Sell Outs

[kalm]

(off season thread alert)

As defending National Champions with only four home games, two of which are against playoff caliber/ranked teams, early enough in the season to expect decent weather, and a third that will be homecoming, should we expect to average a sell out every game next year?

 

[Screamin_Eagle174]

We sure as hell better. If we don't average at least 7,000-7500+, something is seriously wrong with FB fans in Eastern Washington, or EWU's PR/Advertising, or both.

 

[EdubAlum]

you don't really think people in Spokane care about us as much as Gonzaga do you??!*


*no seriously, they don't and never will.

 

[EWURanger]

Looking at it, there's no reason why we shouldn't break the single season average attendance record next year. This season, games played in September through mid-October were well attended, with attendance dropping off as it got into November and towards winter break. Our first three home games last year all drew over 7k (11,700, 7500, 7100). Based on these historicals and the fact that we are the defending national champs, have only four home games in Cheney all of which are played before November 1st, and I think we're going to fair pretty well. I don't think every game will be a sell-out, but here's what I reckon:

Sep. 24 Montana St. - The first home game of the season will draw the students out to the game, as well as all the fans that have been waiting all off-season to watch some Eagle football. MSU generally travels fairly well, they should bring at least a thousand folks over. Warm weather.

Predicition: 8,600

Oct. 1 Weber St. - Warm weather, second game of the season. Conference game, albeit against a team whose fan base doesn't traditionally travel.

Prediction: 7,500

Oct. 15 Northern Colo. - Homecoming

Prediction: 7,600

Oct. 29 Portland St. - The "Dam Cup" against PSU. Their fans base does not travel, although this is the last home game of the season so we'll still get decent attendance.

Prediction: 7,100

Average= 7,700

This is all assuming we're doing reasonably well and that the proper marketing is done.

:twocents:

 

[eaglesfootball]

no reason why we shouldnt average at least seven thousand plus for only four home games.

 

[EWURanger]

you don't really think people in Spokane care about us as much as Gonzaga do you??!*


*no seriously, they don't and never will.

I guess I'd buy that argument if Gonzaga played football, but we're not competing with GU during football season. A more accurate comparison might be Washington State, but even their attendance is atrocious for a Pac-10 school.

But since we're talking about Gonzaga - there was a time when even GU had fairly marginal fan support. And relatively speaking, it wasn't that long ago. The old "Kennel" was basically a glorified gym (Reese Court was a lot better facility by a wide margin). The reason they have the fan support they do, have built a new basketball arena, and continue to get the publicity they do is because they produce an excellent product on a consistent basis - not because people in Spokane inherently "like" GU more than EWU or something. The comparison is Apples and Oranges, but we have more folks at some of our football games than attend GU basketball games at the Kennel. And in terms of men's basketball, we have seen the type of support we can have - the one time we hosted and won the Big Sky tournament we had incredible support! And that was just the effects of having one really great basketball season. Could you imagine what we could do if we were consistently winning the Big Sky in basketball and going to the NCAA tournament? Not saying that will happen, but the potential is there. I honestly believe Hayford is going to do good things at EWU so get ready for some magic.

Anyway, I digress. While I'll agree that we're never going to draw 24 thousand plus fans like Montana does while playing in the Big Sky, I think there are a number of reasons to believe that our attendance should steadily improve over the next several years - granted a few things happen.

1. EWU is the fastest growing University in the State. Washington's population is approaching 7 million, so that enrollment trend is going to continue over the next several years. More students=more potential for butts in seats.

2. We are winning. While the exposure we got during the National Championship run wasn't on the level of winning a BCS bowl or anything like that, it certainly piqued people's interest that may not have previously been concerned with football or athletics in general at EWU. I'm talking specifically alums in the State and even out-of-staters that hadn't followed the football program since they left school, but because we had participated in the NC game it had drawn them in. I've spoken to several folks that fall into this category.

3. We finally have an AD who "gets it" - who understands marketing and game day experience is as important as the quality of the product on the field. Let's face it, we've ALWAYS had great athletes and competitive football teams. The difference is that this year we had something in play that set us apart. Sure, we had/have a great team, and I would never take anything away from them or the accomplishments on the field, but the hype created by the Inferno had a least something to do with our NC run. It added a certain je ne sais quois that didn't exist before.

