Why I think we have a long way to go.

[Tractor]

I love CU, but I don't see us being more than a once a decade in the top 15 team for quite some time. I got confirmation of that this weekend and wanted someone to talk me off the ledge.


Everyone here in Denver is sooooooo impressed that 40,000 people came to the Denver Broncos free practice at Sports Authority Field this weekend. A sure fire hall of famer, one of the best QBs ever, participating in his first scrimmage for the Broncos right here in downtown Denver. We've all heard how this is Bronco nation, we have rabid Bronco fans and the Broncos dominate the thoughts of Denver as well as the media of Denver. These news channels think 40k is AAAAAMAAZING! What a turnout!

I think that's weak. The SEC gets way more to come. The Big X powers get more than that. Fu@k Texas too.
http://thegazette.com/2012/04/15/390191/

Colorado doesn't have rabid football fans that care about the local teams. Our state is full of people from all over the country. There are Steeler bars in every city. You see tons of Packer fans, Cubs fans, Yankees fans, Lakers, Raiders, etc.

The freaking Denver Broncos, Gods gift to the front range, can't get 50,000 people to drive or lightrail 5 minutes out of their way in a city of 600,000 people or drive for half an hour from a population of 2.6 million in the metro area. You had a chance to watch one of the top 10 QBs EVER wearing your jersey and that's what you got? It was FREE!!! The weather was beautiful! What excuse do you have for not going? And why does every news station think this was such a great accomplishment?

How can CU, a school full of apparent thugs (thanks Denver Post) that threaten plice officers get 50k people to fill a stadium in a city 1/6th the size?

In conclusion, Denver media sucks and it'll be a while before we get 65k in our brandy-new stadium and practice facility.

 

[Buffnik]

Everybody loves a winner.

Start going to bowl games and the bandwagon will be making stops at Folsom every Saturday.

6 straight losing seasons will not generate excitement in a transient marketplace where there are a lot of other options for spending your entertainment dollars.

 

[BuffLuke80]

Dude its a bronco town, the dude that coached them to the first bowl got folks excited. Elway made them fanatical. Rightfully so, he took teams to superbowls nobody else could, I mean nobody. CU can get it done on a high level yearly if the right people are in place. Is it a grow some balls thing or a scared of the numbers thing? Im asking.

 

[Quattro]

Well our attendance has been right around 50K the past few years so I'm not sure what the point of this is. People went out to see Manning, that's it. It was boring, but we got to see Manning, and that's why they got 40K there. Otherwise, I highly doubt Elway moves a scrimmage to SA Field and thus, the 40K attendance doesn't happen. We have bigger issues than our attendance.

 

[Burrito]

So...we're gonna win?

 

[Quattro]

So...we're gonna win?

Yup

 

[Tractor]

No I'm saying that FEW people went to the Broncos scrimmage. This is a Broncos town and only 40k came to see free Broncos. Elways is amazing and brought in the biggest free agent ever and they win games and still only 40k came to their practice.

Colorado as a state does not have the football fanaticism to support a prolonged winner. Am I turning into Bama Charlie by thinking we don't take our football seriously enough?

 

[Buffnik]

No I'm saying that FEW people went to the Broncos scrimmage. This is a Broncos town and only 40k came to see free Broncos. Elways is amazing and brought in the biggest free agent ever and they win games and still only 40k came to their practice.

Colorado as a state does not have the football fanaticism to support a prolonged winner. Am I turning into Bama Charlie by thinking we don't take our football seriously enough?

We're not competing against the SEC. We're competing against the Pac-12. We have to win our recruiting footprint and CU is already getting a rep within our conference for having rabid fans that travel well and have a tough home field.

 

[Duff Man]

No I'm saying that FEW people went to the Broncos scrimmage. This is a Broncos town and only 40k came to see free Broncos. Elways is amazing and brought in the biggest free agent ever and they win games and still only 40k came to their practice.

Colorado as a state does not have the football fanaticism to support a prolonged winner. Am I turning into Bama Charlie by thinking we don't take our football seriously enough?

You are overreacting. Very few (if any) other NFL teams would get that turnout for an intrasquad scrimmage.

 

[BuffLuke80]

Does Dove Valley have a 100K capacity? College crowds are way bigger in person, probably pro on tv.

 

[RumblinBuff]

So...we're gonna win?

[video=youtube;IgAsNtmlQJU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgAsNtmlQJU[/video]

 

[Ozbuff]

Everybody loves a winner.

Start going to bowl games and the bandwagon will be making stops at Folsom every Saturday.

6 straight losing seasons will not generate excitement in a transient marketplace where there are a lot of other options for spending your entertainment dollars.

This. If Embree builds a winning program, Folsom will be full for every home game. The most annoying thing for me (and it's been discussed on this forum before) are the students that don't show up until half way through the first quarter. It annoyed me when I was a student too. It looks terrible on TV and doesn't help the recruiting effort. That said, start winning and Folsom will be packed (at least by the end of the firs quarter).

 

[77buff]

This. If Embree builds a winning program, Folsom will be full for every home game. The most annoying thing for me (and it's been discussed on this forum before) are the students that don't show up until half way through the first quarter. It annoyed me when I was a student too. It looks terrible on TV and doesn't help the recruiting effort. That said, start winning and Folsom will be packed (at least by the end of the firs quarter).

Students not giving a $#!T about the football team is a CU tradition. When I asked my friends if they were going to the game back in the late 70's they looked at me like " dude, football game, you got to be kidding - we are going up to Nederland to get stoned".

