How do we fill our 16,000 seat Paladin stadium? Which Home Schedule is more appealing?

[Furmanoid]

Idea 1: Give tickets to Greenville County School kids 3rd through 8th grade. Divide by however many home games we have. Sit them on the visitor side. Since they probably still won’t show up, coordinate with the districts to bus them in. Heller Service Corps and Ed majors can chaperone. Tell them they can come to more games for $5 per. But they get one freebie per year. Builds local interest in the team and the school.

Idea 2. El cheapo tickets for assisted living. Facilities can bus them in and Service Corps can help them around the stadium. If they have enough fun, we may even get bequests.

Idea 3. Cheap group tickets for youth football teams.

Idea 4. Cheap tickets for Church groups.

Idea 5. On the home side sell lots of cheap beer. We would have about 50 people at our local minor league games without that.

Idea 6. Make the seats wider.

1-5 will never happen because they would bring in the wrong element.

[Flagman]

7. I would look at other schools numbers with a grain of salt. There are a bunch of different ways to report attendance.

Wofford math.

[apaladin]

Affirm- we’ve played Howard, PC, Elon, Charleston Southern etc and they brought virtually no fans. Like I said there are no teams that would come to PS that would bring a crowd. I do like the idea of playing 2 FBS games. We could still have 5 home games at least every other year.
Flagmanand others- spending a million dollars to reduce seating mskes no sense. What does that accomplish? Years ago I sat on the visitors side and always sat high for a good view. The view is not that good from the middle on down and currently its not really high anyway. Spend all that money just so it looks different from the home side? If you’re going to spend a million dollars do it at Timmons.
Bring back baseball and remove ED from office. Those 2 things would be a good start.

[Yadkin]

Furman Football’s biggest attendance rivals: the three S’s....

Six-pack
Sofa
$Six.95 per month subscription to ESPN+

FU basically gives away its product for free, as do most schools. Hard to ask somebody for a twenty when they can get basically the same return for a third of that, economically speaking.

[FUBeAR]

As long as we think of a Furman Football game as a Football game, our attendance will languish, despite the best & sincere efforts of all involved. Winning multiple national championships would tick it up a couple of k.

We have to reset our thinking & think of Fall Saturdays at Furman as Family Event Saturdays, whether that family is 4 college age roommates, a couple & 2-10 kids, or a couple of empty nesters, perhaps with 3-4 Grandkids (or not). The entire campus needs to coordinate activities that will appeal to these various ‘Families’ in such an inviting & compelling way that they PLAN to make Furman their DESTINATION for the day. The Football Game is the nexus of this Family Event Saturday & each other coordinated activity event needs to be tied into the Football game.

Maybe that’s hard to do…and maybe 12 or 1 PM Kickoffs (LOVED by Players & Coaches) aren’t the best strategy to support this kind of holistic effort.

We have “The Furman Advantage” down cold. Perhaps we need to build “The Furman REAL External Engagement” (FREE, get it? I got a million of ‘em)…and demonstrate true value to people before we ask them to pay us for something they have presently shown no proclivity to value.

I think Sam Wyche once told me, “FUBeAR, we gotta get ‘em inside the store before we can get them to buy anything. Now go sweep that sidewalk again & straighten up all those Bike Coaches Shorts on those tables we have out there!”

Maybe our ‘dirty sidewalks’ are turning people away & we don’t have enough ‘colorful Coaching Shorts’ to attract them…before we even get a chance to get ‘em into Paladin Storedium

[Sad Din]

Top 10 ways to get 16k at Paladin Stadium

10. Sched games during CU away games
9. Free ticket give aways at Hotels for weekend visitors
8. Drink what you want when you want anywhere you want
7. Have food trucks
6. Better Gville Marketing
5. Dunking booths for selected FU Admin and Dignataries
4. $100k drawing for anyone present at the game
3. Free tickets to Bball games for 500 random draws
2. Lower ticket prices/free parking first come first serve
And the #1 way to get more folks in seats:
1. Put a quality product on field that folks can be proud of based on recent performance not history

Honorable Mention:
1. Mcartney/Starr concert
2. Miley Cyrus concert
3. BIlly Joel concert

[Furmanoid]

As long as we think of a Furman Football game as a Football game, our attendance will languish, despite the best & sincere efforts of all involved. Winning multiple national championships would tick it up a couple of k.

