Personally, I yelled at Drake matches whenever the heck I wanted and nobody shushed me. Sometimes some heckling. Granted, I was yelling between points and not during. That's just what happens in tennis.I think it just sounds so nerdy that they are like "Oh no no, you can yell! Please yell!" But I guess saying "Well... just don't yell during serves, okay?" sounds even nerdier. If people want to yell, they'll yell.
College tennis is trying awfully hard to remain relevant. But here's the facts: College tennis will never bring in enough money to break even. Luckily it doesn't cost as much to field a team as something like football, so even though we are losing money on it, we aren't losing as much as we are on most sports. I'm not even sure if there was ever a college tennis heyday where they had a bunch of fans. I know McEnroe played college tennis, so maybe there were fans in the 70's? Doubt it.
One thing I noticed in the article is it talked about the Baylor v. Oklahoma match. Those were two Top Five teams, sounds like a GREAT match, and it drew less than 2,000 fans. College tennis courts just aren't set up to hold enough fans to generate profit.
Baylor has a BEAUTIFUL facility, but it still doesn't hold many folks.
And it's not like TV coverage will happen because there are six matches going on at a time, and you can't afford to have six cameras for each match.
Really, I'm confused why the ITA is trying so hard to change college tennis to make it more fan friendly. I don't know if most schools even charge admission. I've never been charged to go watch the Drake v. Minnesota matches, and obviously DU doesn't charge. What's the point in bringing in fans if you aren't trying to make money?
And letting some college kids show up and yell isn't going to keep the team if the athletic department has to cut the budget down some. Having rowdy college kids isn't going to attract more tennis-centric fans either. Tennis fans have been told all their life to cheer politely, so when someone is being loud during points they'll just get pissed.
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