My ideas re: attendance

[FreakTalksAboutSU]

I am no one with any advanced knowledge of this...just an observer and a fan...some of these ideas may be unrealistic...some may be great...I dont know. Just spewing...

Here's what I would do if my goal is to fill the Dome...and get more STUDENTS to show up.

1- Move the student section to the 50 yard line. Give students, who are paying $150,000 for 4 years, the best seats in the house, at least on one side of the field. The other side should go to locals and be priced accordingly.

2- Start ALL GAMES at 3pm. This enables students to "sleep in" and also be out of the game in time to do whatever they would like with their Saturday night. There was NOTHING WORSE as a student than an 8pm game on a Saturday night. Hoops maybe...but a 3 1/2 hour football game? No way.

3- Do a series of promotions specifically aimed at students. Example...every student with a valid SU ID who attends this game gets something free. Maybe a free taco from Kimmel or something. You have no idea what lengths kids would go through to get something free.

4- This one is tough...any way to allow kids to tailgate who live on campus and dont have a car? Maybe make it part of the "experience". I'm not talking a free ice cream cone...but I am also not talking about, obviously, alcohol to underage kids. Maybe get DBBQ to provide free food to student who attend.

5- Promote football on campus. Make it part of the culture. Have profs mention the game at the end of classes. Give frats a dozen tickets free.

6- Campus-wide promotions...the dorm that has the highest percentage of its students attend receives some sort of prize...a catered party, something.

Non-Student Related

6- Syracuse University needs to develop cost effective charter packages in conjunction with someone (Drumlins?) where they ship 5+ buses of people a game from NYC via Penn Station...the price of the package includes a 1 night stay at an area hotel, full transfers, tickets to the game, etc. This would get 300+ additional people into the building...but again, would be a great PR thing for the NYC presence they are trying to establish.

7- Find a way to get more parking closer to the Dome. I am not sure the best way to do this. Nor will I pretend to. Maybe it involves allowing cars to park on that field behind Sadler...(does that even still exist?)...

8- Schedule better games. Part of this will be accommodated with the ACC move...but its tough to expect sellouts for games against Maine and Toledo.

And lastly...

9- Be PATIENT. This team had tremendous success in the late 90's, when I was there, and the attenance was reflective of that. The team was among the worst in the country in the middle part of the last decade. It is now turning around. As we are moving to a higher profile conference, as our team is showing more consistent levels of success, the recruits will improve, and one will build off another. The fans WILL show up.

This is just my $.02. Take it for what you will.

 

[CusefanATL]

2. a. have to do it based on what espn and big east/acc say.
b.people will complain no matter what time it is.

 

[BlackKnight76]

These are all solid ideas, but I'm not sure how much control we have of start times. 3 pm is definitely the best though. It's not too early, but it doesn't infringe on Saturday night activities.

 

[Cusefan95]

Moving the student section could be a good idea...but having attended hoops games in the mid-90's with a bunch of invisible students there need to be some ground rules up front. If they can't fill the section better than what it is currently, we go back to what it is now. That means you show up for the big games AND Maine, or your ass gets shipped back to the goal line. Like the idea of having dorm driven contests, pretty sure UAlbany did that with some success for basketball 5-7 years ago.

Still can't believe how out of touch with reality regarding parking CNY fans are. I go to plenty of road games and the bigger venues like Florida State and Iowa and Purdue I had to pay $12 for parking...and then walk a mile or take a shuttle to get to the game. I hear ya when you say that's what it is in CNY...but accept that the best places for parking were when we played MAC teams like Akron and realize that's the standard you're trying to set. As an alternative I'll offer to volunteer my services to Syracuse, each Friday during football season I'll come into town and run classes instructing people how to walk more than 50 feet and how to properly board a Centro bus so newbie fans can put those skills to use on Saturdays. (I'm not thrilled with the parking situation at Syracuse, I'm pretty sure Fine Lot will be gone in the next couple years...but it's still a lame-ass reason to not attend a game).

Agree on the scheduling better, but also think fans will need to get out of the cherry-picking of whatever the "good" games are for Syracuse to build a strong program. In 20 years I haven't seen good attendance at a game vs a MAC opponent, that's a mindset thing for the fan base to overcome.

 

[mcnabbman5]

Schools, churches, youth leagues, service clubs, etc. are all trying to raise money throughout the surrounding communities. Offer them very discounted group packages for the games we know will have low attendance. They can use this as a fundraiser. It will be a great activity for these organizations, help fill the seats and will expand our fanbase and future ticket sales.

 

[alphaorange]

I go to the games when I can swing it and I'll tell you this much: The atmosphere at SU events (both BBall and Football) is really not much like a typical college atmosphere. I prefer the college "experience" to the schmaltzy "pro" game experience. In fact, SU doesn't really seem to capture either atmosphere very well. I enjoy the product on the court and field but the constant barrage of piped in music, advertisements, and over-the-top commentary is a real turn-off.