Thanks for starting this Finn. We have tents for boosters, alumni, and donors. How about a student tent in the tailgate area with freebees, snacks, maybe some games?

The most important thing we have to do to get butts in the stadium is win some damn football games. Winning will get people back watching and bring some energy to a lifeless stadium. Easier said than done, but free t-shirts will only go so far with a fan base.

Whatever happened to candy, tube sock, and bead madness?

Also we need energetic Aggie Pack Leaders again. They used to really get the student section pumped up and into the game. The student section used to be bigger because we were winning, but you have to be able to get them excited for the game.

need to win, very true.

I agree that we need to get more energetic Aggie Pack leaders. I also think that we need to find Aggie Pack leaders that understand the game. Too many times I've gone to a game and the leaders call for loud cheers while the offense is that the line of scrimmage trying to make calls and then it seems like they never call for noise while on defense. It makes the offenses job harder and doesn't help the defense. To an extent the students can help the team win and in turn get more people to the games.

Here to confirm that complaints about Aggie Pack / student section are very real and not a product of rose-colored glasses for the Toomey era -- even in the last five years the Aggie Pack got significantly less engaged since when I was a freshman. Tube socks were practically nonexistent in the last two years, but I heard they had a supplier issue. Candy madness was before my time but freshman year they would throw out bead necklaces that had froyo coupons -- what happened to those?

This may be controversial but they need to figure out how to encourage students to tailgate and celebrate gameday more, and that may include allowing/incentivizing fraternities to host stuff, which is how most of the big tailgate parties form at SDSU I think.

AFAIK they allow people to buy meals at the stadium with Aggie Cash now (the "debit card" portion of meal plans) -- and maybe if they go through with the university taking over dining they can finally let students get meals with swipes.

One thing I've heard from some current students, is that they'd like have the team back on their sidelines. I know the home side was moved several years ago due to the sun/heat, but there is a sort of camaraderie that occurs when the students are right behind (literally and figuratively) the team. Maybe the team standing in the heat is more of a detriment, but it's at least worth a look.

Maybe the sun and heat wouldn't be as much of a problem if we had more evening/night games. We have lights, why do we have so many afternoon games?

Actually, that's another issue I've heard. Students never know when the games are. Sometimes it's at 6:00, sometimes, 4:00, sometimes 1:30. Not saying there isn't easy ways to find out the specific game time, but it takes the guess work out if the kids all know that home games start at 7:00.

It seems like something that would be too simple of a fix for our old athletics department, so clearly it would never get changed. Maybe Dr. Blue can try to make it happen. I don't know what goes on in the background of planning the schedule and times, but it seems like a no brainer to me to have the games in the evening at a standard time like you said. Then you can move the team back in front of the students.

1. I think people will be surprised how many wins Hawkins gets us - I think the floor is 5 for 2017. That alone will attract attention and attendees.
2. Hawkins' energy and ideas will be much better at energizing our students.
3. I predict a winning season by 2018, even better results thereafter,
4. In other posts, people have written that it is silly to think FBS - I disagree. "premature," yes; "silly," no. If Hawkins gets the institutional support he needs and the wins pile up, a couple of deep runs into FCS playoffs, and I'm not so sure FBS is out of the question. Sac metro area is hungry for major level sports. Why not?
5. Anyone else check to see whether they had any eligibility left after Hawk's press conference. I know i did!

In the old days, the games were almost universally at 7 unless it was a tv game or playoffs. Everyone knew. With the new stadium, they move the early fall games to the evening because of the heat, then they get earlier as the weather cools. But students should not have to "work" to figure out when the game is and what kind of fun they will have if they attend. This is clearly a marketing problem. Every business and bulletin board on campus should have a big poster with the specifics.

that's a great idea about the fraternities/sororities participating. I know that the football players have a great relationship with the various groups and I'm sure they would love to help bring some life into our home games. Keep the awesome suggestions flowin!

Thanks! I wonder if they could designate one of the early games as Greek Day or Club Day or something and offer tailgating passes to student groups. When I was in the Regents Scholars Society some of the upperclassmen put a tailgate together on our own -- and we definitely would have jumped at an opportunity if there was an organized event to go to.

You inspired me to check. TIL that this season would have been my last year of eligibility (#5 on the 5-year clock) to play NCAA football. Pity; I think I could have made a decent punt once in a while.

First and foremost, please lose the Colorado & Nike logos on all Dan Hawkins images. Also, what is the prevailing sentiment on the potential bump in interest by adding the player's names on the back of their jerseys?

