I am not trying to be insulting, but why do you guys not draw fans better? Your campus is as nice as any in all of college football, and your stadium, though not real large, is a first rate venue. On TV it looked like 40-50% of the seats were empty. I know Illinois is not ranked or anything, but they are a BIG 10 school. You guys looked great today! What will it take to fill your stadium? I know Bball is like a religion in Chapel Hill, but my goodness! If you were a top flight recruit, would the lack of fan support not weigh into your decision? I know some will think I'm trying to put you guys down, but I think your fan base hasn't much room to gripe when things don't go well. UNC being good is good for the ACC, but your fans need to fill your football stadium like you do the Dean Doom.
Lots of empty seats...
- Thread starter tgrjoe71
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People like supporting a winning program. After the Davis/NCAA ordeal, and the program promising but never delivering since Mack Brown left, the fans are sporadic. Especially for OOC games.
I say let students in for free at the end of the 1st quarter if people aren't showing up
But they should show now if it is a coach thing. We have a big name on the coaching staff in Gene Chizik. I mean it pumped me up and ready for football when they hired him.
Students aren't guaranteed tickets for football games either
I'm saying students who couldn't get tickets should just be able to go fill the space and hopefully make some noise if people aren't showing up
I'm saying students who couldn't get tickets should just be able to go fill the space and hopefully make some noise if people aren't showing up
Heels Football is a Train Wreck You want to keep up with the scores and stay loyal but Driving 2.5 hours on a Saturday from Charlotte to watch them is not on my schedule... They Traditionally win when matched against a team that is below them in talent like today usually always take care of business, Lock them up against a team with more talent then watch the imploding begin from penalties to Coaching blunders.. Many years of this same scenario's like NCAA and Ron Cherry Hates us and 5 game losing streaks to State people tend to just move on or watch it on TV if you are available, I can take losing I pull for the Panthers but the way the Heels lose big games are completely unbelievable if you break down the games .. Still will pull for them, will I watch every single game? Not unless I go 12 Saturday's with big plans, I have attended a game this year, I accepted a free ticket and Drove 18 miles, see I am loyal lol...
I thought for football a student just showed or swiped their ID, but they would be limited to their sections.
I agree if there are regular seats not being used, let the students use them.
It did not appear the student section was full today.
How bad is it going to be next week against Delaware and a 12:30 start?
I agree if there are regular seats not being used, let the students use them.
It did not appear the student section was full today.
How bad is it going to be next week against Delaware and a 12:30 start?
All of this is fair. I think the long answer is the only one that makes sense, that gets at why it is as it is.
A university community follows its leadership, especially over time. Going back to at least Frank Porter Graham, the UNC administration has been wary of football success. The GI Bill changed university admissions forever, and UNC administrators hated it. The great football success in the late '40s was largely built on WW2 Vets - like Choo Choo. That cemented a strong opposition to football among UNC administrators, who felt that all students should enter proficient in Latin and ready to tackle Greek.
Their prejudice was affirmed by the basketball players Frank McGuire signed. The vast majority of them were Catholic school boys who had had at least 3 years of Latin. By the time that McGuire won the national title in '57, UNC administrators saw Big Time football as being bad for academics and Big Time basketball as fully acceptable. When Jim Tatum died, UNC hired Jim Hickey as football HC. The administration loved Hickey ( who was a William&Mary grad, and would have taken Latin at least 2 years there), keeping him 8 years. Hickey had only 1 winning team. The admin defense was: Hickey is a good man, who might even have become a scholar, and anyway, he only had 4 losing teams to go with 1 big winner and 3 .500 teams.
So, over the decades our alums and students got trained. You can see the attitude very well in sportswriter Art Chansky and his BFF internet blowhard BobLee Says. Both openly ridicule the desire to have big time winning football at UNC.
Can it end? Yes, but only after we have won the ACC once again, and have backed that with major salaries to keep the staff.
