What is up with Attendance & Game Promotion?

[TU2018 4]

As a 2018 Towson grad I would like to share some of my insight on this topic.

During my time at Towson, (2015-2018) going to football games was never considered cool or even a thought in most of my friends minds. My freshman year, yeah we went to the first one for the free t-shirt and then never went to another. Most of my Saturdays were spent going out and drinking during the day at Uptown bars (hundreds of students are found here during the day on Saturdays). It's not that I wasn't interested in going to the game, it was just nearly impossible to try to find friends to go with. Most students at this school after freshman year don't go to a single game and do not even follow or know when games are. My friends that graduated before me all used to go (tailgating era) and as soon as tailgating was banned (wasn't actually banned but with all the stupid regulations everyone basically considered it banded) none of them had any interest in going to a game.

It's pretty simple in my eyes, no tailgating culture = no strong student attendance. The whole tailgating thing is a joke. Without a strong tailgating atmosphere how do you expect the community/older adults to come out. Tailgating is a major part of the atmosphere of going to a college/NFL game. Add on top a weak student section, you have a crowd that resembles a high school football game (I've heard students call it a high school atmosphere before).

The attitude by school administration to cover there asses by implementing all these tailgating policies is idiotic. Look at schools down south in the SEC or even UMD. There are thousands of kids on top of tables dancing, in tents, jumping on tables, doing keg stands in the parking lot and the school still allows it.

Another thought to increase attendance is schedule Maryland every year, (or Navy, or WVU). In 2017, many of my friends made the trek down to college park for the game. The same friends who have never attended a Towson home game. Most Towson students are friends with many students at College Park and it was an excellent atmosphere in the tailgating lots and at the game between both rival schools. I know Maryland would never come to us but still it raises the profile of Towson football among students that the games can be fun and may result to them coming out to a home game. 

I would love to hear the feedback from you all, figuring most of you may be older and have an older perspective.

[tualum 114]

8 hours ago, TU2018 said:

As a 2018 Towson grad I would like to share some of my insight on this topic.

During my time at Towson, (2015-2018) going to football games was never considered cool or even a thought in most of my friends minds. My freshman year, yeah we went to the first one for the free t-shirt and then never went to another. Most of my Saturdays were spent going out and drinking during the day at Uptown bars (hundreds of students are found here during the day on Saturdays). It's not that I wasn't interested in going to the game, it was just nearly impossible to try to find friends to go with. Most students at this school after freshman year don't go to a single game and do not even follow or know when games are. My friends that graduated before me all used to go (tailgating era) and as soon as tailgating was banned (wasn't actually banned but with all the stupid regulations everyone basically considered it banded) none of them had any interest in going to a game.

It's pretty simple in my eyes, no tailgating culture = no strong student attendance. The whole tailgating thing is a joke. Without a strong tailgating atmosphere how do you expect the community/older adults to come out. Tailgating is a major part of the atmosphere of going to a college/NFL game. Add on top a weak student section, you have a crowd that resembles a high school football game (I've heard students call it a high school atmosphere before).

The attitude by school administration to cover there asses by implementing all these tailgating policies is idiotic. Look at schools down south in the SEC or even UMD. There are thousands of kids on top of tables dancing, in tents, jumping on tables, doing keg stands in the parking lot and the school still allows it.

Another thought to increase attendance is schedule Maryland every year, (or Navy, or WVU). In 2017, many of my friends made the trek down to college park for the game. The same friends who have never attended a Towson home game. Most Towson students are friends with many students at College Park and it was an excellent atmosphere in the tailgating lots and at the game between both rival schools. I know Maryland would never come to us but still it raises the profile of Towson football among students that the games can be fun and may result to them coming out to a home game. 

I would love to hear the feedback from you all, figuring most of you may be older and have an older perspective.

Thanks for the input from a recent grad. Seems like the tailgating issue hasn't been fully rectified by the school. A lot of us agree that better competition needs to be scheduled to gain more interest. UMD would be a good fit but difficult. The whole argument about scheduling lesser known teams like Holy Cross, etc. to get easy wins just doesn't float. Yes, you may get a win but there is not certainty that you will make the playoffs and coupled with low attendance you have a recipe for a failed program...

[TuTigers2012 1,142]

15 minutes ago, tualum said:

Thanks for the input from a recent grad. Seems like the tailgating issue hasn't been fully rectified by the school. A lot of us agree that better competition needs to be scheduled to gain more interest. UMD would be a good fit but difficult. The whole argument about scheduling lesser known teams like Holy Cross, etc. to get easy wins just doesn't float. Yes, you may get a win but there is not certainty that you will make the playoffs and coupled with low attendance you have a recipe for a failed program...

