Football attendance figures has been getting attention.
Personally, I think the Aggies will hit the 15,000 average at their home games this year. You know they'll draw well for New Mexico and early WAC games. The only concern is, what about later in the year? The weather gets less appealing and, generally, their record does to.
And that's what it's really about: wins and losses. People will come out and support the team if its competitive. No one came to the Utah State game last year because NMSU was so poor at the end of the season and what happened? The UtAgs won in front of a meager showing. The Fresno State game in the season finale drew next to nothing as well, in part because of lousy weather. Those two games were meaningless and it showed in the attendance figures, ultimately bringing down the season average as a whole.
The Nevada contest last year had a horrible crowd as well. The box score said over 10,000 but there is no way that many people showed up. That was embarrassing simply because it was on national TV.
Here are the attendance figures last year, game-by-game
Southeastern Louisiana: 12,682
UTEP: 30,343
Arkansas-Pine Bluff: 15,329
Idaho (Homecoming): 15,788
Nevada: 12,268
Utah State: 7,537
Fresno State: 6,937
18 comments:
In 2002 we went 6-5 and averaged, 22,000 a game.
The reason?
We swept both UNM and Utep early in the season and did fairly well in conference play!
Everyone is excited about a new season.
NMSU needs to take advantage of the early season excitement and needs to sweep our rivals and have a good showing vs. Nebraska!
If we are 3-1 at the end of September.
We get a week off and have three winnable games @ Nevada, SJSU (tough enough to wear pink), and @ Idaho.
If we win 2 of the first 3 WAC games, we should sell out the Boise St. (Homecoming) and have a good showing vs. Hawaii.
Our attendance will be over 15,000 but, sweeping our rivals will be our gauge on how succesfull our season is, just like in 2002!
Vic
The UTEP and UNM home game figures are misleading because the majority in attendance are from the visiting team.With maybe two wins on the schedule next year,i doubt they will make the 15,000 average-unless the MHS-LCHS game is averaged in also(???)BTW-how long does the crowd have to stay before the attendance count is official?
Paid attendance. In other words, as long as the ticket is cashed in, there doesn't need to be a fan in the seat. Hence last year's Fresno game. The attendance said over 6,000 but there were no more than 3,000 there.
2002 and 6-5 are Sun Belt numbers-a mediocre collection of cellar dwellers in any other conference that made NMSU and North Texas look good.The only sport benefitting from the move to the WAC has been basketball(M/W).Everyone else has been hurt by the move.Four of nine schools in bowl games last year & you not one of them makes for a very daunting season-2 wins tops.
With Mummy the Dummy at the helm, and the price of admission go up instead of down, I can't see where he'll get the 15,000 attendance. Tickets should be $5.00 and NMSU should encourage tailgating not discourage it. Concession prices should also be lower. And then $2.00 to park!!! Are you crazy!!! No Thursday games would also be a good start. How dumb was that to think people would come out to a game that wouldn't get them home till 11PM when tomorrow is a work day! And what did those games get us anyway? Then they ruin the parking lot with asphalt.
Call Samuels and ask him if he wants his job back! At least we won a few games and were headed in the right direction! He was personable and was always out trying to be part of the community. Then there was Jerry Glanville who wanted the job and instead we take Mummy! We should kick ourselves in the behind!
Anon. 11:07
Yes, it was the Sun Belt but the key? Sweeping Utep & Unm early on was key for attendance that season!!
You may recall that in 2004 NMSU started 1-4 and got swept by our rivals.
The team got on roll and won 4 of 6and finished 5-6 for the year.
Although NMSU was 5-5 going into it's last game vs. Utah st. and had a chance to finish w/ a winning record.
The fan base had jumped off the bandwagon when it lost back to back games to Unm & Utep.
Coaches and AD's will tell you that conference wins are it's goal and while this is true.
Beating Unm & Utep is key to selling tickets the rest of the year and getting the athletic department out of the red!!
No but's or if's about it!
Vic
ANON 7:33 --
Please leave your ignorance at home. Aggie fans do show up in droves for UNM/UTEP. It's the other games that are dragging us down.
Re: ANON 12:10 & 12:14 --
Jesus, are you really that dumb? Ticket prices are dirt cheap, and have been for sometime. Open your eyes. 12:10, really, in all honesty, that was a profoundly stupid post.
