Local guy call out Kennesaw State fans

[ASU33]

https://www.mdjonline.com/sports/commentary-kennesaw-state-owls-deserves-better-fans/article_7f52ab32-f76e-11e8-8e1d-a3bdde85bc53.html

Amazingly the local media never mentions KSU. Here it's all UGA and Falcons this time of year with Georgia Tech squeezed in. The same media that won't mention Kennesaw State has the audacity to call out Kennesaw State fans for not showing up.

[caribbeanhen]

https://www.mdjonline.com/sports/commentary-kennesaw-state-owls-deserves-better-fans/article_7f52ab32-f76e-11e8-8e1d-a3bdde85bc53.html

Amazingly the local media never mentions KSU. Here it's all UGA and Falcons this time of year with Georgia Tech squeezed in. The same media that won't mention Kennesaw State has the audacity to call out Kennesaw State fans for not showing up.

I wouldn't get too worked up about it, maybe all the Kennesaw fans were at the game haha.........free attendance for students and 60 show up, kids are moving away from football nation wide

[Outsider1]

I admit that is a cheap shot. The crowd was bad, but what has the media done to help it? We are slowly getting a little better coverage, but our sports networks focus on high school football more than college. West Texas is HS Friday Night Lights... So, even though there aren't any major FBS schools around, we still have to compete. The two DIII schools in town also have to fight for time. It is true that it's becoming harder to keep students in the stands. ACU, and ACU donors, are trying to get creative. FCS fan bases are always fickle, which makes it all the more important for local networks and community support and coverage. KSU has a great thing going. I wish they would get more crowds. Do HBCU schools have any more of a loyal fan base?

[ASU33]

Do HBCU schools have any more of a loyal fan base?[/QUOTE]

It depends on the HBCU honestly. All HBCUs aren't the same. The HBCUs in the deep south (SWAC/SIAC) will have larger crowds because of how passionate we are for football in the South. Many students of these Southern HBCUs grew up around them and it's a family tradition. You have a lot of fans that don't follow ANYTHING but HBCU football. That's how Southern, FAMU, and Alabama State can be within the shadows of P5 programs and their attendance isn't effected.

[Reign of Terrier]

I was at the game and it's possible I am biased here because my team lost. Nevertheless, let's give it a shot. I'm just going to do bullet points. The TL:DR is that he's pretty much right.



Kennesaw State has the biggest enrollment in GA if I'm not mistaken, with over 36k current students. That's a little misleading, because many of the students (if I'm not mistaken) are in continuing education. They work a full time job (I presume) and go to college. Still, the average college experience is not what it used to be, especially compared to those who went to school before the 90s or so. For various reasons, the average college student takes 6 years to graduate. Most students are in community and junior colleges. Big, flagship state schools have the advantage in that they have brand recognition and years of good memories (games/championships won/etc). Basically, you get people to games by having a fun experience and brand recognition.
There's a reason why ETSU had better attendance than KSU this year (and last year?), even though ETSU wasn't as successful. I'm using them as an example because they both restarted their programs at the same time and have roughly the same size stadium (8k). ETSU has greater ties to the community (at least in terms of proportion of graduates in the community compared to population size) and there's less things to do and years of avid spectatorship at basketball games. ETSU may have dropped football for 15 years, but they've been division 1 for a very long time. The result is ETSU having, like, 8,000 people (close to sell out) in most games this year. Kennesaw on the other hand has to compete with a bazillion different sports teams, has alumni less invested in sporting events (there for the degree, not the community as one is when you're an adult getting an education as opposed to an 18 year old), KSU has been division one for like 15 years and Atlanta traffic is just an abortion on wheels. The result for KSU is having their stadium allegedly 3/4 full for half of the season and less than half way full for the playoff game.
The game was played when many major outlets were predicting severe thunderstorms all day. The weather wasn't bad, but that has an effect.
So I'm sympathetic to KSU because they have a lot going on for them. And yet, they can do better. Much better.
For comparison, at KSU's homecoming, they had 6400 people attend their game against Samford. Wofford is a school with less people living who have ever been affiliated with the college than KSU has current, most of which only follow the sports team passively at best. We have bad attendance due to our even weaker ties to the Spartanburg community. We had 400 more people at our homecoming game than they did
KSU's stadium is actually really good on the outside but terrible on the inside. because it's a soccer field, it's designed with a wider field in mind. Though the design of the stadium (wrap around) is pretty cool, I had to stand the entire game to get a good look at the action. I was not the only one. There were probably less than 10 plays snapped on the side of the field that was closest to the band (which admittedly is a random occurrence in the game), but I felt so far away from everything (our seats were at the 20 yard line or so). All these other little things made it less enjoyable; visitors had to walk a quarter mile it seemed to enter on one side of the field, it took KSU's ticket office until Tuesday(or later) to get their affairs in order, despite having a week to prepare, and you have to print a parking pass (you can't pay for parking in person)
So, given the above, KSU has put up some barriers to the passive member of the community to play. I don't know if I would go back (but let's be real, I probably will).
The good news is that KSU is like 2 decades away from contemplating an FBS jump because their attendance is so god awful bad. This is good for the FCS (as long as Bohannan sticks around or has a good assistant), the Big South and maybe even the Socon.
I've been to away games against the Citadel, Furman, James Madison, Youngstown State, Elon, Gardner Webb, VMI, and maybe a couple others I can't remember, but Kennesaw State had the weirdest set up and probably the least support of any team, given the amount of success their team was having. I think there were more Gardner Webb fans at Gardner Webb against Wofford earlier this year and at the time it had been more than a season since GW won a division one game.


