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Message: [QUOTE="alphaorange, post: 357604, member: 305"] A lot of people here really are clueless. In the first place, Syracuse and the surrounding 50 mile radius simply does not have the sort of economic base that can easily support 40k plus for home games. It's great that all you professionals have the time and money to do it, but the fact is the pool of potential "customers" to fill the dome is a fraction of what it once was. That is indisputable. I don't know a single one of you personally, at least to my knowledge, so I have no axe to grind, but SWC sounds like an incredibly uniformed elitist. A typical example is Cortland. Cortland county lost around 25% of it's manufacturing base between 1982 and 1997 (7000 from SCM, alone). I can tell you that many of those people held season's tickets and attended because that is how I got started. When those jobs left, those fans either left, too, or became employed at lesser jobs. Either way, the result is the same: no money for discretionary activities, so not many football games. Much the same happened in Syracuse. Fisher body, Carrier, New Process Gear, R.E. Dietz, and a dozen others either downsized or closed all together. For people to ignore this because it doesn't fit their argument is what has been called an "inconvenient truth". The alumni that blame central NYers need look no further than the mirror. SU played the #2 team in the country in a large venue close to one of the largest cites in the world and how many showed up? Was that the CNY fans' fault as well? The bottom line is that SU is a school with a small alumni base (compared to many of the state schools often mentioned) in an economically disadvantaged area, and struggling to fill seats. When fans are demonized and treated the way they have been since the Buzz and Jake days, there will always be backlash. There was, and the realization that it will take a major effort to restore interest to the point people will sacrifice to go to games is just not evident from the hill, at this point. This whole loss of fans thing is a perfect storm of events that unfolded over several years and will take several years to fix. The product on the field is but a single part. The university needs to make a huge effort to get back the fans and lowering prices is just a small step. I honestly don't see the effort to fix things that are mentioned in this thread by Stern and Bees, for example. Two things in closing: As a businessman, I can tell you that you can lose a customer in the blink of an eye. Trying to get that same customer back is a time consuming task that often requires giving more that you gave when he was with you previously. And secondly, "Ileft after the final horn, got in my car and was home in Camillus in 15 minutes. People just want too complain." That's a load of crap. Takes 5 minutes to exit the dome, alone. Unless you car is parked by Hendricks, motor running, no fans to avoid, make every light, that is not even possible. Takes me at least 7-8 minutes to walk to the bus stop because I am a schmoe that parks off campus. Then I wait for the bus, ride to my car, fight traffic to get on 81 and then drive 35 more minutes. I'm not complaining, mind you, but lets be accurate. Even for a non-tailgating fan, a football game at the dome takes around 6 hours start to finish from my area. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?