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Post by catamountalum04 on Sept 3, 2024 18:03:49 GMT -5
I know Montana sells out all thier home games but does anyone else know if any other schools sell out? I know we get large crowds but i think it has been since the App St jug games that we sold out and I think as good as NDSU and SDSU are i am not sure if they sell out
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Post by The Cats on Sept 3, 2024 18:25:48 GMT -5
I know Montana sells out all thier home games but does anyone else know if any other schools sell out? I know we get large crowds but i think it has been since the App St jug games that we sold out and I think as good as NDSU and SDSU are i am not sure if they sell out North Dakota State = Fargodome - 18,700 (2023 home average was 14,075 - 2 sellouts in 7 home games) South Dakota State = Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium - 19,340 (2023 home average was 16,141 - 5 sellouts in 10 home games) |
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Post by catamountalum04 on Sept 3, 2024 20:33:56 GMT -5
I guess that shows how hard it is for FCS to sell out
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Post by FLCATAMOUNT on Sept 4, 2024 6:39:47 GMT -5
I guess that shows how hard it is for FCS to sell out It is hard to sellout, but I promise, if we can ever win the SoCon, we will sell out. I know that it is obvious to most of us, but some on here think that we have reached our pinnacle for attendance. I thought it was funny when someone on here said, “we don’t need a stadium that holds 20,000.” That is backwards illogical thinking and it assumes that everything always stays the same because it has always been this way. We could easily draw 25,000 if the product on the field was a great product. With a mediocre at best product, we have drawn 11 to 12k consistently. The problem is this, Western Carolina has never fully funded Athletics or football or Athletic facilities, so the leadership has created a self fulfilling prophesy. Now that the leadership has made a commitment, they have put rules around how it has to be paid for instead of looking for creative ways of paying for it. So the rules are set up to say if people do not want to give, then you can’t have facilities. Everyone knows you have to spend money to make money, so why are we not borrowing the difference or asking the state for the money like UNC-Charlotte successfully did to expand their football stadium. It is priorities and lack of vision about what western football can be. What gets prioritized and managed gets done. That is why nothing is done and why they are now talking about reducing the facility upgrades that will happen. It’s fine that athletic facilities are not a priority, but the leadership needs to level with everyone and state the reality and not pretend that Football or athletics are a priority. |
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Post by catamountalum04 on Sept 4, 2024 8:11:22 GMT -5
I guess that shows how hard it is for FCS to sell out It is hard to sellout, but I promise, if we can ever win the SoCon, we will sell out. I know that it is obvious to most of us, but some on here think that we have reached our pinnacle for attendance. I thought it was funny when someone on here said, “we don’t need a stadium that holds 20,000.” That is backwards illogical thinking and it assumes that everything always stays the same because it has always been this way. We could easily draw 25,000 if the product on the field was a great product. With a mediocre at best product, we have drawn 11 to 12k consistently. The problem is this, Western Carolina has never fully funded Athletics or football or Athletic facilities, so the leadership has created a self fulfilling prophesy. Now that the leadership has made a commitment, they have put rules around how it has to be paid for instead of looking for creative ways of paying for it. So the rules are set up to say if people do not want to give, then you can’t have facilities. Everyone knows you have to spend money to make money, so why are we not borrowing the difference or asking the state for the money like UNC-Charlotte successfully did to expand their football stadium. It is priorities and lack of vision about what western football can be. What gets prioritized and managed gets done. That is why nothing is done and why they are now talking about reducing the facility upgrades that will happen. It’s fine that athletic facilities are not a priority, but the leadership needs to level with everyone and state the reality and not pretend that Football or athletics are a priority. I think that the chancellor and the CC are serious about changes as shown by the realignment of the CC recently |
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Post by FLCATAMOUNT on Sept 4, 2024 10:07:24 GMT -5