- - - Updated - - -


Do HBCU schools have any more of a loyal fan base?

It depends on the HBCU honestly. All HBCUs aren't the same. The HBCUs in the deep south (SWAC/SIAC) will have larger crowds because of how passionate we are for football in the South. Many students of these Southern HBCUs grew up around them and it's a family tradition. You have a lot of fans that don't follow ANYTHING but HBCU football. That's how Southern, FAMU, and Alabama State can be within the shadows of P5 programs and their attendance isn't effected.[/QUOTE]

HBCUs are in a category of their own when it comes to FCS attendance because they are better at attending.

[Outsider1]

I was at the game and it's possible I am biased here because my team lost. Nevertheless, let's give it a shot. I'm just going to do bullet points. The TL:DR is that he's pretty much right.



Kennesaw State has the biggest enrollment in GA if I'm not mistaken, with over 36k current students. That's a little misleading, because many of the students (if I'm not mistaken) are in continuing education. They work a full time job (I presume) and go to college. Still, the average college experience is not what it used to be, especially compared to those who went to school before the 90s or so. For various reasons, the average college student takes 6 years to graduate. Most students are in community and junior colleges. Big, flagship state schools have the advantage in that they have brand recognition and years of good memories (games/championships won/etc). Basically, you get people to games by having a fun experience and brand recognition.
There's a reason why ETSU had better attendance than KSU this year (and last year?), even though ETSU wasn't as successful. I'm using them as an example because they both restarted their programs at the same time and have roughly the same size stadium (8k). ETSU has greater ties to the community (at least in terms of proportion of graduates in the community compared to population size) and there's less things to do and years of avid spectatorship at basketball games. ETSU may have dropped football for 15 years, but they've been division 1 for a very long time. The result is ETSU having, like, 8,000 people (close to sell out) in most games this year. Kennesaw on the other hand has to compete with a bazillion different sports teams, has alumni less invested in sporting events (there for the degree, not the community as one is when you're an adult getting an education as opposed to an 18 year old), KSU has been division one for like 15 years and Atlanta traffic is just an abortion on wheels. The result for KSU is having their stadium allegedly 3/4 full for half of the season and less than half way full for the playoff game.
The game was played when many major outlets were predicting severe thunderstorms all day. The weather wasn't bad, but that has an effect.
So I'm sympathetic to KSU because they have a lot going on for them. And yet, they can do better. Much better.
For comparison, at KSU's homecoming, they had 6400 people attend their game against Samford. Wofford is a school with less people living who have ever been affiliated with the college than KSU has current, most of which only follow the sports team passively at best. We have bad attendance due to our even weaker ties to the Spartanburg community. We had 400 more people at our homecoming game than they did
