Quote Originally Posted by DawgyNWindow View Post
Well, I have attended a number of games for other universities in the last few years, and I can say that students have headed for the exits at halftime - or before - at those events as well. That includes the woeful Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles as well as the WVU Mountaineers. We are not alone in that regard. I find that the number of folks that leave is directionally proportional to the excitement being generated on the field.

If I didn't have to travel 500+ miles to see a game, I'd leave as well if the game got boring.

I have not been able to make the trip yet this year, but moving tailgate alley to a highly structured area in the hot parking lot last year made me reconsider the number of games I would attend in the future. To me, it appears like someone is micromanaging pre-game activities to death. Is this still the case?

Also, showing up and being told I cannot purchse an empty seat on the west side of the stadium because those are being reserved for big donors (even though they are empty for the whole game) was kind of over the top. I could see it if the demand for those seats was more than their availability, but this seemed rather arbitrary. Besides that, I quickly learned I like the east side better because there is more spirit over there, so Tech loses the additional funds from selling a west side seat whenever I attend now.
There are many factors that have hurt student attendance and general attendance, but yes micro-management and unneeded changes to existing tradition is the biggest factor.