Attendance Concerns?

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Last night's announced crowd was just over 18k but the actual attendance appeared to be far short of that. Disappointing but probably not unexpected for a holiday weekend.

There are 3 significant holiday periods during football season: Labor Day, Fall Break and Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Tulsa has home games on each of these 3 weekends. Throw in a Friday game and an FCS game and we only have one home game against an FBS opponent on a non-holiday Saturday (ECU on 11/5). That's 5 of the 6 games with a built-in excuse for the casual fan not to come.

This doesn't look good.

 

[jesterondirt]

I don't know where to look up statistics, but I remember a lot of our most attended games were not on Saturdays. One in particular being a Friday on a huge holiday weekend.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I don't know where to look up statistics, but I remember a lot of our most attended games were not on Saturdays. One in particular being a Friday on a huge holiday weekend.

vs OU 8/30/2002. That's a little different.

 

[ImaCanefan]

I wish there was a way to tell how much TV effects it.

 

[WrlsCane]

I had 2 people who I offered to buy tickets for say they'd just stay home and watch on TV. What ever happened to blacking the game out locally unless it's a sell-out?

 

[Gold*]

I don't worry about this anymore. I do think we should build a multi-use facility with parking and a practice field.

 

[TulsaGrad07]

Our attendance hovers between 17k and 22k. It's consistent. Our opponents at home are insipid and don't warrant the fair-weather fan to come out and watch. I was going to drive up from Dallas, but thought "to hell with it, I sweated my sack off last year for the FAU opener, not doing that again". I watched it online instead. I'm probably part of the problem instead of the solution

 

[Lumpuckeroo]

I don't worry about this anymore. I do think we should build a multi-use facility with parking and a practice field.

TU football deserves better, but we have always played second banana. TU has a nice team and will go to a bowl game this year. I wish we could get 25,000 to attend the games but scheduling rummies like our next home game does not help the cause.

 

[quincy101]

I get there over 1 hour from gametime & parking(south of stadium-from Delaware east to 11th) was absolutely jammed up. I'm thinking-well, this sucks but the crowd will be a good one for opening game. But noooooo! I wonder how much the crap parking situation has to do with lousy attendance.

 

[aTUfan]

If you are bothered by traffic and parking, don't go to norman or stillwater for a game.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

The fair weather or casual fan needs a consistently entertaining game experience and product on the field. That makes it worthwhile to leave your couch.

Everyone battles this TV "excuse".

 

[rabidTU]

The key is to schedule "fair" contracts against teams that bring people to Chapman every year and allows us to sell season tickets instead of cherry picked games. But we cannot do that by scheduling contracts for the quick buck - 2 for ones - three for ones or one and dones. The trade off for the Ohio St game is the next game on the home schedule with NCA@T which no-one cares about and helps in no way. But its easy to schedule and "fills in" a vacancy. Thats about it.

 

[okie51]

Free entrance for kids 16 and under with an adult purchase of a ticket and seating in one section of the stadium. I have 10 grandchildren under 16. My dad started me out watching Howard and Jerry long ago. I bring one or two kids and spend about a hundred bucks. I would bring two more and spend the same money if the tickets were free, they eat and drink a lot. Just one way to add fans now and for the future. Many grandparents have kids for weekends.
Hurricane flags for all walk up ticket buyers would be good as well. Flags may catch on if marketing keeps pushing them each game. Just leave the flags at the gate when leaving and hand them out again the next game.

 

[Bill Lowery]

Free entrance for kids 16 and under with an adult purchase of a ticket and seating in one section of the stadium. I have 10 grandchildren under 16. My dad started me out watching Howard and Jerry long ago. I bring one or two kids and spend about a hundred bucks. I would bring two more and spend the same money if the tickets were free, they eat and drink a lot. Just one way to add fans now and for the future. Many grandparents have kids for weekends.
Hurricane flags for all walk up ticket buyers would be good as well. Flags may catch on if marketing keeps pushing them each game. Just leave the flags at the gate when leaving and hand them out again the next game.

Those are great suggestions. Send an email to TU and see what happens.

 

[okie51]

Anyone that has pull or who to get the ideas to feel free. Old retailer here that had to battle the big chain stores to survive. The thing is always move forward as a trend, the first little sign of a sales dip don't let it start a trend figure it out to move forward. TU has to move forward or else.
They did some nice things Saturday much better over last year. Band had better songs, PA music better, the white out and beer.

 

[TU Pilot]

If you are bothered by traffic and parking, don't go to norman or stillwater for a game.

Those teams are also consistently competing for the CFBP/BCS bowls and have enormous fan bases. We don't. Is parking an excuse? Yes. But it's what people complain about A LOT when they talk about not going to TU games. If we want more people at the games, the University will have to respond to the complaints, not say "well OU and OSU have parking problems and they get 4x the people at their games".

 

[TUBballJunkie]

Parking is someone's polite way of avoiding telling you they just don't want to go. Volunteer to drop them off at the gate and they'll find something else.

 

[aTUfan]

The opponent makes a difference.

 

[cmullinsTU]

Flags may catch on if marketing keeps pushing them each game. Just leave the flags at the gate when leaving and hand them out again the next game.

