Attendance

[Asmodeanreborn]

It'd be great to have the university try and get a few buses going to/from different towns around the state, and possibly in Colorado too. Would hopefully make less people try to drive drunk, save on gas costs, and it's generally fun to travel with a bunch of rowdy fans. We DO have a great fan base. They're just really spread out.

 

[WyoBrandX]

It'd be great to have the university try and get a few buses going to/from different towns around the state, and possibly in Colorado too. Would hopefully make less people try to drive drunk, save on gas costs, and it's generally fun to travel with a bunch of rowdy fans. We DO have a great fan base. They're just really spread out.

You would think they could do this pretty easily and keep up with demand. For example, they could setup a website saying find us 20/30 fan's, have them sign up and pay $20 bucks for the ticket (or whatever makes sense), plus here is a discounted game ticket. Once they meet the quota, send a bus down to that location on gameday. Otherwise, refund the money.

 

[whyoh]

It'd be great to have the university try and get a few buses going to/from different towns around the state, and possibly in Colorado too. Would hopefully make less people try to drive drunk, save on gas costs, and it's generally fun to travel with a bunch of rowdy fans. We DO have a great fan base. They're just really spread out.

You would think they could do this pretty easily and keep up with demand. For example, they could setup a website saying find us 20/30 fan's, have them sign up and pay $20 bucks for the ticket (or whatever makes sense), plus here is a discounted game ticket. Once they meet the quota, send a bus down to that location on gameday. Otherwise, refund the money.

so like a groupon?

 

[Wyovanian]

Fact is, attendance at college football games is down across the board. There's a few of the legends like 'Bama, LSU, Michigan, etc. that haven't felt it much, but for the most part, it's down all over the country. UW needs to look at the factors involved, hone in on the possible legitimate reasons, and act on the actionable ones.

TV is a huge factor. TV exposure is exponentially broader in CFB. Add in the hassles of parking and the disdain factor for any one or combination of drunk/ unruly fans, misguided law enforcement/ security, lines for everything, uncomfortable seating, dry stadia and it becomes pretty clear. We haven't even approached the economic factor as well as the fact that, like it or not, live sports venues and stadia are now competing with sports bars and lounges offering multiple games on big screens and even private screens in a more comfortable and managed environment with fewer hassles at prices far below the stadium experience. This is the landscape of college football, and, to a certain extent, basketball (arena comfort isn't as negative).

I think the programs need to think about how to take a page from the sports-hospitality providers and figure out how to deliver an experience that provides more comfort and value while mitigating inconvenience. Price models probably need some shifting along with offerings and added-value amenities. Stadium security should be handled privately by well-trained personnel whose focus is guest comfort and satisfaction along with safety with law enforcement on stand-by and augmenting security, largely in service to security management, not treating fans in attendance as someone on public property. They should react on complaint, not on observation (leave that to private security).

As far as amenities- I think first and foremost would be in-stadium broadcasting of TV feeds for smart phones and tablets/ pads. These should be replay and pause-interactive along the lines of current DVR technology. Enable apps to order concessions from your seat, delivered by servers. Alcohol is available in the Wildcatter- make it available in certain sections with strict ID verification enforcement (bracelets, etc. and zero tolerance on providing to under-age or cut-off fans). Hell, take a page from Petco in San Diego and set up a bar and grill in the north end zone and offer two seatings. I can think of a half a dozen things that would make the experience more attractive to both the casual fan of average means to the rabid fan in the upper-income tiers.

 

[Asmodeanreborn]

Fact is, attendance at college football games is down across the board. There's a few of the legends like 'Bama, LSU, Michigan, etc. that haven't felt it much, but for the most part, it's down all over the country. UW needs to look at the factors involved, hone in on the possible legitimate reasons, and act on the actionable ones.

TV is a huge factor. TV exposure is exponentially broader in CFB. Add in the hassles of parking and the disdain factor for any one or combination of drunk/ unruly fans, misguided law enforcement/ security, lines for everything, uncomfortable seating, dry stadia and it becomes pretty clear. We haven't even approached the economic factor as well as the fact that, like it or not, live sports venues and stadia are now competing with sports bars and lounges offering multiple games on big screens and even private screens in a more comfortable and managed environment with fewer hassles at prices far below the stadium experience. This is the landscape of college football, and, to a certain extent, basketball (arena comfort isn't as negative).

