[FarmBoy]

JPRI - I didn't intend  to question your personal fanhood. I figured your comment was in jest, but my concern about fan support and how the performance against SJSU/Duke will affect it remains. If we scrape by Duke, or god forbid lose, I can quickly see the gains made over the last 4 years evaporate pretty quickly. Heck, I heard stories of Stanford fans selling their tix on Stub Hub for the Oregon game last year because the money was too good to pass up. Do you think Stanford fans were the ones driving up the price on Stub Hub? There were a lot of seats in my section that typically showed up in Cardinal that were clad in Green and Yellow. It's embarrassing on TV when the noise level on Stanford third downs is louder than on the opponents', in Stanford Stadium... And it kills recruiting. I remember Vaughters commenting on it during his official at the Arizona game on 2010. The stands were half empty at kick off and the UofA fans were louder than Stanford fans during the first quarter (after which the tailgaters deigned with worth their time to enter and cheer, I guess.)

I don't see a viable path to really expanding fan interest beyond Stanford alums and affiliates in the Bay Area. Maybe better marketing can get it done, but if having a top-10 team two years in a row,  three Voldemort trophy runners-up playing on the field for three consecutive years, and big wins against U.SC, Oregon, ND, VTech, etc. can't get it done, I don't know what would. The fact is the Bay Area has too many outside interests and Stanford isn't seen as a school that you can "adopt" for rooting interest. I also think the multi-cultural mix has shifted away from Football viewership on the Peninsula. But I'm more than happy to be proved wrong.

[FarmBoy]

JPRI - I didn't intend  to question your personal fanhood. I figured your comment was in jest, but my concern about fan support and how the performance against SJSU/Duke will affect it remains. If we scrape by Duke, or god forbid lose, I can quickly see the gains made over the last 4 years evaporate pretty quickly. Heck, I heard stories of Stanford fans selling their tix on Stub Hub for the Oregon game last year because the money was too good to pass up. Do you think Stanford fans were the ones driving up the price on Stub Hub? There were a lot of seats in my section that typically showed up in Cardinal that were clad in Green and Yellow. It's embarrassing on TV when the noise level on Stanford third downs is louder than on the opponents', in Stanford Stadium... And it kills recruiting. I remember Vaughters commenting on it during his official at the Arizona game on 2010. The stands were half empty at kick off and the UofA fans were louder than Stanford fans during the first quarter (after which the tailgaters deigned with worth their time to enter and cheer, I guess.)

I don't see a viable path to really expanding fan interest beyond Stanford alums and affiliates in the Bay Area. Maybe better marketing can get it done, but if having a top-10 team two years in a row,  three Voldemort trophy runners-up playing on the field for three consecutive years, and big wins against U.SC, Oregon, ND, VTech, etc. can't get it done, I don't know what would. The fact is the Bay Area has too many outside interests and Stanford isn't seen as a school that you can "adopt" for rooting interest. I also think the multi-cultural mix has shifted away from Football viewership on the Peninsula. But I'm more than happy to be proved wrong.