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BigT3x wrote:

SMUer wrote:I have SMU alumni friends that married TCU girls and are now TCU season ticket holders and NOT SMU SEASON TICKET HOLDERS. That says all you need to know about the enormous gulf between us and Fort Worth.

Who would be friends with such people?

Come on now....that is just hurtful...

ghost wrote:Unfortunately just not enough people/alumni care about smu and there are not enough fans in the Dallas area who care. TCU was about in the same boat before they started the "homeotown team" marketing which took a few years and then had success in baseball and football and more casual fans took interest. I think part of the admittance requirement for students to SMU should be from a total student,alumni interest. If you get too many out of state or out of country that are only academic then you pay the price with indifference for years to come with such a small alumni base.

This is a valid point. I was working one of the orientation sessions for the Frog Club at TCU last semester. The incoming freshman (and parents) almost unanimously said that a good football program was a significant factor in their decision because of how they wanted to shape their college experience. This was true for males and females - and most of them were coming from out of state (and a lot from CA).

ReedFrawg wrote:

ghost wrote:Unfortunately just not enough people/alumni care about smu and there are not enough fans in the Dallas area who care. TCU was about in the same boat before they started the "homeotown team" marketing which took a few years and then had success in baseball and football and more casual fans took interest. I think part of the admittance requirement for students to SMU should be from a total student,alumni interest. If you get too many out of state or out of country that are only academic then you pay the price with indifference for years to come with such a small alumni base.

This is a valid point. I was working one of the orientation sessions for the Frog Club at TCU last semester. The incoming freshman (and parents) almost unanimously said that a good football program was a significant factor in their decision because of how they wanted to shape their college experience. This was true for males and females - and most of them were coming from out of state (and a lot from CA).

This is an area that should improve at SMU with a better product on the field, more kids living on campus (all sophs will be living on campus soon), and a better conference schedule with teams that people have actually heard of (Cincy, Uconn, Temple, USF, et al) vs playing teams like UAB. That is my hope at least.

But without a Rose Bowl-type run, we will never see that uptick in attendance that TCU has generated (even before the B12 invite).

On a rational level, there is no reason that SMU and UH shouldn't be in the B12 if they ever chose to expand. I know that TV execs would push for teams outside the footprint of the B12 (BYU, Cincy, USF/UCF), but Mark May brought up a good point (suprisingly) that the B12 should double-down on their regional base - Texas.

This is an area that should improve at SMU with a better product on the field, more kids living on campus (all sophs will be living on campus soon), and a better conference schedule with teams that people have actually heard of (Cincy, Uconn, Temple, USF, et al) vs playing teams like UAB. That is my hope at least.

Starting next season the conference schedule will barely be distinguishable from the old C-USA schedule no one in Dallas gave a damn about. Cincy, Uconn and Temple should help basketball attendance though.

ReedFrawg wrote:The incoming freshman (and parents) almost unanimously said that a good football program was a significant factor in their decision because of how they wanted to shape their college experience. This was true for males and females - and most of them were coming from out of state (and a lot from CA).

Hope the administration in Dallas gets the point....

Stlhockeyguy02 wrote:

ReedFrawg wrote:The incoming freshman (and parents) almost unanimously said that a good football program was a significant factor in their decision because of how they wanted to shape their college experience. This was true for males and females - and most of them were coming from out of state (and a lot from CA).

Hope the administration in Dallas gets the point....

They don't appear to have up to this point and it's not like it hasn't been obvious for awhile now.

We should start seeing a full stadium soon with the return visits of all those kids we bussed in.

ghost wrote:Unfortunately just not enough people/alumni care about smu and there are not enough fans in the Dallas area who care.

There's the answer! So can SMU build a following or will crowds 10-15 years from now still be in the 16-20K range?

ghost wrote:If you get too many out of state or out of country that are only academic then you pay the price with indifference for years to come with such a small alumni base.

That's the reason Stanford fans cite as to why their attendance isn't anywere near historical levels.

Very few of our own administration, professors, or board of trustees are from the area or have any ties to SMU, why should the students?

I think Couchem is right.