Most students at Texas A&M, sports fan or not, would admit football is the dominant sport in Aggieland. After asking students which fall sport was their favorite to attend, the typical response was, "Besides football?"
Midnight Yell, tailgating, ticket pulling with huge groups and an entire day devoted to the main event all highlight a normal football weekend in College Station.
Kyle Field is often packed to full capacity, with anywhere from 70,000 to 85,000 people in attendance at each game.
While football attracts record crowds, sporting events such as volleyball and soccer manage to bring in an average of anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 fans at any given game.
A recent survey taken by The Battalion asking 500 A&M students what their favorite fall sport other than football was showed a surprising 128 people have not even been to a fall sporting event besides football.
Senior Head Yell Leader Casey Schaeffer attends most events.
"I think volleyball is much improved in Reed Arena from G. Rollie White, and we definitely have more people coming out to those games," Schaeffer said. "But our girls' soccer atmosphere, when people really pack the house, it's crazy. It is so fun to watch them play."
Of that same survey, 152 students prefer soccer compared to the others.
Former Aggie softball player, Holly Ridley, said she had never enjoyed watching soccer until she attended a game during her recruiting visit six years ago.
"Texas A&M soccer has the next best atmosphere, behind football, for students to attend as a fall sporting event. They have created a strong, winning tradition, and their hard work is shown each night they play," Ridley said. "The students who attend and heckle the opposing teams are responsible for the fun that is had in the stands.'
The support is not as high for volleyball, as 104 of the 500 students enjoy Aggie volleyball more than anything else.
Sophomore enviornmental design major Emily Kirby said that volleyball, not soccer, deserves more recognition.
"Soccer is the most annoying because people can be really mean to the other team's goalie. In volleyball, the yell leaders are so close and it's a smaller area, so people get more excited and are a lot louder," she said.
According to the figures, football will always be the prominent sport at A&M, but support for the smaller sports is growing.
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