and make a statement to the effect, "I know a lot of folks in our town were understandably upset that the stadium location wasn't built downtown, I get it and can see that point completely, but it is what it is now and we need your help, we ask that you look past that now and get on board with us, join us, make us YOUR team, in your community in a partnership as we go to the future" or words to that effect.
Get that message out and watch the connections start to happen and improve where many would try and start to do just that. I wish I can say I was able to get that message through but I couldn't. Before even hearing me out he cut me off with the rah rah approach that "hey we're forward thinkers here, we don't plan on nor do we feel the need to go backward, we only go forward here". As I sat there looking at him I recalled the line I heard from coach Mac once when I was on my recruiting trip up to the hill where he said, "God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason".
The guy wouldn't even listen let alone comprehend that to move forward successfully sometimes you gotta look backwards, learn and then move forward. I felt sad as I left the stadium that night with TexanMark knowing they'll be continued failures up there with whatever the anemic attendance numbers continue to be as I noted on a gorgeous sat. night, on Fireworks night, with a team that won 11 games straight, there was only maybe a couple thousand people there.
Now as for SU I think in Coyle we're already hearing that he may very well indeed do what needs to be done to re-engage the community in tangible ways and I hope intangible ways as well. He seems like he has the personality and demeanor to really reach out to the community in ways not ever done here with not just platitudes but more appropriate words and perhaps actions. I like everything I hear and see from the new leadership up there so far and hope they too see the obvious. Forget whether right or wrong, legit or not they need to reconnect with their community. Or their sports minded customers.
Say they understand there's been past mistakes in public pronouncements and reactions to fans concerns re "Get a life", etc., perhaps past treatment of fans and maybe even say we're sorry (OMG aghast!) as they proclaim how badly they want not just people at the games but for them to feel that this is THEIR program, THEIR team. We are one, etc. said in whatever we are the world way, perhaps hokey way they choose to do it. Don't care if it's hokey, don't care what the naysayers and cynics will say, just say it.
Think outside the box, put themselves out there, listen with both ears, show humility, show concern, show excitement, energy and enthusiam for what we together as one, fans, players, coaches and administrators alike working together can achieve. Say we want you, we value you and in time you will value us and lets all together take this thing to the next level. It can be done. Lets do it they can say. It's simple really.
