Unintentional case study of the young sports fan in DFW

[erod]

Originally Posted by 5Stars

Sell the team, Jerry! Little 4th kids do not like your team.

Blink twice, and they'll be 35. Hardcore fandom doesn't begin at 35, however. It begins around about 4th grade.

[WV Cowboy]

Originally Posted by TwoDeep3

I work with nearly 100 NFL fans and the majority of them are Cowboy fans.

WOW, that would be great !!

I work where most all fans are steeler fans.

I have one or two real Cowboys fans that I work near. I see them maybe once a week or so.

I would love to have a ton of Cowboy fans to interact with before and after games.

[Matts4313]

Originally Posted by TwoDeep3

I have lived in Dallas since 1976 and grew up thirty miles from Dallas.

I'd say I have a pretty fair idea of what people think about this team since I work with nearly 100 NFL fans and the majority of them are Cowboy fans.

Your age may cause you to think as you do about "fair weather fans," but I'd say the die hard fans are tired of the results.

I been one since day one and I am tired of it.

So does that make me a fair weather fan for sitting in Texas Stadium every game of the 1-15 season?

Inexactitude does not fact make.

Not trying to insult you; or people like you. There are plenty of through and through Cowboys fans in Dallas. No doubt.


But the perception outside of Dallas is that most of the natives are fair weather. Its not just my personal perception, but something widely shared. Hell, you can go to a sports bar on gameday in Austin and people will complain about the Dallas Natives (lack of crowd noise, a prime example).

Players themselves have said it. They go on the road and their is more fan support than in their own stadium. Its pathetic.

When Aikmen says "Dallas is a winners town" he is implying: "The people in Dallas are fair weather, they only cheer for you if your winning".

Its not some cryptic code.....

[Reality]

Originally Posted by erod

Blink twice, and they'll be 35. Hardcore fandom doesn't begin at 35, however. It begins around about 4th grade.

I think its unwise to confuse current youth and their tendencies with those of our own when we were their age. Today's youth is all about winning and they latch on to today's winners. They will shift teams, sports, etc. regularly to follow winners. Of course they will say "I was always a fan" whenever one of their previous so-called "favorite teams" returns to being good again. Even if the Cowboys had won the Super Bowl this year, if they were to go sub-.500 for the next 2-3 years, most kids would be wearing different jerseys, hats, etc. then.

I don't know why it is so important to prove that Dallas area fans are losing interest in the Cowboys. The team is worth more today than yesterday and that will continue and any temporary fan absence, whether locally to Dallas, nationally or globally, will have little effect on how the Cowboys operate. Fans in Cinci griped for years and years about their ownership and it made no difference.

I guess there is an underlying hope that if you get enough people griping, it will eventually reach a point that it causes an impact of some kind. I realize the internet allows vocally angry fans to amplify their voice, but the bottom line is that none of that really matters. Fans suffered through three 5-11 seasons, but we still had Campo every year for those three years. Admittedly, the internet and the media were less powerful and unable to whip fans into a frenzy like they can these days with negative article after negative article.

Personally, I don't care who is a fan, who isn't a fan or who is a bandwagon fan. I know that I am a Cowboys fan now, have been my whole life and will continue to be one no matter who owns the team, who coaches the team or who plays for the team. When the Cowboys win their next Super Bowl, I don't care if it's 20 years from now, I will be able to say I was a fan the whole time. That's enough for me.

/reality

[mmillman]

This is proven on a bigger sample size. Dallas has slipped from the top of heap, where they were for decades, to about 4.

Jerruh is just destroying this franchise, not as an owner, but as a GM.

I have been a huge Cowboy fan since the Staubach era started but Jerruh is wearing my patience thin.

More drafts like 2008 and 09. More free agents like Bernardreaux, Orton and Livings. More cap screw ups like the penalty. More stupid trades like Williams or Galloway and this franchise loses my loyalty.

[5Stars]

Originally Posted by Reality

I think its unwise to confuse current youth and their tendencies with those of our own when we were their age. Today's youth is all about winning and they latch on to today's winners. They will shift teams, sports, etc. regularly to follow winners. Of course they will say "I was always a fan" whenever one of their previous so-called "favorite teams" returns to being good again. Even if the Cowboys had won the Super Bowl this year, if they were to go sub-.500 for the next 2-3 years, most kids would be wearing different jerseys, hats, etc. then.

I don't know why it is so important to prove that Dallas area fans are losing interest in the Cowboys. The team is worth more today than yesterday and that will continue and any temporary fan absence, whether locally to Dallas, nationally or globally, will have little effect on how the Cowboys operate. Fans in Cinci griped for years and years about their ownership and it made no difference.

[View Full Quote]I guess there is an underlying hope that if you get enough people griping, it will eventually reach a point that it causes an impact of some kind. I realize the internet allows vocally angry fans to amplify their voice, but the bottom line is that none of that really matters. Fans suffered through three 5-11 seasons, but we still had Campo every year for those three years. Admittedly, the internet and the media were less powerful and unable to whip fans into a frenzy like they can these days with negative article after negative article.

Personally, I don't care who is a fan, who isn't a fan or who is a bandwagon fan. I know that I am a Cowboys fan now, have been my whole life and will continue to be one no matter who owns the team, who coaches the team or who plays for the team. When the Cowboys win their next Super Bowl, I don't care if it's 20 years from now, I will be able to say I was a fan the whole time. That's enough for me.

