Very few schools schools in America continue to have full student sections. Blame it on WiFi, game times, interest, etc., but we all lack in this area. What is YOUR school doing to promote and make the experience a student-friendly atmosphere more than the product on the filed?

Please don’t take shots at other schools here. All of us could do better. What are some ideas your school is promoting?

We talking all sports?

I have no idea what the school does to promote games to students except e-mail mailouts and random small poster/billboard signage across campus. This is for all sports.

Yes, for sporting events...

Football games, both collegiate and professional, are too long.

(11-20-2018 02:14 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  Football games, both collegiate and professional, are too long.

This. I watch less football than i ever do because the games are so damn long. Sake reason indont watch baseball or NASCAR. Basketball games are generally reliably 2 hours unless it goes into OT, but that just means you're getting to see an exciting game so no big deal.

When it takes over 4 hours to play a college football game.......ya need to rethink some things. Keep the clock running on first downs, cut halftime down to 12 minutes.

(11-20-2018 02:16 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 02:14 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  Football games, both collegiate and professional, are too long.

This. I watch less football than i ever do because the games are so damn long. Sake reason indont watch baseball or NASCAR. Basketball games are generally reliably 2 hours unless it goes into OT, but that just means you're getting to see an exciting game so no big deal.

I agree. I'll still watch basketball but have gradually gravitated away from football due to the game length. I'm sure if I was closer to school I'd go, but to spend 4 hours watching random TV games doesn't fit into my life schedule most of the time. Heck, I think my recently acquired affinity for soccer has something to do with the matches only being 90 minutes with NO commercials.

We are intent on providing an unwatchable athletic product in hopes that students will decide to attend...hence Rice's tagline of "unconventional wisdom"

(11-20-2018 02:23 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 02:16 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 02:14 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  Football games, both collegiate and professional, are too long.

This. I watch less football than i ever do because the games are so damn long. Sake reason indont watch baseball or NASCAR. Basketball games are generally reliably 2 hours unless it goes into OT, but that just means you're getting to see an exciting game so no big deal.

I agree. I'll still watch basketball but have gradually gravitated away from football due to the game length. I'm sure if I was closer to school I'd go, but to spend 4 hours watching random TV games doesn't fit into my life schedule most of the time. Heck, I think my recently acquired affinity for soccer has something to do with the matches only being 90 minutes with NO commercials.

I was always a soccer fan, well I started following the USMNT closely during qualification for 2006, but never adopted a club.

Prior to 2017, I had attended a couple of friendlies and qualifiers, one MLS game and a couple of NASL games.

I've been an Atlanta United STH for both seasons and have attended 90% of our ~40 combined home games between regular season, postseason and USOC.

That's way more than the number of NFL games I've attended in my life and will likely pass both the number of MLB games and CFB games I've attended in another year or two.

And honestly, if the price to attend NFL games was exactly the same or if I could somehow magically travel the 200+ miles to Murfreesboro just as easily as I can get to the Benz, I think I'm to the point that soccer would still be my first choice, though perhaps not by the wide margin it has been the last two years.

(11-20-2018 02:22 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  When it takes over 4 hours to play a college football game.......ya need to rethink some things. Keep the clock running on first downs, cut halftime down to 12 minutes.

Don't think that will work for multiple reasons. it takes teams a couple minutes to get to the locker room and they usually come back out at the 5 minute mark so this leaves teams with 5 minutes or so max for halftime. And some places it could take several minutes to get to the locker room so by the time you get there it'd be time to come right back to the field. As well, most if not all colleges have bands and their halftime performances usually last around 10-12 minutes so now you're having the band to adjust.....and yes, I just referenced the band to speeding up a football game

I see NO evidence that football games are longer today than they were 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 years ago. I do agree that the video recordings viewed by the officials to determine justification of calls may have added 4 or 5 minutes to a game but that is about the only change of consequence. This appears to be a false issue.

I do watch soccer and as my city was granted a MLS team this year I will probably watch more next season however soccer is not nearly as exciting as several other sports. I even consider PGA golf more interesting. Of course that is only my opinion and others may disagree but the length of football games is NOT the reason for diminished viewer ship.

