People had better things to do? Censentions suck? I have no idea why people don't show up to the games. I go to all the home games but I must say the prior 2 season under DJ was tuff to show up for. Thoughts? Maybe Orlando people aren't into college sports?
Will fans ever support this year's UCF Hoop Team? Attendance is DOWN this year
- Thread starter Knight_Light
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People had better things to do? Censentions suck? I have no idea why people don't show up to the games. I go to all the home games but I must say the prior 2 season under DJ was tuff to show up for. Thoughts? Maybe Orlando people aren't into college sports?
I'm in same county as FAU and am not compelled to go to their games. No matter who they play. You have to feel a connection with the team to go.
Glad you gave me a chance to dispose of wives tales like the "national champion" vs. application myth. Scholars have tested it repeatedly and found no evidence to support it. What you may be referring to is the "Doug Flute" effect, when the short QB lofted a hail mary back in the 1980s that his brother somehow grabbed from a crowd of defenders to beat, ironically, UMiami. I watched it live (it was at 4:30 in a December bowl game on a Friday), but guys like to claim they saw it. Application to BC did surge for a year or two, the only exception. And BC is famous for being the "safety school" for Ivy applicants -- not exactly something they want to be known for.
The attendance to winning percentage relationship is a relatively weak one in college and getting weaker. How weak? Multivariate statistical studies find win% is one of the weakest factors, and not even statistically significant. What does matter for football or basketball attendance? Number 1: residential colleges get much, much higher attendance because they have a captive audience of students, a shared full-time bonding experience, alums returning to campus to renew that identity. Number 2: (especially for basketball) private colleges have no time conflicts -- half of students don't even apply for financial aid (not that they'd qualify) and most don't need to take part-time jobs [half my students work full time]. Number 3: Age of the college which also serves to measures tradition, reputation, alumni donations, legislative funding, etc. Number 4: Enrollment. Number 5: size limit of the arena or stadium.
Why doesn't winning affect attendance much? Pre-season season ticket sales dominate established university attendance, so only last year's W-L record could affect ticket sales. But that doesn't occur either because if you don't buy one year, you lose your existing seats and an opportunity to improve them in future years -- you go to the back of the queue. In addition, most of the expensive seats are not occupied but the purchaser. NHL games, for example, have most of the better seats given to clients (that's how I've always gone to Magic and St. Pete hockey games). These are tax deductible entertainment expenses. Or civic and business buy up the always-empty $5000 seats on the player bench side of UCF games. Students pay $14 for each football or basketball game whether they show or not (most don't, of course) in the form of their student athletic fee, one of the highest in the nation, but students won't show unless you give them some worthless toy or walking advertisement apparel.
More a connection with a social group that attends. You go because your friend go, it's the thing to do, it's the place for shared experiences. Music performers know that their set at a venue is just an excuse for people with similar tastes and social backgrounds to assemble. That's why music starts are careful to focus on music and song themes that appeal to one homogeneous age group.
I don't think it was his brother. Roommate I believe. And I was watching it with my grandfather. We watched all the big games together.
You're right. He jumped into the arms of his brother Darren, a receiver on the play (did he tip it to Phelan?).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/24/hail-flutie-25th-annivers_n_369515.html
FLUTIE LIFTING FLUTIE!
remember Orlando has an NBA team as well and even though they suck people go to see the visiting team
So going to basketball and football games is the only way to show pride?
Plenty of folks go to school to be educated and don't give 2 $hits about sports. Are these people lesser alumni than those with season tickets?
The difference between teams like the Redskins, FSU, UF etc is that they laid a foundation with fans before the age of hyper-globalization, internet and cable TV. Programs like UCF have such a steeper hill to climb in order to get to where they are.
Life has just changed considerably.
Life has just changed considerably.
![[laughing]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/laugh.r191677.gif "Laughing [laughing]")
Attendance on NYE was 3,900 but it dropped to just over 3,000 for the Tues night game vs ECU.
Saw in addition to tailgating, UCF will give out free t shirts again for Houston game.
Season ticket holders should be contacted about games they don't plan on attending, so that overflow students and community/civic groups can fill in those seats, especially the higher donation ($500 and up) sections. When the athletic department switched from sending us individual tickets to a single card, we can't give away (or sell) tickets to friends, clients, etc.
You can give away / sell your tickets. You have to log onto your account and you can email the tickets to someone or print them off yourself.
