David Drucker/ Staff Writer
Outside of wins and losses, attendance is FIU football’s biggest problem. The University reported an average of 13,634 people per game in 2015 – one of the worst among Division One schools in the country – and if you went to a game last year, you might think that’s a generous number.
Some in the community blame the students for staying at their homes or at the tailgates during the games, but that’s unfair. The blame lies with FIU Athletics for having the solution in front of them the whole time and still not figuring it out: make football games worth attending.
Sure, some of the circumstances surrounding FIU make it difficult to go to games. It’s no secret that Miami doesn’t produce very loyal sports fans to begin with, and most FIU students don’t live on campus. Every school has its problems, however, and most still manage decent attendance. Why don’t FIU students choose to overcome these problems?
The answer could be obvious: FIU doesn’t win enough and watching them lose is not worth spending time on.
If you ever spent a day by the pool as a kid in South Florida, you might know what it’s like it to leave a college tailgate early to go watch the Panthers. Remember when you and all of your buddies would agree to jump in the water on “three,” but then only one of you would jump while the rest stayed on land and laughed?
Yeah, I’ve left a tailgate early to get a good seat for an FIU football game too.
I felt tricked, sitting alone in the stands watching my team get dominated by Bethune Cookman for the second year in a row while everyone else stayed behind to party in the parking lot. I imagine the rest of the students who showed up didn’t feel great about their decision either.
Panther football is in a year where they can’t afford poor attendance; the lack of fans is not only embarrassing, but also merits consequences from the NCAA. If a school does not draw an average crowd of 15,000 per game every other season they risk probation or demotion from Division 1 FBS play.
Getting people to games is something the University needs to fix now.
FIU is well aware that the problem exists and is constantly trying to fix it, but free hot dog vouchers and beach party decks can’t take the place of winning seasons and bowl games. Winning would be the quickest way to keep FIU out of trouble with the NCAA. People will always hop on the bandwagon of an underdog team like FIU. They would probably draw large enough crowds to avoid penalties and stay in good favor with the NCAA for at least a couple more years.
The problem is that the increased attendance from one winning season wouldn’t stick. FIU fans materialized out of thin air when TY Hilton rewrote FIU’s record books, but they all left with the Ghost. What would it take for FIU to build a real, consistent fanbase? Is it even possible?
The answer is yes. The reason people don’t go to games is that there is nothing to invest in. There is no tradition at FIU that bonds the fan to the school to build loyalty.
However, I am not saying that it can’t exist.
FIU athletics, as a whole, has little to no tradition because they try to reinvent the wheel every season.
Afraid of remembering last year’s failures, our major programs market themselves as a new product each year, creating a dichotomy between student and team.
Why does the chant “Paws Up” still exist if no one ever does it? Why is Pete Garcia still our University’s athletic director even though he is universally hated by every FIU fan? Regular people become lifelong fans because of the connection they share with a team, but that transformation doesn’t occur when you can’t even get your team’s attention.
Students should demand that FIU create a sense of sports culture and tradition on campus. It’s not like FIU hasn’t had their fair share of memorable moments – they just choose not to remember them.
Where are the statues of Hilton and Mike Lowell, FIU’s most prominent former stars? How many students even know that the Jacksonville Jaguars’ starting strong safety was once a Panther?
Wait, we actually had a two-time NBA champion and a coaching legend’s legacy head our men’s basketball program recently?
FIU needs to stop being the brand-new team that you could create in a video game franchise mode and start acting like a school with history.
Do what other college programs do: sell your big name alumni, market your players, tell their stories and create connections. If the connections don’t happen organically, then fake them until they seem legit.
The University has the population it needs to be a respectable sports school. All they need to do is give the students a sports culture worth being a part of.
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