I would like to know besides Tx and Cali what other state can support 5 legit D1 programs all practically in the same area and hours away from the largest city in the state. As a fan, I would love to see BKS packed each and every Saturday but I can understand why it isn't. There is also another factor. Our fans have a viable alternative (Bball) so when our fan base see our football team play like champs against the sisters of the poor and play like the sisters of the poor against higher level talent year after year after year fans don't want to spend hours of their time driving to a game when they have seen so much inept football from this team. see game against daCocks. I don't think our fans think we need to win them all (would be nice), just want to see a team (coaches and players) for once that looks prepared to play and doesn't make stupid mistake after stupid mistake when we play decent team. Also did I mention making BD a fall guy in this NCAA mess really rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
Soooooo many excuses. My God. Don't give me the basketball excuse. Our precious Dean Dome is never sold out either (except for the Duke and State game), and if, God forbid, we aren't in the Top 25, attendance wanes drastically.
We just have lousy fans. That's all. No use for me getting worked up over it like I used to because it won't change
We just have lousy fans. That's all. No use for me getting worked up over it like I used to because it won't change
That's because basketball TV broadcasts zoom in closer to a smaller playing area. Not a lot of sweeping crowd pans.
Also it's worth noting that ESPN makes attempts to show fans in the stands. Empty sections don't make for a good broadcast. And still the stadium looks empty on TV lol
I don't think our fans are any better or worse than any other middle of the road P-5 team not in the SEC. And the SEC only does well because of the tailgate factor and quality of opponent.
There are many reasons to explain why fans do or don't go to games. But I don't ever expect to see Kenan selling out games against Illinois, Delaware, A&T,Wake, BC, Syracuse etc unless we are nationally ranked in the top 3 and even then I wouldn't bet on a full stadium.
There are many reasons to explain why fans do or don't go to games. But I don't ever expect to see Kenan selling out games against Illinois, Delaware, A&T,Wake, BC, Syracuse etc unless we are nationally ranked in the top 3 and even then I wouldn't bet on a full stadium.
Stupid noon games. Not that UNC fans were all that great in the first place, but Thorp killed the fanbased when he fired Davis. Add the horrible loss to SC to start this year, there is just no excitement in the program right now. Go back to last year when UNC got crushed by State at home. There are many reasons. I love going to a fall game at 3:30 or later, but anything earlier is a complete joke.
Some good reasons right here. But even still, you can watch a game at your house with a better view, better bathrooms and without having to go park 2 miles from campus, get harassed by the Chapel Hill Gestapo for drinking a beer in a parking lot, not have to pay $10 for a coke and stale popcorn, etc.
Chapel Hill is just not a football venue unless you can park next to the stadium, and that usually means you are 60+ and not much into the tailgate.
Not making excuses here at all, but a few things are making attendance appear even worse.
1- Blue Zone has thousands in the stadium watching from air conditioned confines during hot Sept. games, making them invisible to TV cameras.
2- TV cameras face sunny side of Kenan. Unlike the old days, you can relo to shady South side to escape the direct rays of the sun.
3- 63k seats w/ 50k butts in them is significantly a less dense crowd than 50k all outside ina 52k seat stadium.
In tandem, these things make a 50k crowd today seem much less "full" than 50k say, in 1995.
1- Blue Zone has thousands in the stadium watching from air conditioned confines during hot Sept. games, making them invisible to TV cameras.
2- TV cameras face sunny side of Kenan. Unlike the old days, you can relo to shady South side to escape the direct rays of the sun.
3- 63k seats w/ 50k butts in them is significantly a less dense crowd than 50k all outside ina 52k seat stadium.
In tandem, these things make a 50k crowd today seem much less "full" than 50k say, in 1995.
Um, not sure who is driving you to a game but in my driving I could hit the Hill from Asheville in 3.5hrs. pretty dang often. Tons of UNC fans that actually contribute and attend games from WNC. An hour to Kelmp's son? Sure, MmmHmm...