I think the programs need to think about how to take a page from the sports-hospitality providers and figure out how to deliver an experience that provides more comfort and value while mitigating inconvenience. Price models probably need some shifting along with offerings and added-value amenities. Stadium security should be handled privately by well-trained personnel whose focus is guest comfort and satisfaction along with safety with law enforcement on stand-by and augmenting security, largely in service to security management, not treating fans in attendance as someone on public property. They should react on complaint, not on observation (leave that to private security).

As far as amenities- I think first and foremost would be in-stadium broadcasting of TV feeds for smart phones and tablets/ pads. These should be replay and pause-interactive along the lines of current DVR technology. Enable apps to order concessions from your seat, delivered by servers. Alcohol is available in the Wildcatter- make it available in certain sections with strict ID verification enforcement (bracelets, etc. and zero tolerance on providing to under-age or cut-off fans). Hell, take a page from Petco in San Diego and set up a bar and grill in the north end zone and offer two seatings. I can think of a half a dozen things that would make the experience more attractive to both the casual fan of average means to the rabid fan in the upper-income tiers.

It needs to be mentioned that today's "middle class" is on the level of poor people in the 70s as far as what they can afford goes. Housing, education, and health care costs have increased dozens of times faster than inflation. About the only consumer good that hasn't outpaced inflation is technology (TVs, computers, dishwashers, etc). In the 70s, a family with the equivalent of two minimum wage parents could easily pay off a mortgage in 15 years as the average house cost about $24k, while the average worker made $9k and didn't have crushing debt. Hell, the average car cost $2,500 in 1970, compared to $28,000 in 2008. If wages had followed that trend, the average worker would be pulling in six figures today. Even food has increased in price more than 10 times since the 70s.


Edit: And with that I'd like to just point out that there's incentive to staying on the couch and watching the game for "free" rather than spending hundreds of dollars actually going to the game. Most people I know prefer actually being at a game to watching it on TV, but when the cost discrepancy is as big as it is... well...

 

[stymeman]

My problem with the cops at the games is their military style look on them.
They sit there and stare down everyone like the fans are terrorists, and the LPD are damn SEAL Team 6.

That and the fact they don't enforce to bust people, not make it a safer environment.
Perfect example?

A couple years ago a buddy and I were sitting in the student section, and there was a very drunk student in front of us who was falling down and then puked ALL over the place. Luckily his friends gathered him up and left the game immediately so he didn't get in trouble.
Unfortunately, a couple other kids came took their seats.
During this 1-2 minutes of activity, the cops saw the puker, then went to arrest him. But they arrested the new kids who sat there because they had also been drinking.
These kids had done nothing wrong yet still got in trouble because some other jackass made a big scene.

In my day there was a dude on LPD that was in full helmet and riot gear, we used to call him T-1000 after the cop on Terminator 2....they are a sad sack

 

[stymeman]

It'd be great to have the university try and get a few buses going to/from different towns around the state, and possibly in Colorado too. Would hopefully make less people try to drive drunk, save on gas costs, and it's generally fun to travel with a bunch of rowdy fans. We DO have a great fan base. They're just really spread out.

You would think they could do this pretty easily and keep up with demand. For example, they could setup a website saying find us 20/30 fan's, have them sign up and pay $20 bucks for the ticket (or whatever makes sense), plus here is a discounted game ticket. Once they meet the quota, send a bus down to that location on gameday. Otherwise, refund the money.

This is a good idea, or buy 2 adult tickets get a free kids ticket, it's not cheap to go to a UW game anymore

 

[whyoh]

My problem with the cops at the games is their military style look on them.
They sit there and stare down everyone like the fans are terrorists, and the LPD are damn SEAL Team 6.

That and the fact they don't enforce to bust people, not make it a safer environment.
Perfect example?

A couple years ago a buddy and I were sitting in the student section, and there was a very drunk student in front of us who was falling down and then puked ALL over the place. Luckily his friends gathered him up and left the game immediately so he didn't get in trouble.
Unfortunately, a couple other kids came took their seats.
During this 1-2 minutes of activity, the cops saw the puker, then went to arrest him. But they arrested the new kids who sat there because they had also been drinking.
These kids had done nothing wrong yet still got in trouble because some other jackass made a big scene.

In my day there was a dude on LPD that was in full helmet and riot gear, we used to call him T-1000 after the cop on Terminator 2....they are a sad sack

CAREFUL, GUISE, THEY'VE BEEN TAILGATING!!

