Southern Methodist University calls its football team “Dallas’ team.” It has hyped up the team through social media campaigns and billboards to try and build up an image of a contending team, not a pretending team.
But to many SMU students, football seems to be on the backburner. Since the construction of Ford Stadium in 2000, the stadium has sold out only eight times for football games. The newly renovated Moody Coliseum sold out nine times just in the 2013-2014 men’s basketball season and set record attendance numbers. With the 2013-2014 basketball season in the rearview mirror, SMU looks to push their fan enthusiasm into their football team’s stadium to continue a year of record attendances.
“SMU really needs to harness the momentum it’s gained from this winning basketball season,” the director of SMU’s sport management program Michael Lysko said. “SMU has an opportunity to use that momentum to get people into its football games.”
The root of the issue may not lie in student attendance, however. Moody Coliseum sold out nine times this season, but seats just over 7,000 people. The games drew fans from among students and all across Dallas. Ford Stadium houses more than 32,000 seats, more than four times the undergraduate student body. It would be tough to fill even with a winning team.
“We’re just too small of a university,” Lysko said. “You’re going to have to engage the outside community to fill Ford.”
Lysko would not elaborate on specific plans SMU could take to fill Ford because he’s not affiliated with the athletics program. But he said he believed “SMU will try and lobby the neighboring areas, people north of 635, to draw football fans to games.”
Lysko believes that with its larger population and football-oriented high schools, the region north of LBJ Freeway could be perfect for pulling in fans.
Official records supplied by SMU show the average attendance at SMU football games was around 26,663 in 2012. That doesn’t mean, however, that that many people stayed for the entire game or even used their tickets to get into the stadium.
According to both Kent Best, the executive director of SMU public relations, and Skyler Johnson, the director of promotions for SMU Athletics, no plans for the 2014 football season have been finalized.
While Lysko looks north of SMU for football fans, and SMU Athletics has yet to announce plans, some students are looking closer to home for football lovers.
“I think SMU could use the Greek system as an effective way to draw students to the football games,” said Andrew Hattersley, 22, a double major in sport management and journalism.
When Larry Brown was hired as the head coach of SMU basketball, he lobbied with students and rallied the Greek system by visiting the fraternity and sorority rows to attract students to his games.
Hattersley said he attended every football game last season and still finds the games fun to go to, even if the team isn’t winning. Since he started at SMU he’s been to 15 games.
Other students believe alcohol sales could boost attendance at Ford. Alcohol sales were passed for sporting events at SMU, and were sold for the first time at Moody Coliseum during the 2013-2014 basketball season.
“I don’t think it’s much of a promotion, but I think a huge contributor to the increase in basketball attendance, along with success, was alcohol sales,” said Josh Yonis, 20, a sport management major.
Yonis believes the root of the issue is the “Boulevarding” before the game. Students drink there and then don’t go to the games because they can’t continue drinking inside Ford.
“So why not allow them to just keep drinking and at least fill the seats,” he said.
“I think SMU could use basketball as a strength as well,” Hattersley said. “Such as if you attend every football game, you can enter into a raffle for one person to go out for dinner with the basketball team and coach Brown.”
Dacota Taylor is a senior Journalism major and can reached at: [email protected]
