SFA Crowd/GameDay Environment Thread

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PurpleOut
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11:50a, 11/15/21
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It's still early in the season, and like others have said maybe it will get better for conference games (which is a stupid thought but I'll let it slide). Because last year even with a limited capacity the students attended.

They even developed a system where at the last media timeout they would go to other sections of the coliseum and get more rowdy.
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PurpleOut
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11:52a, 11/15/21
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Just to add to the subject around GCU and the Havocs. I did confirm that those leaders get paid minimum wage.

This is what we should be doing.

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TallTexan
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In reply to PurpleOut • 11:57a, 11/15/21
That's a really good point. I forgot that they spread out at the end of the games last year to be all along the court.
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SFAJack_76
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In reply to TallTexan • 12:20p, 11/15/21
TallTexan said:
PurpleOut said:
Agreed. We have a few tweets back and forth around "memberships." Which I think is a huge problem. That has and always will cause a problem.

If our students can't recognize that they can go to any athletic event and sit in a designated section just for students, then they will not understand why they have to be a member. Or in the past, why they would have requirements to be a member of PHA. Makes no sense and just deters them.
Ya I like the idea of the Jackhammers running around the stadium pre-game and in TV timeouts getting folks to sit in the student section. I would even give the official PH leaders the front row reserved in that section.

But "Purple Haze" should always be the student section name with no additional requirements and that needs to be clearly communicated. Maybe some sort of a hype video to help explain that the student section is for all students. (sidenote, did we even replace Alex? He had a video a week).

This is one space where I think the new Axeperience name can help remove some of that confusion. Now it's possible to differentiate the org from the student section and we should clearly establish that.
Yes. You've seen his videos.
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TallTexan
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In reply to SFAJack_76 • 1:01p, 11/15/21
Oh yes I have seen those. Guess I just didn't put two and two together.
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pa guy
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2:02p, 11/15/21
Starting tonight, I'm going to do my best to take note of the groups that are in attendance (frats, sororities, high school teams, SFA clubs/orgs, etc...) and give them some high energy shout outs during the game. May not increase attendance but may help to keep them coming back. I dunno, anything to help. If you notice a group, let me know on the game thread. I try to follow the forum during the game.
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TallTexan
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In reply to pa guy • 2:04p, 11/15/21
pa guy said:
Starting tonight, I'm going to do my best to take note of the groups that are in attendance (frats, sororities, high school teams, SFA clubs/orgs, etc...) and give them some high energy shout outs during the game. May not increase attendance but may help to keep them coming back. I dunno, anything to help. If you notice a group, let me know on the game thread. I try to follow the forum during the game.
Great idea! All the small things add up.
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BigJack85
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In reply to TallTexan • 3:55p, 11/15/21
TallTexan said:
pa guy said:
Starting tonight, I'm going to do my best to take note of the groups that are in attendance (frats, sororities, high school teams, SFA clubs/orgs, etc...) and give them some high energy shout outs during the game. May not increase attendance but may help to keep them coming back. I dunno, anything to help. If you notice a group, let me know on the game thread. I try to follow the forum during the game.
Great idea! All the small things add up.


Good call PA guy. My "limited" experience points towards getting a connection with the frats and sororities. They can really bring out a solid group when called upon.
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Ljacks&Longnecks
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7:27p, 11/15/21
Has anyone mentioned perhaps meeting with regular students, not purple Haze, not Axexperience but some kind of focus group of regular students to get their ideas on what it would take to get them to the games. Of course they would have to attend the meetings to offer ideas or input but it could be a step towards figuring out how to get at least a few more students to attend a few more games.
Also at these meetings the student seating section or being part of purple haze could be discussed.
Perhaps this has been mentioned before but just a thought.
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SFASawmillGuy
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In reply to Ljacks&Longnecks • 7:52p, 11/15/21
Ljacks&Longnecks said:
Has anyone mentioned perhaps meeting with regular students, not purple Haze, not Axexperience but some kind of focus group of regular students to get their ideas on what it would take to get them to the games. Of course they would have to attend the meetings to offer ideas or input but it could be a step towards figuring out how to get at least a few more students to attend a few more games.
Also at these meetings the student seating section or being part of purple haze could be discussed.
Perhaps this has been mentioned before but just a thought.


I remember many years ago when I was an incoming freshmen them pushing athletics on us pretty hard, and I remember at least as far as my freshmen class went we showed up and got hyped for the Jacks. I don't know I they still push it quite as hard on the new students but it all starts with the new guys. Get them hooked on it and it trickles down to the future.
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SFAJack_76
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In reply to Ljacks&Longnecks • 8:10p, 11/15/21
Ljacks&Longnecks said:
Has anyone mentioned perhaps meeting with regular students, not purple Haze, not Axexperience but some kind of focus group of regular students to get their ideas on what it would take to get them to the games. Of course they would have to attend the meetings to offer ideas or input but it could be a step towards figuring out how to get at least a few more students to attend a few more games.
Also at these meetings the student seating section or being part of purple haze could be discussed.
Perhaps this has been mentioned before but just a thought.


