I hope there are things that can be fixed and while I think Mrs Wilson should exercise caution as a parent getting too involved in this stuff due to what fans tend to do to vocal parents on twitter when things aren’t going well, I totally understand her efforts to raise the level of excitement on game day. Game day in Provo is really sad compared to other programs. Maybe it’s just the poor play and if we fix that, it’ll improve but I fear the problem is bigger. And I really fear the biggest problem is not going to be able to be fixed.

I worry the biggest problem is our fans in general. We have a fan base that just isn’t going to catch fire even when things are going good. A lot of it is who we have been playing but even for good games, we aren’t filling our stadium and the fans are just disinterested. And the reason is we aren’t bringing in football fans on Saturdays. We are hosting the worlds largest FHE activity.

Families are great. But when a family of 6 with kids ages 8, 6, 4, and 2 takes their seats and the oldest opens her book, the two middle kids play games on dads iPhone and argue about who had the most turns, and the two year old gets fussy 15 minutes into the game, I know we aren’t going to get a lot of football game enthusiasm from that group. It’s the most unique fan demographic in America. Won’t find it anywhere else.

Our fans bring babies to football games! There are more little kids at our games than any college football stadium in America. I’m not basing that on research. I’m just basing it on my eyes and common sense. And it will definitely impact the “rowdiness” so to speak of a crowd.

Most stadiums have fans tailgating. Football Saturday is a big deal to them. We don’t have that in any way. We have people coming right at kickoff or a little after and heading straight home. Their Saturday simply has a football game in it rather than the football game being their Saturday.

We are BYU and I know the culture of fans isn’t going to change. However I wonder if we can change things enough to get students to believe in tailgating. If we can change things enough to get students to fill their section of the stadium. Maybe we can find ways to get a dad to invite his buddy to a game rather than take his 3 or 4 year old.

I wish I had the answers but I don’t. We are just such a different crowd from anywhere else. But I like that people might start to speak up and maybe we can figure things out. We have to find ways to bring in more football fans. If we don’t, it won’t matter if it’s USC or New Mexico State. The stadium energy will continue to fall short on game day.

A Jumbotron would be awesome. And I believe it does help with the atmosphere a lot. But BYU isn’t ponying up the money for a Jumbotron. We know that. But maybe we can organize actual tailgates that are worth going to. Let people tailgate in the grass lot. Make opportunities for people to want to make a day of it. Those are simple things that wouldn’t be hard to implement.

We need change. I’m glad someone who is at least a name people recognize is saying it. She’s right. It’s a really weak experience on game day and I think it’s bigger than wins/losses. These fans need an energy boost desperately.