How Fulmer aims to solve falling football attendance

#101
#101
onevol74 said:
Bowden, at FSU, and Schnellenburger, at Miami, turned both of those programs around in the 70's and 80's by taking the attitude that we will play anybody, anywhere, and at anytime. They soared into the national spotlight in a relative short period of time. Instead we have a program that is perceived to be afraid to take steps to get back to national prominence.

The ball is in Fulmer's court.
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UT plays in the SEC. FSU and Miami were independents. You really want teams like Oklahoma for all OOC games? Good luck ever making the CFP.
 
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#102
#102
I really have trouble advocating for chair seating and increased party suites. Tennessee football - and college football as a whole - is not meant to be experienced in person by a small contingent of the affluent. It might be the passion of the day to cater to big money, but that's not who the Tennessee Tradition has been built by and for.
 
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#103
#103
onevol74 said:
Would rather invest money in a good TV and watch better competition at home. Tired of paying to watch OVC and lower conference teams in Neyland.

Not just attendance, but recruiting would improve if you had a more competitive schedule. We recruited much better when we were playing a solid OOC schedule. I get it that we are in the SEC but why screw the fans over with a horrible OOC schedule year in and year out? We act like a weak program, play like one, and struggle to make it both perceptually and financially.

Bowden, at FSU, and Schnellenburger, at Miami, turned both of those programs around in the 70's and 80's by taking the attitude that we will play anybody, anywhere, and at anytime. They soared into the national spotlight in a relative short period of time. Instead we have a program that is perceived to be afraid to take steps to get back to national prominence.

The ball is in Fulmer's court.
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If we were knocking the chit out of everyone that came into Neyland and at least competitive with everyone else, I wouldn't argue, but..come on, is this a discussion to have, right now?
 
#105
#105
kamoshika said:
The Vols’ announced attendance for seven home games in 2017 totaled 670,454. That represented a 5.1 percent drop compared to announced attendance for 2016. Announced attendance decreased to 650,887 for this season’s seven home games, an additional 2.9 percent drop compared to 2017.

Announced attendance reflects tickets distributed – not the number of fans who actually attend the game. As for actual attendance, Tennessee totaled 545,343 fans in 2018, which equates to an average actual crowd of 77,906. That’s more than the capacity of several SEC stadiums, but it means that, on average, 25,000 seats were empty at Neyland for a home Saturday.

...Fulmer noted that the NFL is moving toward smaller, fan-friendly stadiums to address changes in attendance patterns. Because UT doesn’t plan to decrease Neyland Stadium's capacity, Fulmer is focused on the fan-friendly portion of the NFL’s approach. He also noticed the fan experience while attending a game at Yankee Stadium last summer.
UT Vols: How Phillip Fulmer plans to remedy sagging Tennessee football attendance
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How can we learn from Yankee stadium? Subway stop next to the stadium? Sell beer and liquor? Hot dog races between the innings?
 
#108
#108
goooooovols said:
I think this is a continuous problem that even winning doesn’t solve entirely. A few things that keep me from the stadium are:

1) no beer, or at least immediate access...

2) watching on a 50-70” tv during timeouts I can run to the fridge, workout or get other stuff done

3) seats. Sorry metal planks...SUCK... put in seats, might take capacity down but I’d certainly prefer sitting/ standing for 3 hours with a more comfortable option if I’m going to leave my comfy couch

4) parking... I paid 80 bucks to park at the church sucks to to be robbed by Jesus

5) too long, tv timeouts suck, I can watch 3 games at home
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Reminds me of the old joke:
One thing you don't want to hear in a mexican jail is "Jesus loves you".
 
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#109
#109
AshG said:
I really have trouble advocating for chair seating and increased party suites. Tennessee football - and college football as a whole - is not meant to be experienced in person by a small contingent of the affluent. It might be the passion of the day to cater to big money, but that's not who the Tennessee Tradition has been built by and for.
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Chairs to replace bleachers, not chairs as exclusive seating
 
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#110
#110
I’ll agree the cost is more than a ticket for admission, especially for those who travel from a distance and bring family. Gas, room, food, concessions, etc all add up fast. My wife and I come for the day and still end up spending 300-400 total.

All that said, the price of the ticket is not justified at times. That money added up for a few games buys a nice TV and couch with great access to food and restroom for the whole family at home.