Members of the athletic department have visited with a variety of student groups to get feedback on what they would like. The seating at football and basketball is due to that student feedback. Beyond that, they want food and t-shirts. They say that, but still don't show when it is there.
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PurpleOut
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8:25a, 11/16/21
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One of the other ideas I've mentioned is a basketball version of Holler at Homer. Separate from Jack Madness, you have a party inside the Coliseum just for students. Obviously you make it an event, bring in food, have contests and giveaways, etc.

There should be videos created around what a real student section is, with clips from both OUR games in the past that were full, but also other student sections from around the country. Have the coaches speak to the students and emphasis sitting together and all of that.

Like it was said on Twitter, we have to have some models and leaders here. We need student leaders who's job is to grow attendance. They should be out on campus on gameday, they should be organizing events and tailgates, and more importantly getting the students to sit together.

Lastly, around the food conversation that started yesterday, it was brought up again this morning and we do have it in the plans for students to be able to swipe at games:

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TallTexan
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In reply to PurpleOut • 8:52a, 11/16/21
PurpleOut said:
Lastly, around the food conversation that started yesterday, it was brought up again this morning and we do have it in the plans for students to be able to swipe at games:

Kory's team is going to be huge for the growth of the student section when they pull this off.
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SFAJack_76
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11:57a, 11/16/21
There are desires and plans to do more than most know. The second concession stand isn't open because of staffing and equipment. Hope to have it open after Thanksgiving.

It is recognized that the Axeperience efforts were not planned, organized, and executed well. It came about rather suddenly. The Purple Haze student leaders from prior years are almost all gone. This is largely a ground up work in process. I suspect there will be meaningful progress in the Spring semester.

Attendance figures are true and accurate, unlike some that were suspiciously generous once upon a time. Get scanned in, get counted. Ivey tracks it on his phone. He knows how many students attend. He knows what gate or door people are coming in.

None of this fixes the, generally across the country, drop in attendance. Ivey looks at other schools and talks to peers. We are not alone.
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BigJack85
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In reply to SFAJack_76 • 1:13p, 11/16/21
SFAJack_76 said:
There are desires and plans to do more than most know. The second concession stand isn't open because of staffing and equipment. Hope to have it open after Thanksgiving.

It is recognized that the Axeperience efforts were not planned, organized, and executed well. It came about rather suddenly. The Purple Haze student leaders from prior years are almost all gone. This is largely a ground up work in process. I suspect there will be meaningful progress in the Spring semester.

Attendance figures are true and accurate, unlike some that were suspiciously generous once upon a time. Get scanned in, get counted. Ivey tracks it on his phone. He knows how many students attend. He knows what gate or door people are coming in.

None of this fixes the, generally across the country, drop in attendance. Ivey looks at other schools and talks to peers. We are not alone.


Great info. I've been looking at box scores just to get an idea of mid major attendance. 76, you are correct that we are not alone in experiencing declines in attendance. Frankly we're miles ahead of our peer group in most cases. A milestone win by the Lumberjacks will bring some of the students back.
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TallTexan
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In reply to SFAJack_76 • 3:09p, 11/16/21
SFAJack_76 said:
Attendance figures are true and accurate, unlike some that were suspiciously generous once upon a time. Get scanned in, get counted. Ivey tracks it on his phone. He knows how many students attend. He knows what gate or door people are coming in.

None of this fixes the, generally across the country, drop in attendance. Ivey looks at other schools and talks to peers. We are not alone.
Ahh, that makes more sense. I was like 300ish isn't even counting the season ticket holders, which I assume we did before given the numbers?

Any particular reason we switched? While I do like having the exact number, it doesn't seem to be an apples to apples comparison to peers anymore. Well, it wasn't before, I just assumed everyone else was doing the same amount of adjustment too the numbers too.

Are we also doing the scan count for football? If so, those numbers are even better than I expected.
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PurpleOut
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In reply to TallTexan • 3:11p, 11/16/21
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TallTexan said:
SFAJack_76 said:
Attendance figures are true and accurate, unlike some that were suspiciously generous once upon a time. Get scanned in, get counted. Ivey tracks it on his phone. He knows how many students attend. He knows what gate or door people are coming in.

None of this fixes the, generally across the country, drop in attendance. Ivey looks at other schools and talks to peers. We are not alone.
Ahh, that makes more sense. I was like 300ish isn't even counting the season ticket holders, which I assume we did before given the numbers?

Any particular reason we switched? While I do like having the exact number, it doesn't seem to be an apples to apples comparison to peers anymore. Well, it wasn't before, I just assumed everyone else was doing the same amount of adjustment too the numbers too.

