I disagree completely. Before the stadium remodel, there were plenty of casual TCU fans but residents of FW that consistently filled the premium seats. They worked their way into those seats after years of being loyal to a poor team. then…TCU (CDC Specifically) tried to copy what the blue bloods were doing with seat sales in renovated stadiums and it has cost us dearly. If the actual number of fans coming to every game were concentrated between the 20’s on the home side, the optics would be very different, especially on TV.
Interesting post from Gary about attendance...
- Thread starter tcumaniac
- Start date
I disagree completely. Before the stadium remodel, there were plenty of casual TCU fans but residents of FW that consistently filled the premium seats. They worked their way into those seats after years of being loyal to a poor team. then…TCU (CDC Specifically) tried to copy what the blue bloods were doing with seat sales in renovated stadiums and it has cost us dearly. If the actual number of fans coming to every game were concentrated between the 20’s on the home side, the optics would be very different, especially on TV.
BrewingFrog
Was I supposed to type something here?
This. So very much this.
Gehörnter Frosch
Tier 1
The East Side is what is shown on TV, not the West.
Now or it’s always been that way?
Big Frog II
Active Member
Always
This Ain't Chopped Liver
Active Member
At this point, I would be happy to see nearly all seats occupied by people, no matter their rooting interest. Full house for atmosphere.
In hindsight, if building a new stadium I might put a roof over the seating ring for shade, like Hard Rock stadium. I might not have split decks with standing room between, but rather a deep single rake deck, like the old stadiums with entry portals to access the seating bowl, forcing people to be in their seats to see the action. A steeper incline than the old stadiums to be closer to the field but with more portals. Besides, I remember the cool feeling of walking through a portal to emerge into an expansive stadium with green field and the band playing.
That made for an exclusive and exhilarating feeling, I don’t need club seats. Club/suites in this stadium would go on top, like the AGC east side club, then the common folk in single seats are lower and not having to feel second class, a trade off that seems fair, like the east side. This makes for better stadium aesthetic/atmosphere—purposing for butts in seats and enthusiasm down low.
In hindsight, if building a new stadium I might put a roof over the seating ring for shade, like Hard Rock stadium. I might not have split decks with standing room between, but rather a deep single rake deck, like the old stadiums with entry portals to access the seating bowl, forcing people to be in their seats to see the action. A steeper incline than the old stadiums to be closer to the field but with more portals. Besides, I remember the cool feeling of walking through a portal to emerge into an expansive stadium with green field and the band playing.
That made for an exclusive and exhilarating feeling, I don’t need club seats. Club/suites in this stadium would go on top, like the AGC east side club, then the common folk in single seats are lower and not having to feel second class, a trade off that seems fair, like the east side. This makes for better stadium aesthetic/atmosphere—purposing for butts in seats and enthusiasm down low.
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I agree on the club seats being at the top. It just gets more people closer to the field. I think future stadium changes need to make it smaller, but better. That goes for most all stadiums around the country, the capacity at so many of them is ridiculously high for the number of people that attend. It’s not the worst thing ever to have demand exceed supply every now and then. 30k in a 45k stadium is ok. 30k in a 30k stadium is a great atmosphere for a game. Something like multi-level club seating right by the field in one or both end zones would be pretty cool.
This attendance issue is a historical phenomenon. Gary knew it when he came to tcu. Heck in the entire history of the swc tcu sold out one game. One!
isrc, all of the top 30 attendance figures have happened under Gary. And most of those when we were not in the B12 (ie when we were winning)
isrc, all of the top 30 attendance figures have happened under Gary. And most of those when we were not in the B12 (ie when we were winning)
One would think that unlike SmU which is in a town with abundant other sports rooting opportunities, tcu would be well-positioned with a smart marketing program to be Fort Worth’s team. The obvious nature of this makes steel think that attendance really is not the goal of the powered that be. How hard would it be to give tickets away or sell for $5 or whatever?
steel just assumes that the tcu muckity mucks are mostly interested in keeping the monied few content.
steel just assumes that the tcu muckity mucks are mostly interested in keeping the monied few content.
Frog-O-Rama
Full Member
With the demise of Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego State is currently building a new stadium. Capacity 35K. Do not know the layout of club, etc.
Probably about the perfect size for that school. I just see all these Sun Belt, C-USA, MWC, AAC and MAC stadiums every week that are just ridiculously too big and less than 25% full. Most of those should probably be 15-20k max. Honestly some would be just fine at 10k.
6 years ago University of North Texas built a 31,000 seat stadium and when has that thing even been remotely full? They've averaged 18,500 official attendance in the first 6 years of the stadium, and we all know what official attendance means....probably less than half that many people actually show up. For University of North Texas it might be a third of the people.
It's just going to get harder and harder to fill stadiums too.
LVH
Active Member
Post of the Month candidate right here. I grew up going to TCU football games with my dad. We would always sit in the upper deck even if our tickets weren't upper deck. It was a very blue collar type of experience. No fancy clubs or suites or premium seating.
I still haven't been to a game in the new stadium yet.
Dogfrog
Active Member
FYI there are at least two SWC home sellouts. 1935 vs SMU in what Grantland Rice called the game of the century. And 1984 Texas game. When you consider TCU played swc games at Clark Field (near where the current library is) from 1923 to 1930, not sure there was a record of attendance.
TxFrog1999
The Man Behind The Curtain
I'm not sure casual fans will pour into The Carter for non-conference games considering the lack of enthusiasm surrounding this team over the last couple of years. Winning solves these problems, as does night games during the hottest parts of the year. The first issue we can control, the second we can't. And when you couple that with the horrible treatment of loyal fans mentioned above you create a situation where you better be happy with 24-26,000 each game.
I'm not sure what Donati could do to right this attendance ship outside of redesigning the lower west side and trying to make amends to those fans who were loyal all those years that CDC crapped on for corporate dollars. Even then it would take years to build back the trust and interest TCU saw leading up to the stadium redesign and Big East/BIG XII invite.
I'm not sure what Donati could do to right this attendance ship outside of redesigning the lower west side and trying to make amends to those fans who were loyal all those years that CDC crapped on for corporate dollars. Even then it would take years to build back the trust and interest TCU saw leading up to the stadium redesign and Big East/BIG XII invite.
stadiumfrog
Full Member
Mean Purple
Active Member
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. He has been promoting the team a lot. We basically hurt on home field advantage because of lack of crowd.
Mean Purple
Active Member
Eight
Member
curious, who attends the luncheons and what are the chances those individuals already have tickets?
Mean Purple
Active Member
Coach P speaks at numerous Chamber of Commerce events throughout the year. Those are open to the general public and I have never been to one where tickets were not available at the door.
As far as people whining about not getting to attend practice, welcome to modern college football. Coaches finally wised up to wannabe cools popping off at the mouth about what the saw at a practice. Some of them being sources for news articles that turn out to be way off in accuracy.
Frog-in-law1995
Active Member
That is some next-level shtick dedication. Kudos.
