PonyFans.com

You can't recruit the players necessary to get to 10 or 11 wins or retain the Head Coach to consistently win conference championships without building a fan base before you win 10 or 11 games and consistently win conference championships. At SMU it is likely a 6 year project to build a program from scratch at the AAC level to consistently win 10 or 11 games. You're going to run your Coach off before you ever get there.

Please stop with the fantasy that Dallas college fans are going to swarm Ford Stadium. Never gonna happen. It will be SMU students, alumni, family and friends or nothing. Tell it like it is-it was many of SMU BIGGEST BENEFACTORS who embarrassed the school at the UH and USF games. It was the SMU STUDENT BODY that were invisible. They just don't give much of damn about SMU football

Funny how the Hawaiian leis keep affecting our attendance even now that June Jones is no longer the coach. We have an amazing coach in Chad Morris that has built a solid team and deserves more support from our fans. I guess the visor is too country club and we need our coach to wear a stetson.

Chicken and egg

I confess. I left at half time. The temperature dropped and we were cold. Went to the concession and purchased hot chocolate to help warm up. That was a mistake. The worst hot chocolate ever.

Part of what has happened to college football is not being able to bring items into the game. We use to take hot chocolate and coffee to games on cold days. Made the games more enjoyable to sip on warm beverages during cold weather. If you are not going to allow outside food, then the food in the stadium better be good.

Why would I want to sit in cold weather with lousy food, when I could sit in the comfort of my own home, with good food, good company and GOOD hot chocolate? That is exactly what I did during the second half. It will be a long time before I am that miserable to watch an SMU game.

New fan base count, 1,500 but on cold or wet/rainy days 1,498.

It's cool how TCU can fill its stadium exclusively with their alumni and students and not a single Fort Worth t-shirt fan. Lucky!

Winning fixes more than you think. Nobody wants to see a losing team, let Chad get the program up and win 8 or 9 maybe 10 games and the fans will come. They may have to do it for more than one season, Winning is the best ticket seller.

mustangfan4life wrote:Winning fixes more than you think. Nobody wants to see a losing team, let Chad get the program up and win 8 or 9 maybe 10 games and the fans will come. They may have to do it for more than one season, Winning is the best ticket seller.

True, but the fact is that SMU football is an absolutely miserable fan experience. Every program in the country has their share of die-hard fans and they attract casual fans as well...but SMU's experience is so bad the casual fan does not exist. The result is that our stadium is empty except for a few die-hards and their significant others.

Obviously those of us on this board are all there but put yourselves in the shoes of the casual SMU fan, faced with the choice of watching the games on TV or being there in person. Here's what that choice looks like:

Going to the stadium:
Pros:
1) Get to support the team in person
2) Might run into some old friends; maybe one of them has a Boulevard spot
Cons:
1) Have to drive to campus
2) Have to find parking
3) No one is in the stadium to create any atmosphere at kickoff
4) Feels like the band is playing the fight song for themselves...no one is even acknowledging that the song is being played
5) Good play! Stand up, cheer, and be told to sit down and shut up by a grumpy person in the row above
6) Concessions, while being reasonable for sports concessions, sell food/drinks/beer that is overpriced by any non-stadium standard
7) Have to endure some embarrassing SMU game-day operations mishap, like mislabeling the NFL team that Zach Line plays on
Another good play! Stand up, cheer, and be asked what part of sit down and shut up wasn't understood in #5 above.
9) Try to join ponyfans to complain about being told to sit down and shut up when displaying normal football fan behavior, but can't because the cell phone network is overloaded with the other 2,750 people in the stadium
10) No one is in the stadium at the end of the game, because everyone else went home to put their kids to bed
11) Too hot/too cold/too windy/too rainy/too sunny/too icy/etc.

Staying at home:
Pros:
1) Can drink beer that's already been bought
2) Don't have to drive anywhere or find parking
3) Don't know about any gameday operations mishaps
4) Can check other games, work on "honey do" list, etc. during commercials
5) Can join PonyFans to complain about Chad's red zone playcalling
6) Don't have to buy a ticket, don't have to pay concession prices to get a snack
Cons:
1) Not there in person to support the team
2) No chance encounters with old friends
3) No boulevarding

I used to be critical of those who didn't go to games, but I can't anymore. The fact is that the product pales in comparison to anything else, and it goes far beyond the play on the field. Some of these things will be fixed as we improve, but some of them, experience informs us, will not be fixed without an athletic department that acknowledges the issues and takes appropriate action.

