College football fans --city people or alumni?

[Guest BasketBull.]

I always wonder when I see a huge crowd cheering on the traditional programs, like Nebraska or Michigan. Are those people connected to those universities, or are they just local people?

What I am getting at is this:

If it's city folks supporting a winning program, then USF has a real good shot at filling the stadium in the next 5 to 10 years, given our rate of progress.

However, if the crowds are mainly alumni and people affilated with USF, it's going to be a while... We are so young and do not have enough graduates yet.

Right now, when we have a home game and we get the 35,000 plus ballpark, how do you think the numbers break down (students, alumni, opposing fans, local area people)?

[Don Toro]

 I would think that in small towns the people attending are mostly residents since I would guess that alumni would skip town after graduating.  In big cities like ours the bulk is probably made out of alumni, and people associated with the school.

[E.T.]

...

Right now, when we have a home game and we get the 35,000 plus ballpark, how do you think the numbers break down (students, alumni, opposing fans, local area people)?

 8K Students

15K Alum

 2K Opposing team fans(of course depending on the team, but for avg.)

10K Local/Area Football Fans

[usfdba]

Don't forget to factor-in faculty & staff, and family & friends of students, faculty & staff, and alum.

I (alum & staff member) bring along 5 add'l family members to each game.  My bro (alum & staff) brings himself and one other (hopefully more soon).

Not sure if you wanna distinguish them separately from your "fan" category or not.

Regardless, it's certainly not graduates alone you're seeing out there, and we're all fans!  

[oldbull00]

There is simply nothing else to do in Ann Arbor, MI or Happy Valley, PA. When you compete with Pro teams (no matter how good or bad) and other activities that you can do in the city, its always going to be tuff.

Miami, even in its hayday, couldnt sell out the games against rutgers, temple, or any of those other Big East teams that were not doing good at the time, but a Michigan has sold out every game for the last 15 years, something like that. It is not because Michigan doesnt play bad teams, its that THERE IS NOTHING ELSE TO DO. You can even look at small town high school teams in the south as well.

[WoolyBully]

Depends on who you're watching.

Nebrasaka...can't get a ticket, even if you wanted to. Those seats have been - and will be - occupado for years and years, passed down to the offspring. There's folks who drive across the state to get to Lincoln on gameday, then it's back to the farm. Point being...it's the only game in town, and has been for quite some time.  

Miami...stevedores who just finished offloading cargo, got their paycheck, and figured they'd

take in a game. I'm betting most of the alumni scram post graduation.

The thing working against us - as of now - is the huge number of alumni in the area who are still UF/FSU/UM fans - and will never sign on with the Bulls. I would assume that most of the sidelines are alumni, with the walkups being local folks - factor in students & faculty to round it out.   I think we have around 4K season ticket accounts holding +/- 16.0K seats.

[E.T.]

There is simply nothing else to do in Ann Arbor, MI or Happy Valley, PA.

...

That is part of it ... whe I was with D2 FL Southern Basketball we studied other D2 Basketball programs with great attendance to see what we could do to get more fans in the stands ... they were just smaller towns with nothing much else to do.

[Guest BasketBull.]

What makes people attend a Bucs game but not a Bulls game? They pack that place on Sundays. If the Bulls get on the top 25 consistenly, you don't think we will convert the local people?

[E.T.]

Winning more will change it Basketbull ... agree.

[sdgukhsdgl]

you can look at it two ways...

1) There is nothing else to do

or

2) the game is THE thing to do, nothing else even matters.  At UT, for example, there are things to do in Knoxville other days, but other events know not to schedule anything on game days because nobody cares what else is going on.  U2 would have a hard time selling out a concert on a big game day here.

And to the original question, it is a lot of local people that fill the stands.  Alumni get scattered throughout the region/country after graduation, but the locals never go anywhere.  Alumni can only make certain games due to location, but locals can make every game.  Local support is crucial to any teams success