So, how do you get more butts into the seats at prep sports events?
It’s a question I’ve asked a lot over the last decade covering high school sports in Jefferson County. The answer has eluded me.
Back in1985, I was part of a near capacity crowd at Jeffco Stadium when Pomona faced Lakewood on a bitter-cold Halloween Night. Those days of entire communities coming out for big games, not just homecoming games, are long gone.
The turnouts for the smaller sports are even more pathetic. For many of the non-league soccer and softball games there are more players on the field than spectators in the stands. It’s a shame to have facilities such as Jeffco Stadium, Trailblazer Stadium, the North Area Athletic Complex and Lakewood Memorial Field, only to see a handful of fans turn out for varsity games.
It’s time to be a little more creative in an attempt to get community members out to support area teams in Arvada, Golden, Lakewood and Wheat Ridge.
All-access ticket
It’s kind of amusing to see adults and students unwilling to pay the few bucks to get into a stadium. They’ll stand with the best view possible behind the chain-linked fences until the ticket taker packs up shop after halftime. I guess a free seat for half the game is better than paying full-price for a whole game.
A solution would be to sell an “all-access ticket” that would get you into every Jeffco sporting event held inside the district. It would be a nice little revenue maker for the district by getting money upfront from fans that like to attend games on a regular basis. Plus, it would make it much easier on people who have problems with the stadium’s “cash only” policy.
Student incentives
Back in my high school days I remember a handful of teachers would give extra credit for students who would attend not only sporting events, but also extracurricular activities such as plays and choir concerts.
Not only did we have to attend, but also normally there were a few questions you had to answer about the event, just to make sure the students were paying attention.
Students are always the loudest and give the best home-field advantage. I know there are lots of outside demands for students these days. However, making a conscious effort to support their classmates should be made.
Schedule rivals
The most important improvement is to give fans games they want. The biggest crowd draws are games pitting area rivals.
I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Pomona and Ralston Valley for scheduling a non-league football game between the programs the last two seasons. It gave a playoff-like atmosphere each game, despite being early in the season.
More schools should follow suit. Wouldn’t it make sense for Lakewood and Green Mountain to face each other in football? Or imagine the draw for a Wheat Ridge versus Lakewood nonconference game early in the season. It would be a much more interesting match-up than Lakewood opening up the season against Aurora Central on the football field.
Conference alignments
Coaches and athletic directors should get a little creative when scheduling non-league games. With the new two-year cycle looming for the 2010 and 2011 football seasons it will be interesting to see what direction the Colorado High School Activities Association goes with realigning the conferences.
My wish is to go back to a 5A football conference of Jeffco teams only. Arvada West, Bear Creek, Chatfield, Columbine, Lakewood, Pomona and Ralston Valley would be a powerhouse conference. It would also allow teams the freedom of scheduling three non-league games if CHSAA stays with its 32-team state tournament format.
In 4A, the key is to bring the Jeffco teams back in the same league. A conference with Dakota Ridge, Golden, Green Mountain, Standley Lake and Wheat Ridge all together would make sense. It’s silly right now to have Ralston Valley (which moves up to 5A next cycle because of growing enrollment) and Standley Lake in a different league than the other four Jeffco teams that are in the 4A West Metro League with five Denver Prep League teams and Heritage.
The Jeffco teams in the 3A Metro League don’t have much freedom to schedule non-league games, so it would be wise to break up the 12-team league.
The goal should be to bring more attention and interest in high school sports. The best way to do that is give the audience a reason why it should come out and support its local programs.