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

[cavedweller2]

Crowd control would not be a problem as Greenville High attracts more fans anyway.

[apaladin]

Guess what the hot topic on the NC A&T message board is? How to increase attendance and get the locals in Greensboro to come to the games. Sounds familiar, huh? We are not alone.

[purplehorse]

Our ceiling at IAA ball is limited. The biggest factor in reaching that ceiling is WINNING and putting a good product on the field. If we can’t do that consistently we should just focus on basketball. I would prefer WINNING in football.

[palafan]

W's put butts in seats. Ask Clemson about pre and post Dabo days.

With GSU and ASU leaving the conference, I'd like to see us play some out of conference FCS teams. Home and home games with schools like JMU, Maine, UMass, Montana, Richmond etc.

[apaladin]

UMass is FBS. We do have a home and home with William and Mary coming up and return road games with Kennesaw St. and NC A&T. 2022 is still a mystery, only one ooc game on the schedule(Clempson).

[Affirm]

W's put butts in seats. Ask Clemson about pre and post Dabo days.

With GSU and ASU leaving the conference, I'd like to see us play some out of conference FCS teams. Home and home games with schools like JMU, Maine, UMass, Montana, Richmond etc.

Of course you know that you are not the only person who has expressed similar sentiments about OOC home & homes against the likes of teams you’ve mentioned plus Delaware, Villanova, Elon, Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette, Lehigh, Fordham, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Indiana State, Missouri State, Towson, Georgetown, SUNY Albany, Holy Cross, Incarnate Word, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Western Illinois, Duquesne, Robert Morris, LIU, Eastern Kentucky, etc. Yes, great to have NCA&TSU on our schedule, let’s keep that going.

[Paul C]

W's put butts in seats. Ask Clemson about pre and post Dabo days.

With GSU and ASU leaving the conference, I'd like to see us play some out of conference FCS teams. Home and home games with schools like JMU, Maine, UMass, Montana, Richmond etc.

Of course you know that you are not the only person who has expressed similar sentiments about OOC home & homes against the likes of teams you’ve mentioned plus Delaware, Villanova, Elon, Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette, Lehigh, Fordham, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Indiana State, Missouri State, Towson, Georgetown, SUNY Albany, Holy Cross, Incarnate Word, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Western Illinois, Duquesne, Robert Morris, LIU, Eastern Kentucky, etc. Yes, great to have NCA&TSU on our schedule, let’s keep that going.

i'm saving this for the day we schedule SUNY Albany and you go ballistic.

Plenty of FCS programs with a reasonable bus ride to keep us in decent shape for a while.

[Affirm]

W's put butts in seats. Ask Clemson about pre and post Dabo days.

With GSU and ASU leaving the conference, I'd like to see us play some out of conference FCS teams. Home and home games with schools like JMU, Maine, UMass, Montana, Richmond etc.

Of course you know that you are not the only person who has expressed similar sentiments about OOC home & homes against the likes of teams you’ve mentioned plus Delaware, Villanova, Elon, Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette, Lehigh, Fordham, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Indiana State, Missouri State, Towson, Georgetown, SUNY Albany, Holy Cross, Incarnate Word, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Western Illinois, Duquesne, Robert Morris, LIU, Eastern Kentucky, etc. Yes, great to have NCA&TSU on our schedule, let’s keep that going.

i'm saving this for the day we schedule SUNY Albany and you go ballistic.

Plenty of FCS programs with a reasonable bus ride to keep us in decent shape for a while.

Why would I go ballistic?
If Albany is out of the question due to distance, then the majority of those others I named are out of the question also.
I think we ARE in decent shape (=good enough) right now. But the topic (question) is HOW DO WE FILL OUR 16,000 SEAT STADIUM? HOME SCHEDULE MORE APPEALING? Yes, I guess it will be CSU, SCSU, Gardner-Webb, Campbell, Kennesaw, Jacksonville State, PC, and Davidson. Plus now Anderson University so we can have enough opponents in bus distance, both before and after Anderson University makes the move to FCS. Fine schools all, but not likely a schedule that gets much attention year after year.

[The Jackal]

The NCAA selection committee really doesn't seem to care how tough your schedule is or the opponents you play.

As long as Furman is scheduling some different opponents that are FCS or higher, I'm good. I don't want to see the same two schools on the schedule every year. I don't want a bunch of NAIA schools. Other than that, let them do their thing.

[Affirm]

The NCAA selection committee really doesn't seem to care how tough your schedule is or the opponents you play.