Big improvements already made. Pragmatic issues.

1. An audio system which works
2. Short game highlight clips for social media. Again we are woefully slow. Also helps recruiting. Ridiculous?

Game times. Maybe the earlier starts facilitate our competition getting back to the Midwest easier. Later start times also solve the heat issue, and mixes well w student nightlife.

Most of the schools I see that do have names on jerseys have it as a removable patch, which I personally think looks a bit tacky. Even at the FBS level it seems like a lot of top programs don't have names so I wouldn't consider it a top priority. I don't know about recruits though -- maybe they love that kind of stuff.

Granted, my time was during the Toomey Field era, but as a Greek we were NEVER approached for anything sports related. I heard that there was an attempt to engage the Greek system more a few years ago, but I haven't even heard any promotions for Greeks to attend games. If the department was smart, they would have a bus stop in front of every third fraternity house on Russell before the game and drop off all the Greeks at the front of the stadium. You want a raucous crowd? That should help.

As for the sun in our eyes, even at 6 pm in September the sun has not set enough to keep those on the east side of the stadium in the shade. I agree about game times, why not 6 pm for everything?

What about a new video board, one that we actually show replays on? That thing was outdated when it was on the way to be installed at Aggie Stadium?

Marketing? In Davis?

Band and students behind bench would create much more energy. Back at Tomey band-uh on home side.

Has there been a clear clarion call to Blue regarding the start times of Football games?

Does he know that there are benefits to starting them later in the day?

Don't know, which is why we have started this thread. It is so much easier to have night games. Atmosphere is much better and people don't feel like they are sitting in the middle of a hot skillet.

Amen, 6th, Amen!! I'm sure those of you that have been members of the forum for a long time like me have read several of my rants about starting the games later to help with the inherent problem of Aggie Stadium being a solar oven when the heat is on. When you factor in the fact of football season starting before the majority of students are back in Davis and combine it with brutal heat, it's no wonder that the stadium is mostly empty in the early season.

I never really remember having this kind of heat problem back in the D2 days of Toomey Field. Of course, if my memory serves me well, which seems to be no sure thing anymore, the games usually started at 7 pm (were there even a few 7:30 pm starts?). I don't remember the sun being directly in my eyes either if I was sitting on the west side bleachers. Of course, Toomey was at ground level where the breezes could circulate and the field was grass not synthetic and it was surrounded by trees not concrete. I'm sure that helped keep things comfortable on hot evenings.

Aggie Stadium can be broiling at 6 pm in September and even in early October and, with climate change, it may only get hotter in the years ahead, and there is very little shade in the stadium until the sun sets. We've all seen fans seeking out any bit of shade anywhere in the stadium just to avoid being fried.

The stadium is what it is: it's a nice facility with an almost unbearable heat problem on hot days. The synthetic surface absorbs heat and reflects it. The field is sunken and surrounded by concrete that holds the heat like a solar oven, and the breezes don't circulate like they would if the field was at ground level to move the air. There is little shade anywhere in the stadium, and the sun cooks and blinds the fans on the east side as the it goes down. It's a problem...a big problem that makes for an unpleasant experience and discourages attendance.

Blue has made some nice changes to the pregame activities to try and stimulate a better fan experience for all. Those have been welcome changes but, again, the heat and lack of shade for fans in the area surrounding the stadium is a detriment to the attendance. There needs to be more shade structures, trees, tents and/or canopies so fans can find some respite to the heat. No one enjoys walking around in 100 degree heat with essentially no place to sit in the shade.

I brought some friends to their first Aggie game on the "food truck fiasco" day last season when the food truck promotion failed to materialize as advertised. We ended up having a beer and had to sit in a patch dirt beside a tent that had a small area of shade beside it. The tent had tables that were fairly empty but entry was reserved for certain Aggie donors only. Our seats on the west side were still in the hot sun when the game started and we lost as usual. Obviously, they weren't impressed and have never returned.

There isn't much that can be done about the design of the stadium that makes it unbearably hot. The only thing that can be done is to start the games later at 7 pm. This would greatly help with the problem and make it a much more comfortable experience for the fans. Starting the games at 7 pm would also help fans coming from the Sacramento area avoid the traffic bottleneck that occurs everyday before just before getting to the Causeway on 80 in West Sacramento. There also needs to be more shade structures available in the area outside the stadium for the fans at the pregame activities.

Bottom line: 7 pm starting times for games in September are a no brainer that needs to happen.

Does the school actually have full control of the kickoff times?

