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Seems like we have a bunch of threads all touching on the main fact--SDSU has failed to develop a real football culture. We're not a football school. There's a bunch of reasons why:
- Lack of perceived or real institutional support (the band issue, as an example),
- Facilities issues (New scoreboard is great, new seatbacks are good, but Coughlin-Alumni stadium still basically has 1963-era amenities in a 2007 world),
- Inadequate promotions and advertising,
- Lack of early season football success (basically chops off at the knees any effort to build a solid backing),
- Lack of late season football success (the need to consistently beat NDSU)
There are probably other points that could be added to the list, but the point is that there isn't one single factor, but a constellation of forces which serve to suppress interest in football--to the extent that an SDSU team which is undefeated in its conference can only draw 3,000 to a November football game.
The marketplace is competitive. High school and other college sports, hunting, and all other forms of entertainment compete for the scarce resource which is the South Dakota sports fan. It does no good to complain about the customer ("everybody's out hunting.")
What has to happen is that we need to make SDSU football such an attractive option that Dave Dakotan would rather bring his family to a Jackrabbits football game on a Saturday afternoon than take them to Sioux Falls for shopping, or out into the fields for hunting, or whatever else might be a competing activity.
What do we need to do to make Jackrabbit football that attractive option?
You need to build interest in the program.
It goes without saying that people follow a winner. Avoiding 0-3 season starts is a must. Beating NDSU is a must. The football program can help itself a lot with on-the-field success.
I think at least a couple of early-season (September) games MUST be on TV. You need to build interest, and that may mean trading a couple of thousand people in the stands with tens of thousands of people watching the Jacks from their living rooms. "You need to spend money to make money."
SDSU needs to get on a Sioux Falls radio station. WNAX is all fine and dandy with its extravagantly large coverage area, but Sioux Falls is where the people are, and WNAX is NOT a Sioux Falls radio station. A Sioux Falls station will have an interest in promoting SDSU athletics. None now have such an interest. It will make a difference. Ideally, a multi-station statewide radio network would be in place, but an affiliate in the state's largest city is CRITICAL.
SDSU's games also need to be on a local Brookings radio station. I tried to listen to some of the WNAX pre-game show from my hotel room in Brookings and it was almost unlistenable because of RF interference in the hotel room.
There needs to be heavy promotion via radio, tv, and newspaper ads starting in the summer to build some buzz going into the season.
You might need to consider cutting the price of late-season tickets, or doing some kind of promotional tie-in to make those tickets more attractive to the sports consumer.
I'm also coming to the conclusion that the stadium renovation is going to be a major factor in reviving SDSU football for the fans. The renovation has to be big-time, classy, and have a "wow" factor that will bring people out even when the team isn't 9-0. Building the CAS renovation from the start as a complete horseshoe with an enclosed south end would be a start, there. There's a potential to put 20,000 people in the seats--not for every game, but certainly for the biggest of big games (and, dare I say, hosting a playoff game in the near future?)
What does all of this take? Money, of course.
That's just the start of my musings on how to develop the fan base for SDSU football. I've tried to stay somewhat positive (i.e. what can we do in the future rather than what we've done wrong in the past). But it's obvious to me that it won't be just one thing, but doing a number of things better/correctly/differently will move the program forward.
Feel free to chime in.
- Lack of perceived or real institutional support (the band issue, as an example),
- Facilities issues (New scoreboard is great, new seatbacks are good, but Coughlin-Alumni stadium still basically has 1963-era amenities in a 2007 world),
- Inadequate promotions and advertising,
- Lack of early season football success (basically chops off at the knees any effort to build a solid backing),
- Lack of late season football success (the need to consistently beat NDSU)
There are probably other points that could be added to the list, but the point is that there isn't one single factor, but a constellation of forces which serve to suppress interest in football--to the extent that an SDSU team which is undefeated in its conference can only draw 3,000 to a November football game.
The marketplace is competitive. High school and other college sports, hunting, and all other forms of entertainment compete for the scarce resource which is the South Dakota sports fan. It does no good to complain about the customer ("everybody's out hunting.")
What has to happen is that we need to make SDSU football such an attractive option that Dave Dakotan would rather bring his family to a Jackrabbits football game on a Saturday afternoon than take them to Sioux Falls for shopping, or out into the fields for hunting, or whatever else might be a competing activity.
What do we need to do to make Jackrabbit football that attractive option?
You need to build interest in the program.
It goes without saying that people follow a winner. Avoiding 0-3 season starts is a must. Beating NDSU is a must. The football program can help itself a lot with on-the-field success.
I think at least a couple of early-season (September) games MUST be on TV. You need to build interest, and that may mean trading a couple of thousand people in the stands with tens of thousands of people watching the Jacks from their living rooms. "You need to spend money to make money."
SDSU needs to get on a Sioux Falls radio station. WNAX is all fine and dandy with its extravagantly large coverage area, but Sioux Falls is where the people are, and WNAX is NOT a Sioux Falls radio station. A Sioux Falls station will have an interest in promoting SDSU athletics. None now have such an interest. It will make a difference. Ideally, a multi-station statewide radio network would be in place, but an affiliate in the state's largest city is CRITICAL.
SDSU's games also need to be on a local Brookings radio station. I tried to listen to some of the WNAX pre-game show from my hotel room in Brookings and it was almost unlistenable because of RF interference in the hotel room.
There needs to be heavy promotion via radio, tv, and newspaper ads starting in the summer to build some buzz going into the season.
You might need to consider cutting the price of late-season tickets, or doing some kind of promotional tie-in to make those tickets more attractive to the sports consumer.
I'm also coming to the conclusion that the stadium renovation is going to be a major factor in reviving SDSU football for the fans. The renovation has to be big-time, classy, and have a "wow" factor that will bring people out even when the team isn't 9-0. Building the CAS renovation from the start as a complete horseshoe with an enclosed south end would be a start, there. There's a potential to put 20,000 people in the seats--not for every game, but certainly for the biggest of big games (and, dare I say, hosting a playoff game in the near future?)
What does all of this take? Money, of course.
That's just the start of my musings on how to develop the fan base for SDSU football. I've tried to stay somewhat positive (i.e. what can we do in the future rather than what we've done wrong in the past). But it's obvious to me that it won't be just one thing, but doing a number of things better/correctly/differently will move the program forward.
Feel free to chime in.
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