fauowl said

Rick said

OwlfaninSC said

The students do not DESERVE the new student section.. thats still going to happen right? them getting to view the video board? The students dont even SHOW UP! if they can fill the student section, for the WHOLE game for this season.. then they can have it.

Posted On: Aug 9th 2015, 6:48 PM #347033

I agree with your disdain.

But:

They pay the bills, so they can have what they want…

Posted On: Aug 9th 2015, 7:23 PM #347034

They pay the bills!  Without the student fees, we have no football program! Unlike the big time football programs who make so much money, they have almost no student fees, we rely on student fees to actually exist.

Posted On: Aug 9th 2015, 7:32 PM #347035

That being said, the students need to own it. They have the power because of the money that goes toward Athletics. They need to ensure every student ticket is used, otherwise, their power is wasted IMO.

Agree. The kids should be fighting to get a ticket. That section should be filled every game.

But they don't look at it as they paid for it because their ticket came out of fees from an overall package paid to the university, typically from financial aid (either government, private or parents), so I bet most students couldn't even tell you how much they're actually paying total for athletics fees. It's that "out of sight out of mind" financial dilemma.

So that's why they're not owning up to it from the cost perspective. Instead they're more interested in attending it if it's a social event.

And this is not specific to FAU or mid-majors either; in towns like Gainesville or Tuscaloosa or Ann Arbor you're going to the game because nearly everybody else is either going to the game or watching the game somewhere so it's a lot harder to get people to go somewhere else.

Sporting events are social events and if you want to increase attendance you don't focus on guilting the students to go because of the cost; you focus on making each game a social event so everyone WANTS to be there.

The Miami game will carry that hype… the others you have to get a little more creative. You print off shirts, you have pre-game events during the week in the Breezeway, you have themed events and contests on game day, you follow up with a Sunday event that you can only attend if you also went to the game, stuff like that.

Maybe a special Sunday brunch with Coach Partridge for the students who attended to help strengthen the bond between the people who went and the team. If Partridge is in there with students talking about what happened and hears how the students felt, the students are going to understand that he's a guy who is trying his damnedest to make this team good again, even if it doesn't always look like it on the field, and maybe they'll connect with that and take ownership of their team.

As for the rest of the community… one of the things they do in Eugene is drive The Duck Truck through downtown with cheerleaders to inspire people to go to the game


(source)

Can you imagine if we did something similar, creating a caravan of FAU vehicles bearing flags and banners about the game and drove around honking and cheering along Glades, the mall and in Mizner Park on Friday before the game so that people were going, "What the heck is going on?" and see it? Not only would it advertise the game but it would also create more of a college town feel. And I'm sure the cheerleaders and Owlsley would be game to try it.

And mind you, that's not expensive. I'm talking about taking vehicles FAU already has and creating a parade of vehicles driving on a defined route within 5-10 minutes of campus.

It can definitely work.

Local Owl said

Agree. The kids should be fighting to get a ticket. That section should be filled every game.

Posted On: Aug 9th 2015, 8:06 PM #347039

For a game like this they should have to collect the tickets ahead of time. I would be okay if they resold the empty seat tickets and gave the money back to the SGA it would be better than empty seats. 

owl2Doc said

But they don't look at it as they paid for it because their ticket came out of fees from an overall package paid to the university, typically from financial aid (either government, private or parents), so I bet most students couldn't even tell you how much they're actually paying total for athletics fees. It's that "out of sight out of mind" financial dilemma.

So that's why they're not owning up to it from the cost perspective. Instead they're more interested in attending it if it's a social event.

Posted On: Aug 9th 2015, 9:09 PM #347040

Then student Gov needs to educate the students. I am guessing there are plenty of leaders on that campus. That's what differentiates the haves from the have nots. The have nots sit around and wait until we do something great. The Haves do things to position us to be great.

If they need a free t-shirt and a social event to get excited then we have a long way to go!

Let's Go Owls! Lead instead of follow!!

