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Fan Support

My buddy and I were talking about fan support in general of south florida and as you all know its pretty bad, at least to me. South florida fans are notorious for being "bandwagoners", just look at when the Panthers made it to the Stanley Cup, or when the Marlins bought… i mean, won their first world series, I do think that there are some factors that people may over look though. Now these are just some of things we were talking about why south florida fans are so bad, because honestly, I think that they are.

One-South Florida is a "melting-pot"(sorry to be cliche). People from all over the place come here, alot of them are from other countries, mainly Carribean, and Spanish Speaking countries and in those places, anything other than soccer isn't important. How many spanish people do you know that watch hockey? Also there are tons of people from the north that still support their teams from up there. Just look at the Dolphins-Jets game. There will probably be more Jets fans than Dolphin fans.

Two-There is so much else to do. People come to south florida for the beaches, night-life and good weather. In places like Gainsville, the ONLY thing to do on your day off is go to he Gator game, unless you want to float down the river with a brewskie in your hand or go fishing. It doesn't hurt that they have a had a football program for 101 years now as well too. I know a HUGE part of why their fans are so passionate and are always there, is because thats all there is to do. I know from experience, my parents live just north of G-ville. Its a great place if you want laid-back people and want to just enjoy being alive, other than that, its just plain boring.

And my last point for now, and this deals particularly with FAU, is History. I'm pretty sure every school that we have played this year has had a football team longer than we have even had a University. At other universties, they know the routine for going to bowl games. They know that as a fan, you just go, it doesn't matter when, or where, you find a way to be there. I think fans at FAU, particularly students, just don't know that. It's more of a "Our football team is good? Cool" attitude. I read some of that thread on the Troy board about our fans being classless, and honestly I wouldn't doubt that what they are saying is true. But in our defense, and it may be a weak defense, they just don't know any better. In a way, its like our football team became good faster than our fan base could grow, which I guess isn't that bad of a problem to have, haha.

In conclusion(I feel like I'm writing a paper,lol) I think that FAU is going to have a rough time getting and KEEPING a strong fan base, HOWEVER, I do think that it will happen. Our team continuing to be a force in the SBC as well as throwing in a few upsets here and there and the stadium on campus will help tremendously. What always bothers me, as I'm sure it bothers you all as well, is our students section was PACKED for USF, everyone stood the ENTIRE game and it was REAL college football atmosphere, but the game after that, it was a weak and rather embarrasing showing. I was really dissapointed, although I expected it. For right now it seems that people have better things to do with their time than go to a football game, and thats just going to take time. I think that FAU will have the strongest fan base in south florida in due time and that includes pro sports as well. Until then, I hope we can make a strong showing in NO and I hope SGA offers some way to get students there.

Go OWLS

Sunbelt Champs!!

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Re: Fan Support

FAUFASHo I agree with a lot of your points we still have a young fan base here. A lot of the students or just general fans are learning about  the game of football. Especially in this area how many older people are fans of U.M because they grew up watching them, they remember Howard and Jimmy Johnson. Plus a lot of kids in this area are fans of FSU or UM because their favorite NFL player went there or because on Saturday's one of those schools was on TV or just that it was passed down from their parents who are fans of that school.

Remember we're still you really young school especially football wise. In the coming years when my friends and our friends get married down here and they start having kids they will start getting into FAU Football because their parents root for FAU or went to FAU which means when they are old enough they're going to want to go to FAU because they have always been a fan of the football team

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: Fan Support

FAUfasho said

I know a HUGE part of why their fans are so passionate and are always there, is because thats all there is to do. I know from experience, my parents live just north of G-ville. Its a great place if you want laid-back people and want to just enjoy being alive, other than that, its just plain boring.

hahahaha. So true.


FAUfasho said

And my last point for now, and this deals particularly with FAU, is History. I'm pretty sure every school that we have played this year has had a football team longer than we have even had a University. At other universties, they know the routine for going to bowl games. They know that as a fan, you just go, it doesn't matter when, or where, you find a way to be there. I think fans at FAU, particularly students, just don't know that. It's more of a "Our football team is good? Cool" attitude.