KSU's stadium is actually really good on the outside but terrible on the inside. because it's a soccer field, it's designed with a wider field in mind. Though the design of the stadium (wrap around) is pretty cool, I had to stand the entire game to get a good look at the action. I was not the only one. There were probably less than 10 plays snapped on the side of the field that was closest to the band (which admittedly is a random occurrence in the game), but I felt so far away from everything (our seats were at the 20 yard line or so). All these other little things made it less enjoyable; visitors had to walk a quarter mile it seemed to enter on one side of the field, it took KSU's ticket office until Tuesday(or later) to get their affairs in order, despite having a week to prepare, and you have to print a parking pass (you can't pay for parking in person)
So, given the above, KSU has put up some barriers to the passive member of the community to play. I don't know if I would go back (but let's be real, I probably will).
The good news is that KSU is like 2 decades away from contemplating an FBS jump because their attendance is so god awful bad. This is good for the FCS (as long as Bohannan sticks around or has a good assistant), the Big South and maybe even the Socon.
I've been to away games against the Citadel, Furman, James Madison, Youngstown State, Elon, Gardner Webb, VMI, and maybe a couple others I can't remember, but Kennesaw State had the weirdest set up and probably the least support of any team, given the amount of success their team was having. I think there were more Gardner Webb fans at Gardner Webb against Wofford earlier this year and at the time it had been more than a season since GW won a division one game.


- - - Updated - - -



It depends on the HBCU honestly. All HBCUs aren't the same. The HBCUs in the deep south (SWAC/SIAC) will have larger crowds because of how passionate we are for football in the South. Many students of these Southern HBCUs grew up around them and it's a family tradition. You have a lot of fans that don't follow ANYTHING but HBCU football. That's how Southern, FAMU, and Alabama State can be within the shadows of P5 programs and their attendance isn't effected.

HBCUs are in a category of their own when it comes to FCS attendance because they are better at attending.[/QUOTE]


Good posts on both accounts.

[Reign of Terrier]

If I were in charge of KSU and I wanted to increase their turnout, I would

1)Build a new stadium
2) streamline parking
3) give the first x amount of students free tickets
4) massive, massive PR and marketing campaign

They can do it. #1 will likely not happen. But 2-4 could have been done in 2015

[ksu_owls]

Just for clarity, KSU is the 3rd largest school in Georgia and much less than half of the students are in continuing education.

The issue with attendance is that we play teams that less than 1% of the population within 50 miles of KSU has ever heard of. The first year we had football our attendance was pretty solid; we averaged 8,820 per game. There are only so many times a student wants to spend their Saturday afternoon watching your team beat a team he or she has never heard of by 40 points. The FCS is not popular outside of a small group of very interested people. Even this week I've been telling people at work that we are playing South Dakota State this weekend and they ask me "is that the good Dakota team?". (If I had said SDSU they would have probably guessed San Diego State.)

Look at our basketball team, which is terrible by the way lol. I'm not even going to bother looking up their average attendance, but in 2010 (sometime around then) we hosted Georgia Tech (and won by 18 I believe) without there being an empty seat in the house. The majority of these students grew up in an FBS culture that worships either the SEC or ACC and that's all they know or care about. It will take a long time of us winning and hosting meaningful games before we have any major improvements to our attendance. There's simply too much to do in the suburbs of north Atlanta that competes with everyone's entertainment.