4. While EWU has never really cracked the code of the Spokane media market, there's a half a million people in the greater Spokane area (and growing) and something like 35k EWU alums in that area alone. If we make even marginal gains in drawing out more alums, that'd be a significant improvement. So while Spokane isn't a massive media market, the potential is there. Boise isn't a massive media market, either - and while I know they've got a lot of advantages EWU doesn't, the comparisons aren't totally unfounded. We are a similar Instititution academically in an area that's roughly the same size. No one ever noticed BSU before their football program started achieving a lot of success. If you put the temporary budgetary concerns aside, and consider growing enrollment and the projected population increases in the greater Spokane metro area over the next 10-15 years, is a move to the Bowl Sub-Division completely out of the question? Would that solve the problems of what is at least perceived to be apathy amongst sports fans in Spokane while simultaneously generating more revenue? Maybe, maybe not. I personally feel like we're committed to the Big Sky for now, but what about 10, 15, 20 years from now when the demographics of the University and area have changed and EWU is a school with an enrollment of 15-20 thousand students (which is what is being projected)? Not to mention the fact that the landscape of college football is changing.

Anyway - as per my previous post, I don't think we're going to sell every game out. There will be an improvement over last year, though. I firmly believe that. The key is steady improvement in attendance which will be achieved by consistent winning and facility improvements. One without the other won't get us over the hump with attendance, we're going to need to have both at some point.

Rant complete. :lol: :thumb:

 

[LDopaPDX]

Not to stop you while you're rolling Ranger, but I'd take exception to your comparison of Eastern and Boise State. Boise State has long been a giant community college with two extra years for some programs until the last 15 years or so. Eastern has never been part of that model.

Also, Boise drew well for as long as I can remember. Now, they did win an FCS championship in 1980, so maybe that was the catalyst that started the interest. But all through the 80s, they were drawing 20-25,000 per game which is more than any Big Sky team now sans Montana. Estern has never had that kind of pull.

I don't expect us to pull 10,000+ most games next year either. The schedule may work for us or against us. The critical element will be winning early and keeping interest high. If we lose more than one of those first three, this schedule will look like a terrible gamble. If we go 2-1 or better, it'll probably look smart.

We need to get to where we have demand of 10k per game. That would incentivise our university to finally finish Roos with that permanent East fixture, which has long been desperately needed.

 

[EWURanger]

Not to stop you while you're rolling Ranger, but I'd take exception to your comparison of Eastern and Boise State. Boise State has long been a giant community college with two extra years for some programs until the last 15 years or so. Eastern has never been part of that model.

Also, Boise drew well for as long as I can remember. Now, they did win an FCS championship in 1980, so maybe that was the catalyst that started the interest. But all through the 80s, they were drawing 20-25,000 per game which is more than any Big Sky team now sans Montana. Estern has never had that kind of pull.

I don't expect us to pull 10,000+ most games next year either. The schedule may work for us or against us. The critical element will be winning early and keeping interest high. If we lose more than one of those first three, this schedule will look like a terrible gamble. If we go 2-1 or better, it'll probably look smart.

We need to get to where we have demand of 10k per game. That would incentivise our university to finally finish Roos with that permanent East fixture, which has long been desperately needed.

Oh, I'm totally with you on all points. Boise State is not a great school academically. If I remember correctly, they have a very low graduation percentage in relation to starting Freshman. I guess the point I was trying to illustrate is that if you asked most Montana fans who their "peer" schools are - they would probably include Boise State on that list. Not because they are a good school academically, but because they have had success in football. That's just how sports fans think. Perception is reality, I guess.

I imagine part of the reason BSU has always had good crowds is due to their location right near downtown and the fact that they really don't compete with anyone else in the area. Also, Idaho doesn't have a community college system like Washington does so everyone in that area that doesn't go somewhere else for school just goes to BSU. Hell, if SFCC and SCC didn't exist, Eastern would be massive.

 

[kalm]

you don't really think people in Spokane care about us as much as Gonzaga do you??!*


*no seriously, they don't and never will.

I guess I'd buy that argument if Gonzaga played football, but we're not competing with GU during football season. A more accurate comparison might be Washington State, but even their attendance is atrocious for a Pac-10 school.

I disagree.

