Football Attendance

wiu712 · Thu Nov 16, 2017 8:46 am

ST_Lawson wrote: Thu Nov 16, 2017 8:27 amI do think that doing a promotion with Amtrak like they did a couple of years ago, and doing something with the local high schools would be good too.

Former Western Asst A.D. Sean McDonough had a successful promotion in 2010 that resulted in a crowd of 8,217 for that final home game on November 20, 2010.

I don't know why we did not give that another try this year.

rocki · Thu Nov 16, 2017 9:02 am

ST_Lawson wrote: Thu Nov 16, 2017 8:27 am This went out today to all Facilities Management employees:
All,
Athletics has been kind enough to offer FREE tickets to the game on Saturday, November 18, to any of our employees and their families that would like to attend. If you would like to have tickets, please let me or your superintendent know by the end of today and we will get tickets for you.
Thank you.
Troy Rhoads & Mary Howe
So it sounds like they're doing what they can to get employees to go to the game. I do think that doing a promotion with Amtrak like they did a couple of years ago, and doing something with the local high schools would be good too (it's too late to implement something for this weekend, but for every year that we play at home the weekend before thanksgiving, we should do it).

Yeah. They need to put this in their "to do" file for future reference. The potential for bringing attendance numbers is there, they just need to capitalize on it!

sealhall74 · Thu Nov 16, 2017 9:49 am

Do faculty and staff get discounted tickets to ALL sporting events? I know they do for season tickets but If they dont already do it for single games, might be good thing to start.

leatherface · Thu Nov 16, 2017 10:10 am

Sooooo, faculty and staff at WIU are not able to attend any university sponsored events on their ID card? Amazing, I've worked for three colleges, and all allowed faculty and staff to attend games at no charge- just show school ID. Seems like a reasonable "perk" and would help attendance.

Thu Nov 16, 2017 10:36 am

We do not currently get free admission/free tickets to games or discounted tickets for single games (other than the occasional promotion like the previously mentioned one for this weekend).
The only "discount" we get is if we get season tickets. For football, faculty and staff get $5 off the season ticket cost (60 vs 65 for reserved, 45 vs 50 for general admission this season).
I go to nearly all the games anyway (duh) but I do have to buy my tickets. Usually I don't get season tickets because as an alumni band member, I get into Homecoming for free anyway, so it's usually cheaper for me to just buy my tickets at the gate for the regular $10/$15 than spend the money on season tickets.

I agree that they should probably allow faculty and staff in free...and not because it would mean I get into games for free (I don't mind paying...it helps support the program), but because I think it would increase attendance and help encourage community interest/involvement in the program.

If someone a bit more well connected than I wanted to put a bug in Matt Tanney's ear about that, I wouldn't mind...although I feel like it would be too self-serving for me to suggest it.

GV Dad · Sun Nov 19, 2017 12:17 pm

Just starting following WIU, as my son is a 2018 recruit. So I don't know the history. But WIU has to have one of the worst sports marketing team in the country based on ave attendance for football. With a winning team in the Conf they are in. Mindboggling

Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:09 pm

GV Dad wrote:Just starting following WIU, as my son is a 2018 recruit. So I don't know the history. But WIU has to have one of the worst sports marketing team in the country based on ave attendance for football. With a winning team in the Conf they are in. Mindboggling

I'm out of town right now so the long answer will have to wait. Short answer is mostly location. We could do a better job with marketing, but I think it's primarily location and budget that hinder attendance.

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GV Dad · Sun Nov 19, 2017 2:24 pm

ST_Lawson wrote: Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:09 pm
GV Dad wrote:Just starting following WIU, as my son is a 2018 recruit. So I don't know the history. But WIU has to have one of the worst sports marketing team in the country based on ave attendance for football. With a winning team in the Conf they are in. Mindboggling
I'm out of town right now so the long answer will have to wait. Short answer is mostly location. We could do a better job with marketing, but I think it's primarily location and budget that hinder attendance.

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Location should help attendance. Nothing else competing for entertainment dollars on a Fall Saturday afternoon. Just seems a shame, such a good product on the field. We really enjoyed ourselves at our game visit. Even with an hour or so weather delay. Gave us time to go eat at Gelsosomo's and still see the end the game.

Western_101 · Sun Nov 19, 2017 4:38 pm

When I attended games there in the Mid '90s attendance would vary from around 7K-10K (could be more could be less). There was a significant student turnout for the games. Definitely an event. Of course I didn't have internet in my dorm room and I had a 13" TV and I think I got like 20 channels. So for me I looked forward to going to the football games.

There are many factors that go into the sparsely attended games. Mr. Lawson, does a good job breaking it down. So I will let him tell the story.

Post Script

If I remember correctly the weather was bad at all the home games this year except H.C. Also, heck, Western didn't even have it's first home game until like the 6th week of the semester. That's six weeks where students develop other entertainment routines for their weekends. Starting the season with three away games and a bye doesn't exactly build excitement on campus for the football team. You poll the students and ask if they are interested in Western football, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the responses were "What? Western has a football team"?

The schedule this season was not very fan friendly (Thank Northwestern, and Coastal Carolina for that).

wiu712 · Sun Nov 19, 2017 7:38 pm

GV Dad wrote: Sun Nov 19, 2017 12:17 pmWIU has to have one of the worst sports marketing team in the country based on average attendance for football. With a winning team in the Conf they are in. Mindboggling.

The attendance for our 4 home games:
September 30 (Homecoming) = 5,631.
October 14 (Family Weekend) =3,217.
October 28 = 2,247.
November 18 = 2,812.

The Macomb area is a rural area. And the student enrollment at Western has been going down. So to boost attendance, you need to take a look at marketing and promotions.

We had a successful promotion 7 years ago (November 20, 2010). Just like this year, it was the final home game of the season. It came during Thanksgiving Break at Western. And playoff implications were on the line. So it was very similar to this year. A successful marketing and promoting of that game produced a crowd of 8,217.

A product is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. If no one is buying $15 tickets, the market has decided that it is not worth it. Might be worth dropping the price to increase the attendance.

The closest college football program to Macomb is Monmouth College. They just finished a successful year: winning the Midwest Conference championship game and going to the NCAA Division 3 Playoffs. They have free admission. It is hard to compete with free.