[ksu_owls]

If I were in charge of KSU and I wanted to increase their turnout, I would

1)Build a new stadium
2) streamline parking
3) give the first x amount of students free tickets
4) massive, massive PR and marketing campaign

They can do it. #1 will likely not happen. But 2-4 could have been done in 2015

1) There is a lot of money at KSU. They have plans for a 4 or 5 story field house where the stage area is currently. That should be completed in the next 4 years. The stadium was built with the intent of adding a second level, not sure when they will ever do that. Sight lines aren't that bad, it's better than having a track around your field like some teams.
2) There are cash parking options at the PGA superstore that is less than 0.5 miles from the stadium. There is also a Teal lot (prepaid parking only) that is on the visitors side of the stadium that has a bridge and walkway built leading you right to the visitors side.
3) they tried to give the first 1,000 students free tickets for the playoff game. I believe student tickets are always free for regular season games.
4) This is always where people point fingers, but they do a pretty decent job of promoting. The issue is more culture than awareness.

[KSUFAN]

Wasn't just local guy the Coach Bohannon had some comments in his press conference today!

http://youtu.be/uq7E93n8ga4

[JSUSoutherner]

Top 5 Reasons KSU's attendance sucked that day:
1.) It was pouring all over the metro.
2.) The SEC Championship
3.) Lack of media coverage (big stories are the SEC Championship and ATL United)
4.) Getting to Marrietta for anyone not already in Marietta is a super duper pain in the ass.
5.) Crowds aren't too great to begin with.

On this list, 5 is the only one KSU kind of has some influence over. They need to promote outside of social media. I live in the metro. Guess how many advertisements I've ever seen on TV, heard on the radio, read in the papers, or seen on billboards around the city.

Exactly Zero.

Nobody knew Kennesaw was playing Saturday except for the people who actively follow Kennesaw.

[Reign of Terrier]

1) There is a lot of money at KSU. They have plans for a 4 or 5 story field house where the stage area is currently. That should be completed in the next 4 years. The stadium was built with the intent of adding a second level, not sure when they will ever do that. Sight lines aren't that bad, it's better than having a track around your field like some teams.
2) There are cash parking options at the PGA superstore that is less than 0.5 miles from the stadium. There is also a Teal lot (prepaid parking only) that is on the visitors side of the stadium that has a bridge and walkway built leading you right to the visitors side.
3) they tried to give the first 1,000 students free tickets for the playoff game. I believe student tickets are always free for regular season games.
4) This is always where people point fingers, but they do a pretty decent job of promoting. The issue is more culture than awareness.

The sight line was really bad where the visitors section was (admittedly, that may have been because for some weird reason there were less than 20 snaps on that side of the field)

- - - Updated - - -


Top 5 Reasons KSU's attendance sucked that day:
1.) It was pouring all over the metro.
2.) The SEC Championship
3.) Lack of media coverage (big stories are the SEC Championship and ATL United)
4.) Getting to Marrietta for anyone not already in Marietta is a super duper pain in the ass.
5.) Crowds aren't too great to begin with.

On this list, 5 is the only one KSU kind of has some influence over. They need to promote outside of social media. I live in the metro. Guess how many advertisements I've ever seen on TV, heard on the radio, read in the papers, or seen on billboards around the city.

Exactly Zero.

Nobody knew Kennesaw was playing Saturday except for the people who actively follow Kennesaw.

You read newspapers????


Regardless, 3,000 attendance is really really bad for a school that size. Maybe if/when they expand and they get a few game above 10k it'll be a virtuous cycle, but that's a wait and see thing

[GAD]

Do HBCU schools have any more of a loyal fan base?

It depends on the HBCU honestly. All HBCUs aren't the same. The HBCUs in the deep south (SWAC/SIAC) will have larger crowds because of how passionate we are for football in the South. Many students of these Southern HBCUs grew up around them and it's a family tradition. You have a lot of fans that don't follow ANYTHING but HBCU football. That's how Southern, FAMU, and Alabama State can be within the shadows of P5 programs and their attendance isn't effected.[/QUOTE]
Schools like Jackson State, Southern, Alabama State and FAMU have some of the largest most loyal fan bases in FCS the best drawing games in FCS usually feature one of these teams

[JSUSoutherner]

The sight line was really bad where the visitors section was (admittedly, that may have been because for some weird reason there were less than 20 snaps on that side of the field)

- - - Updated - - -



You read newspapers????I read what comes across my feed on Google News and I follow the AJC and several other local outlets. But I don't read physical papers, no.

