Attendance Concerns?

[RealTUTypical]

From a business perspective, you don't spend money unless it's going to generate more money than you just spent.

There are plenty of small-medium-large businesses that will do corporate suites and/or sections if it means clients and employees will be treated like VIP's and are sure to have a great time.

A bundle of GA seats doesn't provide that kind of atmosphere and nobody will be compelled to do any package deals if you have to twist people's arms just to get them to show up.

 

[drboobay]

I go with my dad. We can afford two season tickets at the 15 yard line on the West stands.

I would love to get tickets for my wife and three girls too. But we are talking 30 bucks per person per game. That is 180 dollars PER GAME for the family. That is without any sort of reserved parking.

So I only push my wife and daughters to come once a year or so.

A discount for buying multiple season tickets is something to consider. For example 10% off for each addional season ticket purchased after the first up to 50%.

This could help a bit. It would certainly change by behavior.

Winning big would help too.

But I think we top out at 20 - 22k average without much more radical changes such as minor league baseball does.

 

[cmullinsTU]

6 pages of attendance concerns... I think fellow TU fans on here care about the poor attendance more than the university.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

I go with my dad. We can afford two season tickets at the 15 yard line on the West stands.

I would love to get tickets for my wife and three girls too. But we are talking 30 bucks per person per game. That is 180 dollars PER GAME for the family. That is without any sort of reserved parking.

So I only push my wife and daughters to come once a year or so.

A discount for buying multiple season tickets is something to consider. For example 10% off for each addional season ticket purchased after the first up to 50%.

This could help a bit. It would certainly change by behavior.

Winning big would help too.

But I think we top out at 20 - 22k average without much more radical changes such as minor league baseball does.

You could get Family Fun Zone season tickets which are valued at $11 per adult and $6 per kid. A lot of those fans move over to the west stands in the 0-20 yard line sections for the shade and a view of the scoreboard.

 

[drboobay]

Good to know! We are a clan of rule followers though and upgrades unapproved by the authorities to other seats would provoke a good deal of anxiety

And let my add that my dad is 87. He gets around ok but best for him to settle into one spot out of the sun.

Maybe giving a somewhat more expensive family fun zone on the west side towards the south end is another option.

 

[chito_and_leon]

I've had you on ignore more than once but I enjoyed this post. I particularly liked the use of the word manservant.

Um, thanks? How did I get off ignore? I'd think you'd ignore someone and it would stay that way forever. I've never ignored anyone.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Good to know! We are a clan of rule followers though and upgrades unapproved by the authorities to other seats would provoke a good deal of anxiety

And let my add that my dad is 87. He gets around ok but best for him to settle into one spot out of the sun.

Maybe giving a somewhat more expensive family fun zone on the west side towards the south end is another option.

It's great to hear that your father still enjoys going to the games.

My dad was a 1946 TU grad who attended the games for over 50 years. During his later years, I have fond memories of dropping him off right at the gate then finding him sitting in the wrong section after I parked and made it in. He always stopped at section B while our seats were in C.

I still use his old stadium chair each game.

 

[nevadanatural]

Every now and then they change formats and the ignores disappear. Other than dirty red I give people a chance before putting them on ignore again. I'm too old to be bombarded with hateful crap while trying to read about my team so some people go right back on.

 

[chito_and_leon]

Every now and then they change formats and the ignores disappear. Other than dirty red I give people a chance before putting them on ignore again. I'm too old to be bombarded with hateful crap while trying to read about my team so some people go right back on.

Interesting. I look forward to seeing how long I make it before being kicked off again. I'd like to think a long time but, you know, probably good to be realistic.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

20-22k average is extremely generous. We're sitting at 17k average now, so need to increase average attendance 4500 a game for the last 4 (a 25% increase over current attendance) to get to just the low end of that (20k).

Nobody on the home non-conference schedules in the future to think it's going to start off any better without other significant changes.

Agree with Dr. Boo on another tier of family fun zone on the end of the west or east stands.

 

[drboobay]

I was referring to the next few years with rhe 20 to 22 comment. We are in a hole this year and will be very fortunate to approach 20.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

That's why I said this:

Nobody on the home non-conference schedules in the future to think it's going to start off any better without other significant changes.

