Homecoming & Dad's Weekend Games Announced
- Thread starter ScottHood
- Start date
I sort of understand the business rationale, but the back to back weekends are going to dilute the enthusiasm. I’m sure they considered the ASU and Oregon games for Dads weekend, but assumed we’d get better crowds for them than we would have against Utah. Makes sense, but the Oregon game the weekend before Apple Cup could be dicey. Dads weekend may have enticed more students to stick around.
History says any team other than UW is an attendance dud the Saturday before thanksgiving. But we have never played Oregon on that weekend, so I guess we will see.
Interesting choices, I agree but Chun has shown no signs of stupidity yet and has surely come up with a logical reason for this. This might fail but I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
Has WSU ever done a Dad's weekend in the third week of November? I thought that the whole point of Dad's weekend was to give the parent an excuse to see their kid somewhere in the middle of the semester.....not a few days before they see them on Thanksgiving. Arizona State as a point of discussion on October 31st might make sense, but Oregon just seems like it wouldn't have made sense at all.
Depends on how our season is going. If we're slogging along, Martin Stadium will filled with green and yellow.
I guess from Chun's financial perspective, the stadium will either be filled with our fans or their fans, so what's the diff?
Oregon literally makes the most sense. Dad shows up Friday, takes kid home with them on Sunday.
And no one wants their dads in Pullman on Halloween. FOH with that.
Would definitely reduce the number of naughty nurses and sexy kittens walking around.
Again, it really depends on what WSU is trying to accomplish with Dad's Weekend. I looked back through the years and it looks like it's normally the last home game in October or first home game in November (more November in the past 10 years or so). So it is odd to see it moved to early October. BTW, I agree that having dad around on Halloween would be pretty strange. One of my roommates dressed up as a zombie with a dildo strapped on the outside of his costume. That probably wouldn't play well with some dads. Everyone is apparently on the same page there since ASU wasn't selected for the Dad's Weekend game.
Your idea of Dad taking the kid home at the end of the weekend is great if the kid normally rides home with someone. It doesn't work so great if they have their own car and want to have it at home over Thanksgiving break. Also, in terms of marketing, aren't parents that are taking their kids home going to be in Pullman on that weekend already? Are you potentially discouraging parents from making an extra trip to Pullman?
I agree with you that November 21st isn't exactly a hot time to be in Pullman and attendance at home games in the week before the AC usually sucks, but if you are stealing Dads from early October and shifting them to November....what are you gaining?
We obviously don't know exactly what Chun and the WSU marketing folks are thinking, but I'm guessing that they looked at our schedule and saw the back to back games on October 3rd and October 10th (at the end of a stretch of 4 home games in 5 weeks) and thought, "Man, attendance for these two games might be kind of rough". Cal is a weaker opponent than Utah and you want to win on Homecoming....so you set Homecoming for that game.
In deciding if the Utah game should be Dad's Weekend, they look at the other options. As mentioned above, ASU on Halloween isn't a good weekend. That leaves the choice to either Utah in early October or Oregon in late November. As others have said above, Oregon fans travel well and our fans know that, so either way, we are likely to have better than normal attendance for that game, particularly if the Ducks are doing well. Plus, the weekend is about seeing the town...not as much fun in late November when the weather usually sucks.
The combination of games bunched together in the front half, Oregon's history of travelling well, probable weather means that the Utah game is the better choice for trying to get fans to town. It will suck if the Oregon game features 12,000 Duck fans and 18,000 Coug fans, but that's up to our fans to be better fans and supporters of WSU football.
Dads Weekend has been in November since forever ago. Its always been used as a mitigant against crappy weather and lousy attendance. I am not entirely sure what you are getting at.
For the past decade, it's been on the first home game in November. When was it held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.......ever? That's what I'm getting at. Having it in early October is unusual, but no less unusual than having it on the Saturday as kids are wanting to get out of town.
Until the mid-2000s it wasn’t even an option. Apple Cup was Saturday before thanksgiving, and nobody was going home.
I wish it was still that way. If I were king, the Apple Cup would be played on that Saturday before Thanksgiving when it's in Pullman and they can play it whenever they want when it's in Seattle. Friday afternoon does get us better TV ratings but it sucks for everything else when it comes to the games in Pullman.
