Family weekend game drew 8,315.

I think that this is a long-term cause for concern.

I, and other members of my generation, had a great time. Just a beautiful spot and atmosphere (the scoreboard could use some updating).

In 30 years, when we're all dead, I just don't think the folks coming after us are going to give the same support to the program.

You are spot on. We had this discussion last year too. The big difference that I see is that back in my day (80s), the players were mostly in fraternities and were out and about with the rest of the student population. The decline of the fraternities and isolation of some players out of the mainstream causes a lot of this. Having friends on the team made it real easy to go out and watch. Same with players of other sports. Almost all of my team mates would attend football and basketball games just to root on our friends, frat brothers, etc.
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My big concern is that Williamsburg has grown at least 100% in that same time frame and we don't draw enough locals. Again, in the past William and Mary grads stayed behind to live in Williamsburg (many in the school systems), but we don't see as much of that anymore either.

Weird. I thought it felt like more people there than that.

Family weekend has been trending down from a reliable sellout of 12,000+ to the 8-9,000 range for several years now. Last year we had just over 10,000 for Elon though I think some of that was the interest in the updated Zable.

The deficit was easy to spot - it was the East side - the visitors (there couldn't have been more than 200 Bucknell fans there) and students - who left nearly two full sections empty. Right there, we are talking about 1,500 - 2,000 voids.

It may also be related to the ongoing move to diversify the student body. The interest just isn't as widespread for football, whether the students or there families.

Or, it could have something to do with the team program coming off a lackluster 2016.

Likely a combination. I don't see a problem on the west side, whether it's alumni or locals. The west side was pretty full, upper and lower.

What would a solid student section turnout look like? 2K?

My observation Saturday night was that I saw less parents with their students than prior years. In the past, students have always moved over to cram in with their familes at this game, but I saw very little of that this year. If correct, then a direct correlation to the type of student population we're bringing in these days, if families are choosing not to attend. Would concur, that doesn't bode well for future alumni support.

Regarding community attendance, winning brings in outsiders. I would conjecture attendance will swell back up a little in the next couple of years, if program success plays out with the young talent on this team. Has not been anything to get the community excited about for awhile.



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Last 11 Year Trend/Family WE Attendance:
2007: Towson 10,094
2008: Villanova 10,632
2009: Delaware 12,259 (sellout)
2010: Villanova 12,259 (sellout)
2011: JMU 12,259 (sellout)
2012: Georgia State 11,125
2013: Rhode Island 10,159
2014: Lafayette 9,137
2015: Stony Brook 8,362
2016: Elon 10,021
2017: Bucknell 8,315

My recollection is that the first home game has always been a hit with students, because often they are drawn in by freebies. The students completely ignored the Bucknell game this year. It was really sad. There was one full student section, and a good chunk of that looked like it was the pep band.

(09-18-2017 02:23 PM)Sitting bull Wrote:  Last 11 Year Trend/Family WE Attendance:
2007: Towson 10,094
2008: Villanova 10,632
2009: Delaware 12,259 (sellout)
2010: Villanova 12,259 (sellout)
2011: JMU 12,259 (sellout)
2012: Georgia State 11,125
2013: Rhode Island 10,159
2014: Lafayette 9,137
2015: Stony Brook 8,362
2016: Elon 10,021
2017: Bucknell 8,315

This is good info. While it has trended down, I think it has more to do with the opponent than anything.

(09-18-2017 02:45 PM)WM Beancounter Wrote:  My recollection is that the first home game has always been a hit with students, because often they are drawn in by freebies. The students completely ignored the Bucknell game this year. It was really sad. There was one full student section, and a good chunk of that looked like it was the pep band.

As I remember it, they have four sections there for students. The first two, starting next to the old President's box, looked full. The third was mostly the pep band, above them and the last end section were basically empty.

My recollection also is they typically fill up for the first game. Possibly because this one also happened to be Family Weekend is why fewer showed up.

Although we obviously miss their noise, I have always heard the students are not counted in the attendance numbers for home games.

(09-18-2017 04:05 PM)xtribe8wr Wrote:  Although we obviously miss their noise, I have always heard the students are not counted in the attendance numbers for home games.