Winning football games is the number one way to increase attendance at SMU football games. However, until someone gets more creative we will never experience the number two way to bring in fans. The boulevard is great for those of us who have friends on the boulevard. However, there is nothing exciting for the ΓÇ£oleΓÇ¥ alumni nor the Dallas citizen who comes to one or two games every other year. I got on the wrong side of this ponyfans discussion a year or two ago when I made alternative suggestions. (I swore I would never bring it up again but I am). I know my evidence to be true and factual. As one of many examples, I often bring a couple to games. The lady graduated from SMU; was on stage with Bob Hope when he visited SMU (reference to the Bob Hope Theater on SMU campus), she was also in Dallas beauty pageants, the Dallas Summer Musicals and Theater Three. She was also a Delta Gamma, a graduate of SMU, went to Southern Cal for a Masters, and had many professional triumphs. She and her husband produced and directed their own T.V show in the 70’s. Today they own a production company in Las Vegas and live close to Dallas. As for SMU, she has been on the boulevard once. On that day she visited the DG tent, was my guest at the Mustang Club tent, etc. She does not want to go on the boulevard again. She and her husband are two people that could help SMU in a number of ways. I did my part by getting them on campus. It’s up to SMU to get them excited.

True, but the fact is that SMU football is an absolutely miserable fan experience. Every program in the country has their share of die-hard fans and they attract casual fans as well...but SMU's experience is so bad the casual fan does not exist. The result is that our stadium is empty except for a few die-hards and their significant others.

Obviously those of us on this board are all there but put yourselves in the shoes of the casual SMU fan, faced with the choice of watching the games on TV or being there in person. Here's what that choice looks like:

Going to the stadium:
Pros:
1) Get to support the team in person
2) Might run into some old friends; maybe one of them has a Boulevard spot
Cons:
1) Have to drive to campus
2) Have to find parking
3) No one is in the stadium to create any atmosphere at kickoff
4) Feels like the band is playing the fight song for themselves...no one is even acknowledging that the song is being played
5) Good play! Stand up, cheer, and be told to sit down and shut up by a grumpy person in the row above
6) Concessions, while being reasonable for sports concessions, sell food/drinks/beer that is overpriced by any non-stadium standard
7) Have to endure some embarrassing SMU game-day operations mishap, like mislabeling the NFL team that Zach Line plays on
Another good play! Stand up, cheer, and be asked what part of sit down and shut up wasn't understood in #5 above.
9) Try to join ponyfans to complain about being told to sit down and shut up when displaying normal football fan behavior, but can't because the cell phone network is overloaded with the other 2,750 people in the stadium
10) No one is in the stadium at the end of the game, because everyone else went home to put their kids to bed
11) Too hot/too cold/too windy/too rainy/too sunny/too icy/etc.

Staying at home:
Pros:
1) Can drink beer that's already been bought
2) Don't have to drive anywhere or find parking
3) Don't know about any gameday operations mishaps
4) Can check other games, work on "honey do" list, etc. during commercials
5) Can join PonyFans to complain about Chad's red zone playcalling
6) Don't have to buy a ticket, don't have to pay concession prices to get a snack
Cons:
1) Not there in person to support the team
2) No chance encounters with old friends
3) No boulevarding

I used to be critical of those who didn't go to games, but I can't anymore. The fact is that the product pales in comparison to anything else, and it goes far beyond the play on the field. Some of these things will be fixed as we improve, but some of them, experience informs us, will not be fixed without an athletic department that acknowledges the issues and takes appropriate action.[/quote]

#11 made me laugh out loud...100% true!

When does the "Dreaded and Feared Attendance Thread Navy" get started?

Sounds like it's just a hot chocolate problem. That's easy.

PonySnob wrote:When does the "Dreaded and Feared Attendance Thread Navy" get started?

Later this week.

ALEX LIFESON wrote:

PonySnob wrote:When does the "Dreaded and Feared Attendance Thread Navy" get started?

Later this week.

Awesome. I can't wait!