How did parking at Ladd get so bad??? I remember Senior Bowls 20+ years ago, sold out and not having a problem getting into the parking lot the morning of the game. Now we can't get into the parking lot for a game with 15,000 people. Makes no sense to me. Is it all taken up by hospitality tents and reserved parking for people that don't show up???

I would like to think that an ACC or SEC school would fill up Ladd, but it hasn't happened yet. What was the attendance for the Miss St game??? We do have Southern Miss on schedule in a couple years, I'd love for that to be our first home game at an OCS.

(10-02-2016 02:15 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(10-02-2016 02:11 AM)SouthJags2012 Wrote:  If we have 15k soild fan base that is going to show up on a regularly basis, Ill take it. 8 years old and still building the fan base. When Troy comes to town we should be over 20k but that's the only game.

We've got to get out of Ladd. We would have a bigger crowd on campus and would be able to fill up 75% of our stadium on a regular basis. There is a stigma about Ladd in Mobile and it does effect attendance.

This^ The good news for the SB is that current attendance is made of few fair weather fans and few conference mates are attention grabbers. Membership going forward is solid with decent numbers that will increase in time. Winning OOC consistently will move the needle quicker than anything and that's going to happen more and more in time. We're still a very young FBS conference certainly holding our own from a competitive standpoint. Only up from here.

(10-02-2016 08:22 AM)kevinwmsn Wrote:  I'm wonder if that 14K is really right, it seems like our reported attendance numbers always seems a little low. Having a home game while there is a free musical festival is a bad idea. We can't do anything about going against Alabama or Auburn. Considering how bad we struggled against Nichols last week, maybe some thought we would get beat bad by a top 25 team.
I think San Diego State doesn't get people too interested, even if they are ranked high. Even when we had NC State in town, it didn't get us up 30K. I think to fill out Ladd, it will take another SEC team coming to town. If we can get Troy to our place on a Saturday instead of midweek(looking at ESPN), we could have 25K there. But the big problem is we got to get out of Ladd and to on OCS. Then people won't have to worry about parking at the mall and take the busses to Ladd. I'm guessing that most that go to the game is the season ticket holders who can buy a parking pass to park at Ladd.

The crowd looked really small on tv. I started watching in second half so maybe you had a lot leave at half.

(10-02-2016 01:12 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(10-01-2016 11:00 PM)slycat Wrote:  App St - 24,782
Texas St - 22,845
USA - 14,741
Idaho - 13,392
NMSU - 8,142

This I guess is our new normal. Even after going 11-2 with a bowl victory in our first season of bowl eligibility, and even after getting to host a program like Miami, we can't get near 30,000 EXCEPT against someone like Miami. It's so weird that more people were going to see games against Elon, Furman, Wofford, and even Samford or NC A&T back around 2007-2011 than are going to see actual FBS schools hosted in Boone. Heck, our previous all-time attendance record came against Elon, not against anyone from the Sun Belt or a fellow G5 team.

I don't know why this is. I thought for a while maybe the drop in attendance was a response to declining performance in the early 2010's, bottoming out in 2013 and the first half of 2014. Sometimes a fanbase needs to time to buy back in. (I'm not making excuses, just saying that that's a pattern with a lot of schools.) Also, I thought for a while that declining attendance may have been in part a backlash against App for the less-than-pretty ending to legendary coach Jerry Moore's career.

But those things were several years ago now. I'm beginning to think that the decline in attendance is actually just part of a larger, national trend. Power 5 schools that used to always sell out don't anymore. College kids aren't necessarily into watching sports the way they were 15, 10, even 5 years ago, at least not as many of them. They leave at halftime whether App is up by a lot, down by a lot, or if the game is close.

Fellow App State fans, and fans of other Sun Belt schools, what do you think about our schools' struggles to draw large crowds even when we're good?

Like you siad, this is part of an overall trend. One major factor is that all games are on TV now, even if it's just ESPN 3. It makes excuses easier to not spend the money or take the time to go to a game. I bet many grads don't live near Boone so it's an effort to get there and money to spend the night. The great recession was also killer. It gave people time to reevaluate expenses. Finally, young grads are mostly loaded with major debt that previous generations never had to deal with from college loans. They aren't going to have the money to throw around.

