Mounting losses and tumbling economy empty out Byrd

The Terrapin football team is doing its best to forget about last year's dreadful 2-10 season. But season-ticket sales show that fans still remember every painful loss.

Sales are down between 14 and 15 percent this season, according to the athletics department. While a slight drop in sales was expected due to the floundering state of the economy, interim Athletics Director Randy Eaton surmised that the team's 2009 record led to even fewer season tickets being sold.

Just how much of the blame can be placed on the economy or the team's poor showing is difficult to determine. What does seem certain is the need for a winning football team to rejuvenate an otherwise apathetic fan base that hasn't yet moved on from the mess of last season.

"It's really hard to say because everybody across the country is down, whether it's in ticket sales, whether it's in fundraising," Eaton said. "And it's both at the collegiate and the pro level, so it's really hard to point a finger at it and say, ‘We think this part of it is because of the economy, and this part of it is because of the team.' "

With the season starting Monday, Eaton said the department has accepted its losses and now hopes to simply provide a good game-day experience for old and new fans alike.

Keeping students packing the stands will go a long way toward that aim. As last year's team plunged toward its worst-ever record, students filed out of games before the final whistle with regularity. Red-clad masses of students gave way to patches of gray bleachers, making a vocal support group nearly mute.

Coach Ralph Friedgen hopes a good start can reenergize a fanbase wary of becoming too attached to a team with little buzz around it.

"I'm very passionate about that, getting our students involved," Friedgen said. "And what I hear is that we're taking up 31 buses to [M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore for Monday's game against Navy]. ... Hopefully, we're going to play well, and the students will get excited about this football team and really support us the way I know we can. These college students weren't here back in the first part of my tenure, but Byrd was rocking like crazy. I know the kids would really enjoy it, and our football team would really enjoy it also."

While season-ticket sales are down, not all ticket packages are suffering.

Sales of luxury suites in Tyser Tower increased one year after construction was completed on the project, which Eaton called a major success.

"We've picked up this year," Eaton said. "Coming off what was certainly a challenging field, we were able to pick up about six or seven suites, though, which is significant."

Seats at the club level have remained solid as well, but Eaton said the greatest loss in terms of ticket sales has been among less-lucrative packages. Sales to recent alumni have lagged, perhaps an indictment of both the finances of the Terps' customer base and slowing success on the football field.

"We've really seen a drop in those, and I would say most certainly that is due to the economy," Eaton said.

To reconnect with fans, the athletics department made its sales pitch with the help of the football team itself. With a technique called a "voice shot," Eaton said the department called season-ticket holders with recordings of coaches and players such as wide receiver Torrey Smith advertising the coming season.

"Part of that ... is getting our fans ownership, not necessarily with the team or the coach, but with individual student-athetes," Eaton said. "Especially with a sport like football, it's even more important because sitting in the stands, it's hard to tell who's inside that helmet. It's not like basketball where you see that face and that face is very recognizable. So I think having your student-athletes pick up the phone and make those types of phone calls, or recording a message and sending it out, just helps build some ownership with our fan base of the student-athletes in general."

Eaton said he would like to think the better the Terps do, the more students and fans will fill Byrd Stadium as paying customers. However, he realizes that isn't always the case.

After last season, the product must first prove to be worth the price of admission.

"The best-laid marketing plans in the world sometimes are only as good as the success of the team on the field," Eaton said. "So I think as we go through the early part of the season, that will help dictate a lot of what, not expectations, but the realities of what those single-game promotions and marketing plans generate for us."

jschneider@umdbk.com