I think GU, WSU, Idaho, the Shock, the Chiefs, the Huskies, the Seahawks, the Mariners are all competing for a slice of the pie. Many of us still know people and unfortunately alumni who make the trip down to Pullman to watch a 1-8 PAC 10 versus stay close to home and watch a top 5 FCS team on their way to a championship.

Most people only have enough time in their lives and/or money in their pocket to be true fans of one team. I know several people who are non-sports fans in general who are Zags season ticket holders just to be seen. I know others who are Zag fanatics and for lack of funds have never seen a game in person. Our advantage is that we now have the momentum and still have the room to reach out to both of these groups and suck them in. :nod:

 

[EdubAlum]

I actually do have a good comparison about the Griz and Boise State. I actually went to high school at Boise High School. Boise State did certainly have 20k fans at games well before this last decade of success.

I think a lot of the statements are true that have been posted about EWU vs other institutions already, but I actually do liken Boise State's fan base more to Gonzaga Basketball or U of M in general.

Last time I was in my hometown (during football season last year) I couldn't help but notice the large amount of obnoxious Boise State stuff on people's cars. I'm not joking all this on a single car, 4 windows flags, license plates, license plate cover, football stickers, pomp pomps in the windows etc, and keep it mind, it's not even game day! Then you see one of these cars pretty much at every stop light. I was thinking to myself, these people have been as obsessed about Boise State as Griz fans have become about their teams (they seem to support their basketball team pretty well in addition to football). Granted, there is nothing wrong with being a fan of your team, but that's a little stupid don't you think? I consider myself a pretty big EWU athletic fan (after all, i even go watch some of the women's teams compete), and yet you don't see all that crap on my car. The U of O superfans take the cake though, they routinely have 4 or more Ducks items on a single vehicle ( Go OSU!).

I think people just get excited about something within their community actually mattering on a national scale. Before Boise State's success in football there were almost no mentions of Boise, or Idaho in mainstream media. Now even the most casual sports fan probably knows about Boise State's blue turf or that "they have a good football team right?" I think the same is true about Gonzaga basketball, one of the few things that makes Spokane relevant on a national scale, so of course people in Spokane are pumped up about it. I think it's great they have something to latch onto that represents their community in a really positive way. I'm not trying to Trash Spokane, or Boise, or even Missoula, but you can't deny the fact they are the biggest thing that represents their community as a whole, which leads me to Eastern.

Eastern is 1) not really associated to Spokane by most people of Spokane, they seem to consider it as near Spokane, but not Spokane. 2) We don't play at the top level of football (in the eyes of the general public, not what we think), and so it makes it more difficult for the general public to latch on. Would the Spokane community go bananas if Whitworth went 10-2 for the next 8 seasons in a row? Not sure, but given by their basketball teams success that at least I was completely unaware of prior to our new coach, I kind of doubt it (granted I haven't lived in Spokane in 6 years you guys would know better than I would). I think the biggest reason for that is they don't compete at the highest level.

I dunno, I want people to care about Eastern and Eastern Football even if they're not EWU alumni or parents of students, but I'm just not sure what it's going to take to change that, I don't think one national championship will be enough, I'm totally with Dopa though, I don't think our crappy facilities help us at all, we need to implement something like what Ranger designed, but of course that takes fans, and money.

 

[EWURanger]

Facilities improvements have to be part of any discussion of really taking the program to the next level. I don't mean "moving up", but just becoming a really elite FCS program like Montana, App State, or Delaware. I agree that the National Championship alone isn't going to take us to that next level, but it's definitely a really good start. I don't think the success we had this season combined with the media exposure from the red turf can really be quantified. We all have legit gripes about facilities and attendance, but if we are really going to be objective, we are in a far better position now than we were even two short years ago.

While I definitely think we can make measured improvements in terms of attendance and facilities, the reality is that we play FCS football in a Pac-10 market. Nothing wrong with that, but even under the most ideal conditions I'd have a hard time seeing us average over 10k a game without significant improvements in facilities and marketing. It's going to be slow-going, but I believe the football team is going to continue to have success and over time that will bring about the changes to the program that we all hope will happen.

 

[Rontheoldwiseeagle]

We have no $$ for marketing, and now the undefeated fans will have several hundred thousand more $$ to spend. The rich get richer and the the poor --------------.