 

[noble cane]

From a recent Tulsa World article:

"The University of Tulsa has gotten used to being a hot commodity.

Athletic director Derrick Gragg regularly fields calls from Power 5 programs across the country wanting to pay the Golden Hurricane to visit their stadiums.

“Schools are interested in playing us because they want a viable opponent,” Gragg said. “They want somebody their fans see as competitive. They know we’ve been competitive historically — nine bowl games in the last 12 years — so playing a school like ours helps their schedule.”

Days before playing powerhouse Ohio State in a 2:30 p.m. Saturday matchup televised nationally on ABC, Gragg received interest from another Big Ten school. TU recently signed off on a 2022 meeting with Ole Miss, a successful program in the SEC."


Anyone want to take a guess at the mystery Big 10 school? Nebraska?

Blaze Starr was a hot commodity too....

Just sayin'.

 

[noble cane]

Could they increase the cost of the "Gold Zone" tickets by $5 per seat (I'd have no problem paying that, but it's not just me sitting in those seats...) to offset the cost of lowering the endzone cost? People sit in those seats and seem like they're willing to pay $50, whereas no one sits in the other's and aren't willing to pay $20. Supply and demand principle. Or is that a dumb idea?

Sorry.. not paying $50 for NCAT..... if they keep going up on tix then I will ditch my season tix and just buy end zone seats (then I will move into the $50 seats after the game has started).

 

[TU_BLA]

TU should be able to fund 200 scholarships for music so we can put a decent sized band on the field. The problem isn't the music, it's the small size and lack of taking our marching band seriously by TU and the fans. I was in the band at TU... other schools like OU, notre dame, Houston, Ohio state, and several others in our conference have great bands and schools and fans that support them. Shoot, people were audibly excited for the bands at all those places... at TU, we got laughed at and made fun of.

The band is a HUGE part of the college football experience, I wish TU realized that and made an effort to maximize their potential in that regard.

I marched...1 year because I thought I missed marching. Realized I missed competing. Got into a yelling match with a mellophone player who was clueless about marching and didn't realize you needed to take the same path between sets or you were going to kill someone.

TU doesn't have to put 200 kids out there to be entertaining. Grass could figure it out with his 70 horns and 10 guard members plus percussion. The problem is they don't rehearse enough and they act like they don't care. Personally, if you're not going to put a color guard out there that can actually accent what the band is doing instead of 5 students who have trouble hitting 1 and 3 with drop spins, then don't put them out there.

Right now the band doesn't add anything to the game day experience or entertainment for fans.

 

[TU_BLA]

I go with my dad. We can afford two season tickets at the 15 yard line on the West stands.

I would love to get tickets for my wife and three girls too. But we are talking 30 bucks per person per game. That is 180 dollars PER GAME for the family. That is without any sort of reserved parking.

So I only push my wife and daughters to come once a year or so.

A discount for buying multiple season tickets is something to consider. For example 10% off for each addional season ticket purchased after the first up to 50%.

This could help a bit. It would certainly change by behavior.

Winning big would help too.

But I think we top out at 20 - 22k average without much more radical changes such as minor league baseball does.

This is a great idea as well. Does anyone know if TU offers a "Young Alumni" discount for season tickets? I know Boston University does for hockey and basketball. Young alum, defined as graduated within the last 5 years, get a 50% discount on season tickets. (BU hockey is a hot commodity and season tickets are hard to come by...even students had to buy season tickets to hockey if they wanted to get in and have a chance for Beanpot tickets come February). Just a thought

 

[TU_BLA]

Good to know! We are a clan of rule followers though and upgrades unapproved by the authorities to other seats would provoke a good deal of anxiety

And let my add that my dad is 87. He gets around ok but best for him to settle into one spot out of the sun.

Maybe giving a somewhat more expensive family fun zone on the west side towards the south end is another option.

My 5 year old saw the shade on Saturday in the higher west side seats and she "suggested" we move to the shady seats.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

I'm almost positive they have young alum discounts on season tix.

 

[drboobay]

Well I am young at heart...