It wasn't communicated well prior to the game or at the game but they did have a little station to return hurricane flags to then be handed out at the next home game. Hopefully they communicate it better and continue handing them out. It's one of the newer traditions they've tried to add that I really enjoy.

 

[jesterondirt]

Just my opinion on the parking, it's probably not a good idea to only take suggestions from fans that are already going to the games. Probably a good idea to listen to people that aren't going as well.

 

[Novocaine]

I took an uber to the game from 51st and Harvard. Cost me $6.

 

[Tulsafanzz]

We had by far the worst AAC attendance this weekend. We had the 2nd worst home opening attendance in the last 32 seasons(1985-2016) of TU football.

I know Dr Gragg has publicly stated improving attendance was a goal of his. We're heading in the wrong direction right now.

 

[noble cane]

Interestiing way to do the GHC parking passes this yr.... No season FB tix.. No passes.... Keeps the basketball only season ticket holders away...

 

[Gold*]

I'm interested to see what happens when basketball gets here. Plenty of parking in the gold lot on Saturday. But come basketball season, it was a race to the games last year. Amazing that football draws more people but has fewer parking issues.

 

[TU_BLA]

If you are bothered by traffic and parking, don't go to norman or stillwater for a game.

I arrived later than you and parked in an empty spot at BAH (or just north of McFarlin Library). Less than a 5 minute walk to the tailgate/alumni area. There's plenty of free parking throughout the north side of campus in and around the apartments. And all of those are convenient to the shuttle stops that will drop you at the stadium gate. I hate "bad parking situation" as an excuse because it's 100x better than Stilly or Norman.

 

[jesterondirt]

If you asked 20 people that have never been to a TU game or on Campus for that matter, to go and park for a football game, where would they end up? I'm asking a legit question. I've brought numerous first timers with me to games. The ones that meet me there have no idea where to go.

You guys are down playing this because we've spent years in this area and we know the routine. It's not that simple. Cars are ticketed/towed at every game for being somewhere they aren't supposed to be.

There are more places you can't park than places you can. It might surprise some of our alumni, but not everyone in Tulsa hangs out around 11th and Harvard.

The solution could be as easy as working with the church and school on Delaware to post that area on the TU athletics website and campus maps as official game day parking.

I'm not saying this will fix our attendance issues, because we've filled that stadium up before, and will again. But to downplay the parking situation as an excuse is wrong in my opinion.

 

[TU 1978]

Cars used to park on streets south of the stadium for high school games (Friday) or TU games (Saturday). Is all the street parking now unavailable?

 

[goldenhurricane2]

TU used to offer free shuttles from the fairgrounds, but that didn't help attendance. In fact very few took advantage of it. Sure a large parking garage would help, but I'm sure people would bitch about that somehow too.

If people want to see the game, they'll be there. Unfortunately for TU, most residents of the city doesn't care. Which is sad, because a metro area of around 1 million should be able to put 25-30k fans in a stadium several times each year... Especially in this part of the country.

 

[noble cane]

Had the opportunity to build a 3 story garage when we rebuilt the east side.. Instead we built apartments above urinals...

 

[texcane1982]

SJSU is not exactly a sexy opponent that will draw casuals. In SK/TG years such a game would struggle to break 20K. If beer sales don't improve attendence, it's unlikely to happen. Has TU ever data-mined their past ticket buyers and surveyed their concerns?

I'm not sure parking garages are the answer, those structures can be a mess when thousands are leaving simultaneously. A nice big open lot, across from the DonRey, NE corner of 11th & Harvard, would seem to be the best option to solve parking for football and basketball. If parking is truly the #1 reason folks stay home, heads should roll. A DI school that is not a commuter campus should never have parking issues.

Exactly how much of that land does TU currently own?

TX

 

[noble cane]

Garage may not be the answer... But a bunch of dry VIP/donor parking just steps away from the suites would generate more revenue. Most big donors are on the west side.. Opportunity to pull in more GHC money...

Could still have a plaza/retail on ground floor... Big open lots do very little in the offseason and add to the general rundown look of the neighborhood.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

Could TU do a better job of clearly directing people to available options? Probably so. There's no reason people shouldn't know *where* they might be able to park.

I've already received multiple emails from Rice on the parking situation for the Baylor game next weekend just from buying tickets.

 

[Novocaine]

It can't hurt to ask for this document. If someone requests it, they may generate it and then distribute it properly.

 

[DirtyDanchez]

Maybe if people would actually have fun before the games more people in Tulsa would be interested in coming out to the games. After all its more about the event then just the game. Our tailgate scene is one of the lamest in the country. Everybody sits underneath tents and drinks craft beers.

 

[noble cane]

Maybe if people would actually have fun before the games more people in Tulsa would be interested in coming out to the games. After all its more about the event then just the game. Our tailgate scene is one of the lamest in the country. Everybody sits underneath tents and drinks craft beers.

Damned hipster gentrification of the tailgate scene...

