by Giuseppe Palmer and Miles Eller, staff writers
At Galileo, many athletes are used to seeing near-empty stands at their games save for a few parents sprinkled here and there. Saturday football games have very few fans, a mid-season baseball game can sound like a library, and soccer matches are near empty week in and week out. But why?
While the main factor Galileo students gave for not attending games is that the teams aren’t really winning, students also cited other factors that cause their lack of interest in sports. The overwhelming majority of students stated that the reason they don’t go to games is because they aren’t advertised enough. Many students simply don’t know when the games are. One anonymous student said, “I couldn’t even tell you when the next football game is.”
Another reason students cited for not attending games is the start time of varsity sports games. Some varsity sports games start at 3:30, which is a problem since school doesn’t even end until 3:50. This means that by the time students get out of class and manage to get to the game, they’ve already missed a large portion of the game. A number of students reported that this is very frustrating to them when they want to go watch their peers play.
While the start times of games are something that Galileo can’t change, some students did have ideas that they think would help promote sports more at Galileo. One suggestion would be for the GHouse TV team to put more emphasis on when and where sports games are, in hopes that students will be more informed and thus more interested in attending games.
People also said that they thought instagram posts and flyers would help make them more inclined to attend games. “When the teams don’t share info about the games, no one even knows they’re happening,” said another anonymous student. They believe that a lack of publicity is the main cause of low attendance levels.
However, Galileo’s athletic director, Mr. Keough, has a few plans of his own for Galileo to increase engagement in sports from students and parents. One idea Mr. Keough wants to implement is the sale of concessions during football and soccer games. The Galileo field has a small building behind the stands that could operate as a stand to sell snacks to Lion fans, which, says Mr. Keough, would be a great addition to our sporting events.
Mr. Keough also has plans to assist the PTSA in forming an athletic committee, also known as a booster club, that will be in charge of ticketing and promoting Galileo sports. He said, “A booster club would really help out our athletics, because they will help keep everything organized and will do some of the jobs such as promoting that have been forced on myself, the teams, and the coaches.”
