New voice, same plight: Charlie Strong seeks local support

[charsibb]

1 hour ago, George_Bullnard_Shaw said:

There is much truth in this.

ECU is the top G5 at 44k. AAC is the best conference of the G5 for tickets sold.

http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-attendance-in-2016-crowds-decline-for-sixth-straight-year/

AAC: The AAC, which averaged 31,611 (nearly the same as 2015), is clearly No. 1 for Group of Five crowds. Tom Herman's "H-Town Takeover" increased Houston crowds by 35 percent over two years. South Florida was up 41 percent in 2016 with a 10-2 record and a home game vs. Florida State. Temple fell 38 percent without facing Notre Dame. Other than BYU, East Carolina (44,113) had the largest crowds outside the Power Five.

Mountain West: The Mountain West averaged 24,142 per game, comfortably behind the AAC. Conference leader San Diego State was up 28 percent. Wyoming increased 18 percent. Nevada, which fired coach Brian Polian, was down 17 percent.

Conference USA: At 19,849 fans per game, C-USA is clearly in the Sun Belt/MAC ballpark for fan interest as opposed to the AAC and Mountain West. Southern Miss (28,588) led C-USA. Florida Atlantic, which fired coach Charlie Partridge, was down 43 percent to 10,073.

Sun Belt: The Sun Belt averaged 17,993 fans per game. Appalachian State, which had a home game against Miami, led the conference at 26,153 and topped Kansas' average. Appalachian State was up 22 percent.

MAC: Even with Western Michigan rowing the boat to an undefeated season and a Cotton Bowl bid, the MAC finished last at 16,062 fans per game. Western Michigan averaged 23,838, up 23 percent. In 2012, Northern Illinois averaged 20,877 while reaching a BCS bowl. This year, Northern Illinois fell to 11,019 (123rd out of 128 FBS teams).

 

Wow.

No way any team should have average attendance bounce up or down by 30+ percent from year to year. That's ridiculous.

 

[Brad]

3 hours ago, Triple B said:

Which is a perfect reflection of the overall lack of passion for USF Athletics that is a huge hurdle. 

If you want to attract those without the natural passion for USF, i.e. those not on this board or another, you're gonna need more than Tulane.  The model worked before.  We should at least explore it again. If anyone thinks winning the AAC is going to do it, we're in trouble. 

[jasonb56]

32 minutes ago, Brad said:

If you want to attract those without the natural passion for USF, i.e. those not on this board or another, you're gonna need more than Tulane.  The model worked before.  We should at least explore it again. If anyone thinks winning the AAC is going to do it, we're in trouble. 

It comes down to better scheduling, I.E. BIG games against big time programs... If we could get 2 decent O.O.C. games a year against P5 programs AND win our conference, we should be fine. 

[Bull Dozer]

32 minutes ago, Brad said:

If you want to attract those without the natural passion for USF, i.e. those not on this board or another, you're gonna need more than Tulane.  The model worked before.  We should at least explore it again. If anyone thinks winning the AAC is going to do it, we're in trouble. 

The idea is to grow that portion of the fan base (the passionate) and still try to get the marquee games where you can. But those that only jump on for those big games can't be relied on.  We can fill up the lower bowl if we build the right culture with the students.  The passionate people you speak of didn't appear out of thin air and they're still here even though we're in the AAC.  Some people just need USF.   Get that lower bowl filled week in and week out and the bandwagoners that need marquee games can come and sit in the upper deck.  Those that "need more than tulane" will find an excuse to not make the other non marquee games anyways.  If you ECU can get 40k a week so can USF.  

Also, there isn't anything "better than tulane" conference wise without building the core fanbase.  A Big East invite type situation isn't walking through that door without some serious building with the Tulane's of the world.  

[NewEnglandBull]

But what big time program wants to play us at home? Are we prepared for 2 for 1 games? Even this may not be enough as some programs will say why take the chance to lose to USF? Our AD will need to work very hard. I understand we have GT, Wisc, etc who have agreed to play us but as can be seen already, it will be difficult to do this year in and year out. 

[raptorcj]

The win is the strongest ally in just about everything to do with sports.

[Ionbull]

I've always wanted to research more and write an article about the on-campus events that rival the football games and compare them to other G5/P5 schools that have an OCS. 