Sent from my Galaxy S9+ using Tapatalk

[ksu_owls]

I read what comes across my feed on Google News and I follow the AJC and several other local outlets. But I don't read physical papers, no.

Sent from my Galaxy S9+ using Tapatalk

I knew you were a smart dude... I effing LOVE google news!

[ASU33]

Top 5 Reasons KSU's attendance sucked that day:
1.) It was pouring all over the metro.
2.) The SEC Championship
3.) Lack of media coverage (big stories are the SEC Championship and ATL United)
4.) Getting to Marrietta for anyone not already in Marietta is a super duper pain in the ass.
5.) Crowds aren't too great to begin with.

On this list, 5 is the only one KSU kind of has some influence over. They need to promote outside of social media. I live in the metro. Guess how many advertisements I've ever seen on TV, heard on the radio, read in the papers, or seen on billboards around the city.

Exactly Zero.

Nobody knew Kennesaw was playing Saturday except for the people who actively follow Kennesaw.



Spot on! Living in Metro Atl I heard nothing about the game at all. This week so far is much of the same.

[cx500d]

... There are only so many times a student wants to spend their Saturday afternoon watching your team beat a team he or she has never heard of by 40 points.

Even this week I've been telling people at work that we are playing South Dakota State this weekend and they ask me "is that the good Dakota team?"

1. That never gets old

2. **** no

[FUBeAR]

I’ll keep it brief. FCS Football Programs have to stop thinking that they are having a Football Game on Saturday and hoping people will come to watch.

They have to start thinking that they are hosting an Entertainment Event on Saturday in their Entertainment Facility and a Football Game will be part of that event. As I Football Dude, I hate this. I’ve pretty much hated that bands play at halftime. I’d rather see a Pop Warner game during those 20-30 minutes. But, that’s the way it is.

Once you change your mindset around what it is that you are doing, your mind becomes free to figure out how to do it better and how to get customers to attend your Event.

Make it THE destination that they WANT to come to & bring their family to on Saturday afternoon & some of them will also enjoy the game. 100,000 people don’t go to an SEC game to watch the FOOTBALL game. Maybe 20% of them do, but the rest of them are there just because it is THE thing to do that day.

I said I’d be brief, so I won’t elaborate, but THIS is the problem AND the solution.

[JSUSoutherner]

I’ll keep it brief. FCS Football Programs have to stop thinking that they are having a Football Game on Saturday and hoping people will come to watch.

They have to start thinking that they are hosting an Entertainment Event on Saturday in their Entertainment Facility and a Football Game will be part of that event. As I Football Dude, I hate this. I’ve pretty much hated that bands play at halftime. I’d rather see a Pop Warner game during those 20-30 minutes. But, that’s the way it is.

Once you change your mindset around what it is that you are doing, your mind becomes free to figure out how to do it better and how to get customers to attend your Event.

Make it THE destination that they WANT to come to & bring their family to on Saturday afternoon & some of them will also enjoy the game. 100,000 people don’t go to an SEC game to watch the FOOTBALL game. Maybe 20% of them do, but the rest of them are there just because it is THE thing to do that day.

I said I’d be brief, so I won’t elaborate, but THIS is the problem AND the solution.

Easy. Get a better band.

The Southerners host two events a year that pull 15-20k each.

KSU and NDSU gave us standing ovations and gave their own bands unenthusiastic golf claps. We rattled the windows in the club level of Spartan Stadium, brought the Barn to their feet, and made Death Valley come alive.

Pop Warner can suck it.

I've seen Mercer's band. It's real bad. So I can see why you think that.

Just look at the HBCUs. Their bands pull crowds as well.

[katss07]

I hope the Owls show up for Coach and the team. This team is seeded and hosting for a reason. Show up and support if you can at least!

[ASU33]

Easy. Get a better band.

