2019 is a good year to end football

[Maui Boy in Alaska]

You have the same # of UH fans today as you did in the 1980’s and early 90’s. Arguably even more. It’s just not everyone wants to attend games in person anymore. Another way of saying it is fans are changing.

Many fans are much happier staying at home and watching the game on there large HD TV with friends and the food they like, not stadium food and drinks. Even some of the SEC and Big 10 schools are seeing the same thing. From BYU to Miami to some PAC 12 schools, many fans don’t want to waste time driving, dealing with traffic and parking, long lines, and rude fans. Many people find watching the game a home more enjoyable. I believe the 2017 college football season saw a 10% drop is attendance across the nation and last season (2018) season saw another decline. I remember seeing a report saying 7 out of the last 8 years, attendance saw a decline in college football.

Additionally, luxury seating at many stadium and arena make much more money then normal seating. The fans with either crazy money or the fane happy attending one game a year and spending the money to enjoy it pay for this type of seating and the stadiums make a lot more money off these seats.

It is why UH administration wants a new 30k stadium with luxury/private seating that will look much better on TV and you won’t see as many empty seats.

I know not lot of people like this, but the average fans having been changing for awhile and UH and college football needs to change as well.

[My3Cats]

I really don’t think that the powers that be give a craap about filling the stadium with people,

You cannot blame families for not having 300 bucks for a night at the stadium. Pricing is not based on what you think is fair for your restaurant. If you your restaurant is empty, your pricing is wrong, I really think we could have a great year. But I don’t think we should be playing D 1 football in an an empty stadium.

We should cancel the program this year. Management sucks big time. It makes us look like a bunch of jerks on national TV. We should cancel football or fire the people in charge of this BS. We won’t fire them, so cancel it already.

I agree with this except for the cancel part.

[My3Cats]

The NFL exhibition game was a one-time novelty, and Hawaii people love novelties. UH has not started school yet so I was surprised to see people sitting in the student section.

[cabanalane]

There is a lot of truth to the OP. I only took my kids (and family) to 3 games in their lives, just because we just simply can not afford it. I live on the mainland, so we have lots of sporting events. The last one I was considering was NASCAR, I narrowed it down to one child + me. The end result would still be near $500 when you add up everything.

Hardcore fan or not, in the end, just can not go.

On a personal note, UH Football is culture to me. Don't cancel it. If UH got to scale down, sure.

[cabanalane]

There are tons of kids involved in tackle and flag football that could fill a lot of those seats if somehow we could get the tickets to them and their families.

I would give four tickets to everyone on a high school, pop warner, and flag football team that makes a commitment to be at the game.

Just judging from my area (Arizona), football is a declining sports. All that head injury concerns and what happened to Milton is real life. Kids (people) today have youtube, and they can play that over and over. When Joe Theismann's leg bent in half, I only saw it once on the news.

Anyhow, what I want to share is during Freshman orientation, the Football coaches are there. Aside from registration, They are checking out kids as potential players. They want to not only see the kids, but also their parents. If a skinny kid comes in as a Freshman, but the dad is 6'5" 280lbs. and the mom is 5'9" and XXXlbs, they want to target him.

[oldhawaiiguy]

If they can't recruit talented local players, then bag-it.

[Parkpill]

If they can't recruit talented local players, then bag-it.

I could care less if our players come from the Hawaii, the mainland, Australia, etc. If they choose to represent our state, school, and team, that's all that matters to me.

The issue of attendance, is a sign of the times. I think more can be done to build long term fan base loyalty though.

[HawaiianHogster]

A co-worker of mine told me he does not know who is on the team. Back when K5 showed the games everyone would know who was on the team and would get excited about going to a few games. Now that PPV has it they don't pay attention anymore cause they don't know all the players on the team and won't go out of their way to find out. They want the games to be free again and live on K5 or any of the other networks. Every household can watch the games that way and get to know the team better. You keep their interest in the team and they may come to the games. You lose their interest and they don't come to the games.

That said the only ones that pay for PPV and come to the games are the true fans of the team. All those other people on the island never take notice anymore so the stands are empty. It is those fans they need to target to bring them back to the games. Being all about the money has backfired in my opinion.

[My3Cats]

I don't remember K5 showing any home games live except on the neighbor islands. On Oahu it was a 10:00 pm broadcast. With Spectrum the people who want free can watch the next day at 6:00 am and replay at 4:00 pm for free. They can watch the national cable broadcasts for free when UH is scheduled there, but they would have to pay for the Spectrum sports package ($10/month) to get the CBSSN channel. ESPN is free free. IMHO it's the passing of the saimin eaters who can either no longer go to the games, or are now unable to go to the games where the biggest impacts on attendance have been felt. These fans were the backbone of the UH fan base.

[cabanalane]

How do we measure "fan support?" The easy answer is tickets at Aloha Stadium.

But I know lots of guys are hard core fans, but don't "have not" given UH football a single dollar. Are they fans? It's not that they are cheap. Some guys just don't go to games. I used to watch UH football on my 15" Sony Trinitron color TV (K5 or was that KHNL13?). Going to the games was "big" I recall. You can see their faces, etc. Today, 65" TV is nothing special. Is the experience better at home? On the flip side, there are people who tailgate, season ticket holders, buy the merchandise, but really know nothing about football, team, history, etc. Or actually care about football. So are they more of a "fans" because they support with the $$$$? UH football is part of the local culture. A social event. It's what local people do, football fans or not.

What about mainland fans? My family goes to UH away games sometimes. When you add up the total cost, that may be more than season tickets. BUT, none of that goes to UH or Hawaii's economy.

So what do we define fan and support?

[stranger808]

Can’t believe they raised ticket prices this year. Used to get the cheap seats for $25-30 and now it’s $42! I get they want more ppl to get season tickets instead but the casual fans don’t go to all the games.

The powers that be are making the same error many businesses have made in the past. They make up lost customer numbers (season ticket sales) by raising prices to make up for the lost revenue. This way they can keep their jobs and say we making the same money we made last year, but in reality its a quick fix to a deeper problem that they're not addressing. Apple computers sold less iphones than in the past but their profits are the same because they raised their flagship iphones to over $1,000. They need to address the problem of why fewer people are buying iphones rather than raise prices. I'm rambling, sorry. Tired. lol

[stranger808]

A co-worker of mine told me he does not know who is on the team. Back when K5 showed the games everyone would know who was on the team and would get excited about going to a few games. Now that PPV has it they don't pay attention anymore cause they don't know all the players on the team and won't go out of their way to find out. They want the games to be free again and live on K5 or any of the other networks. Every household can watch the games that way and get to know the team better. You keep their interest in the team and they may come to the games. You lose their interest and they don't come to the games.

That said the only ones that pay for PPV and come to the games are the true fans of the team. All those other people on the island never take notice anymore so the stands are empty. It is those fans they need to target to bring them back to the games. Being all about the money has backfired in my opinion.

The old Dick Tomey Show was great for introducing players on a personal level. The Rolo Show is okay, but it misses the mark as far as getting to know the players. There's no connection to the team if fans don't know who they are. I still remember the Niko Nogo spotlight on the Dick Tomey Show, Noga running shirtless! bugga was a monsta!!!!!