[quote=āninerID, post:217, topic:27722ā][quote=āNinerfan2012, post:216, topic:27722ā]Iāve said this before, if you want students to come and stay at the game, you need to engage them.
We do a really s**ty job of doing that, the games feel like a high school environment.[/quote]
[size=2]Not engaged? What engagement do you want? 12rh man isnāt enough, m[font=Verdana]aybe we should allow them to be an 11th man. Weāll have a random drawing and let one student suit up for a minimum of one play. Probably punter, b/c that could actually help. [/font][/size][/quote]
The chants are disorganized and bad, we have no little fun in game traditions, our students are mixed in with general attendance people which is already awkward (when iām sitting next to little kids, Iām going to tone down my rowdiness).
I grew up a State fan, at there games they had stadium full Wolf-Pack chants, cheerleaders that started chants, fun videos on the video board during breaks, etc. I love football and I love the Niners, I stay in that student section till the clock hits 0:00, but compared to other programsā¦our in game atmosphere is lacking. We have nothing cool, nothing unique, nothing really fun for the general student who isnāt all that passionate about football.
Yeah lights/band will help a lot, but there are other things we could do that we donāt.
They should make the student tickets assigned seating. Take away the GA element and you will reward the hard cores who are willing to act quick to get their tickets AND allow them to tailgate to the last minute.
It works for basketball why canāt it work for football (assigned seating)??
It boggles my mind that the seats are first come first serve. Let the most loyal and rabid fans get the best seats. Thatās the way it works best.
Remember the days when people would camp out for the best student tickets? That was because they were assigned and the hard cores who wanted the best seats had to put in the effort to get them.
Not saying anyone would camp out but the hard core student fans will find a way to get those seats and will create a core of the best student fans. Hopefully it will radiate out from there and create more demand for the tickets and drive overall involvement.
You simply have to reward your most loyal fans. Itās that simple.
Football was started with a grassroots initiative. Some of the best things about this school came from the fans. Stop waiting for some UNC Charlotte manufactured engagement.
You want yell leaders? Just go be a yell leader. Thereās no one stopping you. There is no application process or interview.
You want tradition in a 2nd year program? It doesnāt exist, but again, thereās nobody stopping you from making your own. Maybe it takes off, maybe it doesnāt. Maybe with 11 min to go in the 4th (49th minute of the game) some student who snuck in a water balloon pelts Uh-huh guy or something.
If you are waiting on the school to do it for you, you are wasting your time.
I canāt start a stadium chant (not for lack of trying), Iāve done my fair share of defense/49er chants but that only goes as far as my section. Thats what the cheerleaders are suppose to do.
This isnāt the 70s, college football is a multi-million dollar industry. There is only so much the student body/orgs can do (especially when the AD is insanely difficult to work with). The resources of the athletic department are needed for a top class football environment.
I get where youāre coming from, I have the personality of doing it yourself. But after three years of giving a lot of time/effort to support my Ninersā¦its beyond frustrating to see the athletic department continue to make the same, simple mistakes over and over again.
[quote=āNinerfan2012, post:224, topic:27722ā]I canāt start a stadium chant (not for lack of trying), Iāve done my fair share of defense/49er chants but that only goes as far as my section. Thats what the cheerleaders are suppose to do.
This isnāt the 70s, college football is a multi-million dollar industry. There is only so much the student body/orgs can do (especially when the AD is insanely difficult to work with). The resources of the athletic department are needed for a top class football environment.
I get where youāre coming from, I have the personality of doing it yourself. But after three years of giving a lot of time/effort to support my Ninersā¦its beyond frustrating to see the athletic department continue to make the same, simple mistakes over and over again.[/quote]
Sorry, not trying to be difficult. Iām glad there are people like you.
Keep up the good work, itās going to pay off. Many others before you have tried, failed, and become frustrated. itās understandable.
Just trying to save you some trouble if you think there is going to be any action from our AD.
A couple comments on traditions/atmosphere after being out in Tempe this past weekend and experiencing the ASU fans and the local area:
We have to engage the local business scene / bars in the area to support game day marketing and gatherings. It is one thing to come and tailgate for a few hours before the game and have the atmosphere leading up to it but why not continue that off campus across the street in local establishments where fans can go post-game?