The Southerners host two events a year that pull 15-20k each.

KSU and NDSU gave us standing ovations and gave their own bands unenthusiastic golf claps. We rattled the windows in the club level of Spartan Stadium, brought the Barn to their feet, and made Death Valley come alive.

Pop Warner can suck it.

I've seen Mercer's band. It's real bad. So I can see why you think that.

Just look at the HBCUs. Their bands pull crowds as well.


Good points. I think that's what the HBCUs have to draw in such big crowds. It's the entire HBCU experience from the tailgating, the band battle from the zero quarter through the 5th quarter, the game, the Greeks, and just the whole atmosphere. It's an entire package and it draws in the kids through the blue hairs.

[ASU33]

I hope the Owls show up for Coach and the team. This team is seeded and hosting for a reason. Show up and support if you can at least!

I'm right here in Cobb County so I'll be over to watch the Owls this weekend. I went to the SWAC title game last weekend but i'll be there to check em out this weekend.

[FUBeAR]

Easy. Get a better band.

The Southerners host two events a year that pull 15-20k each.

KSU and NDSU gave us standing ovations and gave their own bands unenthusiastic golf claps. We rattled the windows in the club level of Spartan Stadium, brought the Barn to their feet, and made Death Valley come alive.

Pop Warner can suck it.

I've seen Mercer's band. It's real bad. So I can see why you think that.

Just look at the HBCUs. Their bands pull crowds as well.Your’re right. I should have exempted HBCU Bands from that statement.

Nothing to do with Mercer (or Furman...are you extending your persistent FU obsession over to Mercer now?)

I’ve hated marching bands since I was playing Football in HS and had to put up with a bunch of pre/post/halftime BS from the ‘nationally-acclaimed’ Cary (NC) HS Marching Imps ( https://www.caryband.org/about-us/ ) for 3 years. I was also our Long Snapper and as a Beat/Blow guy, I’m sure you are aware of the never-ending war between bands & Punting/Kicking Specialist trying to warm up...and who gets to deal with that? It ain’t the pencil-necked Punters & Kickers.

[FUBeAR]

Good points. I think that's what the HBCUs have to draw in such big crowds. It's the entire HBCU experience from the tailgating, the band battle from the zero quarter through the 5th quarter, the game, the Greeks, and just the whole atmosphere. It's an entire package and it draws in the kids through the blue hairs.
Exactly - it’s an all-encompassing Entertainment Experience!

note: Sorry - I should have exempted HBCU bands from my anti-band statement. I want FAMU (they didn’t permanently lose their band in that hazing thing, did they?) to come to Mercer for a game, primarily, BECAUSE of their band!

[JSUSoutherner]

Your’re right. I should have exempted HBCU Bands from that statement.

Nothing to do with Mercer (or Furman...are you extending your persistent FU obsession over to Mercer now?)

I’ve hated marching bands since I was playing Football in HS and had to put up with a bunch of pre/post/halftime BS from the ‘nationally-acclaimed’ Cary (NC) HS Marching Imps ( https://www.caryband.org/about-us/ ) for 3 years. I was also our Long Snapper and as a Beat/Blow guy, I’m sure you are aware of the never-ending war between bands & Punting/Kicking Specialist trying to warm up...and who gets to deal with that? It ain’t the pencil-necked Punters & Kickers.

No, I exempted Furman because I've only seen Mercer's band. Though I'm sure if Furman's band was worth writing home about I would have seen them by now.

[FUBeAR]

As FUBeAR was just saying...

https://sports.yahoo.com/bucs-plan-give-away-tickets-might-brilliant-144749489.html (https://sports.yahoo.com/bucs-plan-give-away-tickets-might-brilliant-144749489.html)

Why the Bucs' plan to give away tickets might be brilliant

...deals by cutting prices and offering trinkets, meet-n-greets with the backup center, “on-field experiences,” whatever. To get fans into the seats, you’ve got to do more than meet them halfway … you’ve got to recognize that they’ve got the power now.