We have to reset our thinking & think of Fall Saturdays at Furman as Family Event Saturdays, whether that family is 4 college age roommates, a couple & 2-10 kids, or a couple of empty nesters, perhaps with 3-4 Grandkids (or not). The entire campus needs to coordinate activities that will appeal to these various ‘Families’ in such an inviting & compelling way that they PLAN to make Furman their DESTINATION for the day. The Football Game is the nexus of this Family Event Saturday & each other coordinated activity event needs to be tied into the Football game.

Maybe that’s hard to do…and maybe 12 or 1 PM Kickoffs (LOVED by Players & Coaches) aren’t the best strategy to support this kind of holistic effort.

We have “The Furman Advantage” down cold. Perhaps we need to build “The Furman REAL External Engagement” (FREE, get it? I got a million of ‘em)…and demonstrate true value to people before we ask them to pay us for something they have presently shown no proclivity to value.

I think Sam Wyche once told me, “FUBeAR, we gotta get ‘em inside the store before we can get them to buy anything. Now go sweep that sidewalk again & straighten up all those Bike Coaches Shorts on those tables we have out there!”

Maybe our ‘dirty sidewalks’ are turning people away & we don’t have enough ‘colorful Coaching Shorts’ to attract them…before we even get a chance to get ‘em into Paladin Storedium

Easy.

Saturday sports camp at FU.

Pay players to do minicamps (1-2 hrs) in FB, Basketball, soccer, tennis, cheer etc. Divide kids by skill level to make it good. Even do a Madden tourney for the slugs.

For real little kids, face painting, knight walking around, maybe a damsel, swan feeding, castle playground.

None of this is hard or expensive. Basic VBS stuff.

[apaladin]

Sad Din, like your list but scheduling around CU games makes zero difference. We’ve had games when CU was not even playing and there was no uptick.

[FUBeAR]

As long as we think of a Furman Football game as a Football game, our attendance will languish, despite the best & sincere efforts of all involved. Winning multiple national championships would tick it up a couple of k.

We have to reset our thinking & think of Fall Saturdays at Furman as Family Event Saturdays, whether that family is 4 college age roommates, a couple & 2-10 kids, or a couple of empty nesters, perhaps with 3-4 Grandkids (or not). The entire campus needs to coordinate activities that will appeal to these various ‘Families’ in such an inviting & compelling way that they PLAN to make Furman their DESTINATION for the day. The Football Game is the nexus of this Family Event Saturday & each other coordinated activity event needs to be tied into the Football game.

Maybe that’s hard to do…and maybe 12 or 1 PM Kickoffs (LOVED by Players & Coaches) aren’t the best strategy to support this kind of holistic effort.

We have “The Furman Advantage” down cold. Perhaps we need to build “The Furman REAL External Engagement” (FREE, get it? I got a million of ‘em)…and demonstrate true value to people before we ask them to pay us for something they have presently shown no proclivity to value.

I think Sam Wyche once told me, “FUBeAR, we gotta get ‘em inside the store before we can get them to buy anything. Now go sweep that sidewalk again & straighten up all those Bike Coaches Shorts on those tables we have out there!”

Maybe our ‘dirty sidewalks’ are turning people away & we don’t have enough ‘colorful Coaching Shorts’ to attract them…before we even get a chance to get ‘em into Paladin Storedium

Easy.

Saturday sports camp at FU.

Pay players to do minicamps (1-2 hrs) in FB, Basketball, soccer, tennis, cheer etc. Divide kids by skill level to make it good. Even do a Madden tourney for the slugs.

For real little kids, face painting, knight walking around, maybe a damsel, swan feeding, castle playground.

None of this is hard or expensive. Basic VBS stuff.

You know - not sure if you were tongue-in-cheek or not, but that mini-camp thing might have some ‘legs.’ NCAA prolly nixes the idea of paying them, but CLP & CESC (or whatever) credits could prolly be given - leverage some of the success around our highly successful ‘non-major’ & women’s sports and get them ENGAGING with local families & kids...might build some bonds that increase the attendance at those Sports Events, help in future recruiting, and enhance esprit de corps among/across the Athletics Teams ... now tie it into Football...How ‘bout these mini-camps post-game on 1 of those early kickoff days...and ‘fee’ for camp is Proof of Football game attendance (can all be digital)?

