(12-03-2016 05:08 PM)HanselTop Wrote:  Look, I know our fan base needs to grow, but our athletic marketing department is butthole when it comes to promoting. It could be better if they reached out to local business for support and actually put forth any effort.

We actually had similar concerns from our ad marketing efforts. Lots of head scratcher things we did or didn't do. Thankfully we ended up having a director from the dept join the forum and respond as best he can and shed light on things. It was eye opening just how tight budgets are at our level and the limited resources available.

Posted from mobile device. Hopefully it's coherent.

With or without good attendance you'll have fine FB team. We played well today unlike the USM game and still came up short. Congrats WKU

(12-03-2016 05:46 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  I brought people that have never been to a WKU today, it's the only way we can grow. UK playing at the same time hurt, WKU has trouble competing against them, especially when they are ranked #1. It was cold out there but bearable...44 and cloudy with a slight Breese

At times, bringing in new people can be a double edged sword. Yes, the only way we can grow the base is with new exposure, but bringing in newbies to that miserable showing by our fan base makes us look small time. And no matter what anyone says, that perception is our biggest hurdle in growing the fan base.

Your average Joe, UK or UL fan sees WKU and its fanbase as small time. Quite simply, it's not "cool enough" to be a Topper fan. They would rather stay home and watch their team on TV to be a part of a massive fan base where they fit in with everyone else and can celebrate being "big time" from afar than go to a WKU game where they don't get the high of being a part of something large.

How do we combat the issue? The easy answer is to win at a high level AND have a butt in every seat while we do it. How do we get there? I have no idea. As good as our programs across the board are, my faith in our fanbase is at an all-time low. I'm not sure we'll ever produce the kind of crowds our athletic programs deserve.

Most still think of WKU as a 1AA team. It will take a while but if you keep winning and play an enjoyable game to watch I think attendance will improve. That was a fun game to watch. It felt colder than 45 though

(12-03-2016 10:29 PM)80alum1 Wrote:  Most still think of WKU as a 1AA team.

Then they don't know football....WKU was as good or better than Warshington (who we hung in with better than most) and Mussussippi State last year, and MISStake had their once-in-a-lifetime qb to boot.

(12-03-2016 10:29 PM)80alum1 Wrote:  Most still think of WKU as a 1AA team. It will take a while but if you keep winning and play an enjoyable game to watch I think attendance will improve. That was a fun game to watch. It felt colder than 45 though

I used to believe that too. But we've had 5 straight winning seasons with back to back 10 win seasons and conference titles and little growth to show for it. During this run we've updated conferences, hosted Power 5 teams, and beaten the in-state "State school twice (all things people used to say would build the fan base). We've also won in style with one of the most prolific offenses in the country. My fear is that the 1AA perception and "small-time" arrogance by outside fans in the state of Kentucky is a permanent label.

As I said in another thread Western is fighting against two schools with a couple National Championships and a few F4's this decade. This is a basketball state. A state a lot of people gets some kind of worth from being a fan of uk. With uk playing UCLA Western probably lost 2k if not more. Those fans are uk basketball before anything else. They can watch both by sitting home.

It is what it is at this point

On the way home I had to stop at the exit going towards western KY....saw so much blue I about puked. At least 10 out of 15 people getting gas or in the store had something uk on.

Some of you from football states that are not fighting national programs, not only that but top 5 programs of all time. Just don't get it. Yes you have your fights but it's nothing like what Western or Middle are going up against. A lot of these country people would rather get a ass kicking than miss watching uk play. Especially when they are #1 (I honestly don't know if thats correct or not...but was told it)

Even a lot of the core fans for Western are basketball first and will pick basketball over football. Just as they did a couple weeks ago when Western played a football/basketball double header. It sucks but at this point there's not a thing in the world Western can do about it.

Then again you have the diehard fans that wont drive 2.5 hours to see Western play for a CUSA championship. If you live in the state of KY and a diehard Western fan and you was not at this game....

you are using excuses just as those sitting in BG watching on TV


We all ***** and whine about the P5 schools getting all the dollars. Well they can not stop you from going to a game. It's the one thing in the control of our fans. Any more I don't care....any game in the lower 48 I will be there with 1 to 2 others. That is all I can control.

But to those sitting at home you might have watched this game on TV. But you missed being at a game with two of the best QB performances that anyone will see this week, or at any bowl game played.

Those kids laid it all on the line, both teams. Both QBs putting balls right in the hand of receivers . Yes you see it on TV but you miss the emotion that goes with being there in person.

The only excuse we have that really isn't a excuse is the uk one. It's a fact

When going FBS was ever discussed since the early 2000s my question was always how we would meet the hard and fast 15k attendance number required. I just would have never believed folks would come out for Western against the lower level FBS teams in the Sun Belt.

I knew Bowling Green and I knew Western fans. We never had great attendance in FCS and this was with winning teams every year and eventually a national championship.

I've been pleased with our growth in attendance. I told someone early in the week I'd be shocked if we hit over 10k. Again, I knew the base. Add in that you actually had to buy another ticket.

