Stop blaming the fans for attendance

[bevosu]

The fan is the discretionary consumer.

It's up to the product to earn that discretion.

Simple as that.

That and slick advertising (marketing).

 

[gmoney44]

How’d you do that? That’s not my post you quoted.

Not sure. I just hit reply.

 

[Cusefan78]

To answer your question, I literally hear about this to this very day, as the reason some left and never came back this idiot with no PR sense.
View attachment 232041

The only horse in town comment was also a bad one that drove away fans.

 

[sufandu]

The fan is the discretionary consumer.

It's up to the product to earn that discretion.

Simple as that.

This is true and makes total sense. There are other fanbases, however, that don't follow that philosophy as strongly as ours. I'm not saying we should be more like them because to them football is their religion and their team is their god, but I'm just pointing out it's different in other places.

 

[sufandu]

There’s absolutely a talent gap but we didn’t look prepared to play in general.

Overmatched players will look unprepared. When you're a step slower or a bit weaker, you get to your spot late or get pushed around. Our biggest deficiency is in the trenches, as usual, which is where we have the widest talent gap.

 

[Trueblue25]

Overmatched players will look unprepared. When you're a step slower or a bit weaker, you get to your spot late or get pushed around. Our biggest deficiency is in the trenches, as usual, which is where we have the widest talent gap.

Tell that to app state and g5 teams that look better prepared with larger talent gaps.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

That and slick advertising (marketing).

It helps but can only play smoke and mirrors for so long.

 

[bt4421]

I’ve always put part of the blame on the fans and I always will. Too many front runners.

Since joining the acc, BC averaging 3.5 wins per
season. SU 2.5. Why can't Syracuse do at least as well as BC? And shouldn't we actually do a little better? I don't know for sure, but I feel like Syracuse should on a facilities and fan support basis alone. Not a knock against our former big east brethren, but Syracuse is a one horse town. In Boston I imagine BC is an afterthought for most fans.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I don't know where to put this or if it needs its own thread but this is bad like really bad

Looks good

 

[Bayside44]

For many people the game day experience is too closely determined by the product on the field. The overall experience is quite lacking for a variety of reasons. The administration can start by addressing the tailgating disadvantages, the disjointed pregame atmosphere, and the phoned-in in-game experience including all the commercial dead time. There is plenty within their control that they can improve that doesn’t even factor in team performance.

There are plenty of lots and a huge tailgate on the quad. If people want a Sunday experience this is college. Many of the schools we play against have a similar setup - like UNC.

If people are bailing on games because of ad breaks well then I don't know what to tell you.

 

[Finwad32]

I’ll say this… I don’t necessarily think either side of this debate is wrong. The best fans do support no matter what, and it absolutely plays a role in recruiting, team performance on gameday, etc.

The team should perform better in some of these contests. We should over the long term have a higher basement than we have had. It’s tough to ask 50k to support the team through thick and thin when the product is consistently below average. Which I think we can all agree that it has been since the turn of the century.

I’ve considered myself a pretty loyal fan. Tougher with the kids growing, but we’ve been at 90+% of the home games for the past 20 years and have had season tickets for the past 25.

I love Syracuse and always will. But the let downs have been exhausting lately. And it’s getting tougher to prioritize Syracuse Football over other things with my family when our time is already so limited with work/sports/etc. God forbid I keep my golf game tuned up.

Very frustrating stretch. We should’ve had Clemson. UNC and FSU were always gonna be tough, I just didn’t think that tough.

This team can still win 8 or 9. But not if all the wind’s out of their sails before November. Dino’s gotta get this team up.

 

[ClkWrkOrange]

To answer your question, I literally hear about this to this very day, as the reason some left and never came back this idiot with no PR sense.
View attachment 232041

One of many examples.

 

[sufandu]

Tell that to app state and g5 teams that look better prepared with larger talent gaps.

You mean against other g5 teams and the occasional non-conference p5 team that looks past them? Did we look unprepared the first 4 games? Playing good P5 teams in conference is different than what those g5 teams do which is why about 80% of those genius g5 coaches look really pedestrian when they take a p5 job.

As mentioned in another thread. A lot of the people tooting our horns two games ago are the ones looking to jump off a cliff now.

 

[Cuse181]

To answer your question, I literally hear about this to this very day, as the reason some left and never came back because of this idiot with no PR sense, "he told me to get a life, so I did", etc.
View attachment 232041

If that's the reason people who left 20 years ago are using as why they wont come back then they aren't ever going to be won over. I'd personally be embarrassed to point to that as an adult and say "that's why i don't watch Syracuse football"

 

[Cuseregular]

If that's the reason people who left 20 years ago are using as why they wont come back then they aren't ever going to be won over. I'd personally be embarrassed to point to that as an adult and say "that's why i don't watch Syracuse football"

yep, when I hear it I really cannot believe it. Twice this year...so far!

 

[ClkWrkOrange]

If that's the reason people who left 20 years ago are using as why they wont come back then they aren't ever going to be won over. I'd personally be embarrassed to point to that as an adult and say "that's why i don't watch Syracuse football"

It's why you lost them as fans. And their kids and working on their kids kids.

 

[orangecuse]

How’d you do that? That’s not my post you quoted.

Not sure. I just hit reply.

Yes, I'd say 100% he wrote that, however, prior to his editing (and within the 4 minute span that allows "edited" to not show up) of the post, you had already hit the reply button, and, therefore, captured it in its original state.

