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Post by MinerMan2010 on Oct 30, 2011 21:56:38 GMT -5
Much has been said about the attendance for last nights game. One poster on digs even proclaimed "El Paso does not deserve to have a college football program", to that I say, really? Taking a look a box scores around the country and you will see a lot of team under 25,000. NMSU had 15,782 for their game against Nevada. Arkansas St had 19,761 for their home game against North Texas. Arky St is currently 4-0 in the Sun Belt and 6-2 overall. Tulsa had 21,261 for their home game against SMU. UNLV had 21,289 for their home game against Colorado St.
It happens and its part of college football. It really sucks for the players and UTEP administration for less than 25,000 to show up for this game. UTEP was coming off a victory and USM was a Top 25 team, there should have been a bigger crowd. But there wasn't. UTEP tried to sell $10 general admission tickets, it was still not enough to get a big crowd there. Why are UTEP fans staying away in droves this year?
Here it is, fans are tired of Mike Price and they are also tired of not winning games versus teams that are good. Our four wins this year are against Stony Brook, NMSU, Tulane, and Colorado St. Not exactly Murderers Row. We play an awful 2-6 Rice team on Saturday, what does beating them by 28 prove? Nothing. UTEP has shown that it can only beat bad teams, and even then still manages to lose to them every now and again.
The fans have every right to not attend UTEP games, especially when they are on TV. How many families want to attend a UTEP game where they are going to be nickel and dimed everywhere? $10 for parking, $20 for concessions, have to deal with leaving after the game. Its more convenient to stay at home and watch it on your big screen, especially when you figure the Miners will lose.
Also, Conference USA teams are not appealing to most of the fans. As the say, the proof is in the pudding. How many sell-outs have the football and basketball team had since joining CUSA? Not many. I'll expand on this later in the week, but UTEP needs to leave CUSA if Houston and SMU leave.
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Post by Realm on Oct 31, 2011 0:14:16 GMT -5
MinerMan,
Very well said... I look forward with GREAT interest to your NEXT post.
Realm... 
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Post by mistabinks on Oct 31, 2011 17:33:33 GMT -5
Much has been said about the attendance for last nights game. One poster on digs even proclaimed "El Paso does not deserve to have a college football program", to that I say, really? Taking a look a box scores around the country and you will see a lot of team under 25,000. NMSU had 15,782 for their game against Nevada. Arkansas St had 19,761 for their home game against North Texas. Arky St is currently 4-0 in the Sun Belt and 6-2 overall. Tulsa had 21,261 for their home game against SMU. UNLV had 21,289 for their home game against Colorado St. Agreed It happens and its part of college football. It really sucks for the players and UTEP administration for less than 25,000 to show up for this game. UTEP was coming off a victory and USM was a Top 25 team, there should have been a bigger crowd. But there wasn't. UTEP tried to sell $10 general admission tickets, it was still not enough to get a big crowd there. Why are UTEP fans staying away in droves this year? Agreed Here it is, fans are tired of Mike Price and they are also tired of not winning games versus teams that are good. Our four wins this year are against Stony Brook, NMSU, Tulane, and Colorado St. Not exactly Murderers Row. We play an awful 2-6 Rice team on Saturday, what does beating them by 28 prove? Nothing. UTEP has shown that it can only beat bad teams, and even then still manages to lose to them every now and again. Those are legit points. Those are not the only points. No one on a message board will know why the crowds are not better. Some are tired of Mike Price. Others like him. No one this board speaks for the majority. The fans have every right to not attend UTEP games, especially when they are on TV. How many families want to attend a UTEP game where they are going to be nickel and dimed everywhere? $10 for parking, $20 for concessions, have to deal with leaving after the game. Its more convenient to stay at home and watch it on your big screen, especially when you figure the Miners will lose. Agreed. Also, Conference USA teams are not appealing to most of the fans. As the say, the proof is in the pudding. How many sell-outs have the football and basketball team had since joining CUSA? Not many. I'll disagree here too. It does not matter if we are playing BYU, ECU, or Mars U. If we are winning, we get big crowds. If we are losing, we get small crowds. Especially true in hoops. Tony Barbee's last year got a number of sell outs because we were winning. Did people stay home because we were playing USM instead of Utah? I don't think so. I'll expand on this later in the week, but UTEP needs to leave CUSA if Houston and SMU leave. Agreed but I wish UTEP, Memphis, New Mexico, UNLV, and five other mid majors with above average airports in their market would bail and create their own conference. |
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Post by MinerMan2010 on Oct 31, 2011 22:18:13 GMT -5
Question for you Binks. What should UTEP be doing to get us (utep fans in general) to the games?
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Post by strelz on Oct 31, 2011 22:24:30 GMT -5
MinerMan2010 you are right on...I agree with everything you wrote.
Mistabinks, I had the pleasure to announce Miner football and basketball for many years and can still remember the big crowwds in the Haskins arena (special events center)...we played BYU, Utah, UNM, Air Force, Wyoming, San Diego State, CSU...and every game was near a sellout. hell, I made up the 12,222 sold out figure on the opening night.
