Is Fan apathy setting in?

If a fan is objective, then they see the current status of the program for what it is. And they realize a rebuild is necessary. Hardly exciting. Doesn’t mean that fan isn’t just as passionate.

But really, since COVID hit, is any part of our lives as fun as it was? Not meant to be political.

 

Yeah, but didn't we used to brag about how all the games were sold out in our winless '79 season? Yeah, we did. If it takes winning to fill the seats, then college football is on its way out. 100+ teams can't survive on that model.

 

What is there to be excited about? There are fifteen minutes of practice even open to the media. Up dates are mostly “Coach speech”. I am relatively confident that there is disinformation being circulated about Desmond Watson’s weight. None of the current players have ever been a part of a decent defense, and there is no evidence (closed practices, coach speech, etc.) that they are getting better. There is talk that the freshmen wide receivers have added some dynamism, but practices are closed , so nobody gets to see it.

 

Not the best analogy. This (attendance based on winning) is to be expected in the NFL and pro leagues in general (in America). One of the things that set the college game apart (outside of Green Bay) is the community of fans. As you are seeing, as it becomes more sterile and pro, that's going to start to fall away and become more like pro fan bases. Sorry, but that's not a good thing.

I would also add this is generational. Gen Z seems fine with all of this, but Gen Z doesn't really know what they were missing anyway. Oh, and Gen Z is the smallest in US history with the least capital ($$$$). Boomers (who are turning away) are the largest with the most capital. So, you know, have fun with that business model moving forward.

 

This is the adjustment that's going to have to be dealt with. Most of us are still loyal enough that we'll follow the Gators. But how much beyond that? And how will that affect TV advertising?

 

Current trends at a national level do call into the question the future of the sport, which is sad considering the history, passion, rivalries, pageantry, and tradition of the sport. When the Gators become competitive for hardware again, the passion will follow.

 

Some, but it will never be like it was. The excitement of 2006 will never happen again. Nothing we can do within this current paradigm will be as awesome as that.

 

Oh and I forgot, now they want to shorten the game........again.

 

gatorPunx, you're not lying about the beginning of our slide into
mediocrity (that foggy LSU game in the swamp) That loss still galls me.

 

I was one of those winless asses sitting and watching every home game in 79.

 

Probably loving every minute of it too. Not the losses, but the atmosphere, your friends. . . All that stuff that's never coming back.

 

I don’t think 100+ will survive on this model. They are already being propped up by their conferences as it is and the big boys aren’t going to share with the bottom feeders much longer. It’s just not possible to keep up financially and win supporting a bunch of dead weight. Winning comes down to money and you can’t waste half you money and expect to beat the teams that are going full bore. I expect about half the teams to survive the transition and the others to go to lower divisions.

 

Changing the clock in rules to shorten the game won't help.

 

Think Premier League, Championship, League 1 & League 2 only with no relegation/promotion. Around the same number of teams total. Or maybe some kind of Premier Division and the rest.

But again, doesn't speak well for the future. I remember how proud I was when we won our first "official" SEC title. Had a hat commemorating it and everything. It's just going to be NFL lite.

 

There are few things I look forward to more on TV than a UF game, yet I can't watch live. I have to let the game get to like halftime before starting the DVR or I'll loose my mind with the 2 hours of commercials and half time. Unfortunately the real problem with game length will never be solved. If anything, I would bet every minute of actual action that is reduced, will be filled with more ads and BS.

 

I believe there are many reasons for the lack of fan interest these days. Many of the issues have already been mentioned in this thread, and others, but one issue I have not seen discussed is what the makeup of "today's fan" is. The younger fans just do not seem to be as engaged or enthused as they used to be. If you watched our Friday night game against UM, you may have noticed two berms full of people in their 20's and 30's with their faces in their phones. It's great that they showed up, I just couldn't figure out why they showed up.

 

We live in an instant gratification society now and attention spans are however long a ticktok video is. People will remain checked out until there is reason to pay attention. My niece attends UF and has yet to go to a game in like 2-3 years. None of her friends are interested in going either. Sad.

Maybe '24 or '25.

 

I think in general college football excitement is as good as ever, but power is consolidating and right now we're not at the top.

Someone said 100+ college programs can't be supported by this model, and that's completely true. We need Big Boy Football, consisting of 30-40 teams that will continue to function as a NFL dev league and can make money and - most importantly - all compete for championships.

The problem at the moment is the massive discrepancies between the top and the rest. There are ~ 8-16 teams that can compete year to year. We've very quickly fallen from that tier and don't appear to be on our way back up, frankly. We're close! We can grab a bunch of 4* guys and a 5* here and there. But the separation between us and UGA, Bama, LSU, OSU, Miami (ugh), etc. is getting bigger.

Until that all changes I think this is going to be status quo. Some smaller successes based on some lucky recruiting and hopefully good coaching. NIL challenges.

But I hope people start getting realistic about what CFB is now and what it should be.

As for Florida as an athletic program ... yeah, I think enthusiasm is down. We're struggling in our most popular sports. We've been floundering since our last big-time coaches left each sport, respectively. We don't seem to be figuring it out.

I watch baseball casually and everything else even more so. I'm struggling to even get excited about this currently-OT SEC-T game :\

 

I was thinking this yesterday as well... It has gotten to the point checking these boards daily is a waste of time. Hardly any new conversations, even the site itself doesn't seem to post many new articles, at least as afr as football goes.

Used to be a time if you didn't check the boards twice a day, you would have two pages of topics to go through... now it's just the same threads with just a few new comments.

 

I just renewed my season tickets that I have had since 1985..so I have seen a lot of ups and downs..followed the Gators even before that...win or lose..I am solidly behind our Gators..you know " in all kinds of weather we all stick together for F-l-o-r-i-d-a "