The announced attendance for UVA’s Sept. 3 season opener was 41,122, but overheard in the press box was that the actual number of people that went through the turnstiles was around 27,000.
Scott Stadium was renovated in 2000 to boost capacity to 61,500, and just under 65,000 were on hand for the 2008 season opener, a 52-7 loss to Southern Cal that started Virginia Football on the road to the outer fringes of relevancy in FBS football.
The turnout this weekend for ODU, after the ‘Hoos seemed disinterested in responding to the punches in the mouth and kicks to the rear end from by Illinois in a 24-3 loss on the road in Week 2, is likely to be closer to the 27,000 that went through the turnstiles two weeks ago than it is even the 41,122, which, incidentally, could have fit into the stadium before the expansion.
For new UVA coach Tony Elliott, who came from Clemson, which routinely draws 80,000+ on Saturdays, the lack of interest and support for Virginia Football has to be disconcerting.
“We’re building a program, and I know there’s a lot of people that are waiting to see what we’re all about, but also, too, I know that we’re all – everybody is important, everybody’s role is critical,” Elliott said this week in his Tuesday presser, addressing the fan atmosphere, or lack thereof.
“These young men, they love energy. They love excitement. They’re modern-day gladiators, so to speak, and they love the roar of the crowd. It creates a feeling that’s hard to describe unless you’ve been down on the grass in the arena, so to speak,” Elliott said.
“I liked the fact that the students showed up. Need them to stay the whole time. I would like those folks that love Virginia Football to not come when things are going good, but man, show these young men that you support them regardless, because that’s what being a fan is. Man, you’re there with us, thick and thin, good and bad.
“That’s why we’re going to sing the ‘Good Old Song,’ and that’s why we’re going to do the things within the program to represent you the best that we can, because we have respect for that.”
To be fair to the fans, the gameday environment at Scott Stadium is among the worst in the Power 5. Virginia Athletics put out a press release ahead of the opener touting numerous supposed gameday improvements, highlighting effort to boost Wi-Fi capacity and concessions, among the many things, but even with a relatively small turnout, the Wi-Fi was inaccessible even in parts of the press box, and staffing issues in concessions led to interminably long lines throughout the day.
Couple that with going on 15 years of mediocrity – UVA’s record since the 2008 season is 71-100, with just three winning records in the last 14 seasons-plus, mediocrity may be overstating it – and you have to wonder why the people who do come still come.
To Elliott, it’s a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg dilemma.
“I want to see the stadium full, because I know, and these players know, that when Scott is rocking, it can be a heck of a place to play for us, but then also a hard place for other people to come play,” Elliott said. “But I think we’ve all got to understand that every role is critical, and that’s why I challenge the fans, and you know what, I understand that everybody has an opinion, everybody has their likes and dislikes, but man, we’re in this thing together, and we need the fans there.
“We need, because there’s going to be – you’re dealing with 18- to 22-year-olds. They need every encouragement that they can get to continue because football is hard, man, football is hard, it’s a hard sport. There’s a lot that goes into it. A lot of the motivation is, man, you want to perform, you want to perform well for the crowd, and you look forward to that.
“That’s why I said what I said after the game last week. Not a knock on anything, but hey, I know what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to earn those seats. But also, too, there’s also some responsibility on that side, too, man, to show up and create an atmosphere for these guys so that they can play well for you.”
Football is, as Elliott said, hard, but being a Virginia Football fan is hard, too – and it’s hard enough to commit to watching four hours of TV on Saturdays, much less dealing with the parking headaches, the long walks to the stadium, the awful gameday environment, the long lines at the concession stands for overpriced food, all of that to be there in person to watch a football team that isn’t even yet mediocre, but is working to get there.
Winning more games will take care of some of that, but Virginia Athletics has a long way to go to repair its reputation with its thousands of lapsed fans.
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Chris Graham