What blue and gridiron said, I noticed the cameras were up on the student side (south) for most shots. So looking at the north side didn't seem too well attended by some of the oldsters. Again, like blue, couple of 8 or 9 win seasons fixes a lot.
ok Dick Brevard nc to chapel hill 352 miles 4hrs stooped and ate Clemson 51.77 miles 1hr 15 min
i make the drive twice a year did not say no one goes, But if you thank there is more N.C fans here then there are clemson and tnn fans you dont get out much.
One time the UNC ticket office listed attendance at 45,000 and it was a bye week.
Exhibit A: This thread.
So let me get this straight. If the travel time is less than two hours, there's a big-name opponent, the game is after 3:30, the weather is perfect, the area around Kenan is razed for tailgate parking lots, tailgaters can drink with impunity, all concessions are upgraded and discounted, the team is near flawless in its execution, the coaches don't make mistakes, the officials treat us favorably, and we re-hire Butch Davis ... then fans will consider showing up? That sounds reasonable.
Hyperbole notwithstanding, this describes just about every fan base.
Who is selling out games anymore, other than the SEC and Ohio State?
You two need to stop. Our fans don't suck. They just have other things to do, much like all fans of sports these days.
It takes a massive commitment of time and money to be a fan the likes of which you two expect. Furthermore, 5-10 years ago, every game wasn't on TV like it is now. Nor did tickets cost as much or games last as long.
I think it's great that you buy season tickets and want to go to every game- I really do. But I am not going to forego a weekend at the beach or camping or going to my daughters horse show to watch any game, least of all UNC football.
It takes a massive commitment of time and money to be a fan the likes of which you two expect. Furthermore, 5-10 years ago, every game wasn't on TV like it is now. Nor did tickets cost as much or games last as long.
I think it's great that you buy season tickets and want to go to every game- I really do. But I am not going to forego a weekend at the beach or camping or going to my daughters horse show to watch any game, least of all UNC football.
What else is there to do in Columbia? Furthermore, the football game is just one part of a Saturday experience at USC or many other SEC schools.
Look at the stands on the South side. Looks pretty full. This is what I was referring to re: the sunny side and fans broiling in it (north side). That's what TV shows during game action when in a full field shot.
I only come to the free board to see what some of you are saying. I hate Columbia, but what the hell is there to do in Chapel Hill? It's not New York City and your excuse of people having other interest does not fly. Every game I saw yesterday was full except for Miami and they had a hell of a lot more there than UNC. And there's a whole lot more to do in Miami than Columbia or CH.
Just off the top of my head since I happened to tune in to this game when I got home Saturday (note the crowd at the 4 second mark). The stadium was not only shoulder-to-shoulder fans, but they were all participating in the stadium stripe-out by wearing the right color t-shirts:
I'm sure I could find other examples if I felt like spending the time to do it.
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I completely understand this rationale. I have to choose between backpacking in the best (IMO) weather of the year versus spending my weekend going to games. My choice is almost always for the games, but I understand why others choose differently. There are also people who live too far away to reasonably make the trip, or who have newborn infants to care for, etc.
How many UNC football fans are there? It has to be in the hundreds of thousands. We only need 63,000 to show up 6 or 7 times a year. So when we say our fans suck we're making a general statement because the vast majority of them are choosing something other than UNC football. We don't need everyone who likes UNC football to sacrifice every weekend in the fall. We just need enough of them to fill the stadium. The showing on Saturday was absolutely embarrassing.
[Edit to add:] The one excuse -- mentioned a couple times here -- that floors me is the firing of Butch Davis. Sweet fancy Moses. That happened over 4 years ago and everyone involved in that decision has been jettisoned. People using that travesty as an excuse to no-show are basically punishing the football program for something that was (and is) completely out of their control. I hated it too, but there's not a damn thing we can do about it. Get over it already.
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