The stadium needs to be engrained as a cultural center in the area and things around it need to build or work towards being integrated with the events that take place there.
Also, drove by the University of North Texas stadium 2 weeks ago and saw they have a large digital billboard out at the highway front with the stadium name on it and advertisements for upcoming events. I feel like a similar sign off 1-85 or even 29 would be a great tool for recognizing the location of the stadium and the events taking place.
All this will probably come with time but it is very interesting to go around the country and see the approach to athletics and how it works in certain markets.
Been a while since we discussed this and we still need some work but I thought itās be cool to see where we all think we are and what we need to work on.
I think we certainly still need something unique and powerful for the team intro.
But I love the 4th Quarter āFinishā videoā¦I hope that sticks as a tradition
Obviously love the Club Lit and how itās taken off and think it could certainly be a great unique tradition to keep up
Love the team handshake with the crowd after the game
Love the Forty - Niners chant in the stadium (though I wish some of the peeps that start it would realize that it should be done when we are on DEFENSE not when our players are on offense and need to hear and communicate the playā¦which is when it seems to be done 90% of the time)
I like the Bell OK after a score
Alma Mater after the game is ok I guessā¦but most schools do that
Ninerwalk Iām indifferent to
Iām a big fan of the āFist Up. We Finish.ā video between the 3rd and 4th quarter. Great reaction from the crowd to these videos at the games I attended this year.
Club Lit is a fantastic tradition, thatās obvious. Something I didnāt realize the new AD/football staff are implementing is having a lottery system for senior students to run out on to the field before the team on Senior Day, and the same for Freshman at the 1st home game of the year. I think thatās neat.
One culture tradition that the team has embraced that the crowd hasnāt quite picked up on, when our defense gets to a 3rd down, the team all shouts WAR (We Are Relentless), could be a cool thing if it picked up enough steam for the whole stadium doing it a la FORTY/NINER.
One last thing that I think would be hilariously awesome: if ripping off your shirt became synonymous with Charlotte football as burning couches is with WVU football.
The players love the ninerwalk as do the coaches. So there is that.
I agree 100% we need to fix the intro - I make it once a year and then say well maybe next year it will be better. The fact that we are literally tailgating at the gate and have still missed most kickoffs just show it isnāt important. We need to make it an event. I know they are trying to balance letting things happen organically and creating things - but the intro wont be organic, it has to be created.
I understand, the āWARā thing is the type of thing that looks hokey-as-shit if we were having a 2 win season. Not to mention Iād totally understand people (especially service members) maybe having some reservations about just screaming WAR at some 19 year old kids playing football. I think it could be neat if itās something the whole stadium got behind, but I wouldnāt pout if it were to fade away.
I actually made it in early for the senior recognition. I am normally walking to my seat for kickoff. Do they normally show the players coming through the tunnel on the video board?
Weāve talked about this copious times, but man I love The Ecstasy of Gold as an intro song. Slow, dramatic intro that builds anticipation. Itās a classic song that could be āoursā for decades. Plenty of schools have a slow intro song, and it could work just as well with us. And plusā¦ itās gold.
Get Norm coming out on a minecart at the very beginning with the team/pyrotechnics as the music kicks in.
If the team likes WAR, Iām cool with it. I think it could grow on me over time.
A cool intro ala Enter Sandman from VT would be awesome, but itās hard to create something like that that engages the crowd.
I love the ringing of the bell after we score, please never take that away.
Really wish the cheerleaders would lead the āForty Ninerā chants through out the stadium. They have it on the video board but that by itself doesnāt really do it.
Alma Mater after the game, Iām so happy they do that. That should be something we keep around.
I think itās smart how they usually do tee shirt tosses around kickoff, brilliant way to get the crowd on their feet and get the stadium loud.
The overall music and stadium atmosphere is much improved. The games no longer feel like a morgue which is nice.
I donāt like the WAR chant as a fan chant but if itās something that gets the players hyped for 3rd down and it works for them Iām all for it.
Fans just need to be loud for 3rd down defense regardless of any chant. Like I said earlierā¦one of my biggest pet peeves with our fans is when they think itās time to get loudā¦when we have the ball in the red zone. !? Our fans get louder when our team is on offense in the red zone than we do at any point for 3rd down defenseā¦which is just very weird and bassackwards.