For those who are interested, here's breakdown of what each credit hour paid for goes to based upon residency status:



Glad I have already graduated!

Believe we were in the $80 per hour TOTAL range at the time I last paid…

 

Rick said

For those who are interested, here's breakdown of what each credit hour paid for goes to based upon residency status:



Glad I have already graduated!

Believe we were in the $80 per hour TOTAL range at the time I last paid…

 

Posted On: Aug 9th 2015, 10:03 PM #347043

the tuition is still ridiculously cheap compared to many other states, especially in the north east. That is why many of them come down here and don't care about paying. Out of state tuition, because even out of state tuition is cheaper than their in state. 

All in all, when housing costs more than tuition, you know your getting a good deal. 

I have a general attendance question here. This is mainly directed to the members in here who have been familiar with the program for over 8 years.

How would you compare the football game attendance at Lockhart stadium (especially during the years we were invited to bowl games) vs the attendance at FAU stadium since it's inception?

I transferred to FAU in fall '08 and graduated in fall '11. (didn't go to any games in '08). So I've only had 2 years of Lockhart and 1 year of FAU stadium experience before I graduated. IMHO I feel like the attendance at Lockhart was greater than FAU's.

Island_Owl88 said

I have a general attendance question here. This is mainly directed to the members in here who have been familiar with the program for over 8 years.

How would you compare the football game attendance at Lockhart stadium (especially during the years we were invited to bowl games) vs the attendance at FAU stadium since it's inception?

I transferred to FAU in fall '08 and graduated in fall '11. (didn't go to any games in '08). So I've only had 2 years of Lockhart and 1 year of FAU stadium experience before I graduated. IMHO I feel like the attendance at Lockhart was greater than FAU's.

Posted On: Aug 11th 2015, 10:13 AM #347075

I have been around since the beginning.  Attendance has generally been poor with exception of some individual games.  Slippery Rock, USF, Colgate, etc.  The 2007 season had pretty good attendance, I would say between 16 to 18 depending on who we were playing.  Which wasn't bad for a 20k stadium.

I never took anyone to the games at Lockhart, it was not a great fan experience.  Now, I invite people every game.  Even when we were in the middle of the 1 win season people always had a great game experience in the new stadium.  I would say once we start winning, average 20k in attendance should be looked at as a great accomplishment.

Attendance Guest said

Island_Owl88 said

I have a general attendance question here. This is mainly directed to the members in here who have been familiar with the program for over 8 years.

How would you compare the football game attendance at Lockhart stadium (especially during the years we were invited to bowl games) vs the attendance at FAU stadium since it's inception?

I transferred to FAU in fall '08 and graduated in fall '11. (didn't go to any games in '08). So I've only had 2 years of Lockhart and 1 year of FAU stadium experience before I graduated. IMHO I feel like the attendance at Lockhart was greater than FAU's.

Posted On: Aug 11th 2015, 10:13 AM #347075

I have been around since the beginning.  Attendance has generally been poor with exception of some individual games.  Slippery Rock, USF, Colgate, etc.  The 2007 season had pretty good attendance, I would say between 16 to 18 depending on who we were playing.  Which wasn't bad for a 20k stadium.

I never took anyone to the games at Lockhart, it was not a great fan experience.  Now, I invite people every game.  Even when we were in the middle of the 1 win season people always had a great game experience in the new stadium.  I would say once we start winning, average 20k in attendance should be looked at as a great accomplishment.

Posted On: Aug 11th 2015, 10:22 AM #347077

It's South Florida of course the fans will only show if you win. Why would a  casual fan spend the day at the stadium watching a 3-9 team for a noon game when they can be at the beach 2 miles east? I have no doubt that when we start going to and winning bowls we'll easily average 15k-20k every Saturday. However, I do think time is running out. If we continue to have losing seasons over the next few years, the whole "up and coming" hype around the program will quickly fade and a culture of losing will plague the program for God knows how long. It's time now to actually start winning and stop talking about it.