We do not have natural rivalries like we has back then
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Post by mistabinks on Nov 2, 2011 23:04:53 GMT -5
Question for you Binks. What should UTEP be doing to get us (utep fans in general) to the games? Revamp everything. Restructure the ticket prices. Change the tailgating rules. Enforce seating assignment. The works. A lot of the fans that 70's, 80's, and 90's are much older and don't come to games anymore. Not all but some. We haven't brought in a new breed. I think the premium seats should cost a little more. I think there should be a $10 section. Most of all, security should enforce seating assignment. That will pay off long term. I simply don't buy into the modern fan not being able to relate to USM, UAB, ECU but somehow misses Wyoming, CSU, or Nevada. |
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Post by MinerMan2010 on Nov 3, 2011 8:53:07 GMT -5
Question for you Binks. What should UTEP be doing to get us (utep fans in general) to the games? Revamp everything. Restructure the ticket prices. Change the tailgating rules. Enforce seating assignment. The works. A lot of the fans that 70's, 80's, and 90's are much older and don't come to games anymore. Not all but some. We haven't brought in a new breed. I think the premium seats should cost a little more. I think there should be a $10 section. Most of all, security should enforce seating assignment. That will pay off long term. I simply don't buy into the modern fan not being able to relate to USM, UAB, ECU but somehow misses Wyoming, CSU, or Nevada. I agree about the tailgating rules and the ticket prices. To some extent i agree with you about the seating, if it is a well attended game (40,000 or more). If we have attendance like we did for USM, then it should be less strict. I understand that people who pay more for their seats might get upset if some drunks with cheap tickets came and sat near them, but they can always grab a security person and take care of it. Dont know why you think the premium seats should cost more? UTEP isn't putting out a good product, charging more would piss people off. The older fans dont care anymore and they aren't drawing newer fans. Why was there a 5,000+ difference between CSU and USM? Would be interesting to see if the games were flipped and we had CSU this past Saturday. I think UTEP needs to utilize the internet better and get better merchandise. Plus a totally different scheduling philosiphy would do wonders too. Ill write about that in detail at a later date. |
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Post by strelz on Nov 3, 2011 10:21:40 GMT -5
the older fans still have the money to attend the games but are turned off by the schedule and the attitude of the athletic director and the retaining of mike price...
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Post by mistabinks on Nov 3, 2011 16:55:21 GMT -5
I agree about the tailgating rules and the ticket prices. To some extent i agree with you about the seating, if it is a well attended game (40,000 or more). If we have attendance like we did for USM, then it should be less strict. The more we enforce it, the quicker people will learn you have to pay for your actual seat. If you relax on some games, people will think they can buy a cheap ticket for every game and sit in the good seats. I understand that people who pay more for their seats might get upset if some drunks with cheap tickets came and sat near them, but they can always grab a security person and take care of it. I do it every home game. Dont know why you think the premium seats should cost more? UTEP isn't putting out a good product, charging more would piss people off. I am not talking about doubling the price or anything. UTEP needs to figure out what they need to make each game. Then restructure the prices and the seating chart. Like in basketball, the first few rows, at the 50 yard line, should be a premium price. The endzone, and a few other off sections should be GA and $10. Enforce the seating assignment at every game. The older fans dont care anymore and they aren't drawing newer fans. Why was there a 5,000+ difference between CSU and USM? Would be interesting to see if the games were flipped and we had CSU this past Saturday. I'll agree to disagree but in my opinion that had absolutely nothing to do with who we were playing. Even when we played in the old WAC, CSU wasn't a must see game. It was Halloween weekend, it looked like it was going to be cold, and it was the 2nd game in a row. To me, those little things added up to the 5K in missing fans. I think UTEP needs to utilize the internet better and get better merchandise. Plus a totally different scheduling philosiphy would do wonders too. Ill write about that in detail at a later date. We need to throw some weight around as well. No more scheduling home games on Air Show weekend. Try and avoid Halloween weekend. Return to 7:00 pm. Work our OOC schedule so there isn't a one month gap in between home games. At the same time, try and avoid back to back home games. |
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Post by BleedingOrange on Nov 3, 2011 19:09:23 GMT -5
The fact that some of the home games have been televised is a double-edged sword as well. It's great to get the exposure and allow people to see the game if they can't go in person, but it kills attendance. Most casual fans would gladly sit at home and watch the tv before they'll brave the crowds and pay for a ticket to see what could turn out to be an awful game. (Sad but true.)
On the other hand, I wish our television coverage of road games was better, especially in basketball. I remember back in the day that every single away game would be on the tube, and now that's not a certainty.
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Post by Realm on Nov 4, 2011 1:19:46 GMT -5
El Paso is NOT following the Miners... because Realm is NOT following the Miners.
Realm has been chosen by the Almighty to show the way... even if it was done in a back-doored fashion.
Realm-Almighty
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Post by MinerMan2010 on Nov 4, 2011 17:26:19 GMT -5
The fact that some of the home games have been televised is a double-edged sword as well. It's great to get the exposure and allow people to see the game if they can't go in person, but it kills attendance. Most casual fans would gladly sit at home and watch the tv before they'll brave the crowds and pay for a ticket to see what could turn out to be an awful game. (Sad but true.) On the other hand, I wish our television coverage of road games was better, especially in basketball. I remember back in the day that every single away game would be on the tube, and now that's not a certainty. From what I remember, besides our decling basketball program, NBC had a lot to do with the games not being televised. If the Miner games were shown on another channel things might have been different. NBC started clamping down on local affiliates and they weren't happy that their programming was shown later or not at all. Having games on Thursdays didn't help either. I dont think UTEP will have televised road games consistently until they start winning. |
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