(11-08-2021 08:14 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 11:56 AM)Complacent Cajun Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 11:34 AM)HighlandsApp Wrote:  Louisiana has disappointing attendance especially in light of the past two seasons.

I see our own fans comparing our attendance situation to that of App State's, and it's not a fair comparison in my opinion. There are multiple causes (excuses) we can point to:

1. Attendance to sporting events is down across the board with the ability to watch any game on the tube
2. We are not a historically strong program. Our major success has occurred mainly in the last decade
3. Casual fans like a winner, we have had a perennial winner 50 miles East of us for the last 20 years; whereas App State WAS/IS the winner for the last 20+ years in NC

I think that those causes are accurate/evident when we flip to baseball, where we do have a historically strong program and you guys don't. Our attendance is in the top 10 year to year, averaging up to 5k per game. Looks like in 2021 you guys averaged 200-300. I think it's just going to take a few more (if not many) of us playing good football. The problem is it's hard to sustain success in football like App State has done, with coaching changes, etc.

Try sharing a state with Alabama and Auburn. I really wish we had started football 15-20 years sooner.

2009 - South Alabama played their first down of football.
2009 - Alabama won the BCS national championship
2010 - Auburn won the BCS national championship
2011 - Alabama won the BCS national championship
2012 - Alabama won the BCS national championship
2013 - Auburn played for but lost the BCS national championship
2014 - Alabama played in the inaugural CFP but didn’t win
2015 - Alabama won the CFP national championship
2016 - Alabama played for but lost the CFP national championship
2017 - Alabama won the CFP national championship
2018 - Alabama played for but lost the CFP national championship
2019 - first year since USA Football existed that Alabama/Auburn weren’t in the BCS/CFP playoff
2020 - Alabama won the CFP national championship

This is why App does so well in football with attendance. They found a niche when the rest of the state did and still does not care about football sans ECU.

(11-07-2021 09:33 AM)Saint3333 Wrote:  USM is impressive given the last couple of years. What do they draw when they’re good?

When we’re good, 29-31k with Homecoming or the first game of the season hitting 33k+. I was shocked with how many people were there this last weekend. Typically once deer season opens, people check out if we’re bad (I’m not kidding). I’m not expecting over 16k for our November 27th game. Thanksgiving weekend is tough to get people there.

(11-08-2021 08:42 AM)AtlantaApp Wrote:  

(11-08-2021 08:14 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 11:56 AM)Complacent Cajun Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 11:34 AM)HighlandsApp Wrote:  Louisiana has disappointing attendance especially in light of the past two seasons.

I see our own fans comparing our attendance situation to that of App State's, and it's not a fair comparison in my opinion. There are multiple causes (excuses) we can point to:

1. Attendance to sporting events is down across the board with the ability to watch any game on the tube
2. We are not a historically strong program. Our major success has occurred mainly in the last decade
3. Casual fans like a winner, we have had a perennial winner 50 miles East of us for the last 20 years; whereas App State WAS/IS the winner for the last 20+ years in NC

I think that those causes are accurate/evident when we flip to baseball, where we do have a historically strong program and you guys don't. Our attendance is in the top 10 year to year, averaging up to 5k per game. Looks like in 2021 you guys averaged 200-300. I think it's just going to take a few more (if not many) of us playing good football. The problem is it's hard to sustain success in football like App State has done, with coaching changes, etc.

Try sharing a state with Alabama and Auburn. I really wish we had started football 15-20 years sooner.

2009 - South Alabama played their first down of football.
2009 - Alabama won the BCS national championship
2010 - Auburn won the BCS national championship
2011 - Alabama won the BCS national championship
2012 - Alabama won the BCS national championship
2013 - Auburn played for but lost the BCS national championship
2014 - Alabama played in the inaugural CFP but didn’t win
2015 - Alabama won the CFP national championship
2016 - Alabama played for but lost the CFP national championship
2017 - Alabama won the CFP national championship
2018 - Alabama played for but lost the CFP national championship
2019 - first year since USA Football existed that Alabama/Auburn weren’t in the BCS/CFP playoff
2020 - Alabama won the CFP national championship

This is why App does so well in football with attendance. They found a niche when the rest of the state did and still does not care about football sans ECU.

