There has been some Dallas presence over the years. I recall they coordinated an happy hour type gathering on the Friday night before the SMU game back in Oct. 2013 for local alumni as well as folks traveling in for that game. Anyway, that was five years ago so obviously doesn't help with this upcoming season.
One problem for the out of state game watches tends to be, for any major city/metro, getting a relatively decent sized group together has its challenges because it might not end up being as close to some as it is to others so the pool being drawn from suffers attrition due simply to relative location/convenience. If the chosen venue is say an hour travel time away for some, they likely drop out...hard to blame them when folks have constraints on their time as it is. This happens even if the venue is as central (downtown/heart of city) as possible, because that's still too far for many suburbanites, or there's too much traffic, parking is difficult, few or no transit options, not that easy to get to, etc. There's always some excuse (legit in some cases) related to inconvenience. Becomes very difficult to build a critical mass when as few as 4-5 people show up.
At the end of the day, we say it for a lot of things, but winning helps. Not surprising to see why that works...when it's the same inconveniences many people are then suddenly willing to put up with, if they feel they're part of a collective experience, sharing something bigger, and celebrating success with other fans (high fives, singing the fight song after a TD, etc). Watching from the convenience of home with creature comforts is nice and all (and still a preferred alternative for some), but can get boring unless you are hosting people to share the experience, especially the bigger the game is. Win more, play more UL or WVU '06 type games (i.e. be ranked), the hype builds, and more fans will come out of the woodwork to attend game-watch parties all over.
All fair points. Thanks. Makes sense.
With that said. Anyone in the Dallas area who want to meet up for a game. Let me know!