 

[Quattro]

Students not giving a $#!T about the football team is a CU tradition. When I asked my friends if they were going to the game back in the late 70's they looked at me like " dude, football game, you got to be kidding - we are going up to Nederland to get stoned".

Students care...about basketball. The student section for football gets full unless we are getting our asses kicked. The problem is the horribly inefficient way they get us in there.

 

[CVilleBuff]

It might be awhile before we are a sustained ranked team, but it's not because we're in a state with a bunch of transients. Literally everyone else in the Pac-12 deals with that exact same issue. Believe it or not, in some areas (like Arizona), it's even worse. The fact of the matter is we have some of the best support in the Pac-12, both at home and on the road. Anyone who has seen the Buffs play on the road last season (or at Cal 2010) came away extremely impressed with our fans showing up in force -- and this is while we're the worst we've been in 25 years. There's certainly room for improvement, but the apathy isn't as bad as you make it out to be.

 

[dio]

Students not giving a $#!T about the football team is a CU tradition. When I asked my friends if they were going to the game back in the late 70's they looked at me like " dude, football game, you got to be kidding - we are going up to Nederland to get stoned".

I was there in 2002 - 2006, and I was the same way. I would wake up early, pull out a bottle of Evan Williams, start drinking with my buddies, go to a pregame party. Miss the 1st quarter, go to the game, leave early if the game was entertaining drunk Dio enough. I didn't care - I just liked partying.

Now look at me. I still like to party, I just get to the tailgate as early as possible. Hell, Sacky can attest that I'm usually one of the last ones to leave because I like to either pound another beer or smoke a cigar.

Anyway - it is a long-standing tradition.

 

[dio]

It might be awhile before we are a sustained ranked team, but it's not because we're in a state with a bunch of transients. Literally everyone else in the Pac-12 deals with that exact same issue. Believe it or not, in some areas (like Arizona), it's even worse. The fact of the matter is we have some of the best support in the Pac-12, both at home and on the road. Anyone who has seen the Buffs play on the road last season (or at Cal 2010) came away extremely impressed with our fans showing up in force -- and this is while we're the worst we've been in 25 years. There's certainly room for improvement, but the apathy isn't as bad as you make it out to be.

Washington game was the only one I made it to, and I was looking forward to a big CU contingent, but it was overall pretty sparse I think.

 

[CVilleBuff]

Washington game was the only one I made it to, and I was looking forward to a big CU contingent, but it was overall pretty sparse I think.

Pac NW would probably be our weakest area, but the games in California and Arizona are extremely well attended. I can speak from experience for 2 games in Cali. I'd expect games at UW will have pretty solid Buff showings once we are at least making a bowl game..

Regardless, we are one of the best traveling groups in the Pac. For instance, comparing how many we brought to Berkeley with what Cal brought to Boulder. No contest.

 

[ICE H2O]

Students care...about basketball. The student section for football gets full unless we are getting our asses kicked. The problem is the horribly inefficient way they get us in there.

Dittos on that! Those security people "guarding" the student gates make the TSA look like Supermen!

 

[newkid]

It's more about an administrative support for athletics (football specifically) than fan support. Washington has an amazing support system in place for football, granted, they have made poor coaching hires up until Sark. UCLA has had a pretty terrible support system and is only now getting better. Cal has been VERY resistant to getting behind FB 100%, until very recently. Stanford was very similar to Cal, till they got their huge athletic endowment and were able to give FB the same priority they did their other sports. Oregon and USC are obviously in a class of their own in terms of support. Now look at Wazzu, they are not selling out games and have a small fan base, albeit very passionate, but look at what their AD has accomplished. From the little I've read about Bohn, and even after meeting him, it doesn't sound like he is the guy that is going to elevate CU football.

As far as hardcore fandom, It obviously comes down to winning and the environment as well. But for many schools in the Pac, that is just not going to happen. In CA, none of those schools will ever come close SEC levels, not even SC. LSU, Georgia, Bama etc will sell out games against Southern Orange Junior High, and have 30k more people hanging out outside, same at UM, tOSU etc. When SC is not winning big, they will not sell out, even for conference games. Stanford in their last two runs wasn't able to fully sell out and they have a small stadium, I was there. But how many SEC teams have to compete with 2 NFL teams, 2 MLB teams 1 NHL team, 1 NBA team, and another BCS team 40 minutes away? Same scenario for UCLA. Oh, and everything else available in the area. The NW is probably the only area in the PAC that has any chance of possibly emulating the south, and even then not really. But you don't need that, you just need lots of money and a very supportive AD.

 

[DBT]

No I'm saying that FEW people went to the Broncos scrimmage. This is a Broncos town and only 40k came to see free Broncos. Elways is amazing and brought in the biggest free agent ever and they win games and still only 40k came to their practice.

Colorado as a state does not have the football fanaticism to support a prolonged winner. Am I turning into Bama Charlie by thinking we don't take our football seriously enough?

Yer full of ****.

 

[fcjack1]

No I'm saying that FEW people went to the Broncos scrimmage. This is a Broncos town and only 40k came to see free Broncos. Elways is amazing and brought in the biggest free agent ever and they win games and still only 40k came to their practice.

Colorado as a state does not have the football fanaticism to support a prolonged winner. Am I turning into Bama Charlie by thinking we don't take our football seriously enough?

I think the key word there is "scrimmage". Plus, they doubled the previous record. If we did that for the spring game next year I'd feel pretty good about our fanbase.