Are we also doing the scan count for football? If so, those numbers are even better than I expected.
I know they scanned students for an accurate count for football. I would assume so for everyone else just like basketball.

Almost all lower level schools don't report numbers accurately.
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PurpleOut
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8:13a, 11/18/21
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PurpleOut
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8:17a, 11/18/21
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There are supposed to be a few WAC conference games on ESPN/ESPN2 this season. I hope we can get one of those, because I think that's one thing that might help attendance.

Probably not as much as it used to now that all of our games are on ESPN+, but back when we would get a Fox Sports Southwest game...it was a rarity for us to be on TV and everyone came out.
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nacluth
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In reply to PurpleOut • 9:04a, 11/18/21
Would have won that game except for two lazy layup attempts.
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TallTexan
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In reply to PurpleOut • 10:08a, 11/18/21
PurpleOut said:
I'm with Pilotgirl's thinking on this. Covid disrupted almost 2 years worth of fanbase building within the student body, so we lost the chance to pass down a lot of institutional knowledge from the former student leaders to the current ones.

All for your idea to have a pre-party at the Coliseum with food for students & have a hype video that shows other fanbases/old SFA fanbases and brings back some of those older leaders at mentors for a game.
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PurpleOut
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2:49p, 11/18/21
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Things are going to happen.



Stay tuned.
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PurpleOut
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2:37p, 11/19/21
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Started it's own thread, making a note here so everyone sees it.

We've got a party in the coliseum planned for us non-students.

Get ready.

https://sfasawmill.com/forums/9/topics/2105/replies/75347
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TallTexan
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8:25a, 11/20/21
From an environment perspective, shout out to the roaring buzzsaws. Yes, they are great on the music. But they are also incredibly engaged in chants, heckling, and just general noise.

Not sure if they practice all that stuff too or what, but they do a fantastic job.
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PurpleOut
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11:19a, 11/22/21
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Event page for the "Alumni Student Section" game.

https://www.eventcreate.com/e/sfaalumnistudentsection
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TallTexan
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1:13p, 12/8/21
Apparently NMSU fans are also concerned that they're pricing out a lot of fans in their market area with the ticket pricing:

https://www.nmstatenation.com/post/missing-cheap-seats-kids-at-aggie-games
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PurpleOut
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1:40p, 12/8/21
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Same conversation that is going on at Weber State. A program that is 8-0 and can't get anyone to come.

Last week their players and coaches were offering free tickets to fans (which I promptly shared and suggested we do the same during the holidays).
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TallTexan
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In reply to PurpleOut • 1:43p, 12/8/21
PurpleOut said:
Same conversation that is going on at Weber State. A program that is 8-0 and can't get anyone to come.

Last week their players and coaches were offering free tickets to fans (which I promptly shared and suggested we do the same during the holidays).
Absolutely should.

Give them out at Walmart, give them out anywhere.

Who knows who you turn into a fan for a lifetime?
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PurpleOut
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1:48p, 12/8/21
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Especially the games you KNOW it'll be hard to get 1,000 paid fans. Yeah we want to make money on tickets, but why not give away an extra 1,000 and see how much they spend on concessions?
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nacluth
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4:36p, 12/8/21
Do you know how many times I've gone to the traveling Mexican circus and blown $40 on food and junk? Every year because my kids get the kids tickets free through school.

And while there's typically not the fear that I'm going to watch someone get impaled because they are doing a handstand atop 12 stacked chairs, I actually think SFA basketball games have a lot of appeal once you get there.
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PurpleOut
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10:11a, 12/13/21
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Just saw this.

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TallTexan
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1:44p, 12/13/21
Interesting. Best of luck to them.
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CertifiedAxeman98
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9:32a, 12/15/21
Student section pretty much non-existent last night for yet another important game. What is the school doing to get students to the games? Whatever they are doing it isn't working.
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PurpleOut
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In reply to CertifiedAxeman98 • 9:58a, 12/15/21
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CertifiedAxeman98 said:
Student section pretty much non-existent last night for yet another important game. What is the school doing to get students to the games? Whatever they are doing it isn't working.
Was curious about that as well. On TV, it didn't look like anyone was in the front row. Meaning the leaders didn't show up again.

Whomever started that new Twitter account was at the Liberty game, which I thought was interesting.
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jboy93
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11:01a, 12/15/21
I know the guy trying to do the Lumberyard. He graduated with my daughter and is a good kid. Has A LOT of work to do trying to get students to games. He drove an hour to Tuesday's game with the dorms closed. It is just SO frustrating as an alum to see the complete apathy by the community and students. I come as often as I can and according to my daughter I am, "obnoxiously loud". I have been told to sit down on more than one occasion while cheering for MY teams! Just don't know what it's going to take?!?!?
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