 

[Raisin_Cane]

This is a great idea as well. Does anyone know if TU offers a "Young Alumni" discount for season tickets? I know Boston University does for hockey and basketball. Young alum, defined as graduated within the last 5 years, get a 50% discount on season tickets. (BU hockey is a hot commodity and season tickets are hard to come by...even students had to buy season tickets to hockey if they wanted to get in and have a chance for Beanpot tickets come February). Just a thought

Yes. They have a young alumni discount. They also have a young GHC member discount. And as you get closer to the cutoff age, they faze you into the general donation structure. It worked well when I took advantage of it.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

From today's TW:

"Through two games at the 30,000-seat H.A. Chapman Stadium, the average crowd size has been 17,430, which ranks last in the American Athletic Conference in home attendance.

The low turnout for Saturday’s game was probably tied to the opponent being from the FCS level, but tickets cost only $5 during a midweek flash sale and the game wasn’t televised.

The Hurricane averaged 19,622 fans for the six home games in 2015 but also ranked last in the league. Its road games were played in front of an average crowd of nearly twice the size. If TU continues to win, attendance should pick up, especially when conference play begins, although the next home game being on a Friday night (Oct. 7 against SMU) likely won’t help the cause."

 

[goldenhurricane2]

I marched...1 year because I thought I missed marching. Realized I missed competing. Got into a yelling match with a mellophone player who was clueless about marching and didn't realize you needed to take the same path between sets or you were going to kill someone.

TU doesn't have to put 200 kids out there to be entertaining. Grass could figure it out with his 70 horns and 10 guard members plus percussion. The problem is they don't rehearse enough and they act like they don't care. Personally, if you're not going to put a color guard out there that can actually accent what the band is doing instead of 5 students who have trouble hitting 1 and 3 with drop spins, then don't put them out there.

Right now the band doesn't add anything to the game day experience or entertainment for fans.

Well my point was that there could be more done with the band to enhance the game day experience... it's a little more difficult to do with less than 100 members.

 

[DirtyDanchez]

I stopped trying to get people to come to the games because the tailgate scene and game day atmosphere is boring. It's a ghost town 2 hours til kickoff. I counted 6 tailgate spots on 8th that were empty last week. I guess those people were in Stillwater and Norman having fun. I have posted this before but this AD at a small divison III school gets it.

http://www.campusrush.com/millsaps-college-football-fan-attendance-1367931543.html

 

[TulsaEye]

The numbers in the stands and the game experience, reminding me too much of Downtown Tulsa 10 to 15 years ago. It was a ghost town in the evening down there, nobody but the drunks. It was deserted. Its only in the last 5-7 years things have changed for the better. The Hurricane games need to under go the same type of rejuvenation or the numbers will only get worse. They are already bad.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

The capacity at Millsaps football field is 3000 people. Good job, AD.

We don't really have an issue getting 4x our undergrad enrollment in football attendance either.

 

[VypeOK]

EVERYONE GO READ THIS I JUST POSTED!

https://tulsa.forums.rivals.com/threads/tu-fans-i-need-your-help.12708/

-Austin Chadwick

 

[Weatherdemon]

I stopped trying to get people to come to the games because the tailgate scene and game day atmosphere is boring. It's a ghost town 2 hours til kickoff. I counted 6 tailgate spots on 8th that were empty last week. I guess those people were in Stillwater and Norman having fun. I have posted this before but this AD at a small divison III school gets it.

http://www.campusrush.com/millsaps-college-football-fan-attendance-1367931543.html

We moved but even the last few years there would be 3-5 empty spots for 90% of games... and they appeared to be paid for so I'm not sure what the deal is.