 

[kansasCowboy]

I honestly don't think our attendance has been terrible this year.
Idaho- 22,030/ pretty good numbers considering it is in fact Idaho.
UNC- 19,091/ was hoping we could keep this one above 20k, but atleast it wasn't one of our patented 15k games.
UNM- 22,835/ Considering it is still UNM I thought they brought in a pretty good crowd.
CSU- project 25-26k/ if the weather holds out expect a good turnout against our rival.
FSU- project (if we are 6-2) expect 24-26k. (If we drop one or both games before) 19-20k. I will be going with the first one
HAW- project (at 7-3) expect 22-24k, this may be our bad weather game, if so expect 15-17k.
If we in fact go 9-3, I think we will get the conf championship game. Also if Fresno wins their division, we would get them in Laramie again.
FSU- expect 27-sellout.
I think our fans will be following the wins, weather permitting.
But slowly DC has our fan base going back up.
Glenn's final year in 08- we went 3-4 at home and avgd 18,233. We had only two games over 20k. Ohio and AFA.
Under DC:
09- 19,493 and went 3-3 one sellout at 31k.
10- 20,791 and went 2-4 one sellout and had four over 20k and one at 29k.
11- 22,162 and went 4-2 one sellout and had four over 20k and one at 32k.
12- 19,555 and went 1-5 no sellouts had four over20k.
13- 21,318 so far we're 3-0 no sellouts at two over 20k.

 

[whyoh]

I honestly don't think our attendance has been terrible this year.
Idaho- 22,030/ pretty good numbers considering it is in fact Idaho.
UNC- 19,091/ was hoping we could keep this one above 20k, but atleast it wasn't one of our patented 15k games.
UNM- 22,835/ Considering it is still UNM I thought they brought in a pretty good crowd.
CSU- project 25-26k/ if the weather holds out expect a good turnout against our rival.
FSU- project (if we are 6-2) expect 24-26k. (If we drop one or both games before) 19-20k. I will be going with the first one
HAW- project (at 7-3) expect 22-24k, this may be our bad weather game, if so expect 15-17k.
If we in fact go 9-3, I think we will get the conf championship game. Also if Fresno wins their division, we would get them in Laramie again.
FSU- expect 27-sellout.
I think our fans will be following the wins, weather permitting.
But slowly DC has our fan base going back up.
Glenn's final year in 08- we went 3-4 at home and avgd 18,233. We had only two games over 20k. Ohio and AFA.
Under DC:
09- 19,493 and went 3-3 one sellout at 31k.
10- 20,791 and went 2-4 one sellout and had four over 20k and one at 29k.
11- 22,162 and went 4-2 one sellout and had four over 20k and one at 32k.
12- 19,555 and went 1-5 no sellouts had four over20k.
13- 21,318 so far we're 3-0 no sellouts at two over 20k.

remember...in order to get the conf champ game we would have to be ranked higher in the BCS standings


i doubt that a 9-3 Wyo team would be

 

[Wyovanian]

I honestly don't think our attendance has been terrible this year.
Idaho- 22,030/ pretty good numbers considering it is in fact Idaho.
UNC- 19,091/ was hoping we could keep this one above 20k, but atleast it wasn't one of our patented 15k games.
UNM- 22,835/ Considering it is still UNM I thought they brought in a pretty good crowd.
CSU- project 25-26k/ if the weather holds out expect a good turnout against our rival.
FSU- project (if we are 6-2) expect 24-26k. (If we drop one or both games before) 19-20k. I will be going with the first one
HAW- project (at 7-3) expect 22-24k, this may be our bad weather game, if so expect 15-17k.
If we in fact go 9-3, I think we will get the conf championship game. Also if Fresno wins their division, we would get them in Laramie again.
FSU- expect 27-sellout.
I think our fans will be following the wins, weather permitting.
But slowly DC has our fan base going back up.
Glenn's final year in 08- we went 3-4 at home and avgd 18,233. We had only two games over 20k. Ohio and AFA.
Under DC:
09- 19,493 and went 3-3 one sellout at 31k.
10- 20,791 and went 2-4 one sellout and had four over 20k and one at 29k.
11- 22,162 and went 4-2 one sellout and had four over 20k and one at 32k.
12- 19,555 and went 1-5 no sellouts had four over20k.
13- 21,318 so far we're 3-0 no sellouts at two over 20k.

We had better attendance in the 80's and 90's with a smaller city, smaller enrollment, smaller state, and bigger stadium.

The biggest factor different between now and then is TV. Live sports are, for a large segment of fans anymore, inferior to TV and its choices. It's also far easier to rationalize catching the game in a bar in Gillette/ Sheridan/ Jackson/ Cheyenne/ Casper, than making the drive since TV is available. Black out Laramie, FoCo, and Cheyenne, and I just about guarantee attendance would rise. Expand it to Denver and Casper and it will go up further still.