Unless, of course, you/your computer has a magic button.

 

[Cuse181]

It's why you lost them as fans. And their kids and working on their kids kids.

So they went away from something they (seemingly) enjoyed watching, and then ensured their kids also don't watch because of one comment made 20 years ago? Are we sure they were fans?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I’ll say this… I don’t necessarily think either side of this debate is wrong. The best fans do support no matter what, and it absolutely plays a role in recruiting, team performance on gameday, etc.

The team should perform better in some of these contests. We should over the long term have a higher basement than we have had. It’s tough to ask 50k to support the team through thick and thin when the product is consistently below average. Which I think we can all agree that it has been since the turn of the century.

I’ve considered myself a pretty loyal fan. Tougher with the kids growing, but we’ve been at 90+% of the home games for the past 20 years and have had season tickets for the past 25.

I love Syracuse and always will. But the let downs have been exhausting lately. And it’s getting tougher to prioritize Syracuse Football over other things with my family when our time is already so limited with work/sports/etc. God forbid I keep my golf game tuned up.

Very frustrating stretch. We should’ve had Clemson. UNC and FSU were always gonna be tough, I just didn’t think that tough.

This team can still win 8 or 9. But not if all the wind’s out of their sails before November. Dino’s gotta get this team up.

Yeah, that last line really matters.

We need to come out of the bye believing that we're running the table the rest of the season.

Dino gotta get them there.

 

[Scooch]

These fan critiques are so dumb. Fans are mostly the same just about everywhere. Sure, there's some outliers -- South Carolina used to draw 80K when they'd go practically winless. But again, that's an outlier.

When USC was down they sure as hell didn't fill the Coliseum. When FSU was down the coaches there would regularly blast fans for how empty Doak Campbell was.

Just this weekend I was hanging out with an Oregon fan friend of mine who told me that Autzen Stadium was always half-empty (literally) in the early 90s when they stunk.

Take a look at this:

2022 FBS Attendance Trends | College Athletics News | D1 ticker

A look at FBS attendance for the 2022 season compared to year-over-year and five-year-over-year averages.

www.d1ticker.com

Sort it on '5 year change'. You're going to see a lot of P5 schools with dramatic declines: UCLA, GaTech, Maryland, Louisville, West Virginia, Arizona State, Washington State, etc.

I mean, UCLA plays in the second biggest market in the country. Last year they averaged about 500 more people per game than SU. And they were coming off an 8-4 season, started the year 6-0 and were ranked as high as 10th. Right now they have the 37th ranked recruiting class, which seems OK for a school with such horrendous fans.

Look, it'd be swell if SU filled the Dome every Saturday. But (1) very few schools do that these days, and (2) very very very few schools with a past 20 year record of 95-142 (.401) do that at all.

 

[Scooch]

One more point... the Dome is too big, and has been since the day it opened.

As best I can tell, the largest capacity at Archbold Stadium was 40K, when they expanded it in the 1950s. I certainly didn't attend games then, so maybe others can speak to how consistently full the place was in the 50s/60s. But as we all know, by the 70s they were reducing capacity and when it was demolished it sat a paltry 26K.

So we opened a new place that sat double the stadium it replaced, which is crazy. No one would do that today, and there's never been evidence that the community could consistently support a 50K seat venue for football.

I'd argue that this excess capacity has been a problem for the football program for 40+ years. There has never been a capacity-induced demand dynamic for our fanbase. Even in the heyday of the 90s -- when we regularly drew 45K per game per season -- one could always get into the Dome for the biggest games, and usually cheaply if you were willing to sit up top in the 300s.

This lack of capacity-restricted demand has led to a fan base that never has urgency to buy tickets.

Installing seats is amazing, not because of the new comfort for the fan, but because it lops off 8,000 seats that never should be been built in the first place.

 

[richmondcuse03]

One more point... the Dome is too big, and has been since the day it opened.

As best I can tell, the largest capacity at Archbold Stadium was 40K, when they expanded it in the 1950s. I certainly didn't attend games then, so maybe others can speak to how consistently full the place was in the 50s/60s. But as we all know, by the 70s they were reducing capacity and when it was demolished it sat a paltry 26K.

So we opened a new place that sat double the stadium it replaced, which is crazy. No one would do that today, and there's never been evidence that the community could consistently support a 50K seat venue for football.

I'd argue that this excess capacity has been a problem for the football program for 40+ years. There has never been a capacity-induced demand dynamic for our fanbase. Even in the heyday of the 90s -- when we regularly drew 45K per game per season -- one could always get into the Dome for the biggest games, and usually cheaply if you were willing to sit up top in the 300s.

This lack of capacity-restricted demand has led to a fan base that never has urgency to buy tickets.

Installing seats is amazing, not because of the new comfort for the fan, but because it lops off 8,000 seats that never should be been built in the first place.

And on top of it, the concourses are too small for 50k so anytime you draw above 45, you make the experience worse. It’s a no brainer to reduce. Opposing fan bases boast about the sight lines all the time.

 

[rrlbees]

Yes, I'd say 100% he wrote that, however, prior to his editing (and within the 4 minute span that allows "edited" to not show up) of the post, you had already hit the reply button, and, therefore, captured it in its original state.

Unless, of course, you/your computer has a magic button.

It was gmoney’s post he replied too.

 

[orangecuse]

It was gmoney’s post he replied too.

Dang! Then I want one of those magic buttons.

 

[UpstateSM]