How Fulmer aims to solve falling football attendance

[YankeeVol]

Lower tix. prices!

This.

 

[willinhf]

Students don’t pay for tickets.

Yes they do. For football. It is not a lot, but they are not free anymore.

 

[VolRoger]

The days of sellouts over 102,000 are likely history. Too easy to stay home and watch in your power lounger.

 

[Advol]

How bout some wanna be on the side line "blarring" music throughout the stadium during warm ups...…………NO wait, never mind!!!!

 

[volunteerfan]

Play better ooc teams at home. I wish they would go away from the neutral site games and go back to home and home games against p5 ooc teams. I can’t believe we haven’t done this since Oklahoma. Nobody wants to see the vols play Charlotte, Etsu, Tennessee tech, or Texas state. And before you say “the smaller schools need that money” I really don’t care about funding those schools football programs

 

[vol-un-tear]

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

More beer will help

 

[Pappy]

I'm for a few clowns (off the field), giving away neeto key chains, and maybe winning a few games

 

[jarnol32]

The days of sellouts over 102,000 are likely history. Too easy to stay home and watch in your power lounger.

Hide and watch. If Pruitt gets this team competing for sec championships again the days of sellouts over 102,000 will be common once again. Winning sells tickets, our basketball team is selling out a 20k seat arena, and when our football team starts winning at a high level again neyland will be sold out on the regular once again.

 

[VOL_Lyfe]

Win and the stadium will be full. It’s as simple as that.

and hand out vuvuzelas to all

 

[PG1]

As stated earlier! Beef up the OOC schedule! 1st add a 9th Conf game the SEC has 14 teams and only play 8 games! Then the other 2 should be vs P5 or Maj Ind. that leaves 1 smaller school for HC! I would rather go watch games vs Tex Tech, Indiana, UCLA etc. than ETSU, Chattanooga or Charlotte!

 

[1725gatorhater]

Not bad attendance considering..........

 

[1974Vol]

For the less attractive - Georgia State / Chattanooga etc. when they have unsold tickets, give them to high school football players, the Boys and Girls Clubs, little league football teams, etc. Start building that fan base of the future.

 

[HonestVol24]

I’ve been to Georgia, bama, LSU, and Florida over the last 2 years. Sure, when we’re sec title contenders again neyland will sell out with ease. The difference in environment now between us and the big boys are night and day. Other schools student sections blow ours out of the water. They play music geared toward the players/recruits/college kids. We play corny rock songs and lame 3rd down music. All of our highlights during commercials are in standard definition because of lack of success in the high def era. The stadium is great but the atmosphere inside is weak. My uncle coached mecole hardman in hs and asked him what the perception of neyland is with high school recruits. He said “the stadium is big, the tradition is there, but the atmosphere (compared to other schools he took official visits to), is like going to prom with a Christian dj hosting the party with a kids bop playlist”. I don’t really get too caught up in all the pregame or in game stuff like that but it’s worth noting kids of this generation pay attention to stuff like that.

 

[tinman23]

Sounds like we need to lower ticket prices and get a lot more lenient on those "mandatory donations" to get season tickets.

 

[05_never_again]

The days of sellouts over 102,000 are likely history. Too easy to stay home and watch in your power lounger.

Bama has no trouble doing it. This year every home the game the paid attendance was over 100k or a sellout. Just win baby. This "fan friendly" amenity stuff doesn't mean a hill of beans if you suck. That stuff is neat and might help juice attendance a tad if we're good, but if you suck nobody cares. At least I know I don't.

The stadium can continue to be a crammed, uncomfortable experience but if we're good and the crowd's juiced, I'm there. There are some areas that need TLC though, no matter what. You can't have areas around the seating areas rusting, no matter how bad you are. It just looks trashy, especially to opposing fans who are looking for reasons to be critical.

