Time to step up
Tigers’ program at critical point in terms of fan support
The figure Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen put out there was aspirational, he admitted in retrospect, and perhaps even a bit of wishful thinking.
But when he hosted a radio show on ESPN 92.9 FM last Friday, Bowen meant it when he said the goal is for the Tigers’ football team to average 45,000 fans per game this season. This would be a record, surpassing the 43,802, on average, who attended games at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium during the 2015 campaign.
Can it happen, even with a home schedule that doesn’t include a marquee non-conference matchup? I say yes.
Should it happen if the Tigers hold up their end of the bargain, and compete for an American Athletic Conference championship again? I say yes.
Will it happen? I say no.
How Memphis is backing football like never before
It’s the dilemma Memphis administrators confront as the 2018 season approaches. The football program is approaching heights rarely seen around these parts. To continue this progress, however, the fan base must follow suit.
“It’s very, very fragile because we’re on the cusp of being very good for a very long time,” Bowen said Tuesday evening. “What’s needed now is the support and to fill the stadium. You get to this point, where you’re like, let’s go. You’ve got to embrace it and you’ve got to be a part of it and it’s got to matter to everybody.” Let’s get one thing straight first. If the past few months of Pennymania have proven anything, it’s that the perception of Memphis as a basketball school, and a basketball town, remains alive and well.
But as we all rejoice over James Wiseman remaining at East High School, or speculate about what recruits
might show up at Memphis Madness this year and, rightfully, focus much of our attention on the developments within the men’s basketball program under Penny Hardaway, I hope Tiger fans also remember their football program is at a critical juncture when it comes to support.
You know, the team that has been to four-straight bowl games. The team that just came off its first 10-win regular season in almost 80 years. The team that just forked over big, fat raises to its head coach and his staff. The team that has been trying to build a much-needed indoor practice facility for the better part of a decade now.
Last December, Bowen and school president M. David Rudd found the funds to give coach Mike Norvell $2.6 million per year. Norvell’s staff salary pool also got bumped up $250,000 for the second offseason in a row.
Memphis is backing the football program financially at levels it never has before. So it’s only right the fans step up and do the same.
Interest can’t simply wane if, for instance, Memphis loses at Navy the second week of the season. Or if it can’t make a New Year’s Day bowl game again. It can’t matter that the ticket supply almost always outweighs the demand at the Liberty Bowl. A little rain can’t scare you away anymore.
This has to become about more than one loss or one game.
If you want a big-time football program, we all need to start acting like we have one.
Why ‘every ticket bought’ matters
Now, this is not to say there isn’t fan support right now.
Last year, when the Tigers averaged 36,302 fans per game, Memphis sold a record 22,500 season tickets. Its average attendance (36,302) ranked fifth among Group of Five schools, behind only BYU (56,267), San Diego State (39,347), UCF (36,846) and ECU (36,727).
But Memphis’ most recent financial filings with the NCAA, from Norvell’s first season in 2016, showed that the school suffered a $1.1 million drop in revenue associated with ticket sales. It likely dropped a bit more last year since, not including the sold-out Liberty Bowl game against Iowa State, the Tigers’ average attendance at home games fell from 37,346 in 2016 to 33,307 in 2017.
This, of course, was mainly the result of weather wreaking havoc on several game day experiences. I’m still in awe of those tailgaters drinking beer on Tiger Lane in the middle of Hurricane Harvey.
But last season also served as another reminder of how fine a line this athletic department traverses financially.
That it’s cash poor compared to the power five conferences it aspires to be in because of the AAC’s paltry media rights deal. That it relies heavily on ticket sales and donations because the school doesn’t own the Liberty Bowl or FedExForum, and therefore “every ticket bought makes a difference for us,” Bowen said.
That even this summer, with the windfall provided by Hardaway’s hiring, this athletic department elected not to replace former deputy athletic director Mark Alnutt (who left to become the athletic director at University of Buffalo) in order to save money.
This is why Bowen went on the radio last week and asked for a record number of people to show up at the Liberty Bowl beginning Sep. 1.
He wouldn’t reveal season ticket numbers for the 2018 season yet and answered, “I don’t know” Tuesday night when asked if a new record might be set this year.
But Memphis has averaged more than 40,000 fans per game three times since 2000.
Is 45,000 possible? Maybe not this season.
But it has to be if Memphis football wants to move forward.
“We’ve got to break through the ceiling,” Bowen said.