 

[TUTickets]

We are reading and we are trying to fix it. We have new faces here and we WANT these stands full and a great atmosphere. Refer your friends, tell them to bring their groups and we DO offer corporate hospitality tailgates these year. Just need to get the word out and get these things filled. You guys can help! You guys are connected in the business world better than we are. We have group ticket offers and mini plans if you or someone you know can't make it out to the whole season. If you or someone you know wants more information of business hospitality or ticket packages, please reach out to me! Thanks guys and REIGN CANE!
Kaleb Trowbridge, Account Executive
kaleb-trowbridge@utulsa.edu
Office- 918-631-3049

 

[TU_BLA]

We are reading and we are trying to fix it. We have new faces here and we WANT these stands full and a great atmosphere. Refer your friends, tell them to bring their groups and we DO offer corporate hospitality tailgates these year. Just need to get the word out and get these things filled. You guys can help! You guys are connected in the business world better than we are. We have group ticket offers and mini plans if you or someone you know can't make it out to the whole season. If you or someone you know wants more information of business hospitality or ticket packages, please reach out to me! Thanks guys and REIGN CANE!
Kaleb Trowbridge, Account Executive
kaleb-trowbridge@utulsa.edu
Office- 918-631-3049

Kaleb thanks for reaching out. While there are probably a few items you directly can help with regarding tickets and packages, I think overall the concern is more with how TU athletics is being marketed to the general Tulsa community. We all know the on field/on court product the athletic department is putting out is one of the best in the AAC when you look at results since our time in the conference and yet we cannot seem to get the general greater Tulsa resident to come to games. We know we will see about 18k at most football games and about 4500 at most basketball games (and a lot of the people commenting in this section are or have been part of those numbers for a long time). How do we get those numbers to be 22k and 6000 consistently?

 

[TUTickets]

Kaleb thanks for reaching out. While there are probably a few items you directly can help with regarding tickets and packages, I think overall the concern is more with how TU athletics is being marketed to the general Tulsa community. We all know the on field/on court product the athletic department is putting out is one of the best in the AAC when you look at results since our time in the conference and yet we cannot seem to get the general greater Tulsa resident to come to games. We know we will see about 18k at most football games and about 4500 at most basketball games (and a lot of the people commenting in this section are or have been part of those numbers for a long time). How do we get those numbers to be 22k and 6000 consistently?

Groups. Groups. Groups. We have the smallest enrollment of any FBS school so we have to take a mindset of the experience and not the product. While the product is fantastic we have to convince groups around the Tulsa area they can have a good time. We make phone calls all day reaching out but YOU guys reaching out and starting that chain reaction will be 2X more successful because you already have relationships with those people. Teams like the Drillers and Oilers make their living off of a continuous cycle of groups and we could be just as successful by doing that.

 

[astonmartin708]

One problem I see is just with the logistics of enrollment. Even amongst Tulsa's small student body, a pretty small number are actually from the Tulsa area anymore. I don't know the actual statistic but, as of my time ther a couple years ago, I would say that just about half the students were Tulsa metro residents prior to enrollment. Lots are either from other metros or other countries. Of the many friends I had just a couple years ago in school maybe 1/4th stayed in Oklahoma after graduating.

It might be smart (both for athletics and community outreach) to make a more significant investment in financing the enrollment of some more local students. Maybe some kind of "Tulsa County" scholarship for a grand or two might draw in some more kids.

 

[astonmartin708]

I just had a wonderful idea though I'm not sure how thee logistics might workout.

We'be mentioned multiple times about how a lot of the local 6A HSs' attendance comes from band families. I also know that there are different invitationals and showcases throughout the year. What if TU held something like the "University of Tulsa Community Marching Showcase" on one game weekend a year when we have a Saturday game that evening. You'd invite 4-6 local HS bands (which would bring their families) and you would let them march through the morning and afternoon then the families and band members would receive a free admission for that game only. It would cost TU pretty much nothing, and you'd get a chance to sell more concessions and show off the TU football product that night. If all went well, I'm sure you'd get some interested people returning to future games.

 

[astonmartin708]

Ideas. I'm full of em'

 

[TU_BLA]

I just had a wonderful idea though I'm not sure how thee logistics might workout.

We'be mentioned multiple times about how a lot of the local 6A HSs' attendance comes from band families. I also know that there are different invitationals and showcases throughout the year. What if TU held something like the "University of Tulsa Community Marching Showcase" on one game weekend a year when we have a Saturday game that evening. You'd invite 4-6 local HS bands (which would bring their families) and you would let them march through the morning and afternoon then the families and band members would receive a free admission for that game only. It would cost TU pretty much nothing, and you'd get a chance to sell more concessions and show off the TU football product that night. If all went well, I'm sure you'd get some interested people returning to future games.

