[Willy702]

UTSA Roadrunners market team to become team of South Texas - ESPN

A program starts up from nothing, has had nothing but losing seasons so far, yet still draws 31,000 fans a game to a 60,000 seat stadium. All this despite being less than 3 hours away from two of the most storied programs in college football (Texas and Texas A&M) which both draw over 90,000 fans a game.

All the apologists for the Rebels football program saying if only we had an on-campus stadium, if only we had a good team, if only...

Time to admit it, Las Vegas is a lousy sports town. If a team with massive competition in the region can get 30,000 fans to a game despite playing in a low level conference and losing, what's UNLV's excuse?

[irishspy]

Win Baby Win that fills the seats. If UNLV was a top 20 Div 1 team year after year you would have the big draw teams on their schedule. Look at some of them with a city small population such as Notre Dame South Bend,Michigan Ann Harbor,and Syracuse,to name a few. Football games out here are not an event like in other cities plus their athletic facilities are top rate,Alumni support top notch. Las Vegas is a transient city of people who either have loyalties to other college programs or they are not here long enough to develop one. Lets face it Goreman Bishop high school has a loyal following better than UNLV. The other thing is the players to recruit and know the pro scouts are watching the top 20 not UNLV and who would not want to play in a 80,000 seat full stadium vs only 20 to 30 thousand people showing up. So it is not just one thing that hurts UNLV but a host of them so first you have to have a program with a winning record over a period of time and a schedule that attracts better teams and the pro scouts.

[Willy702]

So how do you explain UTSA in its 4th year of existence getting 30,000 fans a game? A team with no history and lots of competition for local fans? They get people to buy season tickets who live 2 hours away and aren't even alumni, UNLV can't get alumni who live 15 minutes away go to one game. And San Antonio is about as transient a city as Las Vegas, very few people are from there too.

Either UNLV is the worst marketed team in college or it draws from the worst possible fanbase where 2 million people happen to live.

[Dport7674]

UTSA was in the news after beating Houston as a dog and then covering the spread against Az the following week. Bandwagon holds 31,000.

Edit: Not a whole lot else to do in San Antonio and Tx is a football state in general. Nothing to see here. Move along.

[Caltovegas]

USTA doesn't have to compete with sports books. Sitting in hot sun watching a game or sitting in a sports book eating $1 hot dogs and drinking $2 Buds or $1 margaritas while watching other games where is the sport fan (betting fan) going to go?

Something else to understand about Vegas that took me a minute to understand is there's not a big base of sports fans. Many of the people have no loyalty to any team beyond the spreads. I talked to a native Las Vegan and he couldn't understand people cheering for a team. It's all about the bet.

That's why Vegas will have problems with any team. Vegas is a whole different animal. There's no way to compare it to other sports programs.

[forestgump99]

I predict a total of 3 games being won by UNLV Rebels this year.

I think if they build a stadium closer, more students will go which would build up their ego to win....could be wrong.

[irishspy]

As I said before at major colleges and their towns and cities the Home games are major events they market it that way. The businesses run specials all week and etc and having tickets to the games is a privilege and something people seek out to have. Tailgating parties are at their best hours before the games and it is one great time. Las Vegas does not have that culture in their fan base for college football YET!!! Just look at the Basketball team at UNLV and how hot of a ticket they are during their season. The whole football program not just the coaches and players needs to be on board. I have been to South Bend Indiana every business and public place is nothing but advertising ND Sports especially Football the same in Syracuse NY and I will not even get into the south where football is a religion lol UNLV football has to compete with many other things in this city and considering that they are holding their own but it will take the whole city and business to support it so they can go to the next level and be able to recruit players needed for that.

[Willy702]

Rebel basketball isn't a big ticket, come on. The have sold out one or two games in the last few years. This year they won't sell out one game. Their average attendance is decent but considering they have no legitimate competition for sporting event budgets in a city of 2 million it's not exactly an impressive effort.

I agree the marketing is terrible. People in other cities root for a local college whether they went there or not. Lots of friends when I lived on Vegas said they never went to UNLV games because it wasn't their school. If you can't get this type of fan out then attendance will always be mediocre.