Just brain-stormin’ but that’s what it takes to start to drive change / improvement.

Can’t be any “we’ve never done that before” / “that’s not the FU way” / “that won’t work” BS

Anyway - good times - FUBeAR is coming anyway & having a GREAT time...if it’s just me in the stands. I think FUBeAR Jr. and I were 2 of 12 people that attended a playoff game against Hofstra in a driving rainstorm about 20 years ago. Even though FUBeAR Jr. was sick & had a fever...FUBeAR forced him to tough it out (don’t tell DFACS...statute of limitations is probably passed anyway) & FUBeAR had a great time...even though I’m pretty sure we lost...left me with a great story, though...huh?

[Thorny]

I love Furman football.

When I was student I remember streaming games for $6.99 instead of going to the games in person for free.

/I will watch every game but you couldn't pay me to go to one.

//I live in California now so going to a game isn't really an option anymore unless we are in the playoffs.

[Affirm]

Some thoughts:

1. Most Furman fans don't grow up Furman fans. You need to connect with the local community and build a local fan base.

2. Continue to make efforts to play road games in locations where Furman alums live. While games against PC, SCSU, and Charleston Southern have their place, not trying to get games around Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, etc. is athletic malpractice, in my opinion.

3. Winning helps. If you are asking people to part with a full day and money from their pocket, they at least need to be a tiny bit assured that the team will play at some level worth watching.

4. There's nothing Furman can really do about the departure of large schools from the conference. They have more people and would bring more fans. Smaller schools don't have the same traveling fan base.

5. Put rivalry games at the end of the year. This seems like a complete no brainer to me, but rarely seems to happen.

6. I agree that Paladin Stadium is overbuilt for current needs. I have long wanted to see the visitor stands torn down and rebuilt to more aptly accommodate current needs. I think that would help the game day atmosphere by making the confines smaller and give less of a look of empty space. Same number of people, just the optics are different.

7. I would look at other schools numbers with a grain of salt. There are a bunch of different ways to report attendance.

8. Personal observation here, but I think Furman travels as well as anyone in the SoCon. There was a big contingent at Georgia State in 2019. I've seen big contingents at Samford and Mercer. Again, see point 2.

Re: your #2, have games in locations where FU alums live?
-CSU because many alums are in Charleston area
-SCSU because many alums are in Columbia area, close enough to O’burg as is Charleston area
-PC & Gardner-Webb because many alums are in Greenville & S’burg area, which is close to Clinton & Boiling Springs
-Davidson because many alums are in Charlotte area.
But the point is, I thought, getting people to home games.
Have fewer home games. Increase the demand by lowering the supply (of home games to attend) and
by raising the quality (the Furman team being highly competitive; or at least being reasonably competitive against interesting FBS opponents).
Increase net income from other FBS games by getting ones that give the best combination of payout received and travel costs expended.
So I still say it’s mainly about intelligent scheduling rather than about creative event planning that may or may not draw people to the creatively-planned events and that would be less than likely to draw supportive spectators to the actual game.
By the way, what are the metro areas where larger numbers of alums live? A quick guess:
Greenville
Columbia
Charleston
Atlanta
Charlotte
Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill
Washington
Nashville
Orlando
??

[Furmanoid]

As long as we think of a Furman Football game as a Football game, our attendance will languish, despite the best & sincere efforts of all involved. Winning multiple national championships would tick it up a couple of k.

We have to reset our thinking & think of Fall Saturdays at Furman as Family Event Saturdays, whether that family is 4 college age roommates, a couple & 2-10 kids, or a couple of empty nesters, perhaps with 3-4 Grandkids (or not). The entire campus needs to coordinate activities that will appeal to these various ‘Families’ in such an inviting & compelling way that they PLAN to make Furman their DESTINATION for the day. The Football Game is the nexus of this Family Event Saturday & each other coordinated activity event needs to be tied into the Football game.

Maybe that’s hard to do…and maybe 12 or 1 PM Kickoffs (LOVED by Players & Coaches) aren’t the best strategy to support this kind of holistic effort.

We have “The Furman Advantage” down cold. Perhaps we need to build “The Furman REAL External Engagement” (FREE, get it? I got a million of ‘em)…and demonstrate true value to people before we ask them to pay us for something they have presently shown no proclivity to value.

