Texas Tech Football Kickoff Times Should Not Determine Fan Support

With the release last week of the kickoff times for the first four Texas Tech football games, many are already complaining about game times three months before the season begins. But unlike last year, Red Raider fans must not let the kickoff times determine whether they support the program in person.

One of the most frustrating aspects of college football, especially for Big 12 and Texas Tech football fans, is the unpopular manner in which kickoff times are determined and announced. The Big 12’s television deal stipulates that the TV networks can wait until 13 days prior to kickoff to announce kickoff times (and in certain cases, the networks can delay the announcement until just six days prior).

Last year, Texas Tech had eight games kickoff at the wildly unpopular time of 11 am angering the majority of the fan base and deterring a large number of fans from supporting the team in person. But fans had best get over the idea that the Big 12 is concerned about anything other than the wants of their television partners.

The $35 million each university received in 2017 from media revenue means that if the television programmers want Texas Tech to kickoff at 5 am, that’s what will happen. So while fans may not like some of the kickoff times this year, they must not let that be an excuse for another season of sparsely attended home games.

The official attendance numbers show that Texas Tech football attendance dropped by an average of 3,185 fans per game from 58,250 in 2016 to 55,065 in 2017. That number may seem insignificant and could be explained by the fact that the 2017 slate of games did not feature big draws like Texas and OU.

However, those numbers do not illustrate the significance of the attendance problem because they are based on tickets sold, not on the number of people that show up. Texas Tech does not release statistics on the number of people that walk through the gate each Saturday so the only way to gage the true attendance is by being at the stadium.

Take at look at two photos I took from my seats last season. The first game is a shot of the crowd during the September 30th Oklahoma State game that kicked off at 7 pm.

As you can see, the stadium was near capacity and the environment was electric for a critical Big 12 game. But compare that to the turnout for another Big 12 contest, the November 4th game versus Kansas State, which kicked off at 11 am.

At the start of overtime, the crowd was fewer than 30,000 fans. This simply must not continue this season, regardless of the excuses given by those who do not show up.

Many say they are staying home because of their unhappiness with the current state of the program. That notion is short-sighted and asinine. The only way the average fan can actually impact the outcome of games and help improve the overall health of the program is to show up and create a supportive home atmosphere. Leaving the stadium half-empty hurts the team on the field and leaves a horrible impression in the mind of potential recruits that may be visiting.

Other fans say that the 11 am kick times interfere with family activity such as youth sports. That is an unavoidable conflict but those not able to attend games because of youth soccer games or other events should make a more concerted effort to give their tickets to people that can attend.

In a community of over 250,000 people, it is not difficult to find others willing to go to a college football game. I have known season ticket holders who have donated their tickets to youth programs like the Big Brothers/Big Sisters or who have given unused tickets to coworkers or other people who may not have any other opportunity to attend a game. Making that extra effort brightens the day of others and helps to make sure the stadium is full each week, two outcomes that we all want.

And then there is the problem of student attendance. In the above photo from the KSU game, the camera is looking at the student section which is only marginally more populated than a ghost town.

There is no reason for a university nearing an enrollment of 40,000 students to be unable to fill a student section of 12,000. There is no more important group at collegiate sporting events than the students because their energy sets the tone for the entire crowd.

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Would it be too much to ask that on a handful of Friday nights in the fall that students limit their alcohol consumption to just a half a keg so that on Saturday, they can still support the most important revenue-generating event their university puts on?

As a former student, I missed only three home games in my college years because I was able to understand that the same bars that were open on Friday were also open on Saturday night. So many of my favorite memories from my time as a student surrounded football games and I know that had I been too hung over to attend, I would not have enjoyed my college experience as much as I did.

Texas Tech is always going to fight an uphill battle when it comes to attendance because of Lubbock’s geographic isolation several hours away from the population centers of the state. But as a season ticket holder who traveled over 10 hours round-trip to each game when I lived in Dallas, who traveled over 14 hours round-trip for each home game when I lived in Colorado and who will travel over 7 hours round-trip this fall for each game, I know that the kickoff times can be a hindrance but that they must not stop us from filling Jones Stadium every week.

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If Texas Tech fans want their university to truly be a football school, they must start acting the part. Fans of true football schools look at each game as a cherished event not to be missed, regardless of when it is played. Until all Red Raider fans stop complaining about being inconvenienced and start packing the Jones every week, we can’t bemoan our football program’s mediocrity because, after all, it is merely a reflection of its fan’s support.

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