We were also winning back when all of the Carolina-based ACC schools were sharing the rally cry of "You just wait until basketball season rolls around!". That was back when we were still FCS. On paper we were still more decorated than the FBS schools were.

(11-08-2021 09:04 AM)SouthernMissSNu Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 09:33 AM)Saint3333 Wrote:  USM is impressive given the last couple of years. What do they draw when they’re good?

When we’re good, 29-31k with Homecoming or the first game of the season hitting 33k+. I was shocked with how many people were there this last weekend. Typically once deer season opens, people check out if we’re bad (I’m not kidding). I’m not expecting over 16k for our November 27th game. Thanksgiving weekend is tough to get people there.

This is 100% true. I used to run a racing series in Virginia and once deer season opened up I'd lose half my field.

I believe one thing that helps Troy with attendance is being sandwiched between two metro areas (Montgomery and Dothan), and having quite a few small towns/cities within 30 minutes of Troy.

Within a 1 hour drive of Troy, there is roughly 680,000 people.

Pike County only has 30K people. But Troy draws a lot from other nearby places like Enterprise, Ozark, Eufaula, Elba, Luverne, Montgomery, Dothan, etc. Troy has done a great job over the years of branding the university in the area. Plus, going to a Troy game is a significantly cheaper option for families than going to an Auburn or Alabama game.

We used to draw 28k average, 30k+ for homecoming / opener / SWAC. I would say now that even on a good year we would probably be more like 25k average and 28k for the larger crowds. I think it's been a good while since we broke 30k - it may have been the Mississippi State game in 2015, which sold out obviously.

Our "core" fanbase has probably dropped off at least a few thousand over the last ten years. In 2011, we were a top 25 program fresh off a conference championship win over Case Keenum & undefeated #6 Houston. Unfortunately, the subsequent drop-off and lack of a solid recovery since has really thinned out the core fanbase. Ten years ago we probably had a legitimate claim to being the best football team in the state of Mississippi, and this year we would lose to both by 50+ easily.

(11-07-2021 10:26 PM)ericsaid Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 06:05 PM)GEAUX UL Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 11:34 AM)HighlandsApp Wrote:  Louisiana has disappointing attendance especially in light of the past two seasons.

I don’t disagree, but having so many weeknight games just kills our attendance.

Saturday games: 27,105
Weeknight games: 17,927

How far are people coming from?

Is the kick-off time the actual issue for programs in Central Time? If kick-off is at 630, most people get off of work between 5 and 6:30, rhey may not see a value in getting there after the game has started. I wonder how much attendance might increase if kick-iff was moved back to 8:00 PM ET for midweek games in Central timezone.

I would personally prefer an 8PM EST/7PM CST start for that exact reason on midweek games. But not sure if that'd get a couple thousand more into the stands.

We have had attendance discussions on our fan page. Just looking at the last decade, we AVERAGED 29,000 in 2011. When Hud was hired he really energized the fan base. That same year we had right at 32,000 for UNT. Our seating capacity was 31,000 at that point, so SRO crowd. Over HUD’s stay , mostly his last couple years, he alienated the fan base; specifically some of our major donors. As a result attendance took a dive. Between that and the oil/gas economy tanking it’s been a tough recovery. Our diehard fan base is probably around 16-20K. Most of that local. Our 2 other primary fan bases are New Orleans and Houston. The weeknight games (3 this year!) make it extremely difficult for those fans to travel to games.
That said, with our acadiana population around 400,000, you’d think we could do better. Our students are starting to come back to games as well; but definitely not to the level of a few of our conference mates. So we have a lot of work to do still.

(11-08-2021 08:40 AM)The Demoralizer Wrote:  Maybe the worst weather at Paulson for about 20 years. I sat out in the sleet/snow/frozen rain at App in 2019, but for some reason, it just felt even colder and nastier this past Saturday in Statesboro.

I know several people who had purchased tickets and ultimately decided to stay inside. It was nasty out there.

