Becoming Dallas' college team - An idea from UCF

[CalallenStang]

On Wednesday night, UCF played UAB and since UCF knew that not very many alumni would make the game, they gave away free tickets to students from other colleges in the area that don't have their own football team.

Why doesn't SMU try to do that on a fairly regular basis? Why not allocate a few thousand tickets for students from UTD, UNT-Dallas, DBU, Paul Quinn, and the local community colleges? We can't fill up our stadium as is, so why not offer free (or discounted) tickets to students from these schools in an effort to further our profile in the community?

[Hey June]

Didn't Orsini abolish the comp tickets when he arrived?

[stc9]

I have lived in FL on and off for the past 8 years. UCF is the largest school in the State. By comparison the only school in TX that is larger is UT. UCF's problem is the same that SMU has. College football fans in FL are all about the traditional powers. FL, FSU and Miami rule the roost. So students at the other schools in the Orlando area are more inclined to follow those teams. UF is an hour or maybe 1.5 hours up the road. A ton of college students from central florida and North Florida all drive to UF to party for the games. They can't actually get tickets to the games, but they all go and tailgate and party - then watch the games at local bars. FSU and Miami are longer drives, but the same thing happens.

The alumni have never had a major connection to the program. They just started playing on campus so that will help. I used to work for a UCF alumn - his family has been season ticket holders for the Gators for 40 years (his parents, in-laws and now he and his wife). We speak of the lost generation of fans, but they have never had a generation of fans.

I like the idea of giving tickets away, but would rather give those tickets to youth groups and create a new generation of fans that will support the ponies in the future. Plus parents have to buy hats and T-Shirts where college students would spend the money on beer.

[b_caesar]

There was a huge contingent of Fellowship of Christian Athletes in the stadium tonight - even though they were all in white t-shirts (instead of red) in the south end zone. Although, that meant the stadium was mostly red, then white and blue.