OPEN REQUEST TO SMU BRASS -- CALL TO ACTION!!!!

[peruna81]

If one of you legal hounds will do the groundwork on Mustang Mania, I'll print the first run of 500 stickers at no cost...

gotta have someone in Dallas run it by SMU and any licensing protocols...if it is in the clear, REBIRTH.

[smitty329]

"What Hart wants to do is appeal to people without a natural affiliation to SMU in areas like South Dallas and Plano with family-friendly features. This includes the play area in the south end zone and the open invitation to go on the field after the game, in addition to less traffic and easier parking than at some events."

So, the plan is to have a six flags/carnival atmosphere in the south end zone with a free for all on the field after the game - not sure how that fills the stands and provides support to the team. Who would enjoy scoring a touchdown in the south end zone only to see everyone focused on the kid who just threw up his corny dog and funnel cake on the tilt-a-whirl.

[tristatecoog]

"Our fanbase is probably the worst in Division 1 in terms of average interest in the program"
Rice is far worse. Tulane is also really bad.

[Pony ^]

Hell, even TCU's stadium was empty when they had college gameday in town. Fact is that both schools are too small

[ebrooks11]

Hell, even TCU's stadium was empty when they had college gameday in town. Fact is that both schools are too small

Thank you. We are one of the smallest schools in FBS. Our attendance is on par with the majority of G5's and lower level P5's during their OOC schedule.

[MV pony]

Wasn't on campus living supposed to take care of the problem? Hart has been working on this since 2012. Looking at TCU for the answer. P5 is an answer. Require each frat to have a player member. They will support their members. Have a concert after the game ends. Have a lottery for ticket holdrs. Give away $500 at the ned of each quarter, must be present to win. There are endless possibilities if Turnee really wanted to increase attendance.

[Stallion]

A portion of the West Virginia returned allotment were the only tickets not sold for the ESPN Gameday. TCU had 43,000 plus, SMU gets less than 7,000 to go through turnstiles for a game for Bowl Eligibility -but both are "too small". Great deflection there. What-about-ism. SMU fans just can't deal constructively with this issue. TCU has no problem-they sell out their stadium (minus visitors allotment) and have for years. They are cashing checks for routine sellouts -SMU fans are talking about giving away 20,000 seats like toilet paper

[PonyTime]

Wasn't on campus living supposed to take care of the problem? Hart has been working on this since 2012. Looking at TCU for the answer. P5 is an answer. Require each frat to have a player member. They will support their members. Have a concert after the game ends. Have a lottery for ticket holdrs. Give away $500 at the ned of each quarter, must be present to win. There are endless possibilities if Turnee really wanted to increase attendance.

I would guess that most frats do have at least one player on the team. They did back in my day in the 90s - and that player was the chapter president.

[ebrooks11]

A portion of the West Virginia returned allotment were the only tickets not sold for the ESPN Gameday. TCU had 43,000 plus, SMU gets less than 7,000 to go through turnstiles for a game for Bowl Eligibility -but both are "too small". Great deflection there. What-about-ism. SMU fans just can't deal constructively with this issue. TCU has no problem-they sell out their stadium (minus visitors allotment) and have for years. They are cashing checks for routine sellouts -SMU fans are talking about giving away 20,000 seats like toilet paper

Two top 25 teams from the Big 12 playing on a Saturday that college gameday is there, compared to a middle tier AAC team playing a 2-6 Tulsa team on a Friday night in Texas with Temps in the 30's. Apples to Apples.

[SMU_Alum11]

A portion of the West Virginia returned allotment were the only tickets not sold for the ESPN Gameday. TCU had 43,000 plus, SMU gets less than 7,000 to go through turnstiles for a game for Bowl Eligibility -but both are "too small". Great deflection there. What-about-ism. SMU fans just can't deal constructively with this issue. TCU has no problem-they sell out their stadium (minus visitors allotment) and have for years. They are cashing checks for routine sellouts -SMU fans are talking about giving away 20,000 seats like toilet paper

Two top 25 teams from the Big 12 playing on a Saturday that college gameday is there, compared to a middle tier AAC team playing a 2-6 Tulsa team on a Friday night in Texas with Temps in the 30's. Apples to Apples.

I have to agree with ebrooks11 on this one. It's apples and oranges. Tulsa (2-6) vs SMU (5-2) - AAC on a Friday night in the freezing cold. I was surprise that we got as many to the game for the 1st half.

I still remember when I was a student and #4 TCU came to town in 2010. That was a pack stadium at Ford. Now I'll cede that TCU had made up like 1/4 - 1/3 of the stadium but nonetheless it was packed. That was probably the best crowd based game I've ever seen at SMU. I think the only reason we didnt have a good attendance after that was it seems like it rained every time after that plus the JJ debacle.

[Stallion]

No its not

Its a P5 school which sellouts all its game
v.
A NEVER will-be P5 school that has a fraction of TCU's attendance home or away despite actually having a larger student body than TCU.

Call it a school whose alumni, family and friends give a damn v. a school where they don't, have not and never will give a damn

[GoMustAAngs2007]

No its not

Its a P5 school which sellouts all its game
v.
A NEVER will-be P5 school that has a fraction of TCU's attendance home or away despite actually having a larger student body than TCU.

