Outsiders View of SMU and our Lack of Fan Support

[RE Tycoon]

This is from a forum that mostly focuses on Dallas Real Estate, but akin to our "Around the Hilltop" forum they have a forum called "The Sideline" which focuses on Dallas sports...

Interesting to see how outsiders view our lack of fan support in Dallas. Pretty much the same [deleted] we go back and forth about on this board.

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showt ... hp?t=19501

[Junior]

That is NOTHING like what we see here.

The other board uses correct grammar, spelling and punctuation.

[rich59]

Junior, You are so right.

[ThadFilms]

I think mjblazin put it best when he said....

Dallas is not a sports town; it's a winners' town. We don't boo or hang in efigy. We ignore.

[rich59]

The Metroplex is stuck on pro sports. It will take a number of years of winning football at SMU before we can expect to draw well at Ford Stadium. See TCU.

[smu diamond m]

The Metroplex is stuck on pro sports. It will take a number of years of winning football at SMU before we can expect to draw well at Ford Stadium. See TCU.

Yes, because TCU is competing with SO MANY PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAMS

[PK]

The Metroplex is stuck on pro sports. It will take a number of years of winning football at SMU before we can expect to draw well at Ford Stadium. See TCU.

Yes, because TCU is competing with SO MANY PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAMS

Well...they do have to contend with the Tarrant County Cowboys in Arlington.

[Charleston Pony]

SMU will not likely EVER enjoy the kind of support the big state schools do. I've always thought that 30,000 seats for football and 7500 for bball is all we need. Ford is perfect for us and I wouldn't mind seeing a remodeled Moody with even further reduced capacity. With quality teams, we should be able to average over 20k for football and close to 5k for bball with sellouts or near sellouts for "big games".

Several were critical of Tulane's little bball arena yesterday, but it looked like a nice little snake pit to me and suits Tulane well. I like what Rice has built for bball. I'd much rather have a smaller stadium/arena with a "packed" feeling to it on game day than see all the empty seats our teams play in front of.

[rich59]

You make good points CP and I agree. Ford with 32000 people is more impressive than a bigger stadium with only a few more people. As far as similarities between SMU and TCU, TCU has to compete against the Dallas Cowboys just as SMU does, in the media. which is where the battle is won and lost. They get the same TV in FW that they do in Dallas and the Star Telegram is filled with material about the Cowboys just as the DMN is, to the exclusion of the Frogs and Mustangs, not to mention that the local media covers the state schools probably more than either local private schools. If North Texas ever gets their program going with large crowds in their stadium the media will cover them more than SMU unless we have our act together. Our best hope is to have a lot of wins in football in the next couple of years and then somehow get into a BCS conference, maybe an expanded Mountain West, but we will never get the media coverage the pro teams get.

[mr. pony]

You make good points CP and I agree. Ford with 32000 people is more impressive than a bigger stadium with only a few more people. As far as similarities between SMU and TCU, TCU has to compete against the Dallas Cowboys just as SMU does, in the media. which is where the battle is won and lost. They get the same TV in FW that they do in Dallas and the Star Telegram is filled with material about the Cowboys just as the DMN is, to the exclusion of the Frogs and Mustangs, not to mention that the local media covers the state schools probably more than either local private schools. If North Texas ever gets their program going with large crowds in their stadium the media will cover them more than SMU unless we have our act together. Our best hope is to have a lot of wins in football in the next couple of years and then somehow get into a BCS conference, maybe an expanded Mountain West, but we will never get the media coverage the pro teams get.

\

Yeah, but Ft. Worth, with no pro football team, is WAY more likely to emotionally bond with its hometown college team. I fear - save for an undefeated run to the Top Ten one year - SMU will always be a tough sell to the generic Dallas football fan.

[rich59]

I know an avid TCU fan of long standing who does not agree with you but the difference is probably hard to quantify.

[CalallenStang]

You make good points CP and I agree. Ford with 32000 people is more impressive than a bigger stadium with only a few more people. As far as similarities between SMU and TCU, TCU has to compete against the Dallas Cowboys just as SMU does, in the media. which is where the battle is won and lost. They get the same TV in FW that they do in Dallas and the Star Telegram is filled with material about the Cowboys just as the DMN is, to the exclusion of the Frogs and Mustangs, not to mention that the local media covers the state schools probably more than either local private schools. If North Texas ever gets their program going with large crowds in their stadium the media will cover them more than SMU unless we have our act together. Our best hope is to have a lot of wins in football in the next couple of years and then somehow get into a BCS conference, maybe an expanded Mountain West, but we will never get the media coverage the pro teams get.