12:14, Samuels left this program in shambles. Mumme only had 10 scholarships to hand out, instead of the full 25 that is allotted by the NCAA because Samuels recruits didn't get it done in the class room. You call that, and minor success in the Sun Belt moving in the right direction?
And that's the other side of this ugly situation-just beat UTEP(C-USA) and UNM(Mtn West) and the season is an instant success,and never mind the rest of the schedule,or that neither one is a conference game-not going to happen this year,I'm afraid..that's all the footbal many in LC care about..
'Mumme the Dummy'? Hey I concur! The kids will have their work cut out for them this fall. 15,000 a game? Mumme better hope so or he'll be coaching Pop Warner real fast!
NMSU has a tough sell. Teddy, it would be nice to see a ticket price comparison across the board with like sized schools and with our rivals UTEP and UNM. The lower prices will help but will not solve the whole problem. Ultimately wins mean fans in the seats. Win and they will come, there are too few die hard Aggie fans. And yes I am a season ticket holder and one of the dying breed called Aggie die hard.
Although I live too far away to attend more than a game or so, I might consider buying a season ticket if it counts for attendance, even if I'm not able to make the game. Seems as though I remember about ten years ago there was a change in what counted for attendance. Can you clarify that, Teddy?
Grad from long ago and far away
I wrote a letter to the paper some 10 years ago addressing this issue. After moving here from Boston I was impressed with the weather in which football games were played in. I would watch the likes of Boston College, Harvard, Penn State, Yale and the Patriots in below freezing temps. There would be 40,000 plus strong braving the elements.
We would also pay some $10 to $20 for tickets (the cheap seats) and $5 to $15 to park. This was in the late 70's and 80's. I have also been to games at OU, Tennessee, Alabama, ASU, U of A to name a few.
I am a college football junky.
I come to Las Cruces and see, no paying to park, $5 tickets, 80 degree weather and I think man this is great. But, then only a couple thousand people tailgating and cops everywhere hassling people. No wonder you can't get people to come to games. Alot of football is about the pregame atmosphere. NMSU has tailgating rules and the atmosphere sucks. Plus the footabll isn't very good.
Anyway I have noticed Las Crucans are bandwagon fans. As indicated by how many of them cheer for whatever pro sports team is winning at the time. They have no sense of what it is to be a diehard fan as someone growing up in a pro sports town like Boston.
So if NMSU were to go AA and win they will come. that's all it takes in a place like Las Cruces.
For all those cheapskates that won't fork out $6 for a game ticket and $2 for parking. I went to a UT Austin game last year and paid $85 to get into the game and $25 for parking at their lower tier tailgating lot. And this was at a normal OOC, non-rivalry game. I was told I was lucky I came to a game that was cheap to get in. I know Las Cruces wages aren't up to par with the rest of the nation, but it costs more to go to Whataburger than it does to go to an Aggie game.
I say if you choose not to support your city and the university representing your city then don't complain about how bad the team and coach is.
And for the record, anon 12:10, tailgating is strongly encouraged, we're normally out there since about 9:30-10:00 am. And the only reason we are opening up on a Thursday is because Wyoming backed out of their game at the last minute and we had to scramble to find an opponent and schedule around them.
A couple of you are complaining about prices and parking costs.
Utep is only 45 minutes away and their ticket costs are almost double!
Parking is tough to find. I've parked more than two miles away and almost had my car towed two years ago!
They have a parking garage that costs $20/ game and tailgating isn't allowed!
RV passes cost $100 for the season!
NMSU has $6 GA tickets and charges $2 for parking regardless of the size of your vehicle!
NMSU has plenty of parking around Aggie Memorial and is a five minute walk to the stadium.
Maybe the university should just give tickets away because most Las Crucens are way too CHEAP!!
Ticket prices are not the problem. We have got to have some of the cheapest tickets in the country. Hell like some other posters said UNM and UTEP prices are almost double.
Parking is not an issue. Do what I always do. I always park by the library or Corbet center so I don't have to pay for parking.
It costs more to go to a fast food restaurant or to a movie than it does to go to an aggie sporting event.
Lots of good points brought up, but this one I think reigns supreme:
"I say if you choose not to support your city and the university representing your city then don't complain about how bad the team and coach is."
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