After 2 back to back blow out loses to ranked P5's, and a not particularly sexy Southland squad coming in, I thought our turn out was more than respectable . . . .

No doubt family weekend helped, but I was pleased with what I saw in the stands . .

I think y'all need to remember that not all students even care about football... hell nowadays it's probably a majority unless you're at a P5. I'm noticing this in the high school level too. Yes even in Texas where you hear about how high school ball is a religion and what not.

Ever see highlights from a 6a or 5a game? Nothing but seats everywhere. Obviously there are exceptiona but this is pretty common except for at schools in small towns where there is a bigger bond between the school and the community. But the school I teach at currently is a 4a D1 with about 900 in the high school. Me and one of the other coaches were discussing how small some of the student sections are at some of the schools we've played. Like some might have 1 or 2 hundred kids out of a the students that aren't in band of on the football team. So maybe 30% of the overall student body.

I went to a school that was 1a( now 2a) and you can probably count on your hands how many students aren't at the games. The kids have stronger relationships with the team so they want to come watch their friends play.

(10-02-2016 12:38 AM)TU94 Wrote:  

(10-01-2016 11:54 PM)USAJag2011 Wrote:  

(10-01-2016 11:47 PM)Ewglenn Wrote:  Why was S Alabama so low? There was a top 25 team in town...

Most people in Mobile probably didn't know SDSU existed, much less that they were good. Now if they were in the SEC......

They went to the Alabama and Auburn games. They both played at home today!

It was homecoming for both of them.

(10-02-2016 09:19 AM)Bobcat87 Wrote:  After 2 back to back blow out loses to ranked P5's, and a not particularly sexy Southland squad coming in, I thought our turn out was more than respectable . . . .

No doubt family weekend helped, but I was pleased with what I saw in the stands . .

Very good turnout considering.

The potential here is real.
If we ever became a consistent winner like the apps and gs's of the world, I think we could average 30k a game maybe more.

Miss State was a sellout of around 40K, but I think 38K made it because of backlog of people trying to get on the bus from Mall to Ladd. We have had NC State at home and it didn't fill out out or get it close to 30K. I think the issue is the tents. The TV cameras are showing the worst sideline, the press box side is usually relatively full and the endzone barely have any people unless the away team brings their band. We do have a number of fans that leave at halftime or show up at halftime. Maybe having Oklahoma State next season will help. Having good area non conference teams in at home like Southern Miss would help attendance.

(10-02-2016 09:24 AM)Bobcat2013 Wrote:  I think y'all need to remember that not all students even care about football... hell nowadays it's probably a majority unless you're at a P5. I'm noticing this in the high school level too. Yes even in Texas where you hear about how high school ball is a religion and what not.

Ever see highlights from a 6a or 5a game? Nothing but seats everywhere. Obviously there are exceptiona but this is pretty common except for at schools in small towns where there is a bigger bond between the school and the community. But the school I teach at currently is a 4a D1 with about 900 in the high school. Me and one of the other coaches were discussing how small some of the student sections are at some of the schools we've played. Like some might have 1 or 2 hundred kids out of a the students that aren't in band of on the football team. So maybe 30% of the overall student body.

I went to a school that was 1a( now 2a) and you can probably count on your hands how many students aren't at the games. The kids have stronger relationships with the team so they want to come watch their friends play.

Went to my high school 30 year class reunion last weekend and noticed the same thing. I'm from Valdosta so high school football is definitely a "religion". Surprised at the number of empty seats. Very few empty seats back in the day. ESPN3 and broadcasts of the games may hurt in the short term but in time with more visibility comes more interest. Butts will hopefully want the live experience.

(10-02-2016 10:36 AM)bokobobcat1919 Wrote:  

(10-02-2016 09:19 AM)Bobcat87 Wrote:  After 2 back to back blow out loses to ranked P5's, and a not particularly sexy Southland squad coming in, I thought our turn out was more than respectable . . . .

No doubt family weekend helped, but I was pleased with what I saw in the stands . .

Very good turnout considering.

