Local guy call out Kennesaw State fans

[ASU33]

https://www.mdjonline.com/sports/com...dde85bc53.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/com...dde85bc53.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 TLR 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 TLR 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.

[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

[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]

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.

[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.