What's Behind the Football Attendance Problems?

[zete]

I see OU drew over 12,000 for a basketball game with Portland. Maybe We could schedule Portland for a basketball game and see what would happen. lol

[Schadenfreude]

It takes years to build interest...and weeks to kill it.

Great insight.

I would be careful about idealizing past support too much. It seems a stretch to me to suggest we have ever *consistently* drawn 20,000-plus.

In 2003, we had two sellouts. One was for our game as a nationally-ranked team against nationally-ranked Northern Illinois, with ESPN Gameday in the house. The other was the division-clinching finale against Toledo. WIthout looking it up, I would guess none of our other home games that season broke 20,000, except perhaps the MAC title game.

There have been moments when we've approached 20,000 on a consistent basis. When we drew 22,222 for the 1995 Thursday night opener with Louisana Tech, I think we were nearing that point, after several very good seasons and some preseason darkhorse Heisman hype for Ryan Henry. But, as Flipper notes, it doesn't take much to kill support. Henry threw six interceptions that night -- still a team record -- the Falcons finished 5-6, and support quickly fell off for the rest of the Blackney era.

Fan support right now is as thin as I can remember, and I've been following the team for close to 25 years. Winning will cure it, though -- and Dave Clawson seems to be setting us up for a lot of success by building this program the right way.

If we catch a few bad breaks and fail to earn a bowl bid this year, we will get one next year. I feel pretty confident about that.

[TG1996]

WIthout looking it up, I would guess none of our other home games that season broke 20,000, except perhaps the MAC title game.

I would have guessed that you were right. You/we are not.

http://www.bgsufalcons.com/custompages/ ... amcume.htm

[It's the Journey...]

Here are my factors in order of importance.
#. BUILD LOYALTY AND INTEREST ON AN INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL!! BGSU earns a grade of epic fail on this. To me this must be done along with everything I list below. It means respecting your alums when they come back to campus. If I had to drive back a long distance for homecoming this year and participate in alumni band it may have been my last time!

1. Respect your fans! We chose to come, don't treat us like we are at your mercy now.
2. WIN, or at least be competitive in every game. We may not win them all but blow out after blow out hurts just as much.
3. Schedule smart. I know the MAC and ESPN help screw the pooch in this area but do as much as you can.
4. Make the game an event! I like the idea of a day full of events for football.
5. Care for your facilities!! We have done some great things and I am excited to see what is in store for Doyt Perry Stadium. Now make sure you budget some PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE so they stay in excellent condition.
6. Build the brand, but do it in a way that makes sense. I believe a line of clothing that focuses on older BGSU logos, including the "LT" would resonate with alums and bring in additional revenue. Also, don't harass those who still wear the "LT" logo.

I am sure my list will grow, but I really think these are basic things. If we get back to the basics a strong foundation will be built.

[Falcon137]

1. Respect your fans! We chose to come, don't treat us like we are at your mercy now.
2. WIN, or at least be competitive in every game. We may not win them all but blow out after blow out hurts just as much.
3. Schedule smart. I know the MAC and ESPN help screw the pooch in this area but do as much as you can.
4. Make the game an event! I like the idea of a day full of events for football.
5. Care for your facilities!! We have done some great things and I am excited to see what is in store for Doyt Perry Stadium. Now make sure you budget some PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE so they stay in excellent condition.
6. Build the brand, but do it in a way that makes sense. I believe a line of clothing that focuses on older BGSU logos, including the "LT" would resonate with alums and bring in additional revenue. Also, don't harass those who still wear the "LT" logo.

That's why next year is the year.

I have no idea if we will have 3 Tuesday night games or not. But, we get Tulsa at home on a Thursday night (Labor Day is the following Monday). That should be a well attended game, Tulsa is a good team and a "name" people should recognize. We get a winnable road game with Indiana, a win there would build lots of interest. We get both Toledo and Ohio at home. Both should be well attended (with the caveat that they are Tuesday night games).

Next year could be the final year in the Doyt as we know it. Christopher has said the renderings will be done and we should have an idea of what a refurbished or new Doyt will look like.

As far as merchandise is concerned, they have lots of stuff with the old falcon on it. I'm not sure bringing LT Falcon stuff back is a good idea. That is the definition of brand confusion, we just retired it a few years ago. The throwback stuff we have now is from the 70s.

[zete]

Maybe we should schedule Portland. Over 12 thousand came out to watch them play at OHIO for a basketball game.

[Falcon137]

Maybe we should schedule Portland. Over 12 thousand came out to watch them play at OHIO for a basketball game.

Maybe we should make the Sweet 16. Then sell tickets for $1 to our first home game, like OU did.

[Class of 61]

WIthout looking it up, I would guess none of our other home games that season broke 20,000, except perhaps the MAC title game.