\

Yeah, but Ft. Worth, with no pro football team, is WAY more likely to emotionally bond with its hometown college team. I fear - save for an undefeated run to the Top Ten one year - SMU will always be a tough sell to the generic Dallas football fan.

Dallas doesn't have a pro football team either. The Cowboys play closer to TCU than to SMU.

[mr. pony]

You make good points CP and I agree. Ford with 32000 people is more impressive than a bigger stadium with only a few more people. As far as similarities between SMU and TCU, TCU has to compete against the Dallas Cowboys just as SMU does, in the media. which is where the battle is won and lost. They get the same TV in FW that they do in Dallas and the Star Telegram is filled with material about the Cowboys just as the DMN is, to the exclusion of the Frogs and Mustangs, not to mention that the local media covers the state schools probably more than either local private schools. If North Texas ever gets their program going with large crowds in their stadium the media will cover them more than SMU unless we have our act together. Our best hope is to have a lot of wins in football in the next couple of years and then somehow get into a BCS conference, maybe an expanded Mountain West, but we will never get the media coverage the pro teams get.

\

Yeah, but Ft. Worth, with no pro football team, is WAY more likely to emotionally bond with its hometown college team. I fear - save for an undefeated run to the Top Ten one year - SMU will always be a tough sell to the generic Dallas football fan.

Dallas doesn't have a pro football team either. The Cowboys play closer to TCU than to SMU.

Geography..... Hmmm. Doesn't come close to trumping emotional bonding. The Cowboys belong to Dallas. They're in Dallas' generic sports fans' DNA.

FT. Worth has bonded with TCU like Dallas maybe never will with SMU. I hope I'm wrong.

Cowboys, Stars, Mavs.That's a whole different dynamic. It will take undefeated seasons from SMU. (Note that's plural.)

[CalallenStang]

FT. Worth has bonded with TCU like Dallas maybe never will with SMU. I hope I'm wrong.

I don't see that. TCU was Fort Worth's (and the Metroplex's...judging by the crowd at Pluckers in Dallas during TCU/Utah) for 2 weeks of the year: the Utah game and the Fiesta Bowl.

Since the Cowboys have moved, the emotional bond towards them will grow weaker in Dallas County, while it will grow stronger in Tarrant County.

[Dooby]

As someone who grew up in Fort Worth and now lives in Dallas, but still spend quite a bit of time there, let me state for the record that none of you people have any idea what you are talking about.

Fort Worth is just a medium-sized city near a larger city and is a part of a larger metropolitan area. Fort Worth "supports" TCU because of (i) marketing; and (ii) winning. Rest assured, the vast majority of of Fort Worth residents have never attended a TCU game. The core of TCU's non-alum support comes from an area that probably sits in a 5 mile radius of TCU. No different than the Park Cities. There are not large numbers of residents coming in from across town to attend TCU games.

Edit: I orig. said 5-10 mile radius. I drew it on a map and see that I am way off. More like a 1-3 mile radius, but I will leave 5 up there.

Contrary to popular belief, there are things to do in Fort Worth. Residents of Fort Worth have the same distractions and diversions that residents of Dallas do. They don't attend TCU games because there is nothing else to do. There is plenty to do. They go to TCU games because they are worth their valuable time. Until recently, it was difficult for me to make the same case convingly for SMU games to most SMU-alums and Dallas residents.

The location of the Cowboys' stadium has nothing to do with anything. Fort Worth residents that can afford to go and have the desire to go went to Irving and continue to go to Arlington. My parents' next door neighbor has Stars season tickets. The Cowboys are not more popular in Tarrant County today than they were a couple of years ago because of the location of the stadium-that if F'ing nonsense. I seriously doubt the TV ratings for a Cowboys' game differ from Dallas and Fort Worth by even a fraction of a ratings point.

If SMU wants people to show up, it needs better marketing and a better product. And it won't happen overnight. It didn't at TCU, either. They have been winning for more than a decade now.