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by **Charleston Pony** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 8:23 am

I'm sure that 20.335 was the paid attendance and it appears there just wasn't much interest in our offer of "free tickets and transportation"

Houston and TCU had no problem drawing good crowds to their games.

SMU has a long ways to go to generate enough fan excitement to pack Ford Stadium. Hopefully it will come in the next few years as this program continues to improve and reaches the goal of being a top 25 program. Right now, our poor fan support is one of the last pieces holding the program back (from attracting that higher quality recruit).

by **CalallenStang** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 8:52 am

Comparing our attendance to that of the #4 team in the country (TCU) and another ranked team playing in its cross-city rivalry (Houston) is foolish.

From my vantage point (East Side) the attendance looked very similar to the Navy game with one exception - our student section was empty. We expected that, though. When we played UCF on the day after thanksgiving 2 years ago there were no more than 5 students in the student section, so this was better.

20,000 seems a little high, but not much. I would have guessed 17,500.

by **FriscoChuck** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 11:46 am

SMU must fix problems at the ticket booth. There were people that didn't even bother going into the stadium because the ticket lines were too long. I waited over 30 minutes to buy two extra tickets (I am season ticket holder but needed two extra tickets). While waiting in line I saw at least 100 people turn around and go back to tailgating.

I missed the entire 1st quarter which I am not happy with. I had exact cash but it still took the guy at the ticket window 3-5 minutes to give me tickets.

This game it was 100 people that didn't bother waiting but next year it will be 1000's of people that will not have the patience to wait.

by **Wuba** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 11:56 am

FriscoChuck wrote:SMU must fix problems at the ticket booth. There were people that didn't even bother going into the stadium because the ticket lines were too long. I waited over 30 minutes to buy two extra tickets (I am season ticket holder but needed two extra tickets). While waiting in line I saw at least 100 people turn around and go back to tailgating.

I missed the entire 1st quarter which I am not happy with. I had exact cash but it still took the guy at the ticket window 3-5 minutes to give me tickets.

This game it was 100 people that didn't bother waiting but next year it will be 1000's of people that will not have the patience to wait.

I have no doubt that they need to improve the ticket window staffing and process, but I don't think you can expect them to have enough staff to get tickets to hundreds (hopefully you are right and it will be thousands next year) of people who decide to buy a ticket right as the game starts.

You said you waited in line just over 30 minutes and missed the whole first quarter that implies you got in line right as the game started (if not after). It isn't a movie, try to plan ahead.

by **KnuckleStang** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:15 pm

I think it's going to take longer to build our fan support to a respectable level than a lot of people realize. Keep in mind, we're talking about an entire generation of alumni who have conditioned themselves to rooting for an adopted Big 12 team, or whatever school their dads went to, or whatever. SMU's going to have win consistently and repeatedly for years before we even begin see people start to come out of the woodwork in a meaningful way. Hope i'm wrong about that

by **CA Mustang** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:34 pm

MrMustang1965 wrote: TX Tech vs Baylor at Jerry World; TCU vs New Mexico in Fort Worth.

Why would SMU fans care about either of those games?

by **San Antonio Mustang** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:07 pm

CA Mustang wrote:
MrMustang1965 wrote: TX Tech vs Baylor at Jerry World; TCU vs New Mexico in Fort Worth.

Why would SMU fans care about either of those games?

They wouldn't. But, why would Dallas support SMU? I think that is the more relevant question. Ft Worth died the river purple. Fort Worth was reported on the news wearing purple. The TCU stadium I will guess was not only filled with TCU students and alums, but also a lot of Ft Worth citizens.

Dallas, and SMU is a microcosm of Dallas supports what is fashionable. It is fashionable to support the Cowboys - it is not fashionable to support SMU. To measurably increase the attendance at our games we have to make it "the place" to be. I am encouraged by the support being given by Roger Staubach, Jerry Jones, and other non SMU affiliated business leaders.

As a contrast there were over 80,000 at the meaningless USC-UCLA game last night. Of course, LA is not only bigger than Dallas, but it also does not have a pro team.

by **Junior** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:15 pm

Given all the factors at play, I think we had a decent sized crowd. This was my first Thanksgiving weekend game.

by **mrydel** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:53 pm

Read the article in the Parade Magazine in today's Sunday paper. It costs a family of 4 $758 to go to a Cowboy game. There may be a lot of football fans out there that are not SMU fans but readily could become so due to being priced out of the pro football market. These are the people we need to reach, and we need to do so before TCU does.

by **San Antonio Mustang** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 3:03 pm

mrydel wrote:Read the article in the Parade Magazine in today's Sunday paper. It costs a family of 4 $758 to go to a Cowboy game. There may be a lot of football fans out there that are not SMU fans but readily could become so due to being priced out of the pro football market. These are the people we need to reach, and we need to do so before TCU does.

Amen

by **SoCal_Pony** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 3:04 pm

i phone money wrote:There was not close to 10,000 kids there. If I hadn't heard about the busses I would not have even noticed. That said 20,335 over Thanksgiving weekend is not that bad. There were about 0 students there due to the holiday. The crowd was into the game and made good noise.

I like the idea of busing in 10,000 kids to the game.

Not as crazy about paying for 10,000 kids and only getting 2,000.

That is Katrina-style management.

by **pwnyxpress** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 3:07 pm

Don't forget to count the 1200 kids rolling down the hillside.... they weren't all in the stands.

by **LawSchoolPony** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 6:05 pm

There is NO WAY there were 20k there on Saturday - are you freaking kidding me?!? The stadium was empty except for the home side. I've been to plenty of 20k games at Ford, and the Tulane game was not one.

by **MrMustang1965** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 6:25 pm

LawSchoolPony wrote:I've been to plenty of 20k games at Ford.

Really? Plenty?

by **CA Mustang** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 6:44 pm

San Antonio Mustang wrote:
CA Mustang wrote:
MrMustang1965 wrote: TX Tech vs Baylor at Jerry World; TCU vs New Mexico in Fort Worth.

Why would SMU fans care about either of those games?

They wouldn't. But, why would Dallas support SMU?

I was referring to SMU fans rather than general Dallas sports fans. We need to maximize the attendance of SMU fans (alums, students, etc.) before expecting more from the general sports fans in the region. After all, if many SMU fans won't attend, how can you expect non-SMU fans to show up?

San Antonio Mustang wrote:As a contrast there were over 80,000 at the meaningless USC-UCLA game last night.

Meaningless? The biggest intra-city rivalry (with one team ranked) is meaningless? By your standards, how many meaningful games were there yesterday?

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