 

[eaglesfootball]

if you look at EWU's football resume over the past decade the argument could be made that we already are an elite program. but I do agree that facility improvements would go a very long way to sustaining the level of success we have had as of late.

 

[Screamin_Eagle174]

if you look at EWU's football resume over the past decade the argument could be made that we already are an elite program. but I do agree that facility improvements would go a very long way to sustaining the level of success we have had as of late.

Agreed, and this is a big sticking point in a discussion about this very thing over on AGS.

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?84277-Top-10-current-FCS-programs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[EWURanger]

if you look at EWU's football resume over the past decade the argument could be made that we already are an elite program. but I do agree that facility improvements would go a very long way to sustaining the level of success we have had as of late.

Hell, look what we've been able to do with the attendance and facilities we have now. I think it's probably safe to say that if we had some of the resources that other schools do we'd be dominating the rest of the conference on a regular basis.

 

[LDopaPDX]

I actually do have a good comparison about the Griz and Boise State. I actually went to high school at Boise High School. Boise State did certainly have 20k fans at games well before this last decade of success.

I think a lot of the statements are true that have been posted about EWU vs other institutions already, but I actually do liken Boise State's fan base more to Gonzaga Basketball or U of M in general.

Last time I was in my hometown (during football season last year) I couldn't help but notice the large amount of obnoxious Boise State stuff on people's cars. I'm not joking all this on a single car, 4 windows flags, license plates, license plate cover, football stickers, pomp pomps in the windows etc, and keep it mind, it's not even game day! Then you see one of these cars pretty much at every stop light. I was thinking to myself, these people have been as obsessed about Boise State as Griz fans have become about their teams (they seem to support their basketball team pretty well in addition to football). Granted, there is nothing wrong with being a fan of your team, but that's a little stupid don't you think? I consider myself a pretty big EWU athletic fan (after all, i even go watch some of the women's teams compete), and yet you don't see all that crap on my car. The U of O superfans take the cake though, they routinely have 4 or more Ducks items on a single vehicle ( Go OSU!).

I think people just get excited about something within their community actually mattering on a national scale. Before Boise State's success in football there were almost no mentions of Boise, or Idaho in mainstream media. Now even the most casual sports fan probably knows about Boise State's blue turf or that "they have a good football team right?" I think the same is true about Gonzaga basketball, one of the few things that makes Spokane relevant on a national scale, so of course people in Spokane are pumped up about it. I think it's great they have something to latch onto that represents their community in a really positive way. I'm not trying to Trash Spokane, or Boise, or even Missoula, but you can't deny the fact they are the biggest thing that represents their community as a whole, which leads me to Eastern.

Eastern is 1) not really associated to Spokane by most people of Spokane, they seem to consider it as near Spokane, but not Spokane. 2) We don't play at the top level of football (in the eyes of the general public, not what we think), and so it makes it more difficult for the general public to latch on. Would the Spokane community go bananas if Whitworth went 10-2 for the next 8 seasons in a row? Not sure, but given by their basketball teams success that at least I was completely unaware of prior to our new coach, I kind of doubt it (granted I haven't lived in Spokane in 6 years you guys would know better than I would). I think the biggest reason for that is they don't compete at the highest level.

I dunno, I want people to care about Eastern and Eastern Football even if they're not EWU alumni or parents of students, but I'm just not sure what it's going to take to change that, I don't think one national championship will be enough, I'm totally with Dopa though, I don't think our crappy facilities help us at all, we need to implement something like what Ranger designed, but of course that takes fans, and money.

I fucking hate the U of O. Don't you live in West Linn? I live on the other side; but the arrogant Duck idiots surround me too.

The WORST thing about Oregon is their utter hypocrisy as a university. All their students (well, maybe not all, but the VAST VOCAL MAJORITY) are the farthest of the fringe left-wing loonies. They rail against corporations and business and all of that. Yet, the university is the biggest corporate shill in all of college sports--- likeably called "Nike U." And they act this way without a shred of irony.

 

[EdubAlum]

Ha, I live in SW Portland near SW Capitol Highway and SW Barbur....my parents are Beavers, my dislike for the U of O fans has been brewing inside me for years. I don't hate the school, just the superfans, oh well, at least we won our national championship.