However, I think it would be better to also try to make the live option more attractive than the convenience of TV.

A perfect example- the Texas State game. I had far more fun, in the end, sitting in a bar in Austin watching the game, than I was having prior to the lightning delay in the stadium in San Marcos. I could order a beer and food, the locals wanted to banter about it and were more social, I didn't have to walk 3/4 mile back and forth to my car... the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much the TV experience was now competing with, and even besting live games. I know people who tailgate, then head to the bars or home to watch games in Denver, San Diego, and Seattle anymore. They started doing it more out of not feeling well, bad weather, etc., then discovered they felt there was more value and convenience in it.

 

[Brew_Poke]

My problem with the cops at the games is their military style look on them.
They sit there and stare down everyone like the fans are terrorists, and the LPD are damn SEAL Team 6.

That and the fact they don't enforce to bust people, not make it a safer environment.
Perfect example?

A couple years ago a buddy and I were sitting in the student section, and there was a very drunk student in front of us who was falling down and then puked ALL over the place. Luckily his friends gathered him up and left the game immediately so he didn't get in trouble.
Unfortunately, a couple other kids came took their seats.
During this 1-2 minutes of activity, the cops saw the puker, then went to arrest him. But they arrested the new kids who sat there because they had also been drinking.
These kids had done nothing wrong yet still got in trouble because some other jackass made a big scene.

How could you arrest someone for puking? Assault?

 

[BeaverPoke]

My problem with the cops at the games is their military style look on them.
They sit there and stare down everyone like the fans are terrorists, and the LPD are damn SEAL Team 6.

That and the fact they don't enforce to bust people, not make it a safer environment.
Perfect example?

A couple years ago a buddy and I were sitting in the student section, and there was a very drunk student in front of us who was falling down and then puked ALL over the place. Luckily his friends gathered him up and left the game immediately so he didn't get in trouble.
Unfortunately, a couple other kids came took their seats.
During this 1-2 minutes of activity, the cops saw the puker, then went to arrest him. But they arrested the new kids who sat there because they had also been drinking.
These kids had done nothing wrong yet still got in trouble because some other jackass made a big scene.

How could you arrest someone for puking? Assault?

He was puking and falling down and making a scene...He was drunker than hell.

 

[pokefanchaz7]

I know for my family in northwestern Wyoming we can choose to drive 12 hours round trip spend hundreds if dollars on gas, food, admission, and hotel. Or we can get a party at our house and watch on tv.

Budgetary constraints dictate we watch from home the majority of the time. We are coming with three to this game but won't be able to go to Fresno or Hawaii. For folks with families it's just very expensive to go to games live.

 

[whyoh]

I know for my family in northwestern Wyoming we can choose to drive 12 hours round trip spend hundreds if dollars on gas, food, admission, and hotel. Or we can get a party at our house and watch on tv.

Budgetary constraints dictate we watch from home the majority of the time. We are coming with three to this game but won't be able to go to Fresno or Hawaii. For folks with families it's just very expensive to go to games live.

this.....my wife's family lived in laramie while she was growing up and they never missed a game in that time.....her dad talks like that was just the place to be on saturday for everybody in town

now it seems like the locals (for the most part) don't really care anymore.....rather than blacking out tv the AD really needs to push publicity to the non-university citizens of laramie as well as getting the word out to students when the team is doing well

 

[BeaverPoke]

The Pokes definitely need better promotion. Too many people just don't give a shit.
Especially students...I mean, if the students are the future alumni, and we don't have their support now, how are we going to have the support from the alumni in 10 years?

 

[YankPoke]

On a positive note, I just looked at how we are doing for Saturday and it looks like the lower west side is almost sold out, and there are sections sold out up top. It looks like only the upper corners aren't close to being a sell out so we should expect to see a pretty big crowd for the Sheep.

 

[YankPoke]

Also seem to be doing good promotions this weekend like staff get a buy one get one free and they are selling tickets for 38% discount today since we are averaging 38 points a game.

 

[whyoh]

Also seem to be doing good promotions this weekend like staff get a buy one get one free and they are selling tickets for 38% discount today since we are averaging 38 points a game.

wish i would have known this.....the wife could have possibly taken advantage of that

 

[whyoh]

On a positive note, I just looked at how we are doing for Saturday and it looks like the lower west side is almost sold out, and there are sections sold out up top. It looks like only the upper corners aren't close to being a sell out so we should expect to see a pretty big crowd for the Sheep.

i don't see any sold out sections