Courting a comeback
UNM mapping strategies to boost home football crowds
Year Three of the Danny Gonzales Era is a big one, expected to be pivotal in the University of New Mexico head football coach’s rebuilding project.
But that’s on the field. Off the field, and in the stands, there is a daunting task that appears to be just as significant, and extremely challenging.
This is UNM’s first true offseason to market its football team since 2019, and the work already has started to try to draw people to University Stadium, as fans seemingly are more inclined to attend sporting events with the coronavirus pandemic becoming less threatening.
“I think there’s an opportunity to paint the town cherry,” Gonzales recently said. “You’ll start to see things pop up around town soon.”
In 2020, Gonzales and the UNM football team transported their operations to Las Vegas, Nevada for the season due to the pandemic and there were no home games because of the state’s publichealth restrictions.
Last year, uneasiness remained with
COVID-19, and there was no manual to deal with the pandemic while attempting to market the homecoming of Gonzales, the enthusiastic Albuquerque guy who grew up loving the Lobos and became a UNM player and then an assistant coach.
Last season, the Lobos averaged just under an announced 14,000 fans over the five home games that didn’t include UNM’s rivalry contest against New Mexico State. The Lobos drew an announced 28,470 for their game against the Aggies. This year, that game will be in Las Cruces.
The Lobos have three straight home games to open the season, starting with Football Championship Subdivision program Maine. It tentatively is scheduled for Sept. 3, but might be moved to Sept. 1 to get ahead of Labor Day Weekend.
UNM has commercial ads on radio and TV, promoting its football team and season tickets, which recently went on sale.
There is also a deadline for renewals set for June 30.
Gonzales is scheduled to be on the radio each week, to talk about sports, including his football team. He has offered input on game day activities that most likely will be a part of the upcoming season.
“As a marketing department, we want to improve the atmosphere at games, especially upon entrance,” said Joe Thuente, UNM’s associate athletic director for marketing and communications. “The beginning of the game, when the team runs on the field, videos and sound; we have been digging into that, putting plans into place. I do expect a significant improvement as far as team entrance, atmosphere during the game, during breaks … we’re going to put a lot of investment, time and resources into that, and make that much more fun for fans.”
Dave Williams, UNM’s deputy athletic director since 2019, said the Lobos haven’t really dedicated much money for marketing in the past. But this year,
Thuente was instrumental in landing several trade deals with local businesses.
“We have upwards of $1 million in marketing inventory that is now in our use,” Williams said. “While it’s not as fluid as having the cash to go buy exactly what we need, we now have that inventory that we have never had before. In the past, our entire marketing budget would have been used on one billboard. But through Joe’s creativity and hard work, what we’ve been able to do is build some inventory. It’s not perfect, but it’s more than we have ever had to use.”
Win and they’ll come?
The Lobos haven’t had a winning season since 2016, when they went 9-4 and won in the New Mexico Bowl. Since then, they have gone 13-42, never winning more than three games in a season.
Williams and Thuente, however, believe drawing fans to UNM football games isn’t totally dependent on winning.
“That’s not something we can control,” Williams said. “All we can do is set up the proper strategies and communication effort to do everything we can do. There are certainly examples out there where teams have had great winning seasons that haven’t drawn fans. And the other way around with tremendously unsuccessful seasons that do draw fans. We don’t use winning as a strategy. We believe that it will help. But we don’t use it as a crutch.”
Gonzales said he remembers when the Lobos gained around 15,000 season-ticket purchases in 2005, when New Mexico was picked second in the Mountain West preseason poll.
“It’s a lot easier to spend your hard-earned money when that’s your expectation,” Gonzales said. “Right now they hope we win.
“It’s a question of what Lobo fans want,” Gonzales added. “If they want a program that will continue to build and have the resources they need to compete along with the resources that the president and the administration are providing, if they want those to continue to grow, they have to make a commitment themselves to want UNM to be good in everything.”
Connecting with Lobo fans has been crucial. About a year ago, UNM Athletics went through several audits, including one on its ticketing process. That led to a new ticketing system and enforcing an attached donation fee for certain season tickets, subject to seating area, in the Pit and at University Stadium.
Some fans had not been charged the donation fee before the new ticketing system. Ross Perkal, a longtime Lobo booster, was one of them. He became disgruntled because he said there was a lack of communication when he wanted to renew his season tickets.
For more than 30 years, he said, he has had four season tickets above the 50-yard line, paying $199 for each for several years without being charged a donation fee as well. But this year, he said he donated $2,500 to the Lobo Club in order to secure those season tickets.
“It was like ‘wait a minute: we have one of the worst football teams in America,’” Perkal said. “And now you want me to pay more money to watch them? ... This was a slap in the face. I have a lot of friends who are sports fans and after they went to a game with me, they said, ‘Thanks a lot Ross, but don’t invite me anymore.’ It’s been awful.”
Perkal, who is also a seasonticket holder for UNM men’s basketball at the Pit, said he believes in Gonzales and understands it has been a rough go during the pandemic.
Williams wants fans to call UNM if it has questions on that topic.
Gonzales said the Lobos must do it all —improve the game-day experience and also win more games.
“Obviously we want people to buy season tickets so we have that guarantee, but we just want them to show up,” Gonzales said. “We’ll give them a reason to show up. Once they have a good time and experience a great atmosphere and a good football team, then they’ll be more apt to spend more money the next week and buy more tickets and season tickets.”