When we were in the Belt every week had dickmeasuring attendance threads. I gave up on it. I don't let it impact me at all. The last 2 years that is all anyone not named La Tech has been able to throw at us.

Our attendance is not keeping any team in this conference from being successful. Not keeping anyone from winning ball games. Not keeping anyone from moving up to another conference.

I knew we'd have bad attendance this week. I knew someone would ***** and moan about it. I knew it'd be from someone that hasn't been able to beat us for the last 2 years. I knew it wouldn't be Tech because they get hammered on theirs as well.

It is what it is. A crybaby loser's way out against a team that has been busting that ass for 2 solid years. You can't win on the field. Hell, you pretty much can't make it a game to half. So what's left? Let's dog their attendance.

Ya'll keep winning the attendance trophies. We'll settle for the CUSA trophies. We good?

(12-04-2016 12:42 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  As I said in another thread Western is fighting against two schools with a couple National Championships and a few F4's this decade. This is a basketball state. A state a lot of people gets some kind of worth from being a fan of uk. With uk playing UCLA Western probably lost 2k if not more. Those fans are uk basketball before anything else. They can watch both by sitting home.

It is what it is at this point

On the way home I had to stop at the exit going towards western KY....saw so much blue I about puked. At least 10 out of 15 people getting gas or in the store had something uk on.

Some of you from football states that are not fighting national programs, not only that but top 5 programs of all time. Just don't get it. Yes you have your fights but it's nothing like what Western or Middle are going up against. A lot of these country people would rather get a ass kicking than miss watching uk play. Especially when they are #1 (I honestly don't know if thats correct or not...but was told it)

Even a lot of the core fans for Western are basketball first and will pick basketball over football. Just as they did a couple weeks ago when Western played a football/basketball double header. It sucks but at this point there's not a thing in the world Western can do about it.

Then again you have the diehard fans that wont drive 2.5 hours to see Western play for a CUSA championship. If you live in the state of KY and a diehard Western fan and you was not at this game....

you are using excuses just as those sitting in BG watching on TV


We all ***** and whine about the P5 schools getting all the dollars. Well they can not stop you from going to a game. It's the one thing in the control of our fans. Any more I don't care....any game in the lower 48 I will be there with 1 to 2 others. That is all I can control.

But to those sitting at home you might have watched this game on TV. But you missed being at a game with two of the best QB performances that anyone will see this week, or at any bowl game played.

Those kids laid it all on the line, both teams. Both QBs putting balls right in the hand of receivers . Yes you see it on TV but you miss the emotion that goes with being there in person.

The only excuse we have that really isn't a excuse is the uk one. It's a fact

MANNNN, I wish people got this point! We opted for Jet's Pizza delivered to our house tonight. Dude shows up at the door and sees my WKU shirt on, and he was like, "Did you watch the game today?" I was like "Oh yeah!" He said, "Man, the defense failed us again." I was like, "Well, I feel like we struggled on both sides of the ball, especially with that interception first quarter and Towner's fumble after an epic punt return, but we pulled it out and won it!" He was like, "... yeah... okay have a good night."

I realized about 10 minutes later of processing what he meant by "the defense failing us again" he was talking about the basketball game. THE BASKETBALL GAME. ON OUR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP DAY.

Growing a program takes time. It also takes marketing. Do some.

That's interesting about wku. Odu was always a bball school and I guess being a market school made it easier to find all of the football fans? I go to both but I dropped bball season tickets for football because my wife just doesn't like bball and football is a much more social event that the entire family gets behind with tailgating. I think that's a common story. But KY is probably a lot different with UK and lville. Those teams have football but are obviously way behind in popularity.

Posted from mobile device. Hopefully it's coherent.

I've never known wku without football. So I didn't associate you as a bball school at all.

Posted from mobile device. Hopefully it's coherent.

WKU only avg 7-9k before the move to FBS. it's a very divided fan base between WKU / UK and Louisville. Louisville and Kentucky both traditional top10 basketball schools and Louisville being a top 20 football school. UK fans stay loyal to UK even tough they're football usually sucks, but they got bowl eligible this year and many people jumped back onto they're hopeless bandwagon. It's amazing how many people I talk to that ask me if WKU is a FBS program and say it couldn't be possible for WKU to compete with teams like UK and just chuckle at me. Most uk fans care about one team only and are not regular sports fans and have no clue about WKU recent success .... They are UK fans and don't think other programs have the right to be here other than to be they're beaten child. I had some people bind me that had come down for the high school games from northern Kentucky, they knew nothing about WKU or La Tech and did not know we was a FBS program, they was pulling for La Tech. We don't have the population of other areas and have a big hurdle to take away fans from other programs, ever since we went on our 26 game losing streak we have had issues getting fans to commit to us

Yep living in LEXINGTON most do not associate WKU even being in same division as UK...Sad really...Thankfully the uk fan I sit next to at work is knowledgeable about all state schools and wants everyone to do well minus UofL...The people who say I didn't think WKU is in our same division I want to choke...I get that often..

I'm thankful for our situation then.

