Worst Student Attendance for Football

[PoconoPony]

students today do not really care about sports. They are into themselves and things they want to do. Sports is not a high priority....They would rather party or study.

you make valid points, but if "they don't care about sports" why do they show up at Moody for SMU basketball?

ou

Your point is valid, but Moody serves a a very small sample as far as numbers. Also, Moody is the right size and BB became a bit of a fad situation under LB. I also note that the MOB was frequently very quiet during many games last year and only got charge up a few time where they matched the levels of several years past. I think this season might be a test to your point.









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[Insane_Pony_Posse]

If it's a diverse student body SMU wanted; then mission accomplished. Like I said earlier, walk through some of these buildings, you will have to remind yourself, that you are still in Texas. Most of these kids haven't even heard of American football.

But is SMU any more diverse than say smaller type schools like TCU, Notre Dame, Baylor, or Duke?

[PoconoPony]

Sports is not a high priority and only if it is entertaining and full of constant action. Four hours of TV time outs, video replays, little action, sitting in the sun and little interest in sports makes for attendance issues at most schools. Kids today have little attention span and are action driven junkies based on video games and their personal interests. In addition, ( my opinion) the higher academic students ( as SMU academic standards rise ) in general simply have never been interested in athletics from the youngest ages and nothing changes when they go to college. They would rather party or study.

Pocono,

Kids today are simply a product of modern technology. One could argue they are more advanced. A typical college football game last 3 hours and 15 minutes, of which there are over 100 commercials and only 11 minutes of actual live action. That’s insane. Look how traditional TV is getting hammered because of wasted advertising time. Multiply that by 100 and you have American football. Good for the consumer, they are wising up. Strike 1.

Good point to include the

Concussion issues are real and will get worse before it gets better. Exhibit A -Wes Hopkins & Andre Waters. Add to this is FB is costly & violent and schools are becoming more in debt and progressive. Strike 2.

70% of new immigrants to America are either Asian or Hispanic. Good Luck naming the Top 10 All-Time Asian or Hispanic football players. International students continue to make their mark on top US universities. Once again, schools are in debt and many of these students pay full pop so these kids from Asia are not going away. Strike 3.

On the other hand, Basketball is a true international sport that only lasts 2 hours, has far more action without the concussion/ injury issues of FB.

I saw part of the Cincy game. The crowd was depressing....yet thousands would have been turned away if it was a BB game at Moody.

That has to be the focus of this small private school that wants to improve its academic ranking and become more international going forward.

BASKETBALL

Good points to include the changing dynamics of immigration on sports which I have addressed on other threads. Let me paint a little picture of my perspective as a person who recently was on the staff of a HS baseball team for 10 years and currently coaches year round as a HS competitive swim coach and age group team. In baseball the iphone became a huge problem as the kids are totally addicted to the phone. They cannot exist without a phone in their hands either listening to music, texting or playing video games. Kids would need to be told to warm up, go to practice groups, get into the batting cage...etc. because they were always on the iphone. They were at practice, but practice was almost secondary to their obsession with the phones. Even in games the starters would seek to be on the phones between innings and the bench kids totally consumed with their phone activities during the games. We banished the phones from all practices and games and had to take disciplinary action it got so bad. It was a constant battle as kids did not even know the score, if any one were on base, when they were up to bat....etc.

Same scenario with the swimmers of all ages. Kids arrive at every meet and practice with head phones on, texting and playing video games. Few if any warm up at meets or practice with out being told by the coaches. During meets kid are obsessed with being on the iphones or other game devices. They have to be told to when report to compete. They do not even watch the meet or their friends compete. I have seen close friends playing video games and one competes in a lane within 10 feet of where they are sitting only to ask the other friend after the race how they did as they could not interrupt what ever they were doing to watch the friend compete. Same for practice when a hydration/restroom break sees every single kid rushes to the bleachers to check out their phones. When you are dealing with 80 or more kids coaches give up and let the devices be baby sitters. My point is that kids of today are so addicted to the devices that they do not even have the attention span or interest to follow the game/meet even when they are participating. This mentality and obsession, in my opinion, directly carries over to their participation/lack of participation as a spectator to other sports.

[mtrout]

Now that IOS has the "screen time" history...look at any teenagers phone for the avg. time per day. It is scary! Average would probably be 4hours+ and that's a hugely conservative guess. No worse than TV or video games but it's like having an Xbox One and TV in your pocket at all times. I walk into bathrooms and now all I hear is videogames and youtube in the toilet stalls.

[smitty329]

Have SMU's Guildhall create a app/game similar to pokemon go where students would need to be in the stadium - and recent popularity of Fortnite where students have some sort of characters (tied to player numbers?, Band Instruments?) and interaction with game/atmosphere - will the next play result in a first down, will the band play a current hit at the next break, how many times will Peruna run the field, etc. List top scores on the big screen periodically.

Keep in mind, even if you have 1/3 of the campus students in the stadium, that's still only around 10% of capacity.

Maybe the App/game will encourage younger fans or other adolescents to attend too. A regional six-event convention type thing.

[Jackets N Pones]

Have SMU's Guildhall create a app/game similar to pokemon go where students would need to be in the stadium - and recent popularity of Fortnite where students have some sort of characters (tied to player numbers?, Band Instruments?) and interaction with game/atmosphere - will the next play result in a first down, will the band play a current hit at the next break, how many times will Peruna run the field, etc. List top scores on the big screen periodically.

Keep in mind, even if you have 1/3 of the campus students in the stadium, that's still only around 10% of capacity.

Maybe the App/game will encourage younger fans or other adolescents to attend too. A regional six-event convention type thing.

