Vanderbilt Commodore Football Fans, Where Are You?
A Hoarse Plea From the Bandwagon
The Vanderbilt Commodores drew 30,304 fans for their home opener on Thursday night against South Carolina, the lowest attendance for a home opener since 2011. Vanderbilt was coming off of a 4-8 season, but there was a sense of expectant improvement going into head coach Derek Mason‘s third season. For years, people in Nashville have asked why aren’t the stands full for every home game?
Breakdown of Potential Fans
According to the Vanderbilt website, there are 21,000 alumni living in Nashville as well as 12,605 undergrad and graduate students on campus. That is 33,605 built-in fans. Then add in the 24,176 faculty and staff for a grand total of 57,781 potential Vanderbilt football fans.
YES, 57,781 VANDERBILT FOOTBALL FANS IN NASHVILLE RIGHT NOW! WHAT? WOW!
Not only is Nashville the largest city and metropolitan area of any SEC city, it is also one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. That provides ripe conditions for a large and engaged fan base. So why isn’t it happening?
An explanation from a Vanderbilt alumnus in attendance: “The Vandy football culture with the students is hard to understand. It’s entirely unique. Historically, Vandy pulled academically high-performing students mostly from the South, and most of their families were already blood-bound to other SEC schools. In the SEC, its sacrilege to abandon your birth team, even under the rare circumstances where you don’t go to school at your birth team. Vandy is the only alternative where you wouldn’t, really. I mean, attending Auburn or Alabama is apples to apples; attending Vandy or Auburn is an entirely different deal academically. So what you ended up with, historically, is a majority student body whose allegiances are completely elsewhere.”
Is This Really True?
Is this true, Commodore Nation? Is your allegiance elsewhere? The schools in these smaller SEC cities have exponentially bigger draws on game days coupled with large and well documented fan bases. Why wasn’t Vanderbilt Stadium at capacity on Thursday? Why weren’t there 32,550 rabid Vandy fans (giving approximately 8,000 fans to the Gamecocks) in those stands? Coach Mason even wrote an open letter urging fans to attend. Why the low turnout? Because it was a school night? Was it too hot? Did you forget there was a game? Did you know that there are Vandy fans that fly in for games? Maybe they are wired differently. Not everyone loves football with the same intensity and passion. However, Vanderbilt football needs the energy of the 57,781 fans living in Nashville, for the simple fact that energy feeds energy.
Let Other Fan Bases Inspire
At the Vandy game in Houston last year, it was a torrential downpour, and the stands were PACKED the entire night. TDECU Stadium capacity is 40,000. Do you know how loud it is when 39,800 people are cheering? Vanderbilt had only 200 fans, give or take. Stands packed with an enthusiastic and loud fan base can be a huge selling point for incoming top-rated players. These players improve the football team, which in turn improves the win/loss record that ultimately will improve the fan draw. Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, WI has a capacity of 80,321. Saturday, the Badgers played at Lambeau Field against LSU. Lambeau’s capacity is 80,735. The attendance on Saturday was 77,823, and if you watched that game, it was a sea of red. LSU fans always travel very well, and they pack Death Valley in Baton Rouge for every home game. Yet many had to cancel their trips due to the recent flood devastation in Baton Rouge. Nevertheless, LSU showed up. All the while the 138.2 miles from Madison to Green Bay was an easy drive for The Cheesehead Nation. Commodore Nation should want to be that enthusiastic and loyal.
In the last 10-15 years, Vanderbilt has become a top ten University academically. Its draw of students is a diverse group, not only nationally but internationally as well. Therefore, not all incoming students will have the love for football that the majority of the southerners do who grew up in SEC country. But, they can learn. If you teach them. It will take time, but they can learn to love football. If the Big Ten can fill Lambeau Field, why can’t you 57,781 fans fill Dudley Field? Commodore fans, you say you hate being at the bottom of the SEC, well have some pride! Show your school spirit ALL the time. Come to games. Stand up and cheer for the entire game. It’s a football game not a tea party. Stand up, yell, scream, wave your pom-poms, cheer, chant and CLAP enthusiastically. Get into it. The more you get into it, the more you will get out of it.
The Bandwagon is Ready and Waiting
To reiterate, energy feeds energy. Vanderbilt football needs the POSITIVE energy from all of the 57,781 fans living in Nashville. There is no place for the negativity of the past. The “what if we hired” Twitter polls after one game are completely unnecessary. So, you need to stop with the scenarios. The loss to South Carolina does not define the season. There are plenty of SEC teams that struggled week one and lost. *Gasp* Oh, the horror! Vanderbilt football needs all 57,781 individuals living in Nashville to become one united fan base that is willing to be rabid and loyal. Not just a precious few. The handful of loyalists cannot do it alone.
There is a game this Saturday, Vanderbilt Stadium at 3:00pm CST against Middle Tennessee State University. The Blue Raider fans will make the 45-minute drive. They want to see their team avenge last year’s comeback win. Commodore Nation, will you show up on West End? You need to. To the 57,781 Vanderbilt alumni, students, faculty and staff in Nashville, will you hop on the bandwagon? It is a absolute must that you do. Will you lend your voices to the team on a gorgeous fall afternoon? Practice your game voice by saying an enthusiastic yes! Will you bring your positive energy to feed your ravenous football team? Absolutely yes you will, if want yours to win. Being a casual fan is no longer an option. The time is now to step up, get loud, be proud and fill the stadium. There is plenty of room on the bandwagon. The fiercely loyal voices maybe hoarse, but their plea is loud.
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