I assume it doesn't for televised games, which basically means Causeway and *maybe* a ROOT broadcast against Montana, and I know some sports leagues coordinate the last game of the season to prevent collusion. Other than that, is there maybe a rule that we can't conflict with TV games for other teams in the conference? Or do we deliberately schedule around the kickoff times for Sac, Cal, and Stanford?

Just wondering, I don't know the answer but as others have said it seems like it should be obvious that these start times aren't working so maybe there are other factors in play.

I don't think we have been scheduling game times early to accommodate other conference games that may or may not be on television, especially when when we are on an island with Slack.

It might have something to do with teams having to travel. I am sure they would agree to play a little bit later and not feel what it is like to play football on the surface of the sun.

I am still surprised that after 9 years the department has done nothing in terms of providing shade structures at Aggie Stadium. 9 YEARS and what has changed, only the Terry Tumey Legacy Wall on the east side of the stadium.

My favorite part about early games was watching the crowd move with the shade cast by the scoreboard, until I became one of those fans.

What about a shade structure similar to what the River Cats have at Raley Field? The giant billboard casts a shadow on those sitting in the grass behind right field. Maybe we need to hire the genius who came up with that idea...

"Playing on the surface of the sun"...LOL!

I was wondering if some of the pregame activities could be located in a campus area nearby that has more shade and is a more pleasant setting? I know it wouldn't be right next to the tailgate area but the tailgate crowd brings their own shade canopies and they could wander over too.

I remember that when we played at Cal a few years ago there was a big gathering of Aggie fans before the game in a nice area within a short walk to the stadium. Of course, the weather is much milder in Berkeley than Davis but, nevertheless, it was a nice area for Aggie fans to gather and eat and drink. Maybe something like that would work here as well.

I would love to go and tailgate in the Rec Pool lot again. It is surrounded by trees, you can spread out a lot more than you can in the tailgate lot, and it is cheaper! Not to mention it is easier to get in and out of.

Here are a couple more ideas.

1.) Find a station other than KHTK to broadcast our games. I know it is good exposure but I am tired of our games being dropped our switched to another station due to Kings games. If anything, the switching at the end of the year causes more confusing amongst the fan base.

2.) Whoever the new station is, have them broadcast their pregame show from in front of the stadium. That would require two things; a pregame show that is longer than 15 minutes and we actually have the brains to pull it off.

3.) We've said it a million times, either get Band-uh to show up to the pregame walk or don't play Band-uh's music on a speaker. It's tacky.

4.) This one ties in with #2. Have the post game show at a local business/restaurant in town. This would require us actually having Hawkins on the show and getting Marsh to the business right after the game is over. It does three things, gives us the feel of a big time program with minimal expense, gives the program exposure when Hawkins and a bunch of fans start showing up, and makes other business start asking what they have to do to host the post game show which equals more $$$.

6th, should I be surprised that you're surprised? Maybe the culture still needs a lot of work.

Amen 6th. Even if the radio affiliate has to cut in later or cut out earlier than desired, this is the age of the internet, and we all have iPhones and Androids....stream it!! A set up like down in Fresneck 7 years ago would be great - a live broadcast surrounded by vendors, games, apparel shop and other activities. I've never understood why the adjacent IM fields have never been incorporated into the gameday atmosphere - it seems so obvious that flag football games and the whole gamut could be set up there. Plus....TREES.

I went over to the old boards to find ideas that I've had FOR AGES and pasted them below:

IDIOT-CHECK ALL PUBLICATIONS PRIOR TO PUBLISHING.

Redesign the tailgating areas to make it a more inclusionary community, not a bunch of wasted space and distinct separate areas like it is currently.

Band-uh! present for the Victory Walk and a lengthened pregame rally.

Increase the tailgating lot spaces to previous size or rollback the cost to earlier pricing.

Vet out all promotions (health department/fire marshal, etc) before marketing them.

Put up billboards or some method of advertisement along university's interstate frontage.

Market west of 113, east of downtown, south of the railroad tracks, and north of Russell.

Close down the Segundo DC immediately before and during home football games; offer food in exchange for swipes for students.

Properly train student organizations who volunteer to run concession stands so they can efficiently serve patrons or hire people who can.

BRING BACK THE HOMECOMING BONFIRE.

I think the parking structure immediately behind the west stands of Toomey helped as well, but that was many moons ago so my memory could be off.

Also, as a parent of a 2-year old who wants to bring him to a game....7pm games are no good. Completely agree for the first half of the season but maybe a late afternoon once the clock changes?