Love this idea! Sign me up

[MV pony]

Any qualifying student seriously interested in football is not going to choose a g5 school. Moreover, as these students graduate, they are not going to suddently become die hard SMU football fans. Not going to happen regardless of SMU's win-loss record.

T-shirt fans seriously interested in football are not going to support a g5 school. Too many local p5 programs to support.

A qualifying student seriously interested in basketball might choose a blue blood b-ball g5 school like UCONN since the NCAA tourney is theoretically open to everyone. But SMU is not a blue blood b-ball school and it no longer has Larry Brown as the draw. So while SMU may fill the b-ball arena form time-to-time, that's not to help football.

SMU drew me back in with the move to the Big East hype. While I like SD, hope he's successful, I'm really not interest in following a g5 program.

[tristatecoog]

For private universities, Diversity seems directly proportional to national academic rankings, except for BYU and W&L.

[PonyTime]

I would be surprised if universities were concerned with the lack of an old wooden ship on campus. But I could be wrong...

[gostangs]

Any qualifying student seriously interested in football is not going to choose a g5 school. Moreover, as these students graduate, they are not going to suddently become die hard SMU football fans. Not going to happen regardless of SMU's win-loss record.

T-shirt fans seriously interested in football are not going to support a g5 school. Too many local p5 programs to support.

A qualifying student seriously interested in basketball might choose a blue blood b-ball g5 school like UCONN since the NCAA tourney is theoretically open to everyone. But SMU is not a blue blood b-ball school and it no longer has Larry Brown as the draw. So while SMU may fill the b-ball arena form time-to-time, that's not to help football.

SMU drew me back in with the move to the Big East hype. While I like SD, hope he's successful, I'm really not interest in following a g5 program.

The shame is I know if we were in a decent conference it would change overnight. We can compete with anyone if we had the money and resources of a big TV contract. A Better quality program playing teams that matter would draw in Dallas. Nobody - not even our own students - are going to get fired up about our competitors in this conference. I love it and think its fun but obviously most disagree.

But when it comes to the dollars - this conference division is doing exactly what they planned - slowly choking off the g5 schools from the dough, which will eventually kill them. RIce will be first to ditch the whole thing, and if we don't lure a conference (just on Dallas market size) we will be right behind them before too long.

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

when it comes to the dollars - this conference division is doing exactly what they planned - slowly choking off the g5 schools from the dough, which will eventually kill them. RIce will be first to ditch the whole thing, and if we don't lure a conference (just on Dallas market size) we will be right behind them before too long.

sadly you may be right gostangs

i used to think when anyone would mention shutting down
the SMU football program it was just frustration talking

after-all we had a new stadium and some relatively well known coaches

but good grief i reluctantly now see that as a real possibility

the pathetic embarrassing crowds, the apathy....

I thought it couldn't get worse and it has

they couldnt give away the bobbleheads at the end of the game
and ya see some doofus selling them on e-Bay before the game is even over
oh boy i can maybe make a whopping $19 selling my bobblehead on e-Bay....WTF?

on Sat as I gazed over at the student section and the Stables
i thought...yes maybe it could actually happen...
and really not many would even care or notice
only us 5000 diehards would care...
I think Turner would retire before it happens
He wouldn't want that on his record

I even thought...hell i love college football....dang I would miss seeing it live
what would I do with my Fall saturdays?
I guess I could hold my nose & drive to Fort Worth or Denton to see live college football?
but OMG it wouldn't be the same....not even close
and now UTA may revive their football program?

before halting the program wouldn't we first move into a level like Harvard or Yale football?

I sincerely hope I am wrong about this
but I agree gostangs, unless "Dallas" gets us in a major conference
the clock may be ticking on SMU football

[geno]

If it's a diverse student body SMU wanted; then mission accomplished. Like I said earlier, walk through some of these buildings, you will have to remind yourself, that you are still in Texas. Most of these kids haven't even heard of American football.

But is SMU any more diverse than say smaller type schools like TCU, Notre Dame, Baylor, or Duke?

No.

[Topper]

If it's a diverse student body SMU wanted; then mission accomplished. Like I said earlier, walk through some of these buildings, you will have to remind yourself, that you are still in Texas. Most of these kids haven't even heard of American football.

I'm not completely sure what you are talking about, but when I watch UCLA or some of the other West Coast games I see the stands full of Asian-American or at least ethnic-Asian students.

[SoCal_Pony]

If it's a diverse student body SMU wanted; then mission accomplished. Like I said earlier, walk through some of these buildings, you will have to remind yourself, that you are still in Texas. Most of these kids haven't even heard of American football.

I'm not completely sure what you are talking about, but when I watch UCLA or some of the other West Coast games I see the stands full of Asian-American or at least ethnic-Asian students.

You realize, don't you, that there are more Asian students at UCLA than there are total students at SMU.

The ratio of Asian and Hispanic students to white students at UCLA is 2 to 1. I absolutely guarantee you there are not twice as many Asian and Hispanic students at UCLA FB games than there are White students.

[SoCal_Pony]

I even thought...hell i love college football....dang I would miss seeing it live what would I do with my Fall saturdays? I guess I could hold my nose & drive to Fort Worth or Denton to see live college football? but OMG it wouldn't be the same....not even close and now UTA may revive their football program?

From someone who no longer lives in Texas, the support you will have for your adopted team will be 1/1,000th of how you feel about SMU.

before halting the program wouldn't we first move into a level like Harvard or Yale football?

You're smart enough IPP. Tell me the conference mates (Rice would seem a natural), tell me the quality of the athlete and the product compared to todays' team and most importantly, tell me the average home attendance.