Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News file
The game gets up-close and personal for spectators as Odessa and Abilene players crash into the boards alongside the arena field during a game last season.
Fewer people attended Saturday night’s Abilene Ruff Riders football game than the average number of fans who attended last season’s games, but the team’s new owners say they’re gearing up for a big year.
About 3,130 people attended the season-opening game against the West Texas Roughnecks, which is about 330 fewer than the 3,460 fans the Ruff Riders averaged last season.
A sellout for indoor football at the Taylor County Expo Center Coliseum is 5,215.
Scott Anderson, one of the team’s five owners, said he was pleased with the turnout, and he expects attendance to improve throughout the rest of the season.
Anderson said some people he has talked to didn’t know the season had already started since it began earlier than last year. He is hoping word will get around that the season is under way.
“It would have been a whole lot better if we had won the game, but at the same time, we’ve come a long way in three weeks,” Anderson said. “The team looks good.”
The West Texas Roughnecks scored twice in the final five minutes to win 36-33.
The Ruff Riders next game is 7 p.m. March 20 against the San Angelo Stampede Express at the coliseum.
In late February, the team’s new owners (a group of five Abilenians) finalized an agreement with the Indoor Football League to buy the team.
Anderson said the team is still trying to find new sponsors, and the owners are trying to forge better relationships with sponsors from last season.
“We’ve got a lot to do in that area to make everyone understand that we’re going to be here a long time,” Anderson said.
The owners are also trying to expand the auxiliary entertainment, which may include working with local cheerleading groups.
“Game 1 was the most limited form of what we’re doing long term,” Anderson said.
The team pays the Taylor County Expo Center a flat rate instead of a rate based on ticket sales so that the facility can be sure to cover its expenses, said Rochelle Johnson, the expo center’s general manager.
Johnson said she was not at all concerned about the lower attendance for the Ruff Riders’ opening game.
Some potential fans may have been out of town with the area high school basketball teams, Johnson said, and the sluggish economy may keep some fans who attended last year from returning.
“Of course, you always want a packed house,” Johnson said.
