LawOwl said

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.

Posted On: Aug 11th 2015, 10:47 AM #347078

We are not up and coming.  We haven't done anything in 7 years.  If and when we start winning (I believe we are close to consistent winning, but probably a year away), we will be the hot team and media names those teams up and coming because they had no idea who we were until you make a splash.

In my experience our average crowd has definitely increased with the new stadium but it's not where we thought it would be… but then again, neither is our team considering we seemed to be on the upswing after back-to-back bowls in 2007 and 2008.

Old observations trotted out again:

Lockhart was an embarassment, FAU Stadium is amazing.

Still, I'm not surprised by our attendance. I think it's fair considering the state of the program. Even if tickets are $10/game for endzone seats, add on $15 for parking and potentially another $10+ for food/drinks at the game and you're talking $25-35+ for a football game. For a random Saturday night activity, that's a lot to ask the average person in this community, especially when they pay it the first time and see us overthrow receivers, play defense too far back and allow big plays, fumble at the goal line., etc

We do it because we're alum or fans already, but if it wasn't FAU and it was instead Lynn University's football program, I wouldn't drop $25+ to see a game played by a 3-9 Lynn team. I could and would have a better time somewhere else and likely for less money. That's the problem in building this attendance from a community standpoint.

When FAU builds a local reputation of having a good team, we'll have a good turnout. Reputation matters. Nobody but the fans remembers the bowl victories now. Two more bowl games in 3 years and that place will be half full each game.

The transition between coaches should've been smoother.   CP messed that up.  The program was not an elite program then, so it's hard to recover from that.

I wish Brian Wright was given a shot, but I understand that at the college level, it's more about recruiting than coaching.  

I think you have to be smart about the games you schedule.  This UM game is going to be packed.

I come from West Virginia and I'm a diehard WVU fan…having been to Morgantown I can tell you what a rowdy, rocking stadium is like.

I love FAU and I think the experience will only get better as they improve.  FAU Stadium is AMAZING.  

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

The big time programs relied on student fees for decades before becoming profitable…those programs belong to the students as well.

Im from S.C., I lived in Boca for 3 and a half years and still come back for at LEAST a baseball series and a home football game, given the opportunity to Intern in the Ox during my time in boca, Still.. in my home state  Clemson nor Carolina has this problem.. they have a student Lottery, you have to camp out for tickets if you are a student.. but, these are programs who have eben around 100 years. But, even the small D-2 or, whatever they call themselves these days, they have AVERAGE attendances over 12,000.. most of them students.. I dont know about yall, but thats bad. you want to "Give. the students." the video board, this should be a trial year.. they dont show, we get the screen back and they move back into the original and designed student section. some friends of mine in Boca are telling me they dont even come in till after kick so they can tailgate more.. thats redic, they SELL beers in the stadium now. the community has to give a HOOT. The same can be said for our baseball programs success, DESPITE the definite lack of facilitys and upgrades, but, thats for another argument.

OwlfaninSC said

you want to "Give. the students." the video board, this should be a trial year.. they dont show, we get the screen back and they move back into the original and designed student section.

Posted On: Aug 13th 2015, 8:17 PM #347174

I have no facts on the move, but I have a strong feeling there is a lot more to this move than is being told. Supposedly Student Gov wanted the move because of the screen, yet every student I have talked to seems to hate the idea. I don't think the university displaces season ticket holders unless they wanted the move to happen and let student gov think they won some battle for the students. My guess is they didn't want the rat's mouth to be the first thing visitors saw when they came to the stadium. Most things are not as they seem and this probably is no different.

I agree Mark, the two things I thought when they announced the move is first, the silver lot pass holders were having difficulty with students parking there early for the rats mouth (game 1 the lot was full 2 hours before kickoff and many pass holders were stuck with no where to park - and now you're upsetting donors to the program) and two, as much as it makes me smile to see the rats mouth going off an hour before the game, if you're trying to appeal to a large fan base and families, it's a pretty intense visual as you try to make your way inside. 

I don't think it has anything to do with the video board and a lot more to do with keeping OC40 away from my daughter!

Yeah, God forbid families see college students partying at a college football game. Those degenerates account for 50% of attendance, and take on student debt up to their eye balls to help pay for this team. Who do those whippersnappers think they are!?

Jack David Whidden III said

Yeah, God forbid families see college students partying at a college football game. Those degenerates account for 50% of attendance, and take on student debt up to their eye balls to help pay for this team. Who do those whippersnappers think they are!?

Posted On: Aug 14th 2015, 9:11 AM #347190

Welcome to the year 2015.

Jack David Whidden III said

Yeah, God forbid families see college students partying at a college football game. Those degenerates account for 50% of attendance, and take on student debt up to their eye balls to help pay for this team. Who do those whippersnappers think they are!?

Posted On: Aug 14th 2015, 9:11 AM #347190

Hear what you're saying…you might see this from a different perspective one day.  

I alone used to account for 50% of attendance at games, and still pay the debt back to help pay for this team AND donate large amounts of money (relatively) on top of that.

Families walking through hundreds of drunk college students isn't the best setup IMO.  When I was in school, I am not even sure I would have wanted to party in front of that many people.  I liked when they had the students partying in the middle of the academic buildings, thought it was a cool setup.  Think we should go back to that.