[FUBeAR]

No, I exempted Furman because I've only seen Mercer's band. Though I'm sure if Furman's band was worth writing home about I would have seen them by now.Good, because I don’t have very much Mercer memorabilia to show you & no Orange/Black swag to spare.

Let me know when you want to set up that Furman immersion experience & I’ll polish up my rings, trophies, plaques, helmet, etc. & have your swag gifts laundered. Heck, I’ll even see if, Stumpy, the proprietor of Furman’s message board can join us. He lives in ATL & was a flugelhorn (something like that) player in FU’s band. You’ll think you’ve died & gone to Heaven!

[FUBeAR]

I'm right here in Cobb County so I'll be over to watch the Owls this weekend. I went to the SWAC title game last weekend but i'll be there to check em out this weekend.That’s admirable! I really want to go, but I just can’t convince myself to go spend 3 hours in the pouring rain in a women’s soccer stadium...

http://www.choateco.com/portfolio-items/kennesaw-state-universitywomens-professional-soccer-stadium-complex (http://www.choateco.com/portfolio-items/kennesaw-state-universitywomens-professional-soccer-stadium-complex/)/

...when I don’t have a bird or a bunny in the fight & YT’s description of his experience there last week hasn’t done much to bolster the “GO” side.

Still having an inner dialogue about it. Maybe, I’ll show. Any KSU Fans got any Sideline Passes to share? FUBeAR was 2-0 in games he watched from the sidelines this year (Mercer @ Samford & WCU @ Furman)...and I’m pulling for the Owls in this one.

[walliver]

The problem is the author of the original article isn't calling out Kennesaw fans. He's calling out the community. No current KSU fan grew up watching Owl Football. Most likely, for 90% of them, their first sporting words were "Go Dawgs". You can't really blame them since KSU has traditionally not had a strong athletic program. Danny Morrison promoted them as future non-football members of the SoCon, but that didn't go anywhere. They've been in the A-Sun for 13 years, a conference that most schools leave as soon as another spot becomes available.

The bottom line is that it is hard for a young school founded in 1963, playing in weak conferences, in the shadow of two established P5 schools in a rapidly growing metropolitan area with lots of in-migration, to develop a large fan following. Georgia State is still struggling - How many people in Atlanta care about any Sun Belt opponents? A KSU move to the OVC or SoCon wouldn't likely help much, as most of those schools don't have a big attraction to Kennesaw fans either.

There have been start-up who have been somewhat successful in attracting fans, but these have been in under-served markets: Macon, Norfolk, Statesboro, and Myrtle Beach (and even CCU is struggling for fans). It will take years, and possibly a few bad years for UGA, for KSU football to take off.

One final point. Although I know that the option is the most exciting football offense in the history of mankind, a lot of younger fans would rather watch a lot of silly passing all over the field, and option teams are often not taken seriously by casual fans.

[ST_Lawson]

As FUBeAR was just saying...

https://sports.yahoo.com/bucs-plan-give-away-tickets-might-brilliant-144749489.html (https://sports.yahoo.com/bucs-plan-give-away-tickets-might-brilliant-144749489.html)

Why the Bucs' plan to give away tickets might be brilliant

...deals by cutting prices and offering trinkets, meet-n-greets with the backup center, “on-field experiences,” whatever. To get fans into the seats, you’ve got to do more than meet them halfway … you’ve got to recognize that they’ve got the power now.

from the article... " Football on TV in the comfort of your own home is a delight — you’re on your couch with plenty of legroom, you can flip between games, you can check your fantasy scores as the day rolls on, and you’ve got a guaranteed Wi-Fi connection and a private bathroom."

Well, I can pretty much promise that anyone going to a WIU game gets plenty of legroom and a nearly-private bathroom ;)

[RootinFerDukes]

I watched this game. It looked like a monsoon the entire game. The weather was awful.

There's no way I would've been able to convince my family to show to that so it's either watch at home or go by myself. I'm sure that's the case with many others.

I'll give them a pass considering the weather was terrible.