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Will be interesting to see if attendance dies down for them as the year goes on, but as it stands:

vs. Northeastern State (DII) W 31-3 56,753, first game ever
vs McMurry (DIII moving to DII) L 21-24 31,634
at Southern Utah (FCS) L 22-45 8693
vs Bacone (NAIA) W 54-7 33,517, home coming

They have a student population of 26,377 undergraduates and 4,484 post. Metro pop of 2.1 million. Interesting to see what can be done when a city sees a school truly as its team. I wonder how the fans attention will hold as the season and years go on, but right now they are bringing more people even if you exclude the opener, and against no name teams, than the average CUSA, WAC, SunBelt, and MAC teams did last year. If you include the opener they are above the MWC average. Will be scary if this team is able to keep this level of attendance as they transition to the FBS and mature. Not to enrage ponyfans diehards but could become a decent school to add to CUSA in a few years if they can bring this many people. Again these are very early numbers and ultimately time will tell.

Of course it will die down. Right now, they're a novelty.

SMUguy wrote:Of course it will die down. Right now, they're a novelty.

Correct.

Still impressive and something to sell in recruiting. You are selling potential-got to have something tangible to point to

I think you are all right that there is a fair amount of novelty going on here, but San Antonio has been dying for a football team to support for years (look how many times Red McCombs has tried to get an NFL team down there), and if UTSA can brand themselves as SAT's team and find some on-field success, they could be a team that holds onto that success even after the novelty dies down. Will be really interesting to see how it unfolds.

UTA is apparently watching UTSA's success in football before they consider bringing their team back. I think the last year for football at UTA was like 1985. And UTA is joining UTSA and Texas State in the WAC next year. But honestly, they don't have near the opportunity that UTSA does, since they have to compete with the Cowboys, SMU, and TCU. Too much going on here, I think.

I'm sure plenty of "doubters" said football would never make it at Boise State, too

UTSA has an opportunity to accomplish what has eluded UNT; their location gives them an advantage over other state schools in that 2nd tier category

could be a great rival for UTEP someday

MustangSTATS wrote:vs Bacone (NAIA) W 54-7 33,517, home coming

mmm.... Bacone

Fringe cities get great attendance. And when I say fringe I'm solely referring to the availability of certain sports in the region. No football in Boise, San Antonio, etc = much higher attendance and recognition.

Drop down to 8k in attendance ? Here are some facts. UTSA has little over 14,000 season tickets sold (more than us) and most were on multiple year packages so they have them locked up for a few years. They are completing phase 1 of 3 phase construction project for athletics complex on campus that includes their IPF and a football stadium and it is tentatively scheduled to be done in 10 years. I have posted before of the meetings I have personally sat in on the IPF and how its funding is nearly complete.

Their out of conference schedules in the future include OSU, Arizona, and some others which will help them attendance wise. There may be some natural drop off once the novelty wears off, but they also are bringing in different opponents with bigger fan bases. Plus once they get on campus stadium you will get some boost there.

Their student population is projected to surpass Texas Tech in 2017. It is about numbers and their student numbers alone will allow them to have a base level of attendance greater than 8k. This argument was the one used at the pitch made for funding for the IPF and the football stadium when we were shown 2 different studies. They have really thought out how to go about this the right way for the long term and have a good marketing plan which we appear to be lacking at times.

To compare UTSA to UTA is comical, they are in totally different positions. Sure some attendance will drop but because of their student population, the number of season ticket holders already in place, and the fact they are one of the only games in down to say this is just a novelty and their attendance will drop is simply not accurate.

They are comparable because they both suck, and Neither will have any alumni employed by me...

CoxMustangFan wrote: UTA would be stupid to bring football back.

UTA is already.

OKC and SA will never get pro teams. Jerry will stop anyone trying to go to SA.

I wasn't joking when I said they may be an attractive option for Big 12 realignment in the future. Their population and an attractive stadium with a large student enrollment that the private schools can't match! Surely everyone else understands the changing demographics of our state and they love their football just as much as anyone else. It is all about the $$$$$$ and talk about an expanding tv market in the southwestern states if some local kids become household names.

If you are talking about a Big 12 with ut still in it, there is no way that they would allow for another program 60 miles away in their conference.