Would they stay to go to the game afterwards? I like the idea. Also, what rules does the AAC have about the field being available and when does that start? I would even throw in that the winning band gets to do the half-time performance. Knowing what Union or BA or Owasso or Moore HS can put on the field is amazing.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

Anything requiring advance scheduling is going to be challenging. SMU is the only conference game we have kickoff set for right now, and that's easy cause it's a Friday night.

Having a local band play each home game might be kinda cool though. Booker T played in place of the TU band at a womens bball game when I was an undergrad. And the high school bands at the Vegas tourney 2 years ago were pretty fun.

 

[astonmartin708]

Would they stay to go to the game afterwards? I like the idea. Also, what rules does the AAC have about the field being available and when does that start? I would even throw in that the winning band gets to do the half-time performance. Knowing what Union or BA or Owasso or Moore HS can put on the field is amazing.

Some would leave, but I would try and get the schools to let their students stay with their parents after competition. So the entire family could watch the game.

Letting the winning band perform at one halftime a season is certainly an idea.

Logistical concerns I've thought of:

1. A bunch of HS students on campus during a normal day for tailgating. You'd have to put them in some sort of staging area like one of the parking lots where they wouldn't be around alcohol. Maybe they could each do a short "pre-show" parade march to the stadium kind of like the TU band does to lead the team in while their percussion is getting set up in the stadium. It would also be neat to see for the tailgaters.

2. You would have to have some identifying element for the band families so they could get tickets to the showcase and game but not making it a available to every fan trying to save money. Maybe you would give each band a roll of tickets the week before that noted something like "pride of broken arrow family" that they could show at the gate during the day. You should also allow general admission tickets to the show if anyone from the tailgate wanted to get in. $7.50 each for the whole day if you showed your game ticket. Free for TU students, all revenue split 50/50 between TU and the invited schools.

3. Parking you would have to make sure band families knew where they were going and where they could park ON CAMPUS for free.

Boom! We just increased attendance for a home game by a TON, provided extra ticketing and concession revenue and opened the university to new fans and did communit outreach . You're welcome TU.

 

[astonmartin708]

Anything requiring advance scheduling is going to be challenging. SMU is the only conference game we have kickoff set for right now, and that's easy cause it's a Friday night.

Having a local band play each home game might be kinda cool though. Booker T played in place of the TU band at a womens bball game when I was an undergrad. And the high school bands at the Vegas tourney 2 years ago were pretty fun.

I think having a different band on certain nights this season would be a good test run to see if the whole Shebang could work next season.

As far as TV goes I have no idea how those conversations would go down but maybe it would be easier to lobby for a night game if we already had the event scheduled every year??? If it was ESPN, I would just tell them, we're willing to just go on ESPN3 if they can't make the scheduling work for one of the 4 other channels on a Saturday evening.

 

[TU_BLA]

I think having a different band on certain nights this season would be a good test run to see if the whole Shebang could work next season.

As far as TV goes I have no idea how those conversations would go down but maybe it would be easier to lobby for a night game if we already had the event scheduled every year??? If it was ESPN, I would just tell them, we're willing to just go on ESPN3 if they can't make the scheduling work for one of the 4 other channels on a Saturday evening.

This would work earlier in the season with a non-conference opponent. If you did a September home game then the showcase would also work for the HS bands as a pre-competitive event to work on their show (competition is usually at peak in October with BOA regionals/finals in late October/early to mid-November). Someone call Nick Salis.

 

[Novocaine]

Our football games are made for TV events. The fans are extras in the on screen production. TV sets the start times, the length of game (egregious length of TV timeouts), and even in some cases, arranges the non conference games. It was actually refreshing to have a shorter game vs NCA&T with it only being on ESPN3 / WatchESPN.

TU has very little say in some of these things. TV moved the SMU game to Friday. I know many, many alumni who LIVE in Tulsa who don't do to the games or tailgate. (well over 10 people personally, so you all must know hundreds more) Laziness is a major problem. To sit at home, when you're interested in the program enough to watch the game and have no other excuse, is just inexcusable.

