Increasing student engagement in Longhorn Football away games
Longhorn football has put a lot of effort into the home game experience, such as games and refreshments on Bevo Boulevard and reworking the Big Ticket to be more accessible. However, there is much less excitement on weeks with away games. Some students find the game on TV, some have their own watch parties, but there is a lack of coordinated effort to increase engagement in away games.
Our group (Jackson Baird, Kristen Tibbetts and Tristan Stitt) is looking at ways to increase comradery and improve the away game experience for students and fans of Longhorn football. Jackson is a senior journalism major that is minoring in sports media. As a local Austinite, Longhorn football is very important to him. Kristen, a senior journalism and Plan II major, also grew up in Austin. She remembers hearing Smokey the Cannon from her childhood backyard whenever the Longhorns scored. Tristan is a senior journalism major and both of his parents are Texas Exes. Born in Austin, Tristan is a die-hard Longhorn football fanatic and wants the world to burn orange.
We have several goals that we hope to achieve through this project. The first is to provide students with more engaging opportunities to participate in Longhorn football even as the team plays on the road. This includes bringing more students into watching coverage of the game, but also participating in more hands-on ways, such as attending events instead of watching at home. We also hope to create an environment that builds excitement in the campus community throughout the week leading up to an away game, as if it were at home. The last thing we are striving to do is foster team spirit in people who previously weren’t interested or engaged in UT Football due to barriers to watching games or lack of community.
One possible solution to our “How Might We” question is by hosting an away game watch party at Darrell K. Royal Stadium. We think this is a great coordinated effort to increase fan engagement on away games. Fans will be allowed on the field to set up blankets to watch the game on the big screen. In order for the University to make a profit off the event there will be full concessions offered and a fee to get into the stadium that is reasonable for students. There will also be other carnival type games for fans to participate in on the field and giveaways throughout the game.
Another method we may utilize is to have pep rallies and team send-offs for select away games. This week, there was a parade and rally sponsored by Texas Exes to build excitement for the Longhorn vs OU game. This was a great opportunity to witness what these events could look like and see which elements worked and which would need to be tweaked. One thing we noticed worked very well was the inclusion of campus spirit groups. Including these groups increased attendance and excitement. It is also a win-win for the organizations because they used it as an opportunity to advertise their clubs. Some modifications we would make if we pursue this solution would be to have more pre-rally coverage and to block off Guadalupe Street both ways while the parade is underway.
