The presence of Jackrabbit fans at SDSU football games has grown rapidly this year, with record attendance from students and guests alike.
Most recently, at the home football game against Sioux Falls University, Augustana, the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium broke a new record with 4,389 students.
It was also the second most attended game in the history of the stadium with an overall attendance of 19,376.
The home game before that versus the Incarnate Word Cardinals boasted a similar crowd size of 4,128 students and an overall attendance of 19,321.
Justin Sell, the athletics director at South Dakota State University, believes the record attendance is an accumulation of years of hard work from many avenues at the university.
The first and most important factor was creating the game day environment, working with the Student Association, prioritizing students, and making sure they know their tremendous value to the university, Sell said.
The SDSU football team being highly ranked and having two national championships in the last couple of years adds to the excitement, as well as bringing people to the games, Sell said.
“Students were also helpful in bringing in the permit for alcohol sales at the games, and getting that across the finish line,” Sell said. “We have also seen fewer problems related to alcohol since its approval in the stadium,” Sell said.
“The stadium is incredible on Saturdays, it’s built to capture the energy,” Sell added. “Having the pride of the Dakotas built right in the middle of the section, getting the video board on the north end zone while working to get something more permanent built… and record enrollment helps as well.”
Slade Larscheid, the Deputy Athletic Director here at SDSU, believes the brand of football we play is entertaining, and that winning helps as well.
“Being in tune with our students, between the music and the promotions, there’s engagement outside just the game being played,” Larscheid said. “We really try to take away specifics of what works well in other places, but also what’s centered to SDSU.”
Lauren Johnson, a senior nursing student at SDSU from Sioux Falls, has been to every home game this year and enjoys seeing friends and family at the tailgates.
“The crowd seems better this year than it did last year, and the year before, but that’s probably because of our two national titles,” Johnson said. “I’m usually at the games an hour before they start, and I haven’t had any problems finding a spot in the student section.”
The athletics department has also seen alumni attendance increase in the stadium as well.
“There’s so many graduates in Sioux Falls, and we need them to drive up to the games, that’s a big part of the growth,” Sell said. “Students change the energy in such a positive way for the rest of the fans… and if you ask the coaches, it matters. There’s a reason we’re so good at home.”
For Hobo Day, the athletics department isn’t enacting any specific policies.
“Community-wide, we just really try to make sure the environment is safe, and people have access to help, if necessary,” Sell said.
Larscheid also addressed the concerns of the first two home football games.
“We became a bit more expedited from game one to game two, part of it was because when you have 4,000 students line up, it takes time,” Larscheid said. “We tried to get people in faster, and the other part of it was the student section was full, but we had some reserved seats available on the far east end for overflow.”
“There were also issues with the actual scanners, which we haven’t had issues with, but was part of the slowdown,” Sell said. “Some of it is communicating to students where to go, and the difficulty of seeing open spots from inside the crowd as well.”
Sell also hopes to use this increased attendance to draw it to other university sporting events as well.
“(In the First Bank and Trust Arena) we built 1000 seats out of 5000 for students. That’s a lot, we need students to show up,” Sell said. “We built a club room that no one else in the country has just for our students… things that can help get students engaged so they circle the games on the calendar like, ‘we have to be there.”
“By and large I think it’s gone well, but we are pushing the max, which when you think about it, it’s over a third of our student body in the stadium on Saturdays which is cool,” Sell said.