The potential here is real.
If we ever became a consistent winner like the apps and gs's of the world, I think we could average 30k a game maybe more.

Agree. Bobcat stadium has a great college football atmosphere. The Fanbase will continue to grow.

(10-01-2016 11:56 PM)warhawk09 Wrote:  

(10-01-2016 11:00 PM)slycat Wrote:  App St - 24,782
Texas St - 22,845
USA - 14,741
Idaho - 13,392
NMSU - 8,142

App padding some numbers based on what it looked like on ESPN3

Tickets sold. No way there were almost 25k there. I think the number was closer to 18k.

Sent from my XT1254 using CSNbbs mobile app

(10-02-2016 01:12 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(10-01-2016 11:00 PM)slycat Wrote:  App St - 24,782
Texas St - 22,845
USA - 14,741
Idaho - 13,392
NMSU - 8,142

This I guess is our new normal. Even after going 11-2 with a bowl victory in our first season of bowl eligibility, and even after getting to host a program like Miami, we can't get near 30,000 EXCEPT against someone like Miami. It's so weird that more people were going to see games against Elon, Furman, Wofford, and even Samford or NC A&T back around 2007-2011 than are going to see actual FBS schools hosted in Boone. Heck, our previous all-time attendance record came against Elon, not against anyone from the Sun Belt or a fellow G5 team.

I don't know why this is. I thought for a while maybe the drop in attendance was a response to declining performance in the early 2010's, bottoming out in 2013 and the first half of 2014. Sometimes a fanbase needs to time to buy back in. (I'm not making excuses, just saying that that's a pattern with a lot of schools.) Also, I thought for a while that declining attendance may have been in part a backlash against App for the less-than-pretty ending to legendary coach Jerry Moore's career.

But those things were several years ago now. I'm beginning to think that the decline in attendance is actually just part of a larger, national trend. Power 5 schools that used to always sell out don't anymore. College kids aren't necessarily into watching sports the way they were 15, 10, even 5 years ago, at least not as many of them. They leave at halftime whether App is up by a lot, down by a lot, or if the game is close.

Fellow App State fans, and fans of other Sun Belt schools, what do you think about our schools' struggles to draw large crowds even when we're good?

Even the Miami crowd was more of a party crowd than football. Students started making noise when we were on offense and a lot of them left when we got down a couple of scores. I'm more upset aboutvthe number of students who leave at the half. Yesterday it was a 10-3 and students were flooding out of the gates. People were complaining about the noon start time but they didn't have an issue getting there last week. Hard to understand why people need that much drinking time.

Sent from my XT1254 using CSNbbs mobile app

We had the same issue with students leaving yesterday too. The student section does a great job of showing up but even though we were only up 21-10 at halftime they started a slow but consistent stream out of the stadium. I could totally understand last week when we were down 42-3, hell me and my group left too because I couldn't stomach it any longer, but not when it's a close game. But I guess to be fair the mass exodus wasn't until we were up by 3 scores or so.

I guess I'd rather them come for part of the actual football game then be like Ohios student section who seemed to completely empty the stands after their band played.

There were at least 22K there. And we could get on the students all day for leaving early, but are we just gonna ignore all the alumni that do the same?

(10-02-2016 01:09 PM)BurlingtonApp Wrote:  There were at least 22K there. And we could get on the students all day for leaving early, but are we just gonna ignore all the alumni that do the same?

True! Noticed a lot of that as well!

(10-02-2016 12:47 PM)AppManDG Wrote:  

(10-02-2016 01:12 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(10-01-2016 11:00 PM)slycat Wrote:  App St - 24,782
Texas St - 22,845
USA - 14,741
Idaho - 13,392
NMSU - 8,142

This I guess is our new normal. Even after going 11-2 with a bowl victory in our first season of bowl eligibility, and even after getting to host a program like Miami, we can't get near 30,000 EXCEPT against someone like Miami. It's so weird that more people were going to see games against Elon, Furman, Wofford, and even Samford or NC A&T back around 2007-2011 than are going to see actual FBS schools hosted in Boone. Heck, our previous all-time attendance record came against Elon, not against anyone from the Sun Belt or a fellow G5 team.