College football isn't minor league baseball. We care about the outcome as fans - no one ever goes to a Drillers game and drives home pissed off that they lost. You go to eat, sweat, buy the kids cotton candy, and go home. Drillers games aren't on TV either - they set all the start times. How many people would go to a Drillers game on a Saturday afternoon at 1pm in August? Flies. They compete directly with things like movies, events at Guthrie Green, the Thursday Night events at Utica Square, and the neighborhood pool. We compete with OU home games, kids sports, weekend chores, OSU games, Arkansas games, Cain's Ballroom, and of course, the Tulsa State Fair. The seasonality of football vs baseball makes a HUGE difference.

I was only able to go to the first quarter of the NCA&T game - my kids had soccer games at 2:30 - that's beyond TU's control. I'm nothing short of a superfan - I went to Ohio State and Notre Dame. The only way you avoid kids sports on the weekends is night games. I assume they picked the 1pm start time because they didn't want to go head to head with Ohio State and OU on TV. In hindsight, it would have been better to take that battle on because the sunshine was so intense that anyone not in shade bailed early. Do you only schedule night games when TV doesn't pick the time? We're only talking about 1 or 2 of the home games, max, where we get to dictate the start time now thanks to TV. Back in the old days, we had total control. Not any longer.

The tailgating atmosphere is vastly better than it was when I was in school - which is to say it was nonexistent. It's literally impossible to not have a good time on Chapman Commons. Family friendly, lots, if not too many, activities for kids. It's so good that people stay out there and don't come into the game. It's not a ton, but I estimate 500-1000 for certain games. That doesn't help things.

Also, I can't for the life of me how anyone could hate on the band. It's the best it's been in YEARS. They have 134 members according to their Facebook page, which is the most they've head in years, numbers wise, too.

How do you overcome all this? Winning and winning big over name competition. Have we done that yet in the Montgomery era? No.

If you want a full stadium, beat someone the locals have heard of. We simply don't have enough alumni who will sit through anything, thick, thin, bad weather, hot weather, etc. That's the only way you'll get the unwashed masses off their sofas and into the stadium - where it's a MUST ATTEND event like TU basketball was in 1999-2000.

 

[tufan4eva]

Sorry Novocaine and Tutickets but if that was true we would have been near a sell out after our national televised, exciting win over Notre Dame.

The truth is downsizing the stadium hurt us on home attendance and made your theory no longer valid.

We wont get big name programs into our home stadium because the economics no longer work. In the 90s a 40,000 plus crowd once or twice a year ensured we could make payouts for big opponets on years we didnt play OU or OSU. This brought the Miami, Texas AnM, Iowa teams in consitantly making deals worth it to major schools and giving TU credibility by having the chance to knock off one big name opponent at home a year. Now the casual fan watches TU on the road on national TV for the upsets and has no desire to see us play arkansas pine bluff, central arkansas, or NC A&T. Which means OSU and OU will be the only games we sell out our 27,000 seat stadium Bubba thought would work rather than the 33,500 seat stadium we needed.

Too draw fans and escape the trap our small stadium has created (no big time home games) we must make it an experience. TU must also continue to occasionally pull upsets, play competitively, win a lot. Games against Fresno St, Boise St, La Tech (G5's with name recognition) will help as will taking losses in the check book short term to drag in KU's, K-states, Minnesota, texas tech, types (P5's who are low hanging fruit or who are known for looking for "easy" schedules out of conference) as long as these are mostly wins in the games.

We should have years where the home schedule looks like this :

OU/OSU/P5
La Tech
Houston
Memphis
Tulane
Eastern American team

The next year

Boise St/Fresno/Air Force type
North Texas
Navy
SMU
Eastern American
Eastern American

This with winning and making the game an experience will raise attendance.

Its sad to think we could have a P5 conference opponent at home (OU and OSU as constants and the alternating in KU, TCU, Minn, Texas Tech schools every year and alternate in some solid G5 programs to give us a great home schedule but we downsized and took that kind of a schedule off the table. With the strength of our current conference we could easily build a great home schedule maybe one clunker a year (tulane, or uconn, or a down G5 team)