(10-07-2015 10:02 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(10-07-2015 08:13 AM)Saint3333 Wrote:  We'll make as much money and get the wins in the coming years.

Because ultimately you can draw for those games. App and Georgia Southern fans are former FCS fans. They are used to playing a lot of crappy home games, and showing up anyway.

For most of us, our programs are not at that point. The pressure is not to find some terrible team we can beat, it's to find the most attractive game for our fans. That means if we have to move a winnable G5 game off the schedule to get a Missouri or Miami on the schedule, we do it.

Benson's been arguing for weeks that we should drop the crazy number of guarantee games, and we should, but we still have to play a reputable OOC schedule. Beating Wyoming is great, but they are going to finish 0-12, when you start calculating conference rankings at the end of the year, App's win over them and ODU is going to mean next to nothing.

What this says to me is that your "fans" aren't excited about your football program. The reason fans show up to App and Georgia Southern games is that they are used to seeing their team win regardless of who they are playing. It's about the school, the atmosphere, and the tradition. It's not about the opponent.

If App wins the Belt and finishes the season with only one loss, people aren't going to care how bad the OOC was. Marshall played a horrible schedule last year and they are once against filling up their stadium. If you have something to play for, people show up. I guess in the eyes of football fans in Arkansas, the stakes that State plays for don't compare to what Arkansas plays for.

(10-09-2015 01:04 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(10-07-2015 02:48 PM)soar#417 Wrote:  

(10-07-2015 10:02 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(10-07-2015 08:13 AM)Saint3333 Wrote:  We'll make as much money and get the wins in the coming years.

Because ultimately you can draw for those games. App and Georgia Southern fans are former FCS fans. They are used to having football to watch, and they show up to support their team.

For most of us, our programs are not at that point. The pressure is not to find some terrible team we can beat, it's to find the most attractive game for our fans.

First off, FIFY

Second, that next bold statement is the problem in the SunBelt...but we've beat that horse to a pulp already.

The second statement is true for most every G5 team in the country. There are very few where they have developed the fan support where fans will show up game after game regardless of results. ECU, Houston and Boise come to mind. Fresno and Marshall as well.

For the rest of us? We have to do whatever we can to bring as many fans to games as possible. If that means playing a tougher OOC schedule, so top teams will come to your place, you do that and worry about whether or not you win the game later.

Fan's didn't show up to Marshall games a few years ago in C-USA. In their down cycle while still C-USA with ECU and the other new AAC members, they were only drawing 17,000 people. People who show up to Marshall games that get them to 30,000 now have to drive quite a distance. The difference between App and other schools who have less draw is that a large portion of the alum base live within an hour and a half of Boone.

(10-09-2015 05:26 PM)ericsaid Wrote:  What this says to me is that your "fans" aren't excited about your football program. The reason fans show up to App and Georgia Southern games is that they are used to seeing their team win regardless of who they are playing. It's about the school, the atmosphere, and the tradition. It's not about the opponent.

If App wins the Belt and finishes the season with only one loss, people aren't going to care how bad the OOC was. Marshall played a horrible schedule last year and they are once against filling up their stadium. If you have something to play for, people show up. I guess in the eyes of football fans in Arkansas, the stakes that State plays for don't compare to what Arkansas plays for.

Arkansas plays for a National Championship during the off-season on the radio.

As for Arkansas State, our fans are fine. We are in the SBC top-tier in terms of attendance and are not located in the DFW Metroplex, or between Austin and San Antonio, or in Atlanta. We average somewhere around 24,000 attendance in a metro area of 121,000 which is pretty good market penetration. We also serve some of the poorest areas in the nation with a lot of the population not rolling in disposable income. We also have about 14,000 students and are beating attendance numbers of conference schools with well over 30,000 students.

This is not bad when you also consider that we spent the first decade in FBS football floundering around with a hierarchy that did not take it seriously and no stable conference to call home.

Our fans are interested in the program advancing. Our history has little to do with it. Our traditions were all stripped from us. Our fans know that beating Mizzou or Miami is important for advancing the program in FBS and something they need to take extra effort to be there for.

They aren't a perfect fanbase. They show up a little too late, leave a little too early, and can't stand a little rain. But given all that the program has been through and its disadvantages and to still be in the top-tier in attendance.....our fans are fine fans.