On Sept. 14, 2024, the Miami University RedHawks football team faced its rival Cincinnati Bearcats at noon on a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon. Attendance peaked at 24,717, according to cumulative statistics from the 2024 season.
A mere month later, the same Miami team faced Ohio University, another rival, on a pleasant fall afternoon during Parents Weekend. The 3:30 p.m. game reached 17,021 attendees, just over half of Yager Stadium’s 30,000 capacity, as some Miami students chose to spend their afternoon at bars and fraternity parties instead.
Miami’s school spirit at sporting events is severely lacking, overshadowed by the drinking culture and the looming intrigue of the bars Uptown.
It’s no secret that Miami has a huge drinking culture, and the influence of frat parties reaches much further than that of our football team. Despite a winning record of 9-5 and a Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship one year prior, our RedHawks averaged about 12,000 attendants over six home games last season.
I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt that, naturally, fewer people are going to show up to a midweek game in the middle of November. However, only two of our home games were midweek. If those outliers are removed, the average is still only about 15,000 attendees.
It’s hard for me to accept this average when I know a nearly 25,000 maximum could be reality. While I’m not expecting Power Four levels of attendance, a couple of extra thousand students at games would make a world of difference.
At the Cincinnati game, the Miami Activities and Programming organization and the Miami Interfraternity Council (IFC) pushed attendance through their tailgates. The IFC tailgate had every fraternity involved, which resulted in fewer parties and higher attendance at Yager.
Tailgating is the key to getting students more involved with sports here. As a girl raised on SEC football, tailgating feels like a given to me – it engages people before the game and allows them to drink outside of the stadium, where drinks are inevitably more expensive.
Growing up, my dad took me to countless games in Athens, Georgia, to cheer on the University of Georgia’s football team. Every time, rain or shine, no matter the weather, we attended a tailgate before the game.
As a child who couldn’t have cared less about the outcome of a football game, the tailgate was always my favorite part. What’s not to like? Tailgates have food, drinks, activities and so many people to talk to.
Is that not ideal for a social college student looking for a place to drink and hang out on a Saturday afternoon?
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Why would you want to stand around at Brick Street Bar, pay for expensive drinks and not have access to snacks, all while listening to mediocre music and watching a game on a screen?
Perhaps it’s just the standard or the culture. Perhaps students just don’t know the potential of an awesome tailgate. Perhaps the Miami student population just needs to experience the joy of an SEC tailgate to truly know what they’re missing out on.
I know our potential as Miami students can go beyond packing Brick and make the shift to pack Yager. You don’t even have to stay for the whole game! Text your friends, set a tailgate spot, pick a cute outfit, bring drinks and snacks and just have fun cheering on the RedHawks.
Elisa Rosenthal is a senior Spanish education major with a passion for writing and storytelling. She’s originally from Georgia and writes sports for The Student, honoring a long family love for college sports.=
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