 

8 hours ago, TU2018 said:

As a 2018 Towson grad I would like to share some of my insight on this topic.

During my time at Towson, (2015-2018) going to football games was never considered cool or even a thought in most of my friends minds. My freshman year, yeah we went to the first one for the free t-shirt and then never went to another. Most of my Saturdays were spent going out and drinking during the day at Uptown bars (hundreds of students are found here during the day on Saturdays). It's not that I wasn't interested in going to the game, it was just nearly impossible to try to find friends to go with. Most students at this school after freshman year don't go to a single game and do not even follow or know when games are. My friends that graduated before me all used to go (tailgating era) and as soon as tailgating was banned (wasn't actually banned but with all the stupid regulations everyone basically considered it banded) none of them had any interest in going to a game.

It's pretty simple in my eyes, no tailgating culture = no strong student attendance. The whole tailgating thing is a joke. Without a strong tailgating atmosphere how do you expect the community/older adults to come out. Tailgating is a major part of the atmosphere of going to a college/NFL game. Add on top a weak student section, you have a crowd that resembles a high school football game (I've heard students call it a high school atmosphere before).

The attitude by school administration to cover there asses by implementing all these tailgating policies is idiotic. Look at schools down south in the SEC or even UMD. There are thousands of kids on top of tables dancing, in tents, jumping on tables, doing keg stands in the parking lot and the school still allows it.

Another thought to increase attendance is schedule Maryland every year, (or Navy, or WVU). In 2017, many of my friends made the trek down to college park for the game. The same friends who have never attended a Towson home game. Most Towson students are friends with many students at College Park and it was an excellent atmosphere in the tailgating lots and at the game between both rival schools. I know Maryland would never come to us but still it raises the profile of Towson football among students that the games can be fun and may result to them coming out to a home game. 

I would love to hear the feedback from you all, figuring most of you may be older and have an older perspective.

Sorry, but playing @ maryland everywhere and losing convincingly does not help us. if anything it makes the fan-base even worse, as they cant complete with a bottom 50 FBS team.

Sorry alum, but winning games helps you get into the playoffs.  Play the lower level teams, win big and scrape together 4-5 conference wins and you are in the playoffs! 

 

Lets be realistic, it really doesnt matter who we play, our attendance is going to consistently be between 6-9k a year depending on game times and the teams performance 

[AtlantaTiger 241]

I think the hard reality is this, most TU students grew up cheering for other schools, whether is was the Terps, Penn State, ND, PITT, etc. and many of them would probably rather go to a bar/sit at home to watch those games on Saturday than watch the TU Tigers.

Winning is definitely the "magic elixir".  Not just a winning season here or there, Towson will need to string together 3 or 4 playoff qualifying seasons to really get the students to pay attention.  It may take another trip (and win) to the National Championship.  People like to be associated with winners and greatness......bandwagon fans are a real thing.

It would probably also help if we could get one or two of our guys in the NFL who could really succeed at high-profile positions.  T West had his chances, it's a shame it didn't pan out for him, although we could go into another great debate about that.  Does Shane Leatherbury have what it takes to make it to the next level and stick?  If we develop a reputation as a school that puts guys in The League consistently, that will help with fan interest and appeal.

[mat1992 2,375]

Welcome to the board 2018. We have alums from around your age to probably around 60. The same issues that we have now were prevalent in a smaller scale many years ago. 

We did win from 2011-13 and had pretty good crowds until the Deb-Debacle that crushed tailgating. The losing didn't help matters but it started with that incident. I don't think the opponent matters. We had a very good student crowd against The Citadel and they disappeared against Stony Brook. Wouldn't you think some of the Long Island students would show up for that one? I guess.

I thought the tailgating issues were supposed to be mostly fixed. More fan-friendly, student-friendly with a DJ and I guess that wasn't enough. We'll see what happens on more of a fallish day this Saturday with the weather getting colder.  

[sr16 180]

My boy Delaire got signed! Hoping he turns it up in San Fran.

[sr16 180]

Just now, mat1992 said:

Welcome to the board 2018. We have alums from around your age to probably around 60. The same issues that we have now were prevalent in a smaller scale many years ago. 

We did win from 2011-13 and had pretty good crowds until the Deb-Debacle that crushed tailgating. The losing didn't help matters but it started with that incident. I don't think the opponent matters. We had a very good student crowd against The Citadel and they disappeared against Stony Brook. Wouldn't you think some of the Long Island students would show up for that one? I guess.