Call it a school whose alumni, family and friends give a damn v. a school where they don't, have not and never will give a damn

I have been reading these attendance threads with keen interest and trying to digest talking points on all sides.

Stallion, I get it. The lack of engagement on the part of our fan base is a massive crutch holding back our program. You are right. Many SMU fans both young and old cannot deal constructively with this issue. If there is another round of conference re-alignment that does not upgrade our situation, our lack of a fan base will be one of the factors in that outcome. I am a deeply passionate fan and this saddens and disappoints me but I accept it as a reality that will take multiple generations to change. I graduated in 2007 and bought my first set of season tickets after the 2009 Hawaii Bowl win. I committed to what was at the time a program on the rise. During the “peak” June Jones years I exhausted my emotional and spiritual resources trying to get friends, both SMU alumni and alumni of other schools, interested in SMU football. I brought them to the boulevard and even picked up extra tickets to games. Called my classmates out on social media when they posted pictures of their kids in Burnt Orange/(insert other school’s colors here). It was hard work but I made a lot of great memories. Some of those friends and associates still live in the Dallas area, others have moved on. While they will still join me for a game every now and then, I can’t say they are any more invested in SMU football now than 5-6 years ago.

With all that said and the way this season has transpired, I still don’t understand why the attendance conversation is so confusing for alumni and fans from the pre-DP era. Chad Morris is a fantastic offensive mind, recruiter, and program salesman. If/when he leaves for a bigger school with a larger fan base, he will be the first SMU head coach post-DP to have moved on to another college head coaching job. I will wish him well and root for him to succeed (unless his new team is playing SMU).

When I talk to SMU alumni from the 90s and early 2000s they are generally supportive of SMU but have little interest in engaging with football. They want football to do well but it just wasn’t a passion point in their undergraduate experience. A team that finishes 6-6 or 7-5 in the AAC without a signature win isn’t going to bring these fans back to Ford overnight.

This has been mentioned in other posts but the Memphis and Navy games last season destroyed a lot of the momentum and enthusiasm for this season. Chad Morris isn’t stupid – he has to know that. Homecoming weekend, lots of alumni with a renewed interest in an up and coming team that had knocked off a top ranked Houston team two weeks earlier on National TV and what happens? “Same old SMU.” Then the season spirals out of hand with the Baylor rumors and an absolute beat down at home against Navy. Even the most loyal fans haven’t forgiven this.

TCU gets 43K+ fans today because, for the past two decades, they have built a program that is a mainstay in the top 25 with multiple major bowl wins. They play meaningful games in a conference that matters in the present landscape of college football. Fans not affiliated with TCU go to these games knowing they will see big time teams in games that will be part of the national conversation in college football. It isn’t because there is something intrinsically special about TCU fans that doesn’t apply to SMU fans. Flip the histories and current situations of these schools and I’m sure we could fill a 40K seat stadium without much effort.

I have grown to enjoy the AAC as imperfect as it is both geographically and in terms of the similarity between the schools and fan bases but being introspective and honest, these games don’t matter to enough people outside of each school’s fan base. We could have the best marketing and promotional people in the world and it would still be a challenge to fill Ford for a 6 win team whose games don’t matter enough in the grander landscape of college football.

Re: Mustang Mania. Sounds like a brilliantly executed campaign when it happened but that might as well be ancient history for those of us in the 25-40 age range.

This post won’t end the wailing and gnashing about attendance here and on other boards but it sums up most of my thoughts.

I’m not giving up and neither should you.

[Mustangsabu]

The DMN blog this morning about our attendance on Friday was even more disappointing than the game itself. Harts response was utterly flaccid and gave no indication that this administration is able to fix the problem, or even particularly interested in doing so. People don't show up because Dallas doesn't care. There is little that can be done. Without a Heisman contender or an unbeaten team in the national spotlight no-one will come. There is no civic pride in this city, at least not any which identifies SMU with the city. It is part of the FW psyche now to support TCU, wasn't always that way but they have it now. SMU needs to get its student body there and ensure that the city of Dallas is aware that there is a game. Right now the university does nothing for either of these.

But the really and truly ridiculous thing is that the weather last Friday is being used as an excuse. It was bone freaking dry. It was the weather that half the nation plays in for most of the fall. Put on a hat, gloves, thick socks, a jacket, and maybe go nuts with some thermal longjohns. No problem. I took my 10 year old to Arrowhead last year and the temp at kickoff was 3. We were outside for the whole game.

If its raining then I get it, but if its just cold that is no excuse. Except for the older people, I get that. This further highlights the age of our fanbase and the paucity of fans in the 25-45 age group.

[SMU_Alum11]

I don't think anyone on here used that excuse to not go to the game Friday. I'll at least speak for myself when I mentioned the cold weather. I'm referring to new or fair-weather fans (if we have any) being kept away due to the cold weather. I was there +3 with jackets, gloves and blankets. The hardcore bunch showed up at the game and stayed loud as possible throughout.

[Mustangsabu]

I don't think anyone on here used that excuse to not go to the game Friday. I'll at least speak for myself when I mentioned the cold weather. I'm referring to new or fair-weather fans (if we have any) being kept away due to the cold weather. I was there +3 with jackets, gloves and blankets. The hardcore bunch showed up at the game and stayed loud as possible throughout.

Indeed I was not talking about the folks on here. The Ponyfans are the hard core, I was speaking for the excuses being given on others behalves.