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We didn't get real stick to your ribs fans until the team got better. I was there and remember it well. Yes, Mustang mania got a bunch of people in who paid nothing, to come watch the novelty - in a Texas Stadium setting that still mattered somewhat back then. But our real fans showed up when we got better on the field.

People aren't going to waste their time on watching no fun football when there are tons of options. We are in the entertainment business, not the blind loyalty business - and part of entertainment is being relevant and winning most of the time. You can say otherwise all you want but you will still be wrong.

They aren't coming because they suddenly want to support SMU football no matter what - so it doesn't really matter what anyone says. The only way they will come is if we win. We've proven they wont come otherwise for 30 years plus.

Were there really that many SMU fans in the stands back then?

And were they SMU fans or A&M, Texas, Arkansas, etc fans?

I think you can count the number of times SMU has had 30,000 "real, paying fans" in their seats at any SMU football game on a couple of fingers-I'm not even sure we had 30,000 of our own fans in attendance at the Cotton Bowl after 1982 season when about 58,000 showed up in the cold because most Cotton Bowl seats are sponsorships. Maybe Arkansas in 1982-maybe-

The point was that SMU didn't start recruiting well off of empty seats. SMU recruited well after an incredibly successful media blitz and ticket campaign which filled the stadium to watch a losing team. Dickerson/James bought into Mustang Mania when we were 4-7

Chad Morris is asking kids to "buy-in" when quite clearly there are only 10-12,000 SMU fans at many of our games-especially conference games

There are a lot of things that factor into the attendance issue. The hardest to overcome is that we dont play a lot of teams that are of national or regional interest.

If we were 5-0 and ranked 25th and were playing a 3-2 Baylor or Arkansas, it would be a sell out. If we were 5-0 and ranked 25th and played a 3-2 UCF or Memphis, maybe 20k would show up.

I had a friend who worked for the LA Clippers for years. They were awful on the court, had incompetent ownership and management, played in a run down arena in an awful part of town and had to compete with the Lakers and everything else in LA which is a fickle sports town to begin with. So they were able to sell tickets by saying, come see Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, etc for 1/2 the price of any other NBA team. We suck, but we play good teams that you want to see play. So hard for us in this conference for football.

I think we all know that even if we fix our program that our area has no interest in the conference opponents we bring in.

Imagine Penn State's attendance if they lost the Big 10 and started playing in the AAC. Think Happy Valley would sell out when SMU and UCF roll into town. No way.

Just bidding our time until the Big 12 implodes with OU and Texas moving on to greener pastures. Then the best of the AAC will join the Big 12 and we will have a full stadium.

Pony81 wrote:I think we all know that even if we fix our program that our area has no interest in the conference opponents we bring in.

Imagine Penn State's attendance if they lost the Big 10 and started playing in the AAC. Think Happy Valley would sell out when SMU and UCF roll into town. No way.

Just bidding our time until the Big 12 implodes with OU and Texas moving on to greener pastures. Then the best of the AAC will join the Big 12 and we will have a full stadium.

The Big 12 would have to lose a lot more than just OU and Texas for us to get invited. At least the half the league would have to get poached and the leftovers wouldn't be enough to fill Ford every game.

sbsmith wrote:

Pony81 wrote:I think we all know that even if we fix our program that our area has no interest in the conference opponents we bring in.

Imagine Penn State's attendance if they lost the Big 10 and started playing in the AAC. Think Happy Valley would sell out when SMU and UCF roll into town. No way.

Just bidding our time until the Big 12 implodes with OU and Texas moving on to greener pastures. Then the best of the AAC will join the Big 12 and we will have a full stadium.

The Big 12 would have to lose a lot more than just OU and Texas for us to get invited. At least the half the league would have to get poached and the leftovers wouldn't be enough to fill Ford every game.

If when Texas and OU leave there will be more to follow suit. Politically I'm not even sure its possible for OU to leave without Okie Lite. Texas might have some trouble leaving Tech and Baylor in the dust too. Kansas could always go B10 but again politically you have a fight with KSU.

I predict either all four of Texas, Tech, OU, and OSU go to the Pac-12 or they split up with the Texas schools going to the Pac and the Oklahoma schools going SEC. The ACC just signed a big new TV deal so I'm not sure the SEC can count on poaching any new ACC schools like VT or NC State anytime soon.

If this all goes down in a few years, Baylor will still be absolutely toxic because of their recent scandals, crap location, and Baptist affiliation. TCU, being a small, private, religious school wouldn't be in much better shape, but at least they wouldn't have the scandals looming over their heads. I'll be interested to see how Kansas ends up- I'd think they'd be attractive to the Pac and the Big Ten, but would they be connected at the hip with K-State? If so, that would suck for them. In Kansas, I believe the same Board of Regents governs both KU and K-State, which could make things tricky.

I used to attend Cowboy games in the Cotton Bowl and watch the Cowboys play the Colts and Johnny Unitis before about 10,000 fans. The Murchisons were giving away a Cadillac at halftime to draw fans while SMU was pulling 50,000 to see us play Navy.

A large part of what gets fans in the seats, increases revenue and helps recruit, as much or more than just winning, is media exposure. In places like Austin or Norman or Columbus the home town media is all over the local team. It is the lead story on the sports broadcasts and in the sport section of the paper. Media exposure drives interest. More people know about Baylor now and in some twisted fashion it might have helped their recruiting. The Dallas media, at least in the past (I don't live there now), always treated SMU as a second class story. During Pony Express days they covered us, at best, as an equal to ut and the farming school. The media will respond that they are catering to the demand but media creates the demand. I suspect, unless things change, that even if we beat USF to go undefeated and win the AAC BIG 12 stories will push our coverage to below the fold or after the break. They hate us and prove it by ignoring us. No kid wants to play for a school he never hears about unless there are no better options.

Big 12 implodes, TCU, Baylor, are Iowa State would be the most likely would have the hardest time finding a home. Possibly Tech as well. I think Tech is a really hard sell to the Pac 12.

OU and Texas leave the Big 12:
New league will form:
ISU
KSTATE
KU
OSU
TCU
BU
SMU
UH
TECH
Memphis
WVA
UCONN
Cinci
USF
UCF

As much as Tech, BU, TCU want to follow Texas the PAC 12( where they will land won't let them), same with OSU and OU going to the SEC. When the PAC 12 and SEC say Texas and OU only . Then those schools agree or stay in the JV. Believe me, each school has the stroke to get their way and leave behind the other schools.

Oh boy. This has now morphed into a realignment thread.


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