FanPost

Attendance Drivers – Rewriting the script in 2019

In a recent recruiting thread, the subject came up of geographic isolation as a factor in recruiting, specifically as it related to game day attendance. The subject was also mentioned on a recent Nolecast episode.

The model for years now has been that college fans arrive at the game, scramble around to find a place to park, somehow get to the stadium, then tailgate, then go inside of an open-air stadium (in most cases) to watch their favorite team.

That model, which seemed to peak in the 1980's and 1990's (twenty to thirty years ago) has remained unchanged. Yes, FSU does suffer from geographic isolation, however, this same attendance trend is happening all across the country. Last year saw the second largest decline in college game attendance in history and the phenomenon was featured in a Washington Post article in February 2018.

It's not just a geographic isolation issue, although that may play a part.

Just like every other trend, preferences change with generations. Movie attendance has also declined. So has the instances of new indoor mall openings. We now see brick and mortar stores struggling to make it against an online marketplace where comparison shopping is readily available and the goods are delivered to your doorstep in a day's time. Sears, a long time stalwart of the retail sector, is in bankruptcy.

The world is changing, just as it has for centuries. I can't tell you the last time I attended a good jousting event, or a vaudeville show, the circus, a chamber ensemble, a Maypole dance, or any of the other popular entertainment options of generations passed. Heck, even the majority of the good honky tonks are gone, there used to be a few in every town. Will the new DUI focus cause an end to outlaw country music as we once knew it?

To attend a game, well, the joy of that gets weighed against other opportunities. I can sit in a more comfortable chair, spend less money, have the beer or liquor of my choice, scream at the tv, tell Willie what he SHOULD have done and pass out in my own bed all while in the comfort of nothing but my Fear the Spear boxers. And if after the game I choose to pursue another activity, it's there to pursue.

And you know, I'm getting older too. I hope that I'm in the "middle ages", but honestly, I think I passed the middle 10 or 15 years ago. I have extra padding on my bottom now, but it still hurts worse to sit in a chair other than my overstuffed leather recliner more than it did before I reached this middle.

And my generation's peak is when college football game attendance boomed the most, requiring larger and larger stadiums to be constructed. So, my generation (boomers) is aging, the one before mine, if they don't live in the city limits of Tallahassee, most of them don't enjoy the health to travel to more than the occasional game.

Every game I care to see is televised, affording me good seats. If I want crowd interaction, there are sports bars.

Even churches have reevaluated their way of thinking to promote attendance. The old hymns preferred by the great generation have largely been replaced with "contemporary" worship songs. The church of all institutions, you would think would hold to tradition most staunchly. And yet, now it's okay to eat something other than fish on Fridays. Or wear (gasp!) something other than a suit and tie to church. And the Methodists, well they have women pastors, and sometimes lesbian women pastors. My point is, in order to be inclusive to society, organizations change over time.

If attendance, a major source of revenue, is to be preserved or increased, the current model must change. Not the traditions, not the planting of the spear, not the fight song, not some things that are sacred to our school, but the overall experience.

I recently went on a cruise. Let me tell you, that ship had something for everyone. It had the kids covered with rock climbing walls, water slides, game rooms, shows, chicken nuggets and French fries, you name it. And it had all the adults covered too, a casino, beach, pools, spas, every exotic drink known to man, shows, shopping, good food the works. It was an effective approach. The ship was full of happy people enjoying themselves.

To be a DESTINATION these days requires more. It requires comfort. If an individual or a family is to invest days at a destination, there needs to be multiple entertainment options. Sure, the game is the main event, but preceding and subsequent to the game has to offer something as well for the fans if our goal is to get more people to come. The theme parks and cruise lines recognized this a long time ago. And now, you can wait an hour at Disney to allow them to steal $4 from you in exchange for 12 ounces of water. They have profited greatly from the approach.

My kids are grown now, but taking them to games back in the day was an effort. My attendance dropped once I had kids to raise. It was a long drive there and back from Fort Myers, and once we got into town, the options for the kids was limited. It's time to think outside of the box we've lived in for 50 years and develop reasons in addition to love for our team and the game itself to make that trip.

Changing a venue designed for 70,000 people is expensive. Making the seats more comfortable (some movie theatres now are offering reclining leather/faux leather chairs), controlling the climate which may mean a dome or sunroof, separate sections for the kids, game rooms or other activities, bars, restaurants, all of that requires money and a lot of it. That may well be needed, the first school to go that route will have everyone in the country following afterwards, but I don't think that's where to start.

How about a "package" that makes attending a game more like a vacation for the entire family?

That's more along the lines of what College town was supposed to be. And for the record, I think it is a good idea, although accommodations need to be addressed. And PROMOTION too. Do you know how many games I've attended since college town was constructed? Six. Do you know how many times I've been to college town? Zero. Heck, I didn't even know what it WAS until recently. And I'm an alumnus, a booster and attend games!

Part of it is the familiarity aspect. I come into town, stay with a friend and a group of derelicts generally decide where we go and what we do over the weekend. College town has never made the agenda. I like the concept though, a marriage between FSU football and local vendors, take the capital investment pressure solely off of the football program. But there needs to be promotion and accommodations. There needs to be an agenda, or at least a very public broadcast of available events, activities and locations.

If Disney had just constructed their theme park out in the middle of nowhere and that was the end of it, they may have still enjoyed success, but it would have taken a lot longer to get there. The method of promotion is also important, because across generations, those methods change. Back in the day, I could walk into a record store (remember those?) and I just had a gut feeling about groups and albums. Somehow, I could FEEL what a good album would be. Boston, Zeppelin, Rush, Grand Funk, Psychedelic Furs, Talking Heads, those are all groups I discovered solely on my own, they didn't get radio play, but I could look at the album cover and just KNOW.

I've lost that ability. But my sons (in their twenties), can find all manner of series on YouTube, they innately know how to access phone features that I didn't even know exist, they understand a product being advertised when I'm saying to myself "what was that?" For them, television is YouTube and Netflix, the old three major networks are foreign to them. Point is, the world has changed around me and what works to communicate effectively to me and to them are two very different things.

The college town concept I believe was a good one, that lacked the proper promotional assistance.

How about hotels in the area? I'm talking about right NEXT to the stadium. With pools, water slides and exercise rooms and all that brings? Parking! Would that increase game attendance? If there were a few hotels in the immediate vicinity of the stadium, with shopping, perhaps tours of the athletic facilities, make it an EVENT, a destination for the family, interactive.

Yes it's different. That's the thing! Same old same old is resulting in dwindling attendance and what's the definition of insanity?

It's also expensive. However, the additional amenities might drive occupancy during the months when football isn't played, and packages could also be developed for other sporting events. Not just good for FSU football, but for Tallahassee as a whole.

I loved the hometown feel of Tallahassee during my time there. But it has grown and will continue to grow. It's time for a facelift in some ways.

Sure, winning more games, better OOC scheduling, those will also increase attendance, but I'm seeing this more of a cultural issue than one specific to our program. Today, we travel to venues that provide some of these amenities for out of conference games. If our SUPPORT facilities were as described, we would become a venue that other teams would dream of traveling to. In short, we need to become a destination.


Fanposts are a section for the fans and do NOT reflect the views of Tomahawk Nation.