I'm a junior at USM and some of my friends who like professional and college sports didn't even knew that we're a D1 school until I told them. Really besides football there's really no hype for any of the other teams at this school.

(11-20-2018 03:31 PM)bcat4311 Wrote:  I see NO evidence that football games are longer today than they were 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 years ago. I do agree that the video recordings viewed by the officials to determine justification of calls may have added 4 or 5 minutes to a game but that is about the only change of consequence. This appears to be a false issue.

I do watch soccer and as my city was granted a MLS team this year I will probably watch more next season however soccer is not nearly as exciting as several other sports. I even consider PGA golf more interesting. Of course that is only my opinion and others may disagree but the length of football games is NOT the reason for diminished viewer ship.

Football games are longer than they were a decade ago.

Congrats on FC Cincinnati, glad to see another great fanbase joining the league.

(11-20-2018 03:31 PM)bcat4311 Wrote:  I see NO evidence that football games are longer today than they were 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 years ago. I do agree that the video recordings viewed by the officials to determine justification of calls may have added 4 or 5 minutes to a game but that is about the only change of consequence. This appears to be a false issue.

I do watch soccer and as my city was granted a MLS team this year I will probably watch more next season however soccer is not nearly as exciting as several other sports. I even consider PGA golf more interesting. Of course that is only my opinion and others may disagree but the length of football games is NOT the reason for diminished viewer ship.

pass heavy offenses today mean more clock stoppage than when running was a bigfee piece of the game.

The game is longer than it used to be. We now have all these reviews for targeting, being inbounds, was it turnover, was it a touchdown. When you have a few of those in 1 game it adds an extra 30 min to a game. Style of offense has changed, more passing which means incomplete passes the clock has stopped. We also have hurry up offense. I think we need to get rid of clock stoppage for 1st down, get rid of some of tv timeouts after change of possession.

Let's be honest for a second. Go back six years, and USM is packing their student section to the top of the Rock. There was even talk of giving them another section in the lower area because we had so many coming. But when your students realize (a) the teams you're playing aren't good, (b) your team is losing to those bad teams, and © they don't have a connection to the school outside of attending (didn't grow up cheering for them), you're going to find numbers dropping quick. Win the games, show you're competitive with good teams, and you'll find students showing up. Historically that's been the case.

(11-20-2018 03:34 PM)KingDarius228 Wrote:  I'm a junior at USM and some of my friends who like professional and college sports didn't even knew that we're a D1 school until I told them. Really besides football there's really no hype for any of the other teams at this school.

We have a perennial top 25 baseball program.

The post above hit the nail on the head. Students are the ultimate fair-weather fans. At most of our schools the majority of students that care about sports grew up rooting for one of the P5 schools in our respective states. They come to games with a mild interest as freshman. If the product on the field/court gives them the idea that their current school’s team is as good or similar to their P5 team then they’ll be back and they’ll bring friends. Some of them are eventually switch allegiances and become a true school-first fan. If they attend and get the feeling that their current schools team is “inferior” to their P5 rooting interest then they are done and become a casual observer at best until the team becomes competitive enough for them to deem them worthy of attending again.

Students are easy to figure out at our level. Win, especially against P5 schools, and students will show. If you don’t win enough, they won’t. Also, beating up on bad to mediocre teams won’t cut it. Students need a genuine belief that their team can compete with the “big boys” so they can talk to all of their friends at the so called “big boy” schools and feel validated.

I think the complaints about length is just another way of saying "I have a short attention span".

For you guys with Attention Deficit Disorder, here are some possible solutions:

1. Cut the quarters from 15 minutes to 12 or 10.
2. Eliminate the second half.
3. Play in OT style from the git-go.

(11-21-2018 10:52 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I think the complaints about length is just another way of saying "I have a short attention span".

For you guys with Attention Deficit Disorder, here are some possible solutions:

1. Cut the quarters from 15 minutes to 12 or 10.
2. Eliminate the second half.
3. Play in OT style from the git-go.

TV timeouts have ruined football. And my short attention span has nothing to do with that. I just sit in the stands and seethe when that guy in red is stopping the game.