It is hard to sellout, but I promise, if we can ever win the SoCon, we will sell out. I know that it is obvious to most of us, but some on here think that we have reached our pinnacle for attendance. I thought it was funny when someone on here said, “we don’t need a stadium that holds 20,000.” That is backwards illogical thinking and it assumes that everything always stays the same because it has always been this way. We could easily draw 25,000 if the product on the field was a great product. With a mediocre at best product, we have drawn 11 to 12k consistently. The problem is this, Western Carolina has never fully funded Athletics or football or Athletic facilities, so the leadership has created a self fulfilling prophesy. Now that the leadership has made a commitment, they have put rules around how it has to be paid for instead of looking for creative ways of paying for it. So the rules are set up to say if people do not want to give, then you can’t have facilities. Everyone knows you have to spend money to make money, so why are we not borrowing the difference or asking the state for the money like UNC-Charlotte successfully did to expand their football stadium. It is priorities and lack of vision about what western football can be. What gets prioritized and managed gets done. That is why nothing is done and why they are now talking about reducing the facility upgrades that will happen. It’s fine that athletic facilities are not a priority, but the leadership needs to level with everyone and state the reality and not pretend that Football or athletics are a priority. I think that the chancellor and the CC are serious about changes as shown by the realignment of the CC recently I do not disagree that they are serious about changes and I think our current Chancellor made a great decision to move the cc away from athletics. My point is that in the past, Western has historically ignored athletics and athletic facilities because athletics have not been a priority. I just get tired of hearing that we want to build champions and have championships and we talk about improving the student athlete experience but we spend the bare minimum to stay in the SoCon and continue to underfund athletics. I have over 40 years of data that supports my statement and I don’t care if anyone agrees because I can see the facilities we have and I have seen what the school spends its money on. Priorities are always what the money is spent on. So far, I have seen plans and talk about doing something with athletic facilities, but I have seen no earth moving equipment or construction happening. I have had over 40 years of conditioning so I will believe it when I see it. |
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Post by bobfolsom on Sept 4, 2024 10:38:06 GMT -5
I read that FLCatamount has 40 years of pulling for the Cats, and has experienced disappointment with athletics enhancements, and I understand his concerns, as I have felt the same about the same, but to link our present Administration with the Administrations in the past is where I draw the line, as the emphasis on athletics and Athletic enhancements reminds me of the Cotton Robinson years, which in my mind were great years for us, as we became Western Carolina University, and no longer were Western Carolina College, and in 1969 brought in Coach Bob Waters, and our men's '63 basketball team went to the finals of the NAIA National championship game, and lost to Pan American in the finals etc.
This year, we have a Kerwin Bell led football team, we have a very successful men's basketball coach on board, as well as other great coaches.
GO CATS
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catman72
Redshirt Freshman
2023 SoCon Football Pick'em Champion & 2022 SoCon Football Pick'em Co-Champion
Posts: 492
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Post by catman72 on Sept 4, 2024 11:19:01 GMT -5
I agree with most of what you said but we haven't had the the kind of support from leadership like we had with Cotton.......We have had some leadership and even BOT since him that didn't give a flip about athletics......
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catman72
Redshirt Freshman
2023 SoCon Football Pick'em Champion & 2022 SoCon Football Pick'em Co-Champion
Posts: 492
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Post by catman72 on Sept 4, 2024 11:40:16 GMT -5
It's time to break ground instead of breaking wind.....Talk is cheap ( You have $ 6,000,000 you said....At least fix the stands that are crumbling on the east side.....DO SOMETHING !!!!!!!!
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Post by wcugrad95 on Sept 4, 2024 17:17:33 GMT -5
Back to the sellouts conversation - yes it is hard. Even big schools have attendance issues, although theirs are genuinely more about how to keep students for the whole game (which is another topic itself). As for the idea of thinking too small, I agree with FLCAT to a degree. I don't think we need to go to 25 or 30k seats, but we need to do a lot of upgrades and we should do it in a way that sets us up for more easily growing the stadium in the future.
ETSU did that with their new stadium - inital build-out was for now, but the design was for easy expansion later where they could add stands all the way around if needed. We can also argue about how attendance is calculated (tickets sold vs butts in seats), but I think the Bucs actually show an average attendance that is above 100% of the stadium's capacity. So there are also things to be said about packing the stands vs having a stadium that is too big.
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