As long as Furman is scheduling some different opponents that are FCS or higher, I'm good. I don't want to see the same two schools on the schedule every year. I don't want a bunch of NAIA schools. Other than that, let them do their thing.

OK then.
Does not matter whether we have a full stadium.
Not going to happen anyway.
Have to have a bus-ride distance between us and our regular season OOC.
SO:
•4 Conference games home annually
•Home & Home with:
SC State
CSU
NCA&TSU
Kennesaw
Jacksonville State
North Alabama
Tennessee Tech
Eastern Kentucky
Richmond
W&M
Elon
Gardner-Webb
Campbell
•Home OR Home & Home with Davidson and PC
•Home with possibilities such as Carson Newman, Lenoir Rhyne, Catawba, Wingate, Anderson, Mars Hill, Newberry, Virginia Wise, etc.
That gets us through about a 10–year cycle.

[apaladin]

Why do you keep bringing up area non D1 teams? Furman is not going to schedule non D1 teams unless there is absolutely no other option. D2 or lesser opponents are not counted by the playoff peeps so it would be like an exhibition game,

[The Jackal]

Why do you keep bringing up area non D1 teams? Furman is not going to schedule non D1 teams unless there is absolutely no other option. D2 or lesser opponents are not counted by the playoff peeps so it would be like an exhibition game,

I forget the exact numbers, but prior to Point in 2019 it’d been years since Furman played a non d1 team. Point came about because we wanted another home game for the one we lost to Colgate.

[DoomedDin1127]

In my time living in the Greenville area, I have noticed a lot of neighborhoods and apartments popping up all around Furman. Especially since I started going to Furman housing developments have grown in presence.

Do y’all think this could potentially raise the attendance numbers? Giving out tickets or advertising may give a “hometown” feel easier than those who live in downtown Greenville. Just a thought.

[Sir William]

We don’t need to reach out to Greenville to put more folks in the seats at Paladin Stadium - we need to do a consistently effective (and probably better) job of reaching out to the alumni base within a 2.5 - 3 hr driving distance to PS and to the current student body (with the goal of getting at least 65% of these students to actually show up and stay for the whole game). Those are the two target groups where we need to focus and where the true attendance can be increased and maintained.

Marketing Furman football to Greenville itself has never produced a consistent, enduring and true fan base (at least not since the on-campus construction of PS) and it certainly won’t now. First of all, you’ve got to accept the fact that the majority of football fans in Greenville are Clemson fans who don’t care a lick about Furman football (and wrongly believe it to be an inferior product). They aren’t coming over to TR, and do you really want them to? Do you really want to sit next to a family all sporting their orange Tiger shirts at Paladin Stadium? Second, you have to ask this legitimate question: Why would a non-Furman fan leave his air-conditioned home, stocked-fridge and full slate of college football on TV, to travel to see Furman play against (what is in his opinion) a subpar FCS team compared to what he can watch on the SEC network, the ACC network, and any number of ESPN channels? Such a person isn’t interested and isn’t going to be interested in Furman football enough to do anything about it.

What we want in our stadium are true Paladin fans (whether they finished at FU or not) who love the Paladins. And that means you need three things:
(1) A quality product on the field that is worth driving to see. We have this now under CCH, and with the exception of this spring (which was an anomaly IMO), the product is going to continue to get better and better. More championships are on the way - bank it!
(2) A great game-day experience. We have this…from the proximity of parking to the tailgating to the intimate and beautiful stadium setting to the postgame comraderie.
(3) A targeted marketing focus aimed at alumni of all ages throughout SC, Charlotte NC, Knoxville TN, and most importantly GA and metro Atlanta, as well as an ongoing push with the current student body.

The days of averaging 12-14k people every home game at PS are arguably gone in the current age and climate of college football. Still, there is no reason we can’t have a 90-95% full home side for each Saturday home game (along with a good spattering of opposing visitors on the other side). And the way to do it is through a proper focus on our true fan base, and not a bunch of gimmicks to attract non-fans who don’t care.

Nonetheless, if you really want to attract folks from Greenville, then put your money where your mouth is, buy 4 extra tickets other than your own, and invite and treat your neighbors to a free afternoon.

As always…Go Dins!

[apaladin]

FU does not do a good job of marketing its product. We used to have billboards around Greenville, tv ads etc. I went to Shelby yesterday and tight there on hwy 74 a large ad for Gardner-Webb football. Of course schools like Gardner-Webb have lots more money than FU and can afford ads etc, a baseball team, etc. where FU cannot.