I've ranted for years about our alumni support for our FB and BB programs.
Here's the bottom line. Our alumni acts like small potatoes therefore you are what you are. This year I purchased 2 FB and 2 BB season tickets for the 14th straight year. UCF a few weeks ago graduate total became 302,000. Add to that nearly 65,000 current students.
It's going to be tough to change things until many grads become much older with more disposable income and time on their hands.
Of course we know consistent winning will help increase attendance but we need 90% capacity on average in many average win seasons as well. Nothing will change in the next 15 plus years unless those like many of us on this board do something about it. UCF really needs the passionate alums of UCF to hold their friends and associates more accountable.
The thing that's worse than low attendance is low season ticket sales. Here's an idea Danny, stop spending tons on money on marketing and divert some of that money to passionate fans to throw huge ticket drive events at their homes or bars. Just imagine having dozens of parties around Orlando and the country.
Our personal relationships with the people we know that are UCF alums carry's more weight than marketing tactics.
Example. 100 alums host parties on the same day. Goal is to get every host to sell 100 season tickets and pushing each person to buy just one season ticket which doesn't hurt the wallet. Then they can donate the ticket back to UCF to give to needy kids to attend games.
UCF gives each host $1000 to host a party. That in turn would produce a 10,000 additional season tickets sold for FB or $1,000,000 in new revenue. Cost to marketing budget is $100,000. Imagine if some of those folks overachieve and sell 200 or 300 tickets. That would be one heck of a return on your investment. UCF Marketing needs to find more ways to empower the alumni to help them do the work that they are struggling with through common every day marketing techniques.
Just my thoughts
I went to that FAU Marshall Bball last week with a friend of mine. Sitting in the upper deck, we were approached by an FAU rep who offer us a seat upgrade, first row right behind Coach Curry and the FAU bench. Got a free hot dog and was approached by an FAU ticket rep. After a really nice game experience, Im thinking about purchasing football season tickets in their beer garden section. Its not that hard to do the same at UCF games. You just need to provide a more personalized experience.
Come on...everyone knows you can email someone else tix to virtually any sporting event or concert.
Every team (college or pro) and concerts have mobile entry.
It's a national problem. The NCAA recently gave serious attention to the proposal to not begin the basketball season until after New Years. The best players leave after their first season. The short 3-point line makes the game a joke, as many schools now take half their shots from out there. The recent hand-check enforcement turned the game into a parade to the free-throw line. Students relegated to the behind the basket silences the loudest fans. Something must be done to limit zone defenses (box and one, triangle and two) that take the exciting players out of the game.
I'll agree on one point. The college 3 point line needs to go back some. Maybe not NBA but it is way to close. Maybe also bring the shot clock down to 30 seconds. The student tickets are in the perfect spot of we actually get the arena full again. You can't beat having the opposing team make shots on that side when the game is on the line.
Most that follow the college game knows that the 3 pt line was moved back further in recent years but many players shoot just as well from deep.
Also, several college teams give prime side court seat g sections to students (Duke, Michigan State, NC State and others.)
Schools that have students with school pride do well with their attendance, regardless where they sit.
I agree. I have had someone in my club seats for every game. Football was the same. If I didn't have a friend take them I gave them away on this board
UNC moved their student section some years ago farther away to sell more tickets for higher prices closer. The coach didn't like the change.
You are knowledgeable and informed, but you make absurd blanket statements that are by definition incorrect.
In the old Orena I went to the NCAA basketball tourney in mid 90s and they didn't sell beer. Is there an NCAA ban on alcohol sales at their sponsored events?
NCAA Tourney has never allowed the sale of alcohol which I find funny because you can get blasted at a bowl game. Regular season games are up to the school.
Wonder why they pick and choose which events are not allowed to have it when others are.
Bowl games are not run by the NCAA...unlike the "championship" playoffs of other sports which the NCAA is 100% in total control.
That makes sense, but you would think that the money hungry NCAA would sell beer to make more money during those games.
Sentinel (natch!) has a big piece today on how the remodeled UF arena just opened to sell-outs. Sixty-four million dollars. Arena downsized slightly (from 11+K to 10K, like ours), but now has all the snazzy bells and whistles. Of course they deserve all this attention because I'm sure Sentinel readers are always going up for their games (dripping sarcasm). And their W-L record is almost as good as ours (11-3 vs. 12-3). Probably because they're ranked (barely: 25th).