Working on campus I notice that on-campus events during the weekend, and on gameday, are prevalent. This goes for events in the MSC, Sun Dome and my area, College of the Arts. When my brother attended FSU, he stated that the campus, and city for that matter, virtually shut down. It's impossible to have shows or events on campus when everyone descends upon Doak; even Dance, Theatre and Music affect their scheduling when there's a home game. (I can't attest to every event, but I've had colleagues in the arts up there explain they will forego having shows on home games when possible.)

Some on-campus events build their schedule with no regard to football; I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but it definitely has an affect when students have conflicts. Now you can say football or athletics shouldn't affect other parts of campus on the weekend, especially the arts, but it's possible those folks would attend games if they didn't have conflicts. If there are multiple school events competing with football, those folks aren't experiencing gameday; whereas they might if events were coordinated around gamedays. Same with classes, exams, meetings, rehearsals and the such. I'm just curious if that happens at the big three, C, or even programs in our conference. Logic tells me if there is a major University event scheduled, you'd want to maximize your audience by not scheduling something on that same day; unless you're throwing in the towel and saying your audience wouldn't cross over from the other event. 

Theres not an answer to how this is actually affecting attendance, but you put that small sample size across the entire city and it's easy to see why the casual fan isn't flocking to a game. It's the same with the Rays. We often wonder how our scheduling would be affected if there was an on-campus stadium. I feel it would have a huge affect, especially with parking on campus. It's an interesting point at the least. 

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

3 hours ago, charsibb said:

 

Wow.

No way any team should have average attendance bounce up or down by 30+ percent from year to year. That's ridiculous.

 

I wish my 403b had increased 40% last year. Seems like the kind of attendance increase you wouldn't criticize.

[charsibb]

2 hours ago, Ionbull said:

I've always wanted to research more and write an article about the on-campus events that rival the football games and compare them to other G5/P5 schools that have an OCS. 

Working on campus I notice that on-campus events during the weekend, and on gameday, are prevalent. This goes for events in the MSC, Sun Dome and my area, College of the Arts. When my brother attended FSU, he stated that the campus, and city for that matter, virtually shut down. It's impossible to have shows or events on campus when everyone descends upon Doak; even Dance, Theatre and Music affect their scheduling when there's a home game. (I can't attest to every event, but I've had colleagues in the arts up there explain they will forego having shows on home games when possible.)

Some on-campus events build their schedule with no regard to football; I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but it definitely has an affect when students have conflicts. Now you can say football or athletics shouldn't affect other parts of campus on the weekend, especially the arts, but it's possible those folks would attend games if they didn't have conflicts. If there are multiple school events competing with football, those folks aren't experiencing gameday; whereas they might if events were coordinated around gamedays. Same with classes, exams, meetings, rehearsals and the such. I'm just curious if that happens at the big three, C, or even programs in our conference. Logic tells me if there is a major University event scheduled, you'd want to maximize your audience by not scheduling something on that same day; unless you're throwing in the towel and saying your audience wouldn't cross over from the other event. 

Theres not an answer to how this is actually affecting attendance, but you put that small sample size across the entire city and it's easy to see why the casual fan isn't flocking to a game. It's the same with the Rays. We often wonder how our scheduling would be affected if there was an on-campus stadium. I feel it would have a huge affect, especially with parking on campus. It's an interesting point at the least. 

I'm probably in the minority, but I don't schedule tests, papers, etc to conflict with athletics, unless it's impossible to avoid.

College is about SO much more than just the in-class experience. I encourage my students to join the clubs, go to the games, watch the theater performances, etc

I even took my whole class on a field trip to the WBB and MBB games on Senior Day.

[Brad]

3 hours ago, Bull Dozer said:

Those that "need more than tulane" will find an excuse to not make the other non marquee games anyways.  If you ECU can get 40k a week so can USF.  

2007 forward showed if you win and beat a few name teams, people get on board for multiple games.  You have to get them out there, there has to be a buzz. 

I f you can't commit to pulling in the community but will instead take a small college approach to cultivating alumni with an Off campus stadium, it may be decades more...

We have some decent OOC games coming up, we'll have a chance to capture some attention.