Galloway asks whre are the SMU fans?

[Stallion]

Drinking at Ford except in Boxes ain't going to happen. Next idea.

[RGV Pony]

to the student who left in the 3rd quarter of UAB..glad you stayed the whole game today, but all in all whatever worked for UAB, students need to do over and over. I'll take that student section any day.

and to couchem: agree 100%

[PonyLove]

The problem is for most students(I'm a senior here) is the boulevard is just like a party on any other day and we have to make the game an event worth stopping partying for. The easiest way to do that would be to set up a club similar to what they have with the champions club where you could charge 10 bucks a game to get in and you could buy alcoholic drinks in the stadium. I dont know if were allowed to do this due to ncaa rules, but if the rich alums can go get drinks why cant the students who are 21 or have a good fake id have somewhere similar. Not only would the school make money, but you would keep students who have finished off their flasks by the second quarter and dont want to sober up in 100 degree heat. Whether or not its right or wrong ask any student why they left the game or didnt go at all 75% of the time there answer has to do with not being able to drink in the stadium. Most kids just go to the boulevard to get drunk and dont care about the game, everyone starts to get hungover by halftime and when you add in the fact thats its been close to 100 the last two weeks, no one wants to sit there sweat for 2 hours and be hungover when you leave. Most kids(myself included) leave at halftime to go home take a nap and be ready to go out again. We have to make it so the game is more desirable then a party.

If our students really have to stay drunk all day, then maybe they should be smart enough to sneak enough alcohol into Ford to get the job done. I think we've been recruiting the wrong kind of students the last few years. Thankfully, the freshman class this year seems better...the students that were there today and last week did a good job...

[Samurai Stang]

The problem is for most students(I'm a senior here) is the boulevard is just like a party on any other day and we have to make the game an event worth stopping partying for. The easiest way to do that would be to set up a club similar to what they have with the champions club where you could charge 10 bucks a game to get in and you could buy alcoholic drinks in the stadium. I dont know if were allowed to do this due to ncaa rules, but if the rich alums can go get drinks why cant the students who are 21 or have a good fake id have somewhere similar. Not only would the school make money, but you would keep students who have finished off their flasks by the second quarter and dont want to sober up in 100 degree heat. Whether or not its right or wrong ask any student why they left the game or didnt go at all 75% of the time there answer has to do with not being able to drink in the stadium. Most kids just go to the boulevard to get drunk and dont care about the game, everyone starts to get hungover by halftime and when you add in the fact thats its been close to 100 the last two weeks, no one wants to sit there sweat for 2 hours and be hungover when you leave. Most kids(myself included) leave at halftime to go home take a nap and be ready to go out again. We have to make it so the game is more desirable then a party.

Allow me to tell you what you are really saying.

The truth is, you do not care about UAB or Washington State. They do not excite you, and in all fairness they do not excite me. Even so, my purpose in going is to watch SMU, meaning that while there are some teams I would rather watch than others, I will always be in attendance.

While you claim that the students are only interested in drinking, I have witnessed over the years that this is not true. On Friday, your fellow students will flock to the stadium in tremendous numbers. Why? Because SMU will be playing a team that they are aware of. Interest among the students is still largely such that the game is only worth watching if the competition is intriguing.

What your post reveals more than anything is a lack of pride for the university. You tell a tale of students that are forced to make the life-saving choice of avoiding Ford Stadium so as to prolong their drunken stupor. Winning will increase the amount of pride that students have in the school, which will then lead to making the choice of supporting football easier and easier. You are simply part of the transition phase, in which many students will stubbornly despise the football team as it becomes a hindrance to an otherwise socially acceptable forgotten weekend. As the years pass, the newer students will reject the ways of the past. Winning will bring change.

[ponypr033]

winning may be the key, but as has been said on this board before attendance wasn't huge even when we were winning in the 80's. Ive only been a fan since I got here in 2007 I knew nothing about the program other than it got the death penalty before, and yes it is tough to rally around a team that went 2 and 22 in your first two years as a fan. If we are top 25 year in and year out then you bet you would have 5000 students a game coming, im sure we'll get close to that this friday, but were still a few years away from being able to compete on that level. I mean we don't even have to buy tickets, which i doubt any other school does. Is it possible the school doesn't care about trying to get more students into the stadium because their bottom line would not change just the stadium atmosphere, though i doubt this is the case. My point is only that there is a serious problem when you can get less then a third of your student body to go to a Free division 1 football game in Texas. I love our football team now and am a fan for life, I just wish more of my fellow students would come out for games so we can have a true home field advantage, and make Ford a place teams hate coming to play at, and if you talk to most students they point out the lack of adult beverages as the reason why they dont go or stay for the whole game, granted if we did allow drinking, im sure they would just come up with another excuse.

[Come and Take It]

Does anyone really think our marketing department is doing a good job marketing the program to the DFW area, and its not their fault its just understaffed and not a priority.

What marketing department?

[ponyscott]

Hey thanks for posting from the student side. Just have a few fresh men or women bring a new supply at half time. They have those new small 4-8 ounce alcohol packs that you can put in your pockets easily.
The SMU Athletic marketing Department had to let employees go because of budgeting. Every Athletic Department in the country save and except Texas, is having budget issues and its a tough economy to catch up on. They are battling on all fronts believe me.
We need more $$$$.

[ponyfan84]

It's not just the students....watching the game on TV yesterday, the north endzone and most of the east side were EMPTY outside the student section. They'd fill in a nice couple of sections but we need to rely more on fans in the area than the student body to fill in a small portion of the stadium.

[ponypr033]

I agree times are tough, but if you've been to campus lately you know times havent been nearly as tough at SMU as most other places. We've had about 4 new buildings built since i've been here, and countless renovations, which are all great, but im wondering if times are so tough why do people on here think an indoor practice facility is an option when we cant even staff a marketing department, or build a new natatorium for the swim program which is currently our only programs ranked top 25 year in and year out and yet they have to use facilities that would make most junior high kids wanna quit swimming.

[ponypr033]

It's not just the students....watching the game on TV yesterday, the north endzone and most of the east side were EMPTY outside the student section. They'd fill in a nice couple of sections but we need to rely more on fans in the area than the student body to fill in a small portion of the stadium.

If we can't even get current students to come to a free game, do you think its likely we can attract people with no affiliation to smu from the local Dallas or Highland Park communities without beefing up our marketing department. The second Padron got named to the obrien watch list they should have been spreading that everywhere, "hey look Andy Dalton isn't the only great quarterback in DFW". Most schools with heisman hopefuls have PR departments working on the heismen campaigns for individual players on a national level yet we can't even market our "Team" to our local community. How does that make sense?

[Pony_Fan]

students vs alum and general public are two different things. I am more concerned with the other 15,000 seats than 1-2k students.

this topic just goes on and on...same crap, different year.

- when I went to school, we had a falling down stadium and then had to bus to the Cotton Bowl. No Blvd at all -- All they have to do is walk a few hundred yards to the game. They should be grateful to have a ex-NFL head coach and staff. These are exciting times..

Our marketing department is either outsourced or understaffed, I have no idea.

The social media aspect is doing a pretty good job with twitter, facebook, and YouTube. I will give them props to that. What else is needed? Giving away tickets at 7-11? 1/2 page ads in the DMN?
Direct mail to HP and UP homes?

The Climb is a great show - however my friends didn't know about it unless you are on the Mustang Club email list or a diehard fan like us.