Cincinnati - Miami Attendance

[AustinPerson]

Big12 Mustang said it best. Million things to do in south Florida that are more fun than watching the Hurricanes play.

I think that attendance in cities like Dallas and elsewhere will start hurting more as these cities start to offer more non-sports things to do. Dallas is becoming a hipster's paradise - lots of things to do other than just going to watch the Cowboys/Mavs/Rangers play.

[footballdad]

Big12 Mustang said it best. Million things to do in south Florida that are more fun than watching the Hurricanes play.

I think that attendance in cities like Dallas and elsewhere will start hurting more as these cities start to offer more non-sports things to do. Dallas is becoming a hipster's paradise - lots of things to do other than just going to watch the Cowboys/Mavs/Rangers play.

Hipster's paradise! Not sure if 'hipsters' are generally football fans or the primary target for football marketing.

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I take a look at my life and realize there's nothin' left
Cause I've been blasting and laughing so long,
That even my mama thinks that my mind is gone
But I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve it
Me be treated like a punk you know that's unheard of
You better watch how you're talking and where you're walking
Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk
I really hate to trip but I gotta loc
As they croak, I see myself in the pistol smoke, fool
I'm the kinda G the little homies wanna be like
On my knees in the night saying prayers in the streetlight

Been spending most their lives, living in the hipsta's paradise
Been spending most their lives, living in the hipsta's paradise
Keep spending most our lives, living in the hipsta's paradise
Keep spending most our lives, living in the hipsta's paradise

[Digetydog]

Many of the "Bad Sports" [towns/areas/etc] are really areas with lots of other options. If you don't have a good product, the people aren't going to show up in large numbers.

If I lived in LA/Florida/Dallas, I would think twice about showing up to watch bad football.

[NavyCrimson]

AustinPerson: "I think that attendance in cities like Dallas and elsewhere will start hurting more as these cities start to offer more non-sports things to do. Dallas is becoming a hipster's paradise - lots of things to do other than just going to watch the Cowboys/Mavs/Rangers play."

That's why it's all the more important that SMU start winning & winning big.

[Stallion]

Everybody has got excuses regarding attendance
Some are even valid
The sooner SMU fans realize that excuses don't matter with regard to reaching the P5, the better SMU will be
They don't frick'in matter-we are shut out if we don't pull a TCU

[StallionsModelT]

I love how we talk about attendance like its an apples to apples comparison. There are so many variables that go into it that make it an asinine argument.

TCU has been winning at a consistent level now for more than a decade. They have multiple wins against Top 25 competition, bowl wins, Heisman candidates, BCS bowl appearances, etc. Oh yeah. And there are about 50,000,000 less things to do on a random Saturday in FW than in Dallas.

How many wins against Top 25 competition have we seen at Ford over the last 15 years? How many signature wins? How many games where we played an exciting, engaging brand of football that when you left the stadium you thought "Man that was exciting! I can't wait for the next one!" How many opportunities to beat a former SWC opponent and engage our fans early in the season were squandered with outright blowouts and embarrassments?

I'm not saying that we are a great fan base. I don't even know if we are good. What I will say is that comparing SMU and TCU attendance is STUPID. The only comparison we have to them is that we are 40 miles apart from each other. They've had continuity in the coaching staff, style of play, high profile wins, high profile players, major bowl victories, and now they're in the Big 12. They are embedded in the fabric of Fort Worth in a way that we probably will never be here at SMU with Dallas. Comparing our attendance to TCU when they have a full decade head start on a nationally competitive program (something we still do not have) is stupid.

There is only one way to fix the attendance conundrum. WIN GAMES THAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT. Show the SMU fans and the casual football fans that an afternoon at Ford is three and a half hours wasted watching borderline D1AA football. We have home games coming up against Baylor and TCU in coming years. You want fans to come back to SMU and watch us in conference? Win those games. Be competitive. Be relevant. We were none of these under June Jones.

