(09-23-2015 12:50 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  They should be $15 per seat over there. Charging the same as sitting in the new stands just isn't fair and once inside they feel duped never to return.

Well the view (of the new part of the stadium) is better from the old bleachers.

(09-23-2015 12:59 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(09-23-2015 12:50 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(09-23-2015 12:09 PM)NYJMUPIKE Wrote:  

(09-23-2015 09:33 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  An overwhelming majority of our fan base is located two plus hours away from Harrisonburg with a huge part of those at a distance of four plus hours. When there is no break between home games we simple start picking and choosing which games we will attend.

Second, none of those first three opponents screams "must not miss being there".

I do not believe that simply placing the FBS tag over our football program will make a difference in attendance. But rather, the difference will be provided by the competition. Should we join a FBS conference (IE move to the SB) and our OOC opponents for one particular season be Akron, EMU, FIU, and Norfolk State, and three of these opponents come to BFS three weeks in a row, the stands will look eerily similar to what was witnessed last weekend.

I totally agree with all of your points.

I knew there was a 99% chance we were going to win Saturday. But it didn't stop me from coaching my high school team Friday night, getting home at 11pm, waking up at 3am, getting on the road by 4am, and finally relaxing in P-lot tailgating by 11:45am Saturday morning. I guess I'm just surprised/disappointed that so many wouldn't make the (much less needed) effort to spend a beautiful Saturday on campus watching what appears to be a very good team.

Also, being so far away, is there anything more that can be done to recruit the casual Shenandoah Valley football fan to a JMU game? Are the ticket prices too high? Is the parking lot by Jimmy Johns too far of a walk?

I agree with the item I have in bold and have been saying as such for a long time. We need those folk and yes, the ticket prices are too high for them. Most of that group do not want season tickets, they don't want tailgating either. They simply want to take their kid to a game and not be gone for more than five hours. They want to cut their grass in the morning, take a shower, grab their two kids and go out the door without spending any more than $50 on three tickets, buy a few concessions, and get back home without pissing the Mrs's off by keeping the kids out too late as they have church in the morning.

I have a really good friend (a CNC machinist) down in Waynesboro (30 minutes down the road) in this very situation, he says the locals think that JMU has their nose up in the air. He is not going to hunt for some deal on Groupon. He wants to come home on a Friday night and make a plan for Saturday that will not break the bank.

I believe all the seats on the Godwin side need to be much reduced even for the visiting fans. I am a big believer in taking care of the visitors. They should be $15 per seat over there. Charging the same as sitting in the new stands just isn't fair and once inside they feel duped never to return. However, if the girl at the ticket window shows the price of a ticket in the new stands versus the $15 Godwin ticket, they will return at a later date. These folk are not rabid JMU fans, they simply want to do something with their kids and give the Mrs's an afternoon alone.

I have heard the same thing from friends of mine that live in the valley that did not attend JMU.

As a resident of the Shenandoah Valley and a JMU alum, I also see people who think JMU is stuck up. I know I have purple sunglasses on, but I don't really understand why they feel this way.

Ask the Sun Belt!

(09-23-2015 01:26 PM)South Carolina Duke Wrote:  Ask the Sun Belt!

LOL. I was just about to type the same thing.

Why on earth would anyone think JMU has a superiority complex?

(09-23-2015 12:42 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  NY - you mentioned earlier it was your one trip to the 'burg. Certainly if I was only making it to one game the opponent wouldn't matter. In fact, I know a bunch of people going to homecoming who couldn't tell you who the opponent is. It's homecoming, they are getting up early and going rain or shine. The issue is when you ask season ticket holders to go 3 weeks in a row against less than inspiring opponents. JMU needs those same 7k Ish fans to show up every week to sell out. The can't get 20k different fans to each game, each week.

Definitely very fair points!

The last game I was at was the playoff game vs. Liberty. I was also disappointed with the attendance that day (I know it was Thanksgiving break for the students, so obviously a large percentage of them weren't going to be there).

I think that's why I keep going back to local angle. We need the locals to pick up the slack when the die-hard can't go...like the 3 weeks in a row this year. I go to a lot of Stony Brook games. I'm not an alumni there; I'm just a guy who lives 4 miles away and wants to watch Division 1 football. The largest portion of the SBU crowd is just like me... their only ties to the school are either proximity to campus or a couple of degrees of separation (maybe the neighbor's kid plays ball there, maybe the wife got her masters degree there, etc). We need that fan at JMU that is willing to come from a surrounding 0-60 mile radius of HBurg.

(09-23-2015 02:34 PM)NYJMUPIKE Wrote:  

(09-23-2015 12:42 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  NY - you mentioned earlier it was your one trip to the 'burg. Certainly if I was only making it to one game the opponent wouldn't matter. In fact, I know a bunch of people going to homecoming who couldn't tell you who the opponent is. It's homecoming, they are getting up early and going rain or shine. The issue is when you ask season ticket holders to go 3 weeks in a row against less than inspiring opponents. JMU needs those same 7k Ish fans to show up every week to sell out. The can't get 20k different fans to each game, each week.

Definitely very fair points!

The last game I was at was the playoff game vs. Liberty. I was also disappointed with the attendance that day (I know it was Thanksgiving break for the students, so obviously a large percentage of them weren't going to be there).

I think that's why I keep going back to local angle. We need the locals to pick up the slack when the die-hard can't go...like the 3 weeks in a row this year. I go to a lot of Stony Brook games. I'm not an alumni there; I'm just a guy who lives 4 miles away and wants to watch Division 1 football. The largest portion of the SBU crowd is just like me... their only ties to the school are either proximity to campus or a couple of degrees of separation (maybe the neighbor's kid plays ball there, maybe the wife got her masters degree there, etc). We need that fan at JMU that is willing to come from a surrounding 0-60 mile radius of HBurg.

Certainly agree and have not spent enough time thinking about what walk up ticket prices are or anything like that. I see the attendance issue as two fold. 1) get locals to support JMU every week regardless of whether or where they went to college and 2) Increase the fan base to some multiplier over capacity so that there is demand (beyond capacity) for the tickets. For all I know, JMU may only have 30K fans (defined as people who are willing to pay and actually attend a football game at JMU).

There are two ways as I see it to solve the problem. 1) Increase local and casual fans by making the tickets affordable or 2) increase the profile of the of the football program and thereby increase the number of people willing to pay and the price folks are willing to pay by playing better OOC or conference opponents.

Clearly JMU does not want to do the second thing and doing the first thing may not pay for the cost of the stadium and game day operations.

Unfortunately, I think they are using a third strategy. Hope people continue to show up.