UNCC My Impressions

[ASUchipman]

I had the opportunity to work the UNCC Wesley game last Saturday. Here is what I came away with. Their gameday experience is no where near that of the Rock. The fans didnt seem that excited to be at the game. The fact that they lost to Wesley didnt help. I will admit that they are new at this and it will take time to build a strong fan following. I was very impressed with the Campus and the facilities. I would put their stadium at about the same size as Elon's.The one thing that UNCC has going for it that App doesnt is space. Man they have so much space for expansion it is crazy. I am not sure when they will begin stadium expansion, but they have plenty of room to do it. From what I could see parking will not be a problem either. I imagine with time and expansion, gameday at UNCC will be good in a couple of years.

[moehler]

don't forget, it cost alot more to build in Boone because of environmental regulations. As far as UNCC, I think it speaks volumes that they only built a 15,000 seat stadium, and actual butts in the seats probably less than than 13,000. I think, wisely, that when the administration did their studies they realized that, atleast for the first 5 years or so, 13-15 is the maxium, if they keep losing, and fans lose interest, might dip below 10. What I have read on their board, the students really haven't come out in force, and this already seems to be becoming a problem. I think in their first year, mixed reviews as far as fan support. Now, the good news, like you said, is they have so much potential, plenty of land to expand, Charlotte market to build their product. Its going to take some time, probably longer than the fans realized when they started the program, but, I think, if they start winning consistently, win some conference championships beat a few BCS schools, they will get a loyal following above 15 thousand, and can put 25 thousand in the stands, they just need to be really patent.

[mtnjax]

The student support issue boggles my mind. They were literally begging for that football team and now that they have it, they don't support it

[Gonzo]

The student support issue boggles my mind. They were literally begging for that football team and now that they have it, they don't support it

Not surprising at all when you're familiar with that school's culture. If the students live on or near campus at all, they drive home for the weekends. There's no nightlife near the school, no shops selling 49er gear, nothin'.

They have a small group of die hards. I can't see them drumming up much more support from their students until the culture does a complete 180. it might happen with the new light rail but even still it's going to take ages.

[ASUchipman]

I saw a few students who looked hardcore with clothes and painted faces. Most looked like they were going to a social event. I am old enough to remember football at App in the late 80's early 90's when I was there. Football was a social event. I remember all the fraternities and sororities would come and be seen then leave at halftime. I guess what Im saying is fanbases will mature over time.

[moehler]

I think you nail it, its going to take time for the fan base to mature, its been, for the most part, a successful 1st season. One thing I totally disagree with is UNCC fans believe that now they have football, the ACC teams, ECU, and App will take a backseat to them in Charlotte, in terms of media coverage, fan support etc. That just isn't going to happen, the ACC schools will always have get the lions share of attention from the Charlottte media.

[NWA49]

don't forget, it cost alot more to build in Boone because of environmental regulations. As far as UNCC, I think it speaks volumes that they only built a 15,000 seat stadium, and actual butts in the seats probably less than than 13,000. I think, wisely, that when the administration did their studies they realized that, atleast for the first 5 years or so, 13-15 is the maxium, if they keep losing, and fans lose interest, might dip below 10. What I have read on their board, the students really haven't come out in force, and this already seems to be becoming a problem. I think in their first year, mixed reviews as far as fan support. Now, the good news, like you said, is they have so much potential, plenty of land to expand, Charlotte market to build their product. Its going to take some time, probably longer than the fans realized when they started the program, but, I think, if they start winning consistently, win some conference championships beat a few BCS schools, they will get a loyal following above 15 thousand, and can put 25 thousand in the stands, they just need to be really patent.

Not here to argue - but we had 16,000 plus standing room only at 4 of the 6 homes games. Plus probably another thousand outside of the stadium at most of those games. Wesley wasn't a sell out and I believe our figure for that game was 14,300 or something. The GW game was over fall break, brilliant scheduling move on our part. Students typically did not stick around in the 3rd and 4th qtr - mostly because the games were pretty much determined by then - either a win or loss and the heat on the student side was anywhere from 7 to 10 degrees warmer than on the alumni side. 3 straight early september home games with 90+ weather plus a below grade stadium with no breeze was really rough. The addition of some lights and games that do not start at noon will help this no doubt. We also ended up with our students packing in on the sideline rather than sitting in the corner, so while the corner was open, the students that would have been sitting there were like sardines in another section.

It will take time. I was disappointed in the GW game, but it will take some time. The alumni showed up in force though and the single game tickets sold out each time they were made available. We also give more tickets to our students than most schools give to theirs. Literally half the stadium. At a time when student attendance is falling at virtually all schools this is probably not the best idea. We give more student ticket out than UGA does. I expect it will get better to some degree as we become more a part of the normal things on campus, but at the same time there is no reason to give half your stadium to students.

We will have to expand in CUSA as we won't have enough seats to meet conference ticket demands for visiting teams without significantly cutting students tickets (which I don't think our chancellor is in favor for due to the fees they are paying for football). Only question is how big is the expansion. When we designed the stadium we didn't know we would be going CUSA and we didn't have the Big Cat's cash.

Now that season 1 is behind us (from a home perspective), I am anxious to see how things grow and change. This was the first ever freshmen class with football. Before I call out the students too much I want to get through a full cycle of students.

As an alum who has been to games at App to FSU to Oregon to USC - I was thrilled with the gameday atmosphere. Might be because the party around my ambulance every saturday was out of control. Regardless, as a season ticket holder, a seat license holder, a green jacket level donor and an alum I am nothing but pleased with how the first season has gone.

[moehler]

I agree, for the most part, it has been a successful 1st year. Your administration might in the future consider moving the home games to 3:30. One of the smartest things App did was move game time from 1 to 3:30. Really helped tailgating, and gave people plenty of time to socialize before going into the stadium, plus, probably would really help not playing the game in the heat of the day. As far as the students, I wouldn't worry about them leaving early, like you said its becoming the norm in collage football, Saben has been bitching and moaning for the last 2 years about the lack of student support, if they cant keep them in the seats at Alabama, what chance does UNCC or APP have? Personally, I think App and UNCC could not have pickup a worst time to move up concerning fan attendance to games. You know its getting bad when the SEC admits they have an attendance problem and they had to hire an outside firm to help them

[JCline0429]

I think you nail it, its going to take time for the fan base to mature, its been, for the most part, a successful 1st season. One thing I totally disagree with is UNCC fans believe that now they have football, the ACC teams, ECU, and App will take a backseat to them in Charlotte, in terms of media coverage, fan support etc. That just isn't going to happen, the ACC schools will always have get the lions share of attention from the Charlottte media.

The thing is, they are likely to get more media coverage than App in Charlotte. One of the problems that UNC-Charlotte and App face in the media market is the amount of coverage that the Panthers and the Bob Cats get.

[moehler]

ya, technically you might get more coverage, but does it really matter when your on page 6 and we are on page 7? The good news for us atleast, is when we beat Michigan again next year, we will be back to page 1 for awhile, ha, ha