/reality

[WV Cowboy]

The bottom line is, .. the percentage of "new" Cowboys fans amongst "new" NFL fans has to be dwindling.

Kids choose their team when they are young, for the most part, .. and kids like winners.

Kids that are 20-22 and younger have no memory of Dallas being relevant in the post season. They have to go to NFL history to see when Dallas was good.

Dallas is not winning near enough to attract the "new" fans the way they used to.

There has to be very few young Dallas fans that chose the Cowboys on their own, without influence from their Dad, an uncle, grandpa, etc. There may be some, but we aren't winning enough to attract the new NFL fan.

Eventually, if we don't start winning, this will become evident.

[BringBackThatOleTimeBoys]

^ Decades ago, GM was the #1 automaker in the world - had 54% of the US market in the 50's. They made all classes of vehicles. Then they sat on that lead.

Decades of the Corvair, Vega, diesel Olds, other 1st-year models with horrible quality control.

To remain profitable, they tried to steer everybody to buy Suburbans and Escalades, because they let the UAW's wage demands make sedans and budget cars unprofitable unless they were loaded with accessories. The younger generation bought cars like Civics instead as more makes came into the US market. GM's target market shrunk to mostly the upper middle class in their 50's. In 2008, $4 gas and this recession killing cheap lending put them in bankruptcy.

This applies to nearly all NFL teams, but cheap tickets are harder to come by. The demographic for the fans attending the Cowboys games are well to do and 50-something (yes, I'm being redundant on purpose ) The younger generation is less loyal to the Cowboys and have more teams to choose from.

Just as GM was dismissive of anyone telling them fundamental changes needed to be made for them to survive, the hubris is going on with the Cowboys...mediocrity will be suffered for years and if it continues they will also fall of a cliff. That reality will be much harsher than what disgruntled fans like me say.

[erod]

Originally Posted by Reality

I think its unwise to confuse current youth and their tendencies with those of our own when we were their age. Today's youth is all about winning and they latch on to today's winners. They will shift teams, sports, etc. regularly to follow winners. Of course they will say "I was always a fan" whenever one of their previous so-called "favorite teams" returns to being good again. Even if the Cowboys had won the Super Bowl this year, if they were to go sub-.500 for the next 2-3 years, most kids would be wearing different jerseys, hats, etc. then.

I don't know why it is so important to prove that Dallas area fans are losing interest in the Cowboys. The team is worth more today than yesterday and that will continue and any temporary fan absence, whether locally to Dallas, nationally or globally, will have little effect on how the Cowboys operate. Fans in Cinci griped for years and years about their ownership and it made no difference.

[View Full Quote]I guess there is an underlying hope that if you get enough people griping, it will eventually reach a point that it causes an impact of some kind. I realize the internet allows vocally angry fans to amplify their voice, but the bottom line is that none of that really matters. Fans suffered through three 5-11 seasons, but we still had Campo every year for those three years. Admittedly, the internet and the media were less powerful and unable to whip fans into a frenzy like they can these days with negative article after negative article.

Personally, I don't care who is a fan, who isn't a fan or who is a bandwagon fan. I know that I am a Cowboys fan now, have been my whole life and will continue to be one no matter who owns the team, who coaches the team or who plays for the team. When the Cowboys win their next Super Bowl, I don't care if it's 20 years from now, I will be able to say I was a fan the whole time. That's enough for me.

/reality

Not the case in other markets so much. It's pretty much like it's always been elsewhere.

Here, a 15-year-old just wonders what all the damn fuss is about. To him, the Cowboys might as well be the Browns.

[big dog cowboy]

Originally Posted by BringBackThatOleTimeBoys

^ Decades ago, GM was the #1 automaker in the world - had 54% of the US market in the 50's. They made all classes of vehicles. Then they sat on that lead.

Fortunes can change rather quickly in the NFL. Make the playoffs and make some noise and watch how quickly things turn around.

[BringBackThatOleTimeBoys]

^ That happened a few years ago when Parcells was coaching and the QB drought ended with Romo. Don't want to think of how history would have played out without them.

Something like that needs to happen again. So far it has not.

[bigdnlaca]

I think one theory could be that not many schools are having football as a recreational sport. When I was in 4th grade, they had us play softball, baseball, basketball, kickball, street hockey etc. but not football.

Maybe the boys have those jerseys from other sports because they haven't picked up football as a favorite sport to watch or play.

*Just a guess*

[unionjack8]

people dont wear jerseys because they are LAME!

[BoysFan4ever]

Originally Posted by WV Cowboy

The bottom line is, .. the percentage of "new" Cowboys fans amongst "new" NFL fans has to be dwindling.

Kids choose their team when they are young, for the most part, .. and kids like winners.

Kids that are 20-22 and younger have no memory of Dallas being relevant in the post season. They have to go to NFL history to see when Dallas was good.

Dallas is not winning near enough to attract the "new" fans the way they used to.

There has to be very few young Dallas fans that chose the Cowboys on their own, without influence from their Dad, an uncle, grandpa, etc. There may be some, but we aren't winning enough to attract the new NFL fan.

Eventually, if we don't start winning, this will become evident.

You nailed it sir.