Student Game Attendance – Root Cause Problem Solving

[scotty0330]

There was a student lot pre-covid. Thousands if students came to tailgate, but went back to campus when the game started.

The issue is the students don't care about the football team. We've had a lot of losses the pass 10 years, and none of these students grew up with us winning, so there is no connection or loyalty to the team. People don't like to emotionally invest in the things/people if they think they are going to get hurt. So for years students have decided not to get emotionally invested because they thought we weren't good. It is going to take more than 3 wins to get them excited about UConn football. Add to that shorter attention spans due to cell phones, and most of the students who do show up don't stay past halftime. The transportation is just an excuse for the fact that at this point, they just don't care about the team. We need to keep winning, and eventually they'll hop and the bandwagon.

^^^^this. Dale nails it. If there were good teams coming in, we haven’t been as bad as we’ve been for as long the kids would show up. It’s not that far a ride. But the football team has been a punchline for years and owned spots in bottom 10. It’s gonna take winning and consistency to gain back trust that was lost after a decade of misery.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

Even when UConn was winning back in the old Big East days it was hard to get a lot of students to the game - many went for the tailgate and left. Others went to the game, only to leave shortly after.

Nobody took the bus. Every student hitched a ride with someone.

It does not help that we do not have any true rivalries or conference affiliation. Add that in with the fact that program was abysmal for so long and you get why student attendance has been lacking.

Keep winning, schedule good opponents and the students will follow.

 

[Dove]

We need to form B.U.T.T.

The Boneyard Uber Transportation Team.

 

[huskymedic]

I can’t tell you how good I’m going to feel driving to the Rent today (my wife is joining me for a tailgate with another couple, even though she won’t go to the game) to explain to her that I’m not the only person in the world stupid enough not to have known that you had to clean portable grills every so often.

I just hope the game works out better for me than that conversation will.

Welp… it’s either you or a kindred soul!

 

[Patman]

^^^^this. Dale nails it. If there were good teams coming in, we haven’t been as bad as we’ve been for as long the kids would show up. It’s not that far a ride. But the football team has been a punchline for years and owned spots in bottom 10. It’s gonna take winning and consistency to gain back trust that was lost after a decade of misery.

cultures turn around real fast and covid disrupted a lot of cultures

 

[SubbaBub]

I think you're being myopic. The students make the environment better. Not the paying 50 year olds.

Winning makes the environment better.
Money makes winning easier.
Students, like everyone else, will show for a winner.


However, if they charge Students for the student lot, that's stupid.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

It's time for a $2 beer game at the Rent - for students only. Lol - kinda.

 

[Windham4th]

We drew our best crowds from 2002 to 2010, with a record of 59-40 (.597), including a stretch of 4 seasons with 8+ wins and 4 straight bowl game trips. Even in down years (2005, 2006) attendance was selling out for conference games. I remember students sticking around for these well into the 4Q. The games mattered and the team was good.

Moving the games on campus won’t get anyone to the stadium if we’re a .500 team or below. As others have pointed out in this thread, schools have attendance problems around the country. A lot of them just so happen to have losing teams too.

We cared, we won, and the students cared and stayed.

Also smartphones, social media were nowhere to be found. People back then needed things to do for entertainment, now how many people just sit around typing away on their phones without going anywhere. Please note I am aware of the irony as I type away on my phone whilst also ignoring my family...

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Root Cause Analysis requires all of the stakeholders to be present. In order to really drill down to a Root Cause, we need to actually talk to the students and see what it would take to get them there. Everything else is speculation.

The committee could do Venn Diagrams and put kids on yellow school buses.

 

[businesslawyer]

The vast majority of students who got themselves to the game left at halftime of a game with UConn up two. Maybe — just maybe — it’s time to quit blaming others for the fact that the student body just doesn’t give a damn.

 

[UConnDan97]

The vast majority of students who got themselves to the game left at halftime of a game with UConn up two. Maybe — just maybe — it’s time to quit blaming others for the fact that the student body just doesn’t give a damn.

THIS.

I couldn't believe my eyes. About 3/4 of the student section was full, and then after we came back from halftime, there were maybe 10% of the students remaining. I can't wrap my head around it. They made the effort to come and see half the game, but not the outcome???

I must be out of touch, but screw them because they missed an ending that they would have cherished for a long while...

 

[AzHusky]

In 2006 or so they took my seats to enlarge the student section. I think it is time to give those seats back to the paying public if the students are not going to use them.