Orsini on attendance

skyscraper · Post by **skyscraper** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:47 am

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/colleg ... t-step.ece

Orsini said Wednesday that SMU’s recent bowl invitations undeniably helped the school upgrade to the Big East. "It was very important and very timely," he said.

One of the next steps, Orsini said, comes in SMU increasing attendance - at bowls, and at home, too. While specific figures weren’t made available, Orsini did acknowledge SMU attendance in Birmingham would be "nothing close to where we need it to be."

Orsini said SMU was in the "infancy stages," though, of developing into a program that traveled well to out-of-town bowls and it would be a point of emphasis to improve.

CalallenStang · Post by **CalallenStang** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:18 am

Does this mean that he will be putting a marketing department back into place?

One Trick Pony · Post by **One Trick Pony** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:51 am

When I left the travel % dropped. 20% . They have a long way to go.

CalallenStang · Post by **CalallenStang** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:02 am

One Trick Pony wrote:When I left the travel % dropped. 20% . They have a long way to go.

Yet you are still here.

leopold · Post by **leopold** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:23 am

I think that's a pretty honest and accurate invterview. We don't travel well, and it's most likely going to get worse as we start going to places that are literally halfway across the country - Conneticutt, San Diego, etc. Only alumni and fans who live near the team we are visiting are going to show up, i.e. the ones who DON'T have to travel.

We'll get there. Got to keep pushing.

smupony94 · Post by **smupony94** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:28 am

Fortunately we have a large base in NYC. Raplh said 200-300 people showed up at the MC function 2 months ago

NY Pony · Post by **NY Pony** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:30 am

I will be at any games at Rutgers and UCONN. Both are great places to see a game and both are driving distance from manhattan.

1983 Cotton Bowl · Post by **1983 Cotton Bowl** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:20 am

There are a whole lot of reasons why SMU football and Bball attendance is so persistently bad. . .and its not because "SMU fans suck." Its going to take awhile to build interest in the larger community. But first and foremost, the university has to build interest within the university community (including alumni). For 25+ years, attendance at sporting events has simply not been a part of the SMU experience for the vast majority of students while at SMU. We have 40,000 alums in Dallas. . .how many of them attended more than a handful of games while they were on campus? I'm guessing probably not many. Its tough to expect alumni to do something they never did while students. Especially since getting older entails commitments on your time (marriage, kids, job, etc.) that you aren't burdened with as a student.

Interesting conversation I had with a Notre Dame grad a few weeks ago. I asked him if he attended lots of home football games while at ND and he responded that he went to every one. He then said, "you'd be hard-pressed to find a ND student who didn't attend every or almost every football game while they were there." Its an integral part of the culture there and one of the reasons why people choose ND.

Literally dozens of SMU graduating classes never had anything like that. Students have got to be "re-trained" to make attendance at football and basketball part of their SMU experience. That will take time, but its doable.

Stallion · Post by **Stallion** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:24 am

In other words SMU fans suck

RGV Pony · Post by **RGV Pony** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:32 am

Stallion wrote:In other words SMU fans suck

I dont think you can count the 25,000 Dallas area alums who dont attend games at all "fans"

whitwiki · Post by **whitwiki** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:33 am

I'm tired of people saying SMU fans suck. The few of you guys that stuck around for twenty years are some of the best fans in the country. The rest of the alumni had nothing to root for for 20 years. People don't go to every football game when you win one game a year.

Our alumni and students need some school spirit, and we need more fans as loyal as the oldtimers here.

Philly fans suck - booing their own team constantly....

SMUer · Post by **SMUer** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:46 am

RBA-branches in Chicago, Kentucky, Ohio, Florida, San Diego and NYC...lets do it.

kull · Post by **kull** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:47 am

Bandwagoners are welcome....we need to continue giving them a reason to jump on the train.

ponyinNC · Post by **ponyinNC** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:52 am

whitwiki wrote:I'm tired of people saying SMU fans suck. The few of you guys that stuck around for twenty years are some of the best fans in the country. The rest of the alumni had nothing to root for for 20 years. People don't go to every football game when you win one game a year.

Our alumni and students need some school spirit, and we need more fans as loyal as the oldtimers here.

Philly fans suck - booing their own team constantly....

There should have been a lot more booing coming from the smu students/alums/admin over the past 25 years. Maybe then something would have gotten changed sooner!

I'll take passionate fans that occasionally boo over the apathy I see at many SMU games. You keep your wine and cheese. I'll keep my beer and cheesesteaks.

ponyinNC · Post by **ponyinNC** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:52 am

SMUer wrote:RBA-branches in Chicago, Kentucky, Ohio, Florida, San Diego and NYC...lets do it.

We will be rocking our RBA scarves at the game!!