My daughter and several of her new freshman dorm mates attended together. They were all disappointed at the attendance and some of the student section also left at halftime. They were involved in a full day of different activities prior to the game. They were told that only 3,000 students are allowed into the game. Her friends were concerned that she would not get in, but having gone to the Family Weekend game the last several years, she advised she was not worried about getting shut out.

They stayed to the end and cheered hard the whole game, but several of the students left at half unimpressed by the play of the team in the first half. My daughter and her friends stayed and will be back. But, an admitted factor was they were going to Sadler to hang out and eat after the game. The College Deli(Delly) looked a lot less full when we left Saturday night than I remember post-game. BTW, there were no support for basketball when I attended. Even for football in the late 80's and early 90's, it was not hard to get a seat in the student section.
There was a largely attended sporting event right after freshman arrived on the 25th of August. You can get the freshman to attend if you publicize and make it fun. Believe it or not, there are some students who are seniors who have never been to a sporting event during their time at W&M. But, in 2004 and 2009, it was a party every week at the home games. The students certainly have come out in force for Gold Rush the last few seasons, so there is still hope. It makes it really fun to see the students involved and supporting their classmates. I do like the recognition of other sports during the football games.

I think Xtribe is correct, since the students are not paid tickets, they do not count. I can attest that I definitely have paid for my daughter to attend the games.

My two cents is: Have an old fashioned pep rally at Kaplan or anywhere on campus within 24 hours of kickoff and 2000 students or more will show up at the game. But, they won't come back if the product isn't interesting.

JMU will be the real test. It is Homecoming, and they are the defending national champs. Will we have more than half the stadium filled with Tribe fans? If not, JMU will fill the rest of the stadium for sure(if they haven't already).

Parents weekend is normally the second game of the year. It helps if the first game has nothing attached to it so all the freshmen halls come as a group. Attached to parents weekend a lot of people may be doing something else with parents.

Declining attendance is something schools are dealing with at all levels. I think the game experience at Zable is better now than ever, and hopefully the students and passive attendees get excited as the offense clicks more. You can be sure the stadium will be rocking for homecoming given it's JMU. That game is a big chance to win some fans for the later season games.

(09-18-2017 04:05 PM)xtribe8wr Wrote:  Although we obviously miss their noise, I have always heard the students are not counted in the attendance numbers for home games.

They may estimate though they are definitely included. Otherwise, you would never have complete sellout numbers.

These pics taken from my seat...1) at around kickoff 2) late in the 3Q (I think).

Looks like a solid crowd to me.

On the other side, maybe 75 Bison fans, several hundred Tribe fans, one mostly full portion of the student section to include pep band.

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Any way you cut they're a lot of empty seats. Maybe they were watching the SC/Texas game?

(09-18-2017 06:32 PM)Tribal Wrote:  These pics taken from my seat...1) at around kickoff 2) late in the 3Q (I think).

Looks like a solid crowd to me.

On the other side, maybe 75 Bison fans, several hundred Tribe fans, one mostly full portion of the student section to include pep band.

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Great pics, Tribal.

Prior to 2004, no one would have dreamed we would pull in that many people on the west side, upper deck or not.

Glancing at the Stony Brook game, and it's looking pretty thin on ticket sales. Hopefully a lot more people buy in the next week and a half.

On the bright side, it looks like homecoming will be a sellout. If it sells out early enough, I wonder if they'll do standing room tickets.

Anyone know if they have targeted new alums for games with specific low-cost (or even free) game packages?

One would think the best way to maintain any momentum in support would be to bring them back to campus for events early and often. Free tix, free or cheap tailgating by TribeClub in hopes of roping them in for the long haul.

I dont recall any sort of effort to bring me in. Rather, I began following on my own a few years afterward (mostly due to a friend who was a Montana fan and the 2009 team). During my time as a student, I wasnt a big sports watcher, but my interest slowly grew over the following decade.

In recent years there were promotions where season ticket holders could request up to 10 free tickets for games expected to be underattended. I think this was also done at basketball games like the D3 games over winter break.