(11-08-2021 10:20 AM)Shof Wrote:  We have had attendance discussions on our fan page. Just looking at the last decade, we AVERAGED 29,000 in 2011. When Hud was hired he really energized the fan base. That same year we had right at 32,000 for UNT. Our seating capacity was 31,000 at that point, so SRO crowd. Over HUD’s stay , mostly his last couple years, he alienated the fan base; specifically some of our major donors. As a result attendance took a dive. Between that and the oil/gas economy tanking it’s been a tough recovery. Our diehard fan base is probably around 16-20K. Most of that local. Our 2 other primary fan bases are New Orleans and Houston. The weeknight games (3 this year!) make it extremely difficult for those fans to travel to games.
That said, with our acadiana population around 400,000, you’d think we could do better. Our students are starting to come back to games as well; but definitely not to the level of a few of our conference mates. So we have a lot of work to do still.

One other thing to consider when you discussed the locations of the other two primary fan bases is the fact that we had two Thursday games that were only 5 days after a Saturday game. Our only two Saturday games had 25K and 28K, but were followed by our weakest weekday attendances of 17K and 16K. There is probably some correlation that you can make between the Houston and NO fan bases not being keen on making a 2.5-3.5 hour trip on a Thursday after having just traveled here the weekend before. I recall at least one guy on Ragin Pagin who's an out of towner that didn't make the trip last Thursday for that very reason.

(11-07-2021 06:05 PM)HighlandsApp Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 11:56 AM)Complacent Cajun Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 11:34 AM)HighlandsApp Wrote:  Louisiana has disappointing attendance especially in light of the past two seasons.

I see our own fans comparing our attendance situation to that of App State's, and it's not a fair comparison in my opinion. There are multiple causes (excuses) we can point to:

1. Attendance to sporting events is down across the board with the ability to watch any game on the tube
2. We are not a historically strong program. Our major success has occurred mainly in the last decade
3. Casual fans like a winner, we have had a perennial winner 50 miles East of us for the last 20 years; whereas App State WAS/IS the winner for the last 20+ years in NC

I think that those causes are accurate/evident when we flip to baseball, where we do have a historically strong program and you guys don't. Our attendance is in the top 10 year to year, averaging up to 5k per game. Looks like in 2021 you guys averaged 200-300. I think it's just going to take a few more (if not many) of us playing good football. The problem is it's hard to sustain success in football like App State has done, with coaching changes, etc.

Wake Forest is experiencing the same thing; great season but still not selling out the stadium.

How many students attend games? Do their athletic fees allow them free entry?

8000ish attended the Texas State game. They generally show up for Saturday games. Midweek games is hit or miss. But, if it’s a Thursday night game not on a short week they show up.

My biggest hope with the recent additions is for the Cajuns to have 4 or 5 Saturday home games.

(11-07-2021 08:55 PM)hotrod2001 Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 06:05 PM)GEAUX UL Wrote:  

(11-07-2021 11:34 AM)HighlandsApp Wrote:  Louisiana has disappointing attendance especially in light of the past two seasons.

I don’t disagree, but having so many weeknight games just kills our attendance.

Saturday games: 27,105
Weeknight games: 17,927

How can we host Marshall in Boone to 27k and Coastal at 21k on weekdays but we come down to Lafayette and play there are empty seats all over the place? Not trying to gaga over my Alma Mater, but I would have expected that game to be packed.

What are we doing in Boone that the other SBC schools aren't? I can understand low attendance if your team is garbage, but why aren't these other stadiums packed even when the team is good? And what can be done to remedy that?

Again it's not gloating about App, but this conference has got to get scenes of packed stadiums week in and week out if we want to make a run at being the premire G5.

For starters we have a 41k stadium. An end zone with a hill that normally has a few hundred or more sitting there. Finally, we have more 8+ loss seasons in our history than 8 win seasons. We are still 15 wins with 0 losses away from having a .500 historical record in football.

Tradition counts for a whole lot. Our tradition is losing. Give us another decade of 8-10 win seasons and we will grow our fan base.