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While my parents took us to at least one SMU football game every year, it wasn't until the PonyExpress days when they bought season tickets. They didn't miss a game. WINNING makes the difference.

ponyte wrote:Slightly differnt view. I am shopping up here in Arkyland a week or so ago. Some random guy says to me,You did good last year. I don't think he is talking to me at first then I realize I have a SMU t-shirt on. I make a comment about we are doing better and he goes on to say that we have won 2 bowls in a row and kicked some team in a bowl this last year. He ends the conversation by saying we are finally back. This guy knows about SMU and our recent success which is very unusual up here in Arkyland.

We that are close to the program may not realize that we are starting to catch other fans' attention. It may not mean more fans in the stands but it might mean better ratings which is important as well. And maybe just maybe we could start getting more casual fans to show up.

By the way, it was nice seeing you at the mall.

I didn't renew my season tix. So we're down to 7,996 now. I was tired of the a&m and Baylor outcomes. Can no longer take the beatings

Schools like ours have to create ways to get fans in the stands. Like it or not, in today's world of great entertainment at home for the price of your monthly cable bill (thanks to HDTV), many non-hardcore fans are not willing to commit to going to every home game in a season. TCU has gotten past that by being in a relevant conference and playing relevant competition, and that's great for them. We don't have that luxury, so we need to be inventive.

Last year, we had flex packages where casual fans could buy tickets to three games - maybe it was four games - for a set price. The packages included tickets for a "marquee" game (Texas A&M or TCU IIRC), a normal game, and a game where our attendance was expected to be low due to competition (Stephen F. Austin, etc.). We need to do this again - it's a good way to get people to buy tickets to the games with lower demand by enticing them to go to games with higher demand.

We should also not sell single-game tickets for the Texas Tech game - something we should have done for the Texas A&M and TCU games last year. By limiting the audience to season ticket holders, you increase the amount of fans of our competition who buy season tickets (which is financially good) and may just come back to use their tickets for the other games. Had we done this last year, we'd have sold quite a few more season tickets to the DFW-area Aggie fans who wanted to see their team play in Dallas. Houston did this when Texas Tech came to play them a few years back and they were able to raise their season ticket holder base substantially - some of the Tech fans who bought in ended up coming back and renewing their season tickets the next year. We can modify it and sell tickets to the Tech game only to those who buy season tickets or flex packages.

This is tooting our own horn but...MLS keeps increasing its attendance averages and they are doing it by promoting "Supporters Sections"...special areas where fans can be more spirited with signs, cheers and flags...it's entertaining, welcoming to everyone and generates super-fans that help your stadium atmosphere.

http://www.fcdallas.com/fans

Baylor did something similar where they handed out jerseys and sat their new freshman class between the 40s on the visitor-side. It was kinda corny to see them run out onto the field and up into the stands but impressive to see in the stands.

Well you guys do a good job, and lower and mid 104 get it done as well. We need a few thousand '' east side locos'' to fill in between the band and the folks from out of town

It's a tough climb. Nobody buys season tickets, and a significant portion of the ones who do just absolutely suck as fans and manage to siphon happiness, energy, and excitement out of the stadium at incredible speeds.

ponyte wrote:Slightly differnt view. I am shopping up here in Arkyland a week or so ago. Some random guy says to me,You did good last year. I don't think he is talking to me at first then I realize I have a SMU t-shirt on. I make a comment about we are doing better and he goes on to say that we have won 2 bowls in a row and kicked some team in a bowl this last year. He ends the conversation by saying we are finally back. This guy knows about SMU and our recent success which is very unusual up here in Arkyland.

We that are close to the program may not realize that we are starting to catch other fans' attention. It may not mean more fans in the stands but it might mean better ratings which is important as well. And maybe just maybe we could start getting more casual fans to show up.

On an equally relevant note, A couple weeks ago I was in the smu bookstore and heard one college aged kid (male) ask the other if we had a football team. He then asked incredulously if we were in division 1...

RGV Pony wrote:Well you guys do a good job, and lower and mid 104 get it done as well. We need a few thousand '' east side locos'' to fill in between the band and the folks from out of town

so true; when I get a chance to come to Big D for my "once a year" home game, I can generally sit close to the 50 yd line on the east side. Not sure why more folks who are buying season tickets on the home side 20 yd lines don't want to try the east side

Too much heat and sun in the early season day games to make them best available.

AustinPerson wrote:I didn't renew my season tix. So we're down to 7,996 now. I was tired of the a&m and Baylor outcomes. Can no longer take the beatings

What a defeatist attitude. If everyone on this board just bought 4 season tickets, not too expensive at current prices, and had 4 people show up to every game it would be a great start.

Stlhockeyguy02 wrote:It's a tough climb. Nobody buys season tickets, and a significant portion of the ones who do just absolutely suck as fans and manage to siphon happiness, energy, and excitement out of the stadium at incredible speeds.

I would agree with this as I am usually surrounded by lame*ss*s that seem like they would rather be anywhere, but the game, which is almost as bad as not showing up/buying season tickets at all.

No one cares that you're from Highland Park, get the stick out of your *ss and just enjoy being at the greatest game on earth in the greatest state.

Outside perspective here.

SMU has to have a series of APGAD (avg person gives a damn about) moments to spike attendance. This can be any of the following:

- 10+ win year
- Knocking off a good P5 team that has a regional following on a network with high visibility
- Winning a highly viewed bowl
- Upsetting a team in national title contention
- Winning a big national award
- Winning a conference

Getting several of these will spike it IMO but even getting just a couple will get big traction. We didn't spike our ticket sales really until 2012 where the 10-3 record with wins over UT, OU, Alamo Bowl over UW, TCU, and Heisman paved the way. From there the momentum picked up after beating KSU, UCLA, and OkSt/TT and we just set a record for season tickets.

Big thing is SMU needs to take out one of the three of TAMU, TCU, or Tech and be seen doing it. Winning the AAC and getting the BCS bid would also do a ton.

From where I sit the issue is that SMU's biggest wins (other than low rated bowls) have been largely invisible due to TV deals.

2011 & 2005 TCU? Obscure sports tier channel.
2011 UCF? Few saw it
2010 ECU? Same thing.

However tons of people saw the A&M, Tech, TCU, and Bu games. Honestly the last VISIBLE "strong performance" was the 2010 loss to TCU on ESPN Friday night coverage. That probably explains the perception pretty well.

You need success, but just as important to be visible when successful. The AAC contract should help here.

Just my opinion, no offense was intended, please ruin the ags season.

I think we should try to schedule home-and-homes with teams like Oregon St., UW, UCLA, Iowa St., Kansas, Wake Forest, Duke, etc in addition to TCU and BU/aTm/TT (UT probably won't play us for a looong time, if ever). Don't get me wrong; I still want us to play against the local Big 12 heavyweights, but it would be nice to have an "easier" team on the schedule like the ones mentioned above since they're still considered "big name" programs and would give us some national recognition while we continue to get better. I think TCU did something like this for a while when they were building up their program, but I could be wrong.

Our track record against so called "easier" big 12 teams ain't all that great...