I thought the tailgating issues were supposed to be mostly fixed. More fan-friendly, student-friendly with a DJ and I guess that wasn't enough. We'll see what happens on more of a fallish day this Saturday with the weather getting colder.  

Ive said this repeatedly and I hope someone from the school does check these boards. But they need to directly reach out to greek life and be frank and say that safe will not harress their organizations as long as people are respectful. Did you guys now that student groups weren't even allowed to fly their organizations flags? Stupid rules dont help bring about a winning atmosphere.. 

[TigerNation 50]

Let the Greeks takeover tailgating again!!. They created a crazy and fun atmosphere. Five different trucks blasting music. My brother briefly went to Towson and he only came to games for the tailgate. I rarely ever seen any fights or confrontations.

[mat1992 2,375]

As for not having a star NFL player or starting-caliber skill position player like Dave Meggett was, that's tough. It's difficult enough to make an NFL roster out of an FCS school. Sure, the hope was that T-West was going to break through and become more than just a journeyman runner, who may never play in the NFL again. But we do have Tye Smith, Ryan Delaire, Jordan Dangefield, Jermon Bushrod. That's not bad. But sure, it would help if we had a Pro Bowler other than Bushrod.

Leatherbury might not be a pro prospect due to his size. So I think he'd have to make it as a return man and a slot receiver. At least he has one more season and he's been terrific this season. He does have great speed and would have to run 4.4ish to get a look. Same with Shane Simpson, who I think can get looks as a returner. Look at the third-string running back for the Ravens, De'lance Turner. A rookie free agent from Alcorn State. However, he's bigger than Shane at 5-11, 215. Also intrigued with Jabari Allen if he can put on more weight though not sure he's fast enough.

I also think if they can move DeBerry inside next season, he can be a prospect. He's incredibly strong and runs a 4.65. Chris Clark has the size at 6-6, 260 and can run. Just needs to stay healthy. In a couple of years, LT Andrew Garnett could be the next Bushrod. He's 6-5, 320ish with good feet. Fenner will get some looks this season as scouts are coming out to see him. Would love to see what a healthy Troy Vincent Jr. can do at either corner or safety. Maybe the move him to replace Fenner next season because we have a ton of good young corners to provide depth for Gillette and Shuman in 2019.

Oh yeah, there's TF14, who is probably better than at least 1/2 of the NFL backups but his size will hold him back of course.

 

 

[Chris Datres 455]

12 hours ago, TU2018 said:

As a 2018 Towson grad I would like to share some of my insight on this topic.

During my time at Towson, (2015-2018) going to football games was never considered cool or even a thought in most of my friends minds. My freshman year, yeah we went to the first one for the free t-shirt and then never went to another. Most of my Saturdays were spent going out and drinking during the day at Uptown bars (hundreds of students are found here during the day on Saturdays). It's not that I wasn't interested in going to the game, it was just nearly impossible to try to find friends to go with. Most students at this school after freshman year don't go to a single game and do not even follow or know when games are. My friends that graduated before me all used to go (tailgating era) and as soon as tailgating was banned (wasn't actually banned but with all the stupid regulations everyone basically considered it banded) none of them had any interest in going to a game.

It's pretty simple in my eyes, no tailgating culture = no strong student attendance. The whole tailgating thing is a joke. Without a strong tailgating atmosphere how do you expect the community/older adults to come out. Tailgating is a major part of the atmosphere of going to a college/NFL game. Add on top a weak student section, you have a crowd that resembles a high school football game (I've heard students call it a high school atmosphere before).

The attitude by school administration to cover there asses by implementing all these tailgating policies is idiotic. Look at schools down south in the SEC or even UMD. There are thousands of kids on top of tables dancing, in tents, jumping on tables, doing keg stands in the parking lot and the school still allows it.

Another thought to increase attendance is schedule Maryland every year, (or Navy, or WVU). In 2017, many of my friends made the trek down to college park for the game. The same friends who have never attended a Towson home game. Most Towson students are friends with many students at College Park and it was an excellent atmosphere in the tailgating lots and at the game between both rival schools. I know Maryland would never come to us but still it raises the profile of Towson football among students that the games can be fun and may result to them coming out to a home game. 

I would love to hear the feedback from you all, figuring most of you may be older and have an older perspective.

I know it's a football topic right now and we're still 6 weeks away from tipoff, but I'd like you to take a crack at the basketball problem next.