I would have guessed that you were right. You/we are not.

http://www.bgsufalcons.com/custompages/ ... amcume.htm

TG, Thanks for looking it up...I know I've mentioned crowds of over 20K on a "regular" basis even in the 90's, at least before Blackney's teams fell apart after some great early 90's years. Now it shows up a LOT more recently.

[jpfalcon09]

One thing I didn't like this year was the $10 to park, even though the vouchers helped a little bit. There needs to be more 2-for-1 deals and more student incentive to show up to games. Winning helps, but people also want to be entertained at the game away from football, its a sad reality.

[zete]

We may sell tickets for a dollar, but the Sweet 16? Let's make the tournament first.

[Falco_peregrinusana]

I will have to say that I went to BGSU back in the early '90s (when we won our last MAC championships). Even when we had terrific teams, the fan support was not great and the football climate was very sterile. I, for one, really like what the athletic dept. has done to build a bigger fanbase. Having some national TV games (even on Wednesdays) has been a plus for boosting the brand of the entire MAC conference. It is sad that MAC games are not attended as they could-people are missing out on some very entertaining football in their own back yards.

[Class of 61]

I will have to say that I went to BGSU back in the early '90s (when we won our last MAC championships). Even when we had terrific teams, the fan support was not great and the football climate was very sterile. I, for one, really like what the athletic dept. has done to build a bigger fanbase. Having some national TV games (even on Wednesdays) has been a plus for boosting the brand of the entire MAC conference. It is sad that MAC games are not attended as they could-people are missing out on some very entertaining football in their own back yards.

I'd have to disagree with you on the "sterile" comment. Blackney's teams (early 90's) were VERY good and the crowds were there... even in mid 90's we were still drawing pretty well, despite Gary's seemingly lack of recruiting (which I 've never understood)...Yet, Urban took over a 2-10 team or so and had a turnaround for 2 yrs. with most of Blackney's kids. So there was something going on re: coaching that affected what was happening on the field.

[hammb]

I've posted it elsewhere (event his week) in this forum, but I truly believe the football coach at BG simply MUST make himself the face of the program. I don't think Clawson has done that nearly like Urban (or Dakich in hoops) did. They need to be calling into radio shows, they need to be out in the student population drumming up support, they need to be doing radio ads, they need to be SEEN. I know this is not part of the job description for most Division 1 coaches, but here at BG we are different.

I've seen (and I believe) it said over and over again that at BG we are a family. I think that's huge not just for the team and the students, but for the community as well. The coaches that get embraced at BG are the ones that make themselves part of the BG family...both the community and the university families (and like it or not they ARE two distinctly separate families).

When Dakich was here even when he was bad the past 3-4 years he had better fan support than Orr's gotten. Urban did a fantastic job selling the football program and the attendance reflected that until Brandon alienated the fan base for years following. Clawson has done a very good job building a good football team, but I really don't think he's done as well selling the program as those other coaches did, and I think that's reflected by the attendance. I hope that simply winning this year will build greater attendance next year, but I don't really think that's the case at BG. I think it takes more than just a winning team to get a fan following in BG.

[factman]

I couldn't agree more hammb, but I also believe that the lead and example should come from the AD and it certainly does NOT happen in our case. Some coaches take the lead on their own, as the two you cited, but most do not, and especially those that are hired by someone who doesn't do this. No matter what you think of Jack Gregory, he was a coaches AD and understood how and why coaches think the way they do, and why they do certain things, and he BACKED his coaches. I can remember a few times for radio shows, after a coach had had a bad loss or losing streak, he would "strongly" encourage the entire department to show up for the show, for support and they would. They also supported each other by going to games and events of other teams and were even known to have an occassional house party with many of the different sports coaches and fans attending. I can even remember when fans were ENCOURAGED to attend practices and scrimmages for all sports, and you might even get a T-shirt if the coach was feeling good that day. Today, if you attend a practice, about the only thing you get is a parking ticket! This created esprit de corps in the department and among the fans and the "family" feeling that you describe. In the current athletic department, there are a LOT of people that do not even know each others names in the "sterile" atmosphere that has been created in the department. This style of leadership might be fine in Chicago, LA or even Columbus, but just doesn't work well in Bowling Green.

[jpfalcon09]

Visibility is the #1 thing the program is missing right now. I remember when I was in school and hearing the tales of Urban going through all the dorms and personally asking students to come to football games. We need that type of commitment again. We're in a tough spot geographically for football, we're smack dab between three of the largest D1 schools in the country. Educating the students, townies and alumni about the current team/coaches will only serve to help boost attendance in the future.

We have a good football program with a good coach, and they deserve better support than what we've seen this year. I really hope the marketing department steps up their game in the offseason to increase season ticket sales and come up with some creative promotions to get more butts in the seats. A bowl game and win will help that automatically, but there needs to be more done to ensure going forward BGSU football is regarded as a program who gets solid attendance no matter what weather or opponent.