The FAMU Rattlers managed to do something it hasn't done in its last four tries --- beat the Delaware State Hornets 21-12. The Rattlers managed to pull this off in front of a home crowd of 17,209.The Rattlers' opening night attendance placed it about sixth among HBCUs behind Miles v Tuskegee (26,215), Virginia State at Norfolk State (24,325), Alabama A&M at Tennessee State (23,871), North Carolina A&T at Winston-Salem (22,000), and Prarrie View at Texas Southern (21,775). The attendance was particularly good considering the absence of a marketing push from the the athletic department.
In part, FAMU may have been on the receiving end of football crazed fans who also came to town to see Monday night's FSU v. Miami game. Still 879 fewer people walked through the Bragg Stadium turnstiles than did for last year's season opener against Alabama State.
As of this Wednesday, FAMU had sold less than 200 opening game tickets outside of its season ticket sales.
Given the high-hopes everyone has for the Rattlers sales could have been stronger with some kind of marketing push.
The difference in the total between last year and this can mostly be attributed to the visiting team. Alabama State brought with them about 3,000 fans, including their band (I know they don't count the band in attendance) whereas Delaware brought less than 500.
ReplyDelete8:45 a.m.,
ReplyDeleteThe opponent is probably a factor, but there is still no excuse for not growing your own fan base!
There was little marketing either last year.
There was a big difference in grown folks (paid) this year and last. Far more students this time around.
ReplyDeleteStudents PAY, and PAID already trust me on that!I would think more "grown" folk would be supporting FAMU. I mean dang you have enough money for nails and weave and gold teeth and rims. But when it comes to education the white man holding you down. GIVE ME A BREAK! FAMU is GREAT and needs to be supported as such!
ReplyDeleteWhat 10:05am said. Our people will patronize the ABC Store before they'll patronize our schools.
ReplyDeleteStudents do pay indeed. About one third of the athletic budget comes from student athletic fees.
ReplyDeleteWe can't really build a program on "walk-ups" had it rained we would have been screwed !!!!
ReplyDeleteGame Day experience is what's gotta expand. Look at the Dolphins' approach to building upon an aging base in a state full of transplants. Loyalty is difficult in Florida, but definitely not impossible.
ReplyDeleteNot to say that Rattlernation doesn't do it's research, but all the other HBCU games that beat us out in attendance were Classics. NSU/VSU is their Labor Day Classic, PV/TxSU is their Labor day Classic in Reliant Stadium, NCA&T/WSSU used to be a classic (and they are a good 45 minute drive apart), and ASU/TnSU is the John Merrit Classic (still played in Nash).
ReplyDeleteYou would think that if we could get 17K with just some articles on tallahassee.com, with a decent creatve marketing effort we'd have 25K easy.
If RN had time to look up the attendance figures, they know that these lame games were classics/ intra-state rivalries, etc. But does that really matter? Aren't we FAMU, the largest HBCU on planet earth?
ReplyDeleteGameday experience has to be expanded, in addition to better promotions/marketing for our home games in Bragg. For example, the promo/commercial on FAMU-TV 20 and the FAMU.edu website can easily be uploaded on Youtube, and then distributed among FAMU students, alumni, and friends on Facebook, myspace, twitter, and other social networks. At least that would be a start.
ReplyDeleteThere's apparently an iniative for the September 19th Thursday nite game on ESPNU live. The game is designated as Church and Community day, and churches will be selling tickets for $7. FAMU marketing needs to create a promo for the Thursday nite game so it can be uploaded on youtube.