Orsini on ESPN Blog

[NickSMU17]

RGV...great thoughts...wish we had some smart guys in the department...

My gut tells me these guys hear no, and then just say oh well we tried....

You have to be innovative....

[SoCal_Pony]

People who say winning will cure our attendance issues are simply mistaken.

I was at Texas Stadium at the launch of the Dicker-James Pony Express era. Game was against Rice and part of the Mustang Mania marketing campaign. Had a tie-in to the Jerry Lewis MDA fundraiser and even had Greg Morris of Mission Impossible fame there. Attendance was around 51,000.

4 years later?, SMU was playing Rice again at Texas Stadium. Pony Express had been established. Winning was occurring. At the time I believe we were in the Top 10. But there was no marketing campaign and attendance could not have been more than 13,000.

Anyone can look at our schedule 3 years in advance and tell you which games need to be heavily marketed if you want over 25,0000 fans in attendance.

This is one of the reasons I strongly believe so much is at stake now for SMU. Place us in the right conference and our attendance issues start getting resolved. Have us left out, especially if Houston and Baylor are BCS, and I see a slow painful march to total obscurity.

Hate to say it, but CofC are not getting their full return on investment until they pony up some more $$$ for a marketing campaign. Goal should be to average 27,000+ per game, even if you have to give away the tickets. Alternative is not pretty.

[ponyboy]

Every word true, SoCal.

[NickSMU17]

The argument I am having on facebook currently, was that increased donation level actually drove fans away...

My contention is that there is a wait list for those seats so it did not, but most are saying the gave away their seats because it was unjustified...

I think it was the right step and needed to be done...thought...

[ponyboy]

How material was the change (or lack of growth) in season ticket sales due to the increased MC donation? I believe the real challenge, simply solved by effective advertising, is getting the t shirt fan to attend. People don't think about SMU football because of the plethora of entertainment options out there. Gotta get in their heads and stay there. We certainly have an entertaining product.

[Stallion]

The T-Shirt fan will never support SMU-Clueless as always. I have 50 years of experience on this topic-through good times and bad-the only way SMU could get the T-Shirt Fan was to literrally give tickets away-not an option with a small stadium. What happened when Bob Hitch came in and suspended Mustang Mania give-a-ways. Back down to 20,000 for Rice with a Conference Champion. Look its going to be Alumni + Friends+ Family+ Opponents Fans. Once you get that through your head you will be better off. SMU Alumni, Family and Friends will either support SMU or we will have a permanent low glass ceiling we will not be able to break through

[RGV Pony]

to some extent I agree with you Stallion. So, again the simple question is..where is the list of alumni family & friends and who maintains it? Give it to a callcenter in India or someone, but it needs to be worked, period. Don't ask don't get.

Other thing about the giving tix away-I was told another reason we dont is that for attendance reporting purposes, your least expensive ticket cannot be less than-can't remember if it's 33% or 50%-your cheapest regularly-priced ticket, or those seats dont count. That's why group tix are $10-it's the lowest they can go. So, when you see FCA make an appearance with all those kids, someone bought all those, because we need to report all the butts in seats we can. And, by the way, that FCA event which we've all seen put a decent amount of kids at Ford won't be happening this season on the scale we've seen previously.

[SoCal_Pony]

I think FCA, Methodist Day and a Band Day should be annual staples. It will not solve our attendance issues, but it could add 12k a year in attendance and from that maybe you can get some more dedicated fans.

Mustang Mania was not targeting solely alumni.

[ponyinNC]

I've always though what hurts SMU the most is the pure geographic sprawl in which our alumni live after graduation.

SMU is not a state school, and therefore people come from all over the country to attend. Many of those folks move back to where they are from after graduation. Because we have such a great education at SMU, our graduates also have many more job opportunities and options on where to live than your average TT, TAMU, BU, UH grad. Most of those state school grads stay in Texas, because most of them are from Texas. My freshman dorm had so many people from Cali, Missouri, OK, Fla, etc. Many of my fraternity brothers returned to where they were from after college. It comes with the territory of being an elite private university, like Duke, Vandy, Stanford, etc.

heck, on this thread alone, I see IL, CA, NC and other states represented.

[RGV Pony]

check your pms SoCal

[Water Pony]

I've always though what hurts SMU the most is the pure geographic sprawl in which our alumni live after graduation.

SMU is not a state school, and therefore people come from all over the country to attend. Many of those folks move back to where they are from after graduation. Because we have such a great education at SMU, our graduates also have many more job opportunities and options on where to live than your average TT, TAMU, BU, UH grad. Most of those state school grads stay in Texas, because most of them are from Texas. My freshman dorm had so many people from Cali, Missouri, OK, Fla, etc. Many of my fraternity brothers returned to where they were from after college. It comes with the territory of being an elite private university, like Duke, Vandy, Stanford, etc.

heck, on this thread alone, I see IL, CA, NC and other states represented.

I agree. As they say, demographics define your future. And, yes, we have large alumni bases in CA, IL, MO, NY, etc., who cherry pick home and away games. I watched the Mustangs play @ Navy, WI and at home. From a national and regional perspective, a more difficult schedule combined with drivable home game opponents will result in better attendance. If we upgrade our conference and schedule we will easily increase attendance by more than 50%.

[SMU 86]

The "lost generation" which Coach Jones referred to is going to take some time to reach as well.

[crazy horse]

I grew up with divided loyalties - Dad was a UT grad, Mom from SMU. I was a Longhorn until my UMYF went to see the Mustangs play Houston on Methodist Youth Day or whatever it was called.

Its doubtful without that exposure that I would have become a fan or attended SMU.

Not sure how much we do these days reaching out to Methodist Churches, and as others have mentioned HS bands and FCS, but those are good groups to target for those games that will struggle with attendance.

But absolutely, we have to get the students and local alumni in the stadium every weekend. If we can snag a couple thousand casual fans from DFW, all the better. In a metro area of over 5 million, surely there are a few football fans that might enjoy a trip to the Park Cities every other Saturday.

[RGV Pony]

youth group day with a speaking event/mini concert with Bethany Hamilton (JJ can pull that off...she's from Hawaii, and she does the christian speaking circuit) and popular christian rock band in Moody either before or after the game. Watch how many church vans from all over the place show up loaded w/ kids. Just have to approach the generic youth ministers.

makes too much sense.

[NickSMU17]

Exactly...You can put obvious suggestions in front of our AD offices and they say thats a good idea, but never follow through...They think b/c RGT cut budget they can't do anything...

Keep saying it, but these guys have to be more innovative...