Attendance for home opener

[sealhall74]

We all hope for a good turn out for the 1st home game of the year. The team coming off a playoff run, preseason nationally ranked for the first time in 8 years, got the 1st win of the year last week, playing against a good nationally ranked team and yet the students will still not come out.

Pretty much the reason why is because there is no recognition with this team. No tradition of any type and they do not win. Let's not forget most of these kids who come to Macomb made WIU their 2nd, 3rd, or lower choice. Everyone wants to go to the big college or university to be apart of those gameday traditions and be on tv.

It will take years for WIU to be anywhere close to SDSU, ISU, or even NDSU. The reason why these programs get such large crowds is because they are successful, and have tv recognition through their region. TV deals means money which means special promotions or even funding for construction. ISU and UNI has comcast to show their home games, YSU, NDSU, SDSU have tv deals for their regions. That is how you get big crowds. I do not know why WIU does not ask WGEM to provide live games on TV.

The idea that alcohol will bring more students to the game will not. WIU students already have the opportunity to drink before the games during tailgating and there they can bring their own beer or hard liquor. No student will want to pay for expensive beer when they can drink more for cheaper if they buy it.

Winning will help to get more students out to the game, also forming some kind of tradition. I have said it before either the crowd or band needs to start something because this could also be a recruiting tool. Look at how many teams in the big school have some kind of tradition that people want to be apart of.

JoeW,
I just a finished off a beer or two and a couple of Jack&Cokes so tomorrow I might see things a bit differently, but tonight I think you hit the nail dead center. Winning and only winning can lead to the establishment of any so-called traditions. Why waste the time doing it the other way around. So here's to to the start of a long and healthy Leatherneck winning streak this year. BTW, if you did not see the Scott Kornberg interview video, it is worth a look. Consumate professional. Let's do that 2% improvement he talked about each and every week. The sky is the limit. Cant wait for game day on Saturday.

[ST_Lawson]

Let's do that 2% improvement he talked about each and every week. The sky is the limit.

As they say..."God is in the details". Regardless of your religious persuasion...details matter. If you do the little things well consistently, they all add up to doing the big things well. We do pregame a little better...the band a little better...the team a little better (or a lot better...I'm ok with that too), it all adds up to a better experience.

[JoeWx21]

Seal, I was at WIU from 06-11 and 12-16 and even then students wouldn't go to games when the teams were bad. The pit was the place to be and some students went, but to more sober up before heading out later that even.

The school needs to do a better job promoting and exposing their programs other than radio, and some kind of tradition needs to build up.

[Western_101]

Yeah, the Pit got so raucous the University in effect had to shut it down. No loss, students didn't go into the stadium and the Leathernecks were not challenging for playoff berths.

I have a few pictures I could post, but, lets let that era fade out.

[ST_Lawson]

Seal, I was at WIU from 06-11 and 12-16 and even then students wouldn't go to games when the teams were bad. The pit was the place to be and some students went, but to more sober up before heading out later that even.

The school needs to do a better job promoting and exposing their programs other than radio, and some kind of tradition needs to build up.

To be fair, I was a student at WIU from '96-'00 (AKA the best 5 year span in the school's DI history) and students for the most part still didn't go to games.

Do you have any recommendations for better promotion? I've seen info about the game "plastered" all over twitter, facebook, reddit, youtube, and even via email. Just wondering if there's someplace else were they need to be putting the information out?

I like the idea of the "Freshman Student Run-Out" (pretty sure they got that idea from Northwestern when we played up there). For many new students, it's their first introduction to the football program. If we can get 'em hooked early and keep 'em coming back, it should help build the student fan-base (which will eventually help build the alumni fan-base).

Also, this issue is not unique to Western. With a select few exceptions...it's fairly universal across all of college football: http://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthr ... t-halftime
(hell, even Saban himself reprimanded the Alabama students for leaving the game early last year).

[ST_Lawson]

Yeah, the Pit got so raucous the University in effect had to shut it down. No loss, students didn't go into the stadium and the Leathernecks were not challenging for playoff berths.

I have a few pictures I could post, but, lets let that era fade out.

Oh god, the pit. That place could get scary. The band had to march through it into the stadium and we had soooo many (usually) empty beer cans thrown at us. I'm glad they moved it out to Q-lot...much better experience overall.

[wiu712]

Low student attendance at games has also been a problem at high schools as well.