I think Sam Wyche once told me, “FUBeAR, we gotta get ‘em inside the store before we can get them to buy anything. Now go sweep that sidewalk again & straighten up all those Bike Coaches Shorts on those tables we have out there!”

Maybe our ‘dirty sidewalks’ are turning people away & we don’t have enough ‘colorful Coaching Shorts’ to attract them…before we even get a chance to get ‘em into Paladin Storedium

Easy.

Saturday sports camp at FU.

Pay players to do minicamps (1-2 hrs) in FB, Basketball, soccer, tennis, cheer etc. Divide kids by skill level to make it good. Even do a Madden tourney for the slugs.

For real little kids, face painting, knight walking around, maybe a damsel, swan feeding, castle playground.

None of this is hard or expensive. Basic VBS stuff.

You know - not sure if you were tongue-in-cheek or not, but that mini-camp thing might have some ‘legs.’ NCAA prolly nixes the idea of paying them, but CLP & CESC (or whatever) credits could prolly be given - leverage some of the success around our highly successful ‘non-major’ & women’s sports and get them ENGAGING with local families & kids...might build some bonds that increase the attendance at those Sports Events, help in future recruiting, and enhance esprit de corps among/across the Athletics Teams ... now tie it into Football...How ‘bout these mini-camps post-game on 1 of those early kickoff days...and ‘fee’ for camp is Proof of Football game attendance (can all be digital)?

Just brain-stormin’ but that’s what it takes to start to drive change / improvement.

Can’t be any “we’ve never done that before” / “that’s not the FU way” / “that won’t work” BS

Anyway - good times - FUBeAR is coming anyway & having a GREAT time...if it’s just me in the stands. I think FUBeAR Jr. and I were 2 of 12 people that attended a playoff game against Hofstra in a driving rainstorm about 20 years ago. Even though FUBeAR Jr. was sick & had a fever...FUBeAR forced him to tough it out (don’t tell DFACS...statute of limitations is probably passed anyway) & FUBeAR had a great time...even though I’m pretty sure we lost...left me with a great story, though...huh?

Not tongue in cheek. Not sure about pay, but the tennis players all get payed to do summer camp so I think it might be OK.

I think we’ve all done some pretty good brain storming here because we are smart Furman people. Would be nice if actual paid employees would follow up or do their own brain storming.

[Paul C]

Are we solving for the wrong problem? Fighting the last war?

We need eyeballs and engagement more than butts in seats.

I bet more people actually watch FU football games now than in the heyday of the 80s 90s thanks to streaming.

[FUBeAR]

I love Furman football.

When I was student I remember streaming games for $6.99 instead of going to the games in person for free.

/I will watch every game but you couldn't pay me to go to one.

//I live in California now so going to a game isn't really an option anymore unless we are in the playoffs.

FUBeAR watched us win the National Championship with many (newly minted) Furman Fans in a Cowboy dive bar in Saugus, CA.

Sure it’s been 33 years, but those west coast rednecks still living are, I’m sure, die-hard Paladin supporters. You should look ‘em up & organize weekly Furman Football watch parties.

Then pool your funds, charter a G700, and bring the old crew to 1 game in Paladin Stadium each year. As the organizer, those guys are obligated to comp your trip.

See….as Coach Caldwell taught FUBeAR…ALWAYS THINKIN’

[Furmanoid]

Are we solving for the wrong problem? Fighting the last war?

We need eyeballs and engagement more than butts in seats.

I bet more people actually watch FU football games now than in the heyday of the 80s 90s thanks to streaming.

I LOVE the streaming although I’m not allowed to watch until the wife’s Buckeyes are done. Then she’s really good about pretending she cares while I watch my little team play in the empty stadium. (Another idea: shoot the game from visitors side).

But it’s not like I would forget there’s a Furman if there was no streaming. So I don’t know how much it increases engagement. As far as eyeballs go, don’t all the stream-watching eyeballs belong to Furman alum or the opponents’ alum? Some recruits may watch, but it probably hurts more than helps because what they see is a less exciting atmosphere than many high school games and probably doesn’t track with what the recruiter guy described. I mean, I go to watch crappy Newberry once a year (Octoberfest) and their atmosphere is ELECTRIC compared to ours.