Annual Thread: how to increase attendance for Gator Baseball?

[ursidman]

Originally Posted by gatorbogey

i think you'd make a good heckler! you should come out to a game or two and give it a try. sit in Section E, become a heckler. think up some creative barbs to critique the job the umps are doing or how the opposing fielders/catcher/pitchers are doing and let 'em fly.

Me? I just love the game. I would pay a dollar to watch 2 boys hit rocks with sticks. Not to hijack the thread but there have been some memorable characters up in section E that really make the game fun to be at. What ever happened to Pete - guy wore an orange bandanna and is really funny? Do I remember correctly that he ran afoul of the UAA who foolishly asked him to desist? Also, not a section E guy but back in the days of Brad Wilkerson there was a guy who stood along the right field fence that had a deep and booming voice that would yell inspirational things that just echoed around the stadium ie. "Dominate Brad - dominate" or "Dig deep"

[BillGator97]

Originally Posted by gatorbogey

trying to make it cost effective for local families / gator fans. that's a good deal.

I like the notion, but the current ticket and food prices are already less than movie theater prices. I think the Gator baseball game experience is already a good value at the current prices.

[ovillegator]

Football uses colleges as their minor leagues, which makes following college players and teams so exciting as they work their way towards the pros... unfortunately pro baseball has its own minor league system for developing talent, which to me takes some of the allure of college baseball away. I wish they would do away with the minor leagues and let colleges do for baseball what they have done for football!

[Juggernautz]

More giveaways such as moolah!

[STR8OUTDASWAMP1]

Shade and build loyalty by winning on the big stage. The Rowdy Reptiles as they are known today started slowly with the 2000 FF season, which followed the Sweet 16 appearance in 1999. Also, make the games more of an event by getting local business to sponsor specials or events that will bring students to the games.

[WESGATORS]

Originally Posted by ursidman

Do I remember correctly that he ran afoul of the UAA who foolishly asked him to desist? Also, not a section E guy but back in the days of Brad Wilkerson there was a guy who stood along the right field fence that had a deep and booming voice that would yell inspirational things that just echoed around the stadium ie. "Dominate Brad - dominate" or "Dig deep"

The first guy you are referring to is (was?) a history professor at UF, and he and his son "ran afoul" and opted to cancel their season tickets. That was definitely not the family section, but those guys were good entertainment.

The other guy (I may be spelling his name wrong), Keyan, was the most positive fan I've ever heard in that he only said positive things for the GATORS, never anything negative about or at anybody. Pretty sure he's an attorney for the State now. Really nice guy, and he had some pipes. You could hear him walking up Stadium Road by Weimer and Weil.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

[gatorbogey]

was keyan like that 'chris etouffee' guy (i call him that) that is the head cheerleader for the LSU tighars?

[supagator]

Beer, beer...

[supagator]

Build a lounge out in left, and call it the left field lounge.

[supagator]

Seriously have any of you been to Miss. State during their super bulldog weekend. Its a must see! Every seat is occupied!

[TheBoss]

Rather than making random suggestions, we might look at where we stand and at what has been proven to work. For example, the Mac capacity is 5500 and average attendance was 3935 last season- alltime record. Now, they do start by counting every season ticket holder, whether they show up or not. Attendance has been increasing since Sully arrived and even without Tucker, Zunino and others, I think the attendance trend upward will continue.

But where will they sit?

Most- not all- of the chairback seats are sold out as season tix, so there is limited flexibility there. The guy who owns four tix in front of me lives in Ft Lauderdale and gets to Gvl 3-5 weekends/season. He emails his tix to friends for 6-10 games, but that means his prime seats are not used for more than half the games. I often invite my friends to sit there, but that still illustrates an issue that affects the number of bodies present.

Since we start with most of the reserved seats already sold, the question becomes how do we fill general admission seats. The biggest success last season was promotions for Gvl Gator fans, including families with kids. $1 tix and special deals on tix/food/drinks brought out the best attendance of the season, especially for weekend games before the SEC schedule started. I think that's smart. I like to have good attendance from students, because it makes the games louder and more fun, but even with cheap tix, locals will generate more revenue for the program and they'll make game attendance a regular thing, year after year. Students are gone quickly.

One problem seems striking to me about generating casual attendance. There aren't enough cheap seats! The grandstands and bleachers fill in fairly quickly on Friday nights. There's decent standing room in a couple of area, but when standing room gets to be 6-8 people deep, it's not going to hold the attention of wives and kids and it won't keep them coming back. The current OF bleachers hold 400 and it would be easy to stretch that to 1500, including a great student zone surrounding the visitor bullpen. Bleachers on the 1B line plaza could add 500 or more seats, too, at the cost of some standing room.

I continue to feel certain that the people who mention shade don't attend the games regularly. I make 35-40 games every year and there usually are very few games in which shade would add to my enjoyment. It's true that there is plenty of daylight for 7:00 games, but the grandstands don't get direct sun. The setting sun is tough for the visiting leftfielder, but that's often called home field advantage. Sunny weekend day games are a GOOD thing in February and March, even if temps reach the 80s. During April and May this year, there is one 4:00 game on a Saturday and two Sunday 1:00 games.

It's true that in 2011, ESPN screwed us badly with midday Super Regional Games, but that was a total of three games. More shade won't affect Super Regional attendance. LSU has covered grandstands that didn't matter when they played Regional night games.

[ursidman]

Originally Posted by WESGATORS

The first guy you are referring to is (was?) a history professor at UF, and he and his son "ran afoul" and opted to cancel their season tickets. That was definitely not the family section, but those guys were good entertainment.

The other guy (I may be spelling his name wrong), Keyan, was the most positive fan I've ever heard in that he only said positive things for the GATORS, never anything negative about or at anybody. Pretty sure he's an attorney for the State now. Really nice guy, and he had some pipes. You could hear him walking up Stadium Road by Weimer and Weil.

Thanks Wes. I truly miss Pete and Keyan was awesome. Wish he would come back from time to time.

[gtj31]

Originally Posted by WESGATORS

The first guy you are referring to is (was?) a history professor at UF, and he and his son "ran afoul" and opted to cancel their season tickets. That was definitely not the family section, but those guys were good entertainment.

The other guy (I may be spelling his name wrong), Keyan, was the most positive fan I've ever heard in that he only said positive things for the GATORS, never anything negative about or at anybody. Pretty sure he's an attorney for the State now. Really nice guy, and he had some pipes. You could hear him walking up Stadium Road by Weimer and Weil.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

The history prof was great. He was a lot of fun to hang around out there.