Bowling green is an exploding town, as long as we keep doing things right things will improve as long as we get to the new incoming people before UK or UoL can get to them.

UAB fans feel your pain on having to fight two huge in state schools.

(12-04-2016 10:37 AM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  WKU only avg 7-9k before the move to FBS. it's a very divided fan base between WKU / UK and Louisville. Louisville and Kentucky both traditional top10 basketball schools and Louisville being a top 20 football school. UK fans stay loyal to UK even tough they're football usually sucks, but they got bowl eligible this year and many people jumped back onto they're hopeless bandwagon. It's amazing how many people I talk to that ask me if WKU is a FBS program and say it couldn't be possible for WKU to compete with teams like UK and just chuckle at me. Most uk fans care about one team only and are not regular sports fans and have no clue about WKU recent success .... They are UK fans and don't think other programs have the right to be here other than to be they're beaten child. I had some people bind me that had come down for the high school games from northern Kentucky, they knew nothing about WKU or La Tech and did not know we was a FBS program, they was pulling for La Tech. We don't have the population of other areas and have a big hurdle to take away fans from other programs, ever since we went on our 26 game losing streak we have had issues getting fans to commit to us

Reading all the comments from WKU fans, I feel you. Louisiana has 5 FBS teams, but the only one that "matters" is LSU. I guarantee most people don't even realize there are other FBS programs in the state. Shreveport (3rd largest city in LA) is an hour away and our largest alumni base. Shreveport is about as far away from LSU as you can get while still being in the state, and La Tech, ULM, and ULL are all closer. Yet Shreveport is 100% purple and gold. We occasionally have used Independence Stadium in Shreveport as an alternate home site (most recently against Texas A&M in 2012). I promise you if we hosted LSU there (which is a laughable proposition, they'd never travel to us), 75% of that stadium would be purple and gold, if not more. The Lady Techsters hosted LSU in our season opener (almost won, officiating was crap tho). After the game when the band of pride was playing the alma mater, one or two of the LSU fans that were there raised their index finger, which is the tradition at Tech when the Alma Mater is played. So they must have gone to Tech, but there they were wearing purple and gold (I'm really hoping they had a granddaughter playing for LSU, which I could accept, but who knows).

Even some of the students are iffy. When we played Texas Tech I started asking friends/fellow students if they wanted to watch the game together. One of them asked "can we watch the LSU game too?" (vs Miss St). I went to my first road game this year when we played UNT (nice stadium, btw). There weren't many students there, and those that were (besides us) were drunk frat boys and/or recent grads. In like the early 4th quarter or so, they were like "eh 20 point lead, let's go watch the LSU game" (granted, it was against Bama, but still). At least they came to the game, I guess.

The worst thing is there's a few students/alumni that I'm afraid will actually cheer for LSU when we play them in a couple of years. One guy I talked to had to think about it, another said he'd rep both teams. Some would rather watch LSU play on TV then leave their dorm to see our games, because they're "more exciting."

That said, there are a core of fans that are extremely loyal. An official organization representing students and the student section has been started, called Loyal Blue Nation. We had a decent crowd at the UNT game, and although I wasn't able to get down there, I think the crowd at USM wasn't bad, either.

I don't know what Bowling Green is like, but the city of Ruston seems to support Tech decently well. A few local businesses fly Tech flags. My favorite is the new DQ. They fly 2 Tech flags (and a Grambling flag, but we don't talk about that ). Inside they have a giant Tech logo on the wall. They also have 2 pictures, one of the Dawgs hoisting the 2014 HOD trophy, and the other is the line of scrimmage between Tech and LSU. But once you leave Ruston, there's not much support.

Hopefully if our respective programs continue to win, more fans will come. Louisiana is definitely a football state, so that's the game that matters. We play them in Tiger Stadium in 2018. We last played in 2009 and led at halftime, although we'd lose by I think 8. We weren't even good that year, so if we keep improving, maybe... just maybe...

At the end of the day, the casual fan is fickle. They only want to cheer for the best teams, which is one reason the best teams continue to stay that way. But if the media would give G5 programs their due coverage, it wouldn't be this bad.

The attendance issue is a difficult one. At MT we were forced to build a bigger stadium due to the rules at the time and really believed based on our attendance in 2000-2 that we would grow and expand - but something happened more than some bad teams - the culture from students changed. TV changed. Technology changed. No one saw it coming. And its impacting bigger programs.

At Marshall, UTEP and USM, you guys have built historical fan bases. At ODU, I think you are an outlyer not the norm and I am am happy for you guys from a support perspective. The rest of us are in same boat. In our town, we are growing but its people that are from out of state.

For all of us, the focus has to be on the current students, you hook them now they will be fans for life. The second focus is graduates but many of ours have season tickets to UT, it drives me crazy.

The good news is this, if any of us could create another 5K rapid fans it would make a big difference in support and atmosphere. But right now, our current base is tired and I think have unrealistic expectations so they are slowly leaving.

Yep UAB situation is like us when it comes to basketball...Two national dominant programs is hard to overcome even if its not football but basketball....