 

[05_never_again]

I’ve been to Georgia, bama, LSU, and Florida over the last 2 years. Sure, when we’re sec title contenders again neyland will sell out with ease. The difference in environment now between us and the big boys are night and day. Other schools student sections blow ours out of the water. They play music geared toward the players/recruits/college kids. We play corny rock songs and lame 3rd down music. All of our highlights during commercials are in standard definition because of lack of success in the high def era. The stadium is great but the atmosphere inside is weak. My uncle coached mecole hardman in hs and asked him what the perception of neyland is with high school recruits. He said “the stadium is big, the tradition is there, but the atmosphere (compared to other schools he took official visits to), is like going to prom with a Christian dj hosting the party with a kids bop playlist”. I don’t really get too caught up in all the pregame or in game stuff like that but it’s worth noting kids of this generation pay attention to stuff like that.

Translation - "Tennessee isn't a great team right now." Attendance is not slipping because we don't play hip enough music.

Other schools student sections blow ours out of the water because our team isn't any good. This is all perception. Miami's "turnover chain" was a joke and eventually disappeared this year. Why? Because they sucked. It was cool in 2017, remember?

Just. Win. Baby.

 

[SHOWOFF]

Wifi throughout the stadium. Schools are already going to it, it's the future.

Interactive Neyland Stadium App(which offers the following):
-Access to an interactive player roster - You see a player do something great or something awful you type in their player number and it brings up their info.
-Maps for all parking locations and prices for all parking locations, it could also tell you if parking is full or not.
-Locations of elevators and ADA compliant restrooms.
-Vending locations - Click on the location and it tells you what they sell and how much each item is. It could also tell you if they are sold out of an item or if they're closed.
-Concourse camera views - Find out how long the line is at your favorite vending spot and/or bathroom before you even get out of your seat.
-In-Seat delivery service
-Contact security or medical - It allows you to either report if you need help or report if you see someone else needs help.
-Cheerleader Camera View?

Season long souvenir cups - Cuts down on plastic and trash.

Cheerleader camera view seems creepy.....

 

[Hawkeye4588]

I have not read every post so I might be repeating someone but the alcohol thing is worth considering. I am not sure it would actually raise attendance but it would definitely raise revenue and possible cut down on public drunk and disorderly behavior. At this point some fans are getting wasted at the tailgates because they know there is not alcohol in the stadium. Maybe that will decrease. It did at Ohio State after they legalized beer in their stadium: Ohio State sees drop in gameday incidents with in-stadium alcohol sales.

 

[Smokey X]

Translation -

Just. Win. Baby.

Yep...everything else is just a gimmick and distraction.

 

[GBOVFL88]

Winning is the obvious and maybe the most correct answer, but IMO watching a game at home has its perks. The comforts of home are difficult to match, but if some of those comforts were available at games maybe more people would go. To echo what others have already said WiFi, alcohol, and cheaper tickets would go a long way. Maybe a jumbo tron for the viewing pleasure of those seated in the nose bleed sections. Again, everyone would rather pay money to watch the Vols win, or at least be competitive and that is probably the most common sense thing to change, but also maybe the most difficult.

 

[EODVOL]

Easy, make it to where the average joe can afford to attend without having to take out a small personal/business loan!

 

[SaintLouisVol]

Sounds like we need to lower ticket prices and get a lot more lenient on those "mandatory donations" to get season tickets.

I don't think they could move pricing enough to make a real difference in sales without losing money. The sold 90% of the tickets last year.

 

[Chartervol]

$35 per seat? Are you talking about 1985? One reason attendance is down besides the poor teams we have been fielding is they have basically priced the tickets so high that the average fan can’t afford to go to a game. I, for one, can’t afford to spend a $1,000 for my family to attend a game, i .e., tickets, food, hotel, etc.

Everybody wants a top shelf program but no one wants to pay top shelf prices for it.

 

[Chartervol]

Easy, make it to where the average joe can afford to attend without having to take out a small personal/business loan!

UT athletics isn’t in business to provide cheap entertainment. You want the product but you don’t want to support it. It takes big bucks to provide the kind of team you’d want to watch.

 

[TenUhSee]