[footballdad]

I love how we talk about attendance like its an apples to apples comparison. There are so many variables that go into it that make it an asinine argument.

TCU has been winning at a consistent level now for more than a decade. They have multiple wins against Top 25 competition, bowl wins, Heisman candidates, BCS bowl appearances, etc. Oh yeah. And there are about 50,000,000 less things to do on a random Saturday in FW than in Dallas.

How many wins against Top 25 competition have we seen at Ford over the last 15 years? How many signature wins? How many games where we played an exciting, engaging brand of football that when you left the stadium you thought "Man that was exciting! I can't wait for the next one!" How many opportunities to beat a former SWC opponent and engage our fans early in the season were squandered with outright blowouts and embarrassments?

I'm not saying that we are a great fan base. I don't even know if we are good. What I will say is that comparing SMU and TCU attendance is STUPID. The only comparison we have to them is that we are 40 miles apart from each other. They've had continuity in the coaching staff, style of play, high profile wins, high profile players, major bowl victories, and now they're in the Big 12. They are embedded in the fabric of Fort Worth in a way that we probably will never be here at SMU with Dallas. Comparing our attendance to TCU when they have a full decade head start on a nationally competitive program (something we still do not have) is stupid.

There is only one way to fix the attendance conundrum. WIN GAMES THAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT. Show the SMU fans and the casual football fans that an afternoon at Ford is three and a half hours wasted watching borderline D1AA football. We have home games coming up against Baylor and TCU in coming years. You want fans to come back to SMU and watch us in conference? Win those games. Be competitive. Be relevant. We were none of these under June Jones.

Only problem with that argument, posted here many times by old time SMU fans who were around during the good ole' days, the attendance was still poor when we did WIN GAMES THAT PEOPLE CARED ABOUT. Hmmmmm

[StallionsModelT]

Good grief. College football is about 1000000x more visible and popular now than it was in the Pony Express days. We aren't trying to sell out Texas Stadium. Nice try though helicopter.

[Big12Mustang]

Check BU and TCU attendance during the 80's

[footballdad]

Good grief. College football is about 1000000x more visible and popular now than it was in the Pony Express days. We aren't trying to sell out Texas Stadium. Nice try though helicopter.

Good grief, always the next excuse, nice try yourself.

[PerunasHoof]

Good grief. College football is about 1000000x more visible and popular now than it was in the Pony Express days. We aren't trying to sell out Texas Stadium. Nice try though helicopter.

Good grief, always the next excuse, nice try yourself.

If we are hopeless then why are you here?

[StallionsModelT]

Good grief. College football is about 1000000x more visible and popular now than it was in the Pony Express days. We aren't trying to sell out Texas Stadium. Nice try though helicopter.

Good grief, always the next excuse, nice try yourself.

Good retort helicopter. Quality stuff.

[mrydel]

You guys do realize that when we played at Texas Stadium we were much more accessible to the City of Dallas. The inconvenience was to the 5,000 students. Now, on campus, which I personally like, we are accessible to the 5,000 but much less so to the 3,000,000 others. Hard to get to. No parking. Much easier to fill 65,000 at Texas Stadium then (even though it was rarely done) than it is to fill 35,000 at Ford.

[Mustangs35SMU]

Florida Panthers had the 2nd worst attendance in the NHL, Stars were 17th.

It's going to get even worse for the Panthers this year, as they've stopped handing our free tickets (something the Stars stopped a couple years ago...pretty much during the worst possible time when the Rangers were making their World Series runs). Stars attendance will definitely rise over the next couple seasons too as their young talent comes together.

[Stallion]

Food for Thought: Mustang Mania filled the house BEFORE Ron Meyer ever had a winning record. In fact, SMU has never built a strong program in the modern era by recruiting and hoping to fill the stadium after a decade of 10 win seasons. The reason is because when only 10,000 show up at your games no decent recruit wants to play at your school. Despite the stupidity of Big 12 [deleted] TCU and Baylor never had the ghost crowds SMU routinely has-and I was at both schools every other year for decades