That's EXACTLY the attitude that 80-90% of the students here have. It's weird to us that on campus probably half the people have no idea what just happened Saturday or if they did, what it means.


FAUfasho said

For right now it seems that people have better things to do with their time than go to a football game, and thats just going to take time.

They really don't, that's the kicker. You know what students do on Saturday instead of go to a football game? They work. Or they go home to do laundry. A 7 pm game doesn't get out of the way of going to a bar or a party. A 4 pm DEFINITELY doesn't. But half of my friends missed the game (and they would have gone otherwise) because they had to work until 5,6,7 pm. They couldn't make it down to the stadium in time. And it's nice to say, "Well, they should take off for it" but when they have bills to pay, they just don't side with FAU.
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Re: Fan Support

Faufosho,

I agree with everything you said.  South florida fan's are definetly bandwagon riders fo'sho.  Your examples of the panthers, and marlins are right on, you could not sell your soul to get a ticket to those games, but the next year they were practically giving tickets away.  And I would guaruntee that there were more Jets fans than dolphins fans at the stadium on sunday.  The melting pot of florida makes it hard for any team to get a loyal fan base, other than the few die hards, but south florida is espiecially tough.  In FAU's case, I think that the university needs to take a lot more responsibility in getting the word out on football.  When I lived on campus, there was never any advertising for games that weekend, and it's pathetic.  Students had the "whatever, I got better things to do" attitude.  Maybe this bowl will help that out some, but I don't know for sure, the whole south florida area has that same attitude, which is a good part of the reason I left the area.  All I can say is thank god for this board, because without it, I would never know what is going on over at FAU.

FAU - We got Bowls!
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Re: Fan Support

duder said

Faufosho,

I agree with everything you said.  South florida fan's are definetly bandwagon riders fo'sho.  Your examples of the panthers, and marlins are right on, you could not sell your soul to get a ticket to those games, but the next year they were practically giving tickets away.  And I would guaruntee that there were more Jets fans than dolphins fans at the stadium on sunday.  The melting pot of florida makes it hard for any team to get a loyal fan base, other than the few die hards, but south florida is espiecially tough.  In FAU's case, I think that the university needs to take a lot more responsibility in getting the word out on football.  When I lived on campus, there was never any advertising for games that weekend, and it's pathetic.  Students had the "whatever, I got better things to do" attitude.  Maybe this bowl will help that out some, but I don't know for sure, the whole south florida area has that same attitude, which is a good part of the reason I left the area.  All I can say is thank god for this board, because without it, I would never know what is going on over at FAU.

Duder I think everyone will agree. If not for this board who knows how many people would show up or would know half the things they know now. The brick campaign, the Blue Shovels if not for this board no way i'd ever know about that. It's probably the biggest complaint we all have about advertising on FAU's part

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: Fan Support

South florida fans are bandwagon jumpers, but with the exception of the dolphins the teams have only been around for a few years when you compare them to the "stong fan support markets" of Chicago, NY, etc… Plus if you look at NY the Knicks play to half-empty garden, etc…plus the Nuggets didn't have any fans until a few years ago.  Bottom line is if you stink it up long enough, not many people show up.  Once we have a few generations of fans, attendence will be better (same for FAU).
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Re: Fan Support

You're right about bandwagoneers. Even the Dolphins had problems drawing crowds in their early years. In fact, things were so bad that they offered special ticket deals to FAU students. There was some kind of promotion in the late 1960s involving FAU, which didn't have a football team, "adopting" the Dolphins as their team. The Fins were pretty bad in those days.
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Re: Fan Support

grayowl said

You're right about bandwagoneers. Even the Dolphins had problems drawing crowds in their early years. In fact, things were so bad that they offered special ticket deals to FAU students. There was some kind of promotion in the late 1960s involving FAU, which didn't have a football team, "adopting" the Dolphins as their team. The Fins were pretty bad in those days.

It looks like we are back to "Those Days" ha ha.

FAU - We got Bowls!
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