Sorry for the length of this post, but I've been thinking about attendance since the middle of last year. Read at your own risk (hehe).
Sustainability and perserverance are tough issues, MU has had trouble with them. From the spirit-filled (not athletic desire filled) response from Huntington and the surrounding region, MU football literally grew from the ashes of a horrific disaster. It wasn't only the fact that MU may someday be good at football that drove fans to the games. It was the fact that they played and for playing they'd get supported.
Then, almost miracleously in 1986, we won. And then we won some more, and more. More fans came on board, not the "becaue we play", but because we play pretty good ones. There were about 5K of them; we jumped from 13k or so to filling Fairfield; then came the new stadium.
More fans came on board because we invested, we won, and it was a very prideful feeling if you were a Huntingtonian or MU supporter. Givers gained and regular supporters gained...mostly pride.
Then came the disaster we know lovingly as "pro-gate"; driving a huge division between givers and those they gave to. Blame spread everywhere, and the NCAA saw a huge hole in MU's administrative athletic performance. The blame game drove folks away, both from being willing supporters personally to not being able to donate legally. Division and derision set in quickly. Times got tough. Bad hiring decisions followed in both the AD position and coaching positions. Spirit, faith and hope started fading. Casual fans started questioning their support.
WVU started winning big, casual fans had someone else to grab on to. (Don't downplay the significance of WVU's move to the Big 12 and their ability to win on the national stage hurting MU's support and attendance; remember it was our winning on the national stage that brought many of them in.) Additionally, MU have moved up to compete at the same level as WVU, now folks were starting, or felt compelled to, select to support only one school at MU's new level. While at 1AA, many locals supported the "big" school for it's national attention and the little school for it's national attention. I believe the 7 year game deal with WVU was the worst scheduling nightmare in the history of MU. It drove many causual fans away; particularly those who hoped MU would win those gamea. The inability to win against WVU hurt MU vastly.
Finally, the city of Huntington and surrounding area could not, or would not, invest in ample facilities to support a growing university. The lack of investment and economic growth around MU kept it being "local"; no none wanted to come to Huntington with their teams. No airport, no hotels, no entertainment, no reason to come; particularly if you ran the risk of losing a game while you were here. So we got left behind our friends and family when the new competitive world of national college football really came into being; the AAC.
We're, IMHO, still writing the script. But the above story is my version of why only 19K (yes, I was there and feel that the number is failry accurate) only showed up last Saturday. It's less about generations an more about plain desire to be there for individual personal reasons. Generations mix much better when the goal, the desired outcome, is the same. In order to fix our attendance issues, MU must first determine who it is now, who it wants in the stands, and what will attract them to be there. My story...the entity of MU football is gone and the fans won't return until they can see the "entity" and choose to be related to it.