I love Neyland Stadium but it is far from fan friendly.

I learned while in Atlanta a couple seasons ago how nice fan amenities are. I enjoyed having restrooms at each entrance to the concorse. I also enjoyed having concessions at each entry point. This made for fast trips during timeouts.

Neyland is so dated on the end zones and “visitors” side.

The newer section is nice but is not user friendly. It’s over crowded and the lines for restrooms and concessions are ridiculous.

The sight line inside the stadium is excellent. Not a bad view in the house really. I would like to see seats throughout and no more bleachers. The downside is this would certainly lower capacity.

Of course winning cures a lot. But even while winning it would be nice to be comfortable.

We now take the whole family to our alma mater at WCU, tailgate all day, and watch the Vols on the portable satellite most weekends as we can do a season there for the cost of one game in Neyland. It’s funny to see 30-40 people at our tailgate dressed in Purple routing for the Vols on TV.
 
#111
#111
VFL49er said:
They could give students free tickets, at least until the games are selling out on a regular basis
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I have seat backs behind one of the student sections and they aren't at the games either...Lots of empty student seats even for SEC games.
 
#112
#112
Iam4utalways said:
The price of the ticket has little to do with the price of the trip. 2 night stay, food for 3 days, ⛽️ for 800 miles round trip, the occasional speeding ticket(Why is it so hard to go the speed limit?), souvenirs for the kids. I would like to get a winning program for all the SEC teams home and away. I’m about 1/4 of the way there. With the schedule the way it is, who knows when we go back to Auburn or when they come back to Neyland?
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Take the cost of food out of the equation. You got to eat at home too. This works for my wife on weekend hunting trips too:p

I travel about 7 hours, cabin for 2-3 nights, but nothing beats being in East Tennessee in the fall. "its football time in Tennessee" still brings chill bumps except that Sept game when it was like 140.
 
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#113
#113
peaygolf said:
UT plays in the SEC. FSU and Miami were independents. You really want teams like Oklahoma for all OOC games? Good luck ever making the CFP.
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Speaks to the expectations of this fan base. If we do not expect to compete we need to get into a conference that is relevant to those expectations. Otherwise good luck with those 25,000 empty seats on Saturday.
 
#115
#115
Behr said:
If we were knocking the chit out of everyone that came into Neyland and at least competitive with everyone else, I wouldn't argue, but..come on, is this a discussion to have, right now?
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You have an average of 25,000 empty seats on Saturday afternoons. Is it?
 
#116
#116
bag12day said:
I have seat backs behind one of the student sections and they aren't at the games either...Lots of empty student seats even for SEC games.
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Yeah that’s my point. Perhaps free tickets when mean more of us would come. I still make it to all the ones I’m in town for but I know a lot of people who don’t bc of the $10 they have to pay
 
#117
#117
With the growing obesity rate in America, it's going to be hard to find people to fill Neyland unless they start forcing fat people to pay for 2 seats.

It works for airlines.
 
#118
#118
VFL49er said:
Yeah that’s my point. Perhaps free tickets when mean more of us would come. I still make it to all the ones I’m in town for but I know a lot of people who don’t bc of the $10 they have to pay
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Free student seats were the norm and when students didn't show up there wasn't any recourse IIRC. Lots of I want to go except when Im hung over at noon Saturday so I aint going.When they made students buy seats for a nominal fee at least they got some skin in the game. I think free seats for students on a first come first served and do some Student friendly giveaways at least in the short term. Cheap t shirts, Soda Coozies;), Frisbees discs :eek:, Coupon for free sammich at the student union on Sunday PM or something.
 
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#124
#124
onevol74 said:
Speaks to the expectations of this fan base. If we do not expect to compete we need to get into a conference that is relevant to those expectations. Otherwise good luck with those 25,000 empty seats on Saturday.
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How is what I said lowering expectations? Win the freaking conference games and I guarantee there will not be 25,000 empty seats for UAB.
 
#125
#125
VFL49er said:
Yeah that’s my point. Perhaps free tickets when mean more of us would come. I still make it to all the ones I’m in town for but I know a lot of people who don’t bc of the $10 they have to pay
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Or, have a cutoff date on the Wednesday before game day. Any unclaimed student seats are made available to high school students for the same price.
 
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