Clemson Spring Game on ESPNU

[couch 'em]

I don't think attendance numbers from 30 years ago, in a different society, in a different conference, in a metroplex of half the population has any relevance good or bad to today. 1985 is no more relevant than Doak's crowds in the cotton bowl.

[Big12Mustang]

I don't think attendance numbers from 30 years ago, in a different society, in a different conference, in a metroplex of half the population has any relevance good or bad to today. 1985 is no more relevant than Doak's crowds in the cotton bowl.

My point exactly. Thank you couch 'em!

[East Coast Mustang]

Back then we were the only game in town. Today, with 500 channels and exceptional advances in HD technology, the competition for entertainment has never been higher.

Yes, the DFW Metroplex has grown, but so too have the entertainment options on a Saturday afternoon

[couch 'em]

All true. And that is a amall fraction if the differences in Dallas, TX between then and now. Apples and oranges. Whether we can get 35,000 people into Ford is the question and it is not answered yes or no based on something that happened before the internet existed.

2014 to 1984 is 30 years.
1984 to 1954 is 30 years.

Did 1954 attendance matter in 1984?

[East Coast Mustang]

All true. And that is a amall fraction if the differences in Dallas, TX between then and now. Apples and oranges. Whether we can get 35,000 people into Ford is the question and it is not answered yes or no based on something that happened before the internet existed.

2014 to 1984 is 30 years.
1984 to 1954 is 30 years.

Did 1954 attendance matter in 1984?

I just think there's a firm ceiling of the number of people willing to spend 2-3 hours of their Saturday afternoon at an SMU sports event that's probably somewhere around 20-25,000 (on the optimistic side).

[couch 'em]

For now. Can it grow?

[Big12Mustang]

Back then we were the only game in town. Today, with 500 channels and exceptional advances in HD technology, the competition for entertainment has never been higher.

Yes, the DFW Metroplex has grown, but so too have the entertainment options on a Saturday afternoon

Valid points, ECM, but no reason we cannot draw 30,000 people (to a beautiful stadium which now sells beer) out of a 6.5 Million resident metroplex. Give them a decent product on the field like we did with Moody and voila.

[East Coast Mustang]

For now. Can it grow?

Maybe. I'm not purporting to be an expert on marketing here, but I think a lot of people would rather go to a sports bar and watch their alma mater than spend 3 hours at an SMU game. I think we only have about 40,000 living alumni in the DFW area, and when you consider 1/2 are women and a good deal of the males could care less about SMU football also, your base begins to dwindle.

Bottom line- beat teams people have heard of and interest (and attendance) will increase.

[PonySnob]

Anyone who thinks football has a higher upside needs to check our attendance numbers from the early 80s when we were one of the most successful programs in the nation...still couldnt sell out unless there were a lot of visiting fans (Texas, Arkansas, A&M, etc)

This!


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[ojaipony]

Anyone who thinks football has a higher upside needs to check our attendance numbers from the early 80s when we were one of the most successful programs in the nation...still couldnt sell out unless there were a lot of visiting fans (Texas, Arkansas, A&M, etc)

This!


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How many does Ford hold? How many does Moody hold? Which is larger? Which has the potential to generate more revenue based on capacity: football or basketball? Therein lies your upside. IMHO.

[JoeKidd]

Looks more packed than an SMU conference game. Easily more than 30,000 people there

Very bad thread that digressed into the beaten down subject of stadium attendance. I have seen all of the same posters argue the same facts/misfacts/hopes/dream/wants/hallucinations about 100 times.

[Big12Mustang]

Anyone who thinks football has a higher upside needs to check our attendance numbers from the early 80s when we were one of the most successful programs in the nation...still couldnt sell out unless there were a lot of visiting fans (Texas, Arkansas, A&M, etc)

This!


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How many does Ford hold? How many does Moody hold? Which is larger? Which has the potential to generate more revenue based on capacity: football or basketball? Therein lies your upside. IMHO.

This is what was meant by "upside". We can make so much more revenue with Football than what Basketball ever could.

Tickets, Parking, Boulevard Tents, Food, Beer, Merchandise, etc.
Also being elite in this sport is what gets us ahead in the line whenever P5 conferences start looking for schools to expand. We want to shoot for the Baylor or Michigan State type of model, dominance in both sports.

[East Coast Mustang]

Easier to get good in basketball. We can recruit at an elite level with anyone in the country in bball. Can't do that in football.

If we sell out ~15 home bball games next year, that's over 100,000 tickets sold and they will be sold at a premium price. Not sure if we draw 100k out to Ford in six home games next year - maybe with TCU and A&M coming - but besides those two games we will sell tickets for the 4 conference games for very cheap prices.

If ya'll can figure out a way to get 30,000 SMU fans at Ford for the Memphis game, I'd love to hear it

[Big12Mustang]

If ya'll can figure out a way to get 30,000 SMU fans at Ford for the Memphis game, I'd love to hear it

1) Keep BU and Texas A&M games close (1 TD loss type game), Beat UNT, TCU, ECU, Cincy. 4-2 into that game.

2) Market Football like we do Basketball. Build hype that each game counts and that we are conference championship contenders.

It took beating Memphis to solidify our sellouts at Moody...Memphis game could be our Ford equivalent?

[dr rc]

theoretically SMU should be able to get a minimum of 25k per game average this season with A&M, TCU, Cincy, and Houston all coming to Ford.

in practice...

all I know is in 2012 SMU expected 40k to be at the A&M game and came nowhere near getting it. http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2012/09/smu-expects-record-crowd-for-texas-am-game.html/

The team was coming off a 8-5 year w/a dominating bowl win over Pitt. A&M was starting a freshman QB which gave people hope that the game would be close. A&M also only had 6 home games that year and the Arky JerryWorld game was moved to a home and home for two seasons so it's not like they had a glut of home games or another DFW matchup devaluing the ticket.

SMU should have been able to break the Ford attendance record that day. Instead, the announced crowd was 32k and anyone that went knows that number absolutely does not reflect how many butts were in the stadium. Huge swaths of the endzone were empty and the temporary bleachers were barely used. There weren't enough people on the berm to say people simply left their seats to sit in the grass. You can't even blame A&M fans for not doing their part as it looked like a 50/50 split fan wise with all the maroon everywhere. The score was only 7-0 in favor of A&M with about 4 minutes left in the 2nd so you can't say people left (or worse, didn't show) b/c it was a blowout from the get go.

Now could this be heavily blamed on the ridiculous $90 (after fees) price if you bought through the schools? Perhaps.

But it wasn't a good look to talk for weeks about how the game would be huge only to have to give a blatant tickets sold number that was clearly several thousand off the real attendance.