Texas Tech football: Officials looking for ways to improve game day experience

The Texas Tech football program is looking at ways to enhance fan experience at Jones Stadium in the wake of criticism from fans about the game day atmosphere.

There was a time when the Texas Tech football team enjoyed one of the most notorious and distinct home field advantages in college football.  Throughout the Southwest Conference years and the first two decades of the Big 12, blue-blood programs treated coming to Lubbock as the college football equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle.  Unpredictable weather, over-the-top fans and underdog home teams that always seemed to have more fight than talent made unusual outcomes the norm in Lubbock.

But in recent years, Jones Stadium has lost most of it’s aura.  Now, the athletic department administrators are searing for ways to enhance the fan experience as ticket holders voice their displeasure with the current home environment.

Many trace the change in Texas Tech’s game day presentation to the 2013 season when the giant video board in the north end zone was unveiled.  With that has come a slew of corporate ads during each timeout and constant stimulation in the form of in-game updates about games that don’t impact Texas Tech, tributes to former players or video montages honoring veterans or children who have battled through serious illnesses.

While everyone supports honoring military veterans and sick children, some argue that those moments of levity take some of the fire out of the crowd.   But even more, the never-ending flood of commercials for local car wash chains, attorneys and area businesses are off-putting for fans who would stay home if they wanted to have to fight through numerous commercials during the game.

Wednesday, on the Kirby Hocutt Show, Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt and Senior Associate Athletics Director Robert Giovannetti gave some insight about what Texas Tech officials are doing to try to breath life back into what has become a troublingly docile atmosphere at Jones Stadium.

"“We welcome all kinds of ideas from all our fans.” Hocutt said.  “You know, how can we continue to tweak and make the atmosphere at Jones AT&T Stadium the very best in the country?”"

With Texas Tech off last Saturday, the athletic department sent officials to a number of high-profile games across the nation to observe their game day presentations.  Giovannetti was in attendance in Columbus, Ohio to see Ohio State take on Minnesota.  Additionally, other Texas Tech representatives were at Auburn, LSU and Oregon.

"“The thing about Columbus that I saw” Giovannetti said “…is a very old school football atmosphere where the Ohio State band dominated…they didn’t play a lot of in-game music.  It was mostly band, very little commercial advertising on their big board.”"

He contrasted that experience with the presentation at TCU where he said the Horned Frog band did not even play a single song in the fourth quarter.  Rather, the atmosphere at Amon G. Carter Stadium was flooded with pop music pumped through the house speakers.

And therein lies one of the main quandaries, how does a football program serve the wants of such a diverse group of people?  For every fan that prefers to hear more from The Going Band, there are likely to be just as many that want a more modern presentation featuring music geared towards a younger demographic.

"“It’s like a wedding reception” Giovannetti said.  “You’re trying to please all kinds of people…and you have to find a balance.”"

And Giovannetti pointed out that Ohio State is in a much more advantageous position financially because, in part, they have a stadium that holds over 100,000 fans.  However he did point out the student section was not full on Saturday in Columbus.

And student engagement seems to be at the forefront of the issue.  The student body sets the tone for the game so when that part of the stadium is at only 60% capacity, as has been the case far too often in recent seasons, there is a noticeable drop in the energy of the entire crowd.

Texas Tech is trying to entice the students to show up and stay for the entire game by giving away prizes this week (Giovannetti referenced tickets to a Post Malone concert) and a similar tactic was employed last year when a local auto dealership gave away a car.  However, those types of gimmicks don’t usually have a long-lasting effect.  The reality is that the athletic department is facing a cultural problem.

Most people in our society, especially those of the Millennial generation and younger, are of a different mentality than older fans.  Today’s young people are far less likely to fight through discomfort (such as sitting on aluminum bleachers in 90 degree heat for up to four hours) to take in a game in person when they could stay home and consume multiple games at once using several devices.

This is a problem facing almost all college football programs, even Alabama.  Recently, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban publicly criticized the lack of student attendance for Alabama’s October 5th home game against Louisiana-Lafayette.

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While there are a number of factors that the university can’t control but something must be done.  Many believe that selling alcohol will help entice people to show up rather than stay home or at their tailgate spots and if that happens, fans will no longer be allowed to leave at halftime and come back into the stadium.  Though most that have been leaving at halftime aren’t coming back anyway.

Others feel that the tailgating scene has taken a hit as student groups were moved from the East parking lot to a location off campus and across 4th street.  That area is not being sold at a high price to corporations and big-money donors who do not bring with them the same type of atmosphere that thousands of lubricated students once did.

But the only sure-fire way to bring the life back to Jones Stadium is for Tech to start winning home games with more regularity.

Under Kingsbury, Tech is just 17-16 overall in Lubbock.  And The Red Raiders have not pulled off a classic Jones Stadium upset since beating No. 5 West Virginia 49-14 in 2012, the final year of Tommy Tuberville’s run as head coach.

Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any end in sight when it comes to the prevalence of 11 am kickoffs in the Big 12.  The league’s television partners, especially FOX network, place a higher value on the 11 am window from a ratings perspective than other TV networks meaning that even the best games (such as this year’s Texas/Oklahoma game) will be put in the early time slot.

Likewise, Tech can’t control the weather or the overall attitudes of a generation of new fans.  But taking measures like improving the cell phone service inside the stadium or providing WiFi would help allows fans to consume Red Raider football in a manner that is more in line with current media consumption trends.

This is an issue that no one saw coming just a decade ago when Texas Tech football was the hottest ticket in Texas.  But the problem is real and it is harming the home field advantage.  Fortunately, the university is acknowledging the problem and looking for solutions.  Of course, the best and most obvious solution rests in the hands of Kliff Kingsbury and his football team.