 

[chito_and_leon]

You guys should listen to Junkie, she's a casual fan where she is and knows how casual fans react. I'm the same where I live, I'm close to San Jost St and Stanford. The reasons I go to a SJSU game, and what I expect and will tolerate, are very different than Stanford (if you think about Stanford being analogous to OU or OSU, kind of like Albert Einstein is analogous to Yosemite Sam since both have beards). I'll put up with parking issues to see a top 10 team play (tho parking at Stanford is actually very good), but bad parking at SJSU is a deal breaker. What I want at SJSU - fun game, good food (oh, those churros...), beer, easy, affordable. If that's like the market for TU to get to 25k fans, then that's what you need to provide even if it offends the sensibilities of die hards to have to provide it. On who they play, and how it relates to TU's scheduling, I personally don't care, for me to trek to San Jose, I'd rather see them play NMSU or Toledo or someone similar in a 63-56 game than see 17-10 against a generic power 5 team like Nebraska or Miami or Maryland. But that's just me.

 

[chito_and_leon]

If you asked 20 people that have never been to a TU game or on Campus for that matter, to go and park for a football game, where would they end up? I'm asking a legit question. I've brought numerous first timers with me to games. The ones that meet me there have no idea where to go.

You guys are down playing this because we've spent years in this area and we know the routine. It's not that simple. Cars are ticketed/towed at every game for being somewhere they aren't supposed to be.

There are more places you can't park than places you can. It might surprise some of our alumni, but not everyone in Tulsa hangs out around 11th and Harvard.

The solution could be as easy as working with the church and school on Delaware to post that area on the TU athletics website and campus maps as official game day parking.

I'm not saying this will fix our attendance issues, because we've filled that stadium up before, and will again. But to downplay the parking situation as an excuse is wrong in my opinion.

Totally agree with Jester. Good parking won't bring me to a game but bad parking will definitely keep me away, and I don't want to have to navigate an area I don't know. It needs to be easy.

 

[astonmartin708]

Damned hipster gentrification of the tailgate scene...

They should give tent spots FOR FREE to all the fraternities. That's the only difference between TU tailgates and OU / OSU tailgates. At TU the fraternities all stay on fraternity row, where as at OU or OSU, tailgaiting is pretty much the only time people are allowed to openly drink in the middle of campus.

In regards to parking, I agree with a couple of the suggestions, parking garage is probably impractical at the moment, but building another lot somewhere near the stadium is completely logical as is telling fans where they CAN park WITHOUT PAYMENT in the immediate vicinity. Every parking lot on TU's campus has a 'no parking' sign on it, and the only legitimate places to park near campus for free are the neighborhoods to the south which people who aren't regular attendees wouldn't know.

And, the next time someone brings up the fact that "it's harder at OU or OSU" please think about the difference in the product being put on the field. Like it or not, I know that OU and OSU have been competing with the big boys for decades and have a MASSIVE loyal following and alumni base. Tulsa doesn't have either of those qualities. The 'barrier to entry' for becoming a follower of TU sports should be as low as possible for as long as necessary to build a real base of 25k+ fans. That is the minimum TU should be shooting for right now in a suburban area of one million people. I'd also advise reaching out to the casual OU / OSU fan who isn't a season ticket holder or a regular attendee in Norman or Stilly. There's no reason people can't root for both schools.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

Yep, my perspective changed a lot as a non-fan who was determined to have a crappy time at UH and despite my best efforts, was entertained and saw things we could easily emulate. We'll probably go to a random Thursday game and put up with getting there on a work night because we were entertained.

Chapman Commons isn't big enough for a fraternity party in the middle of people paying for those spots every game. And 8th Street tailgating runs down right in front of fraternity row. For all intents and purposes, that's a pretty concise area. People who want to hang out with 18 and 19 year olds can easily find that scene and people aren't on top of each other. Greeks should be promoting the Alumni events on Chapman Commons anyway.

I'm really going to be mad if Rice is doing a better job than us.

 

[astonmartin708]

Yep, my perspective changed a lot as a non-fan who was determined to have a crappy time at UH and despite my best efforts, was entertained and saw things we could easily emulate. We'll probably go to a random Thursday game and put up with getting there on a work night because we were entertained.

Chapman Commons isn't big enough for a fraternity party in the middle of people paying for those spots every game. And 8th Street tailgating runs down right in front of fraternity row. For all intents and purposes, that's a pretty concise area. People who want to hang out with 18 and 19 year olds can easily find that scene and people aren't on top of each other. Greeks should be promoting the Alumni events on Chapman Commons anyway.

I'm really going to be mad if Rice is doing a better job than us.

As a greek, never once did I go to Chapman commons on gameday. The pictures I saw were always looked pretty depressing. Like 15-20 tents? It's nicer at a place like OU or OSU where you of course have a ton of random groups' tents, but you also have each Fraternity with a largeish one.

I know TU is not huge so it's not a big hike to the houses, but they're still branched off from everyone else. Do people stop by? Of course; however, it would be nicer if everyone was in one large spot. Chapman Commons is more than large enough to have many more groups there. I think it makes sense to grandfather in the fraternities (and sororities if they'd like) to the area because they're the groups that have supported the university by far the longest.