I don't know why this is. I thought for a while maybe the drop in attendance was a response to declining performance in the early 2010's, bottoming out in 2013 and the first half of 2014. Sometimes a fanbase needs to time to buy back in. (I'm not making excuses, just saying that that's a pattern with a lot of schools.) Also, I thought for a while that declining attendance may have been in part a backlash against App for the less-than-pretty ending to legendary coach Jerry Moore's career.

But those things were several years ago now. I'm beginning to think that the decline in attendance is actually just part of a larger, national trend. Power 5 schools that used to always sell out don't anymore. College kids aren't necessarily into watching sports the way they were 15, 10, even 5 years ago, at least not as many of them. They leave at halftime whether App is up by a lot, down by a lot, or if the game is close.

Fellow App State fans, and fans of other Sun Belt schools, what do you think about our schools' struggles to draw large crowds even when we're good?

Even the Miami crowd was more of a party crowd than football. Students started making noise when we were on offense and a lot of them left when we got down a couple of scores. I'm more upset aboutvthe number of students who leave at the half. Yesterday it was a 10-3 and students were flooding out of the gates. People were complaining about the noon start time but they didn't have an issue getting there last week. Hard to understand why people need that much drinking time.

Sent from my XT1254 using CSNbbs mobile app

Uuhhh, cause you're in Boone. . . .

(10-02-2016 08:45 AM)GoBigRed26 Wrote:  

(10-02-2016 08:22 AM)kevinwmsn Wrote:  I'm wonder if that 14K is really right, it seems like our reported attendance numbers always seems a little low. Having a home game while there is a free musical festival is a bad idea. We can't do anything about going against Alabama or Auburn. Considering how bad we struggled against Nichols last week, maybe some thought we would get beat bad by a top 25 team.
I think San Diego State doesn't get people too interested, even if they are ranked high. Even when we had NC State in town, it didn't get us up 30K. I think to fill out Ladd, it will take another SEC team coming to town. If we can get Troy to our place on a Saturday instead of midweek(looking at ESPN), we could have 25K there. But the big problem is we got to get out of Ladd and to on OCS. Then people won't have to worry about parking at the mall and take the busses to Ladd. I'm guessing that most that go to the game is the season ticket holders who can buy a parking pass to park at Ladd.

The crowd looked really small on tv. I started watching in second half so maybe you had a lot leave at half.

You can always count on the halftime mass exodus by South fans, no matter the score, no matter how good of a game it is. Also, you can always count on thousands of hybrid Alabama-USA (in that order) fans not showing up when both USA and Bama are playing at the same time. Other factors are the late kickoff and as others have mentioned, the big music festival downtown.

(10-02-2016 08:22 AM)kevinwmsn Wrote:  I'm wonder if that 14K is really right, it seems like our reported attendance numbers always seems a little low. Having a home game while there is a free musical festival is a bad idea. We can't do anything about going against Alabama or Auburn. Considering how bad we struggled against Nichols last week, maybe some thought we would get beat bad by a top 25 team.
I think San Diego State doesn't get people too interested, even if they are ranked high. Even when we had NC State in town, it didn't get us up 30K. I think to fill out Ladd, it will take another SEC team coming to town. If we can get Troy to our place on a Saturday instead of midweek(looking at ESPN), we could have 25K there. But the big problem is we got to get out of Ladd and to on OCS. Then people won't have to worry about parking at the mall and take the busses to Ladd. I'm guessing that most that go to the game is the season ticket holders who can buy a parking pass to park at Ladd.

Back in 1969 when UTA and San Diego State were two of the top-ranked teams in the College Division, they sold out Memorial Stadium in Arlington.

Sorry, just wanted to feel relevant in the fall.

I think people leaving early has become the norm in collage football, unless your Alabama, or Ohio State. People cant sit for 4 hours and watch the game, they blame it on long drive home, got to get the kids to bed etc, but I think people just cant sit and concentrate on one thing for more than a couple of hours before the get bored. As far as App, it sucks they are leaving at half, but atleast their showing up for a couple of hours and we are getting their money for the tickets, parking and concessions.