In 2002, the Athletics Department undertook a massive
(and presumably expensive) campaign to increase attendance at SJSU football
games. There is no other way to
describe this attempt as anything other than a failure.
Attendance at every single game of the season was dismal.
Specifically,
- September
29, 2002 � SJSU�s first home game featured an event called �Festival
de Footbal Americano� which was designed to boost Latino interest in our
football program. Event
organizers hoped that this festival would draw 2000 people to the game.
The actual turnout was closer to 50 (McAliister 2002).
The attendance at that game was an anemic 10,416.
- October
26, 2002 � For SJSU�s homecoming, Athletics conducted a truly massive
marketing campaign. Advertisements
ran daily in the Mercury News
and Spartan Daily. Homecoming
events were held on campus every day of the week.
Athletics gave free tickets to more than 300 community
organizations, and discounted the remaining tickets.
Everyone who attended the Showcase for Learning was given free
tickets to the game. The
Division of Administration and Finance gave free tickets to its employees
and held a tailgating party, as did several deans.
AD Chuck Bell said that he hoped these efforts would draw 20,000
people to the game (Sabedra 2002c). Unfortunately,
only 10,497 fans actually attended, barely higher than the average
attendance of 10,207 the previous season.
In other words, a massive marketing campaign failed to generate any
increase in attendance. To
make matters worse, those fans who did attend the game saw the Spartans
lose in a 45-7 rout.
- November
9, 2002 � For this game, Athletics attempted to increase attendance by
hosting a patriotic festival, complete with an F-16 flyover, a halftime
salute to veterans, and a post-game fireworks show.
In analyzing the low attendance at the previous games, AD Chuck
Bell said �Apparently people won�t come to a festival.
And they won�t come to an Olympics rally.
But we know that they�ll come out to see a fireworks show.� (Sabedra
2002d). Perhaps
people will pay to see a fireworks show, but apparently not if the show
follows a Spartan football game. Attendance
at the game was a season-low 6,397, the lowest attendance of the 117 teams
that comprise Division I-A.
- November
23, 2002 � This was a big game. The
Spartans entered this game with a 6-6 record.
A win against rival Fresno State would result in not only a winning
season for the Spartans, but an invitation to play in a bowl game for the
first time since 1990. In
addition, the game against Fresno is usually heavily attended due to the
fact that thousands of Fresno fans drive here from the Central Valley.
The San Jose Mercury News predicted that 18,000 fans would
attend the game (Purdy 2002). Despite
the game�s significance, actual attendance was a mere 14,134.
This means that even a highly-publicized game with SJSU�s
traditional rival -- with a bowl bid at stake -- failed to attract the
15,000 fans needed to retain Division I-A eligibility.
The net result? Average
attendance during the 2002 season was 10,360, an increase of only 1.5% from
the previous season. This was
true despite the fact that the local media clearly emphasized the need for
SJSU to increase its attendance; despite the fact that the Division of
Athletics funded a
massive marketing campaign and reduced ticket prices; and despite the fact
that the football team itself had a relatively successful year, with double
the number of wins of the previous season.
Following this failure, the DIA seemed to adopt the
position that 2002 represented a trial run, and that they would regroup and do
better in 2003. However, the 2003 season was
also a failure.