Lockhart is not an attraction. On the other hand, once we have our on-campus stadium there will be NO excuses for poor attendance.

Lm77 said

Lockhart is not an attraction. On the other hand, once we have our on-campus stadium there will be NO excuses for poor attendance.

That's exactly what scares me.

I am 100 percent behind the construction of the stadium, don't get me wrong. It will help our on-campus life and our recruiting. It will also help our alumni association grow.

But what scares me is that if people aren't willing to make a 20-minute drive to Lockhart….and because most of our "fans" live 20 minutes outside of FAU….what would make them come to an on-campus stadium?

We are averaging around 9,000 at Lockhart. Even if our attendance goes up 50 %, which would be incredibly high, we still don't have 15,000 fans…..

But I'll also say that in the long run, better recruiting will lead to more wins, thus more fans, thus bigger numbers. But it won't happen overnight, or even in the first five years.

smittysahoot said

Lm77 said

Lockhart is not an attraction. On the other hand, once we have our on-campus stadium there will be NO excuses for poor attendance.

That's exactly what scares me.

I am 100 percent behind the construction of the stadium, don't get me wrong. It will help our on-campus life and our recruiting. It will also help our alumni association grow.

But what scares me is that if people aren't willing to make a 20-minute drive to Lockhart….and because most of our "fans" live 20 minutes outside of FAU….what would make them come to an on-campus stadium?

We are averaging around 9,000 at Lockhart. Even if our attendance goes up 50 %, which would be incredibly high, we still don't have 15,000 fans…..

But I'll also say that in the long run, better recruiting will lead to more wins, thus more fans, thus bigger numbers. But it won't happen overnight, or even in the first five years.

I agree.  The on-campus stadium will not cause an immediate huge influx of fans to attend.  It will help.  What it will be, is a stepping stone to the next step which is get into the Big East.  As HS has stated…we will never ever sell 30k tickets to a game as long as we are playing the SBC schedule.  It won't happen.  We have to be playing schools like the Michigan State opening and BE and BCS schools to create the atmosphere which will in turn sell 30k tickets and beyond.

smittysahoot said

Lm77 said

Lockhart is not an attraction. On the other hand, once we have our on-campus stadium there will be NO excuses for poor attendance.

That's exactly what scares me.

I am 100 percent behind the construction of the stadium, don't get me wrong. It will help our on-campus life and our recruiting. It will also help our alumni association grow.

But what scares me is that if people aren't willing to make a 20-minute drive to Lockhart….and because most of our "fans" live 20 minutes outside of FAU….what would make them come to an on-campus stadium?

We are averaging around 9,000 at Lockhart. Even if our attendance goes up 50 %, which would be incredibly high, we still don't have 15,000 fans…..

But I'll also say that in the long run, better recruiting will lead to more wins, thus more fans, thus bigger numbers. But it won't happen overnight, or even in the first five years.

I disagree.  For one thing it is a whole lot easier to get students to come to the games if they don't have to drive to them.  Look at all of the articles about the demand for on campus housing.  I think one article said there is currently enough dorm space for about 2,200 students and that will double with the new dorms opening in 2010 or 2011.  If we get  approximately 1000 students to come to most games at Lockhart, that will easily double or even triple once we play in Boca.  Look at how the students responded at UCF.  But when you are asking them to drive 20 minutes to Ft. Lauderdale at 4pm on a Saturday when they will probably be going out later that night, it will have a negative effect on attendance.  Plus, in terms of building the fan base, the new stadium will be huge.  Imagine all of the incoming freshmen in 2010 going to every game for 4 years at an on campus stadium.  They will get the true college football atmosphere that we did not.  They will want to return to campus every year to watch their team.  Those are your future season ticket holders.

Then factor in the Alumni base.  It is a much easier to sell coming back to campus and watching your school play then going to watch your team play in a glorified high school stadium in Ft. Lauderdale.

Sure, any of us on here will happily drive the 20 minutes to Lockhart to watch the Owls play.  I would drive 5 hours to watch them play.  But to capture the casual Palm Beach County college football fan and then turn them into the loyal Owls fan, the stadium will be a huge help.  There is no downside to the stadium and the upside is ENORMOUS. 

I agree that there is really no downside. But what I was saying is that if we expect our attendance to jump from 10,000 at Lockhart to 20k or 25k in the new stadium instantly, it's not going to happen.

In addition, don't forget that the FAU athletics department offers free rides to students on buses to the games.

All in all, the football program is advancing faster than the university.

With the help of the weekend activities committee planning activities to keep students in town on the weekends, students will start to be around more, thus leading to increased attendance.

We win, we get fans…USF jumped like 10k to their average for one reason, success.

If we are on a path for another bowl, or a better bowl, watch locky-hart fill up.  Its the nature of sports in south florida, for better or worse

SeminOWL2006 said

We win, we get fans…USF jumped like 10k to their average for one reason, success.

If we are on a path for another bowl, or a better bowl, watch locky-hart fill up.  Its the nature of sports in south florida, for better or worse

I think if we win in the SunBelt we get students to go, if we win in the Big East (not saying I think it will happen) we get the average college football fan to go…big difference.  Because USF is winning in the Big East the program is benefiting from the "Miami" affect where there program is being supported by people that are not alumni or students at the school. 

I agree with wins = attendance.

But remember that USF only has neighboring UCF to compete with while we have U of Miami. USF is bringing in teams like Rutgers, Louisville and West Virginia.

If a team goes good like USF, their attendance will go up because of two things: wins and strength of schedule.

Any update on the stadium ???

I was sure hoping we would hear something at FANFEST - I did not hear 1 word - did anyone else ?
I hope this is not a bad omen for groundbreaking this fall :((

FAUFBL said

Any update on the stadium ???

I was sure hoping we would hear something at FANFEST - I did not hear 1 word - did anyone else ?
I hope this is not a bad omen for groundbreaking this fall :((

I second the request, Anyone have anything at all?  Isn't our deadline for something concrete next weekend?