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What is the deal with attendance in the NCAA again? I thought I remembered you have to have an average of 15,000 fans per game to stay FBS. I just happened to see that EMUs first game drew 3,500, which seems to put them a far cry from being able to achieve that this year, especially with Alabama State being their next home game. I also thought they fell below this stat last season, but I wouldn't swear to that. Anyhow, say they are not able to bring their average up to what is required, what is the process for them to either stay at FBS or being forced down to FCS?

For attendance reporting methods, the NCAA allows schools to report either total tickets sold or the number of persons in attendance at the games. They require a minimum average of 15,000 people in attendance every other year.[22] These numbers get posted to the NCAA statistics website for football each year. With the new rules starting in the 2006 season, the number of Bowl Subdivision schools could drop in the future if those schools are not able to pull in enough fans into the games. Additionally, 8 schools in the Championship subdivision had enough attendance to be moved up in 2005 (although they would need to either compete as independents or join a conference in order to do so).

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_I_(NCAA)

I guess people in Ypsilanti weren't busting down the doors to see the Fighting Sid Rib's. Too bad.

Honestly, EMU doesn't provide much for the MAC academically or athletically, outside of some success in a few of the non-revenue sports. If they someday have to drop to I-AA, we'll manage.

When things get tough for EMU attendance, their department purchases all of the tickets and donates them to charities in the area in order to have a high enough attendance. There probably would have been way more people in the stands had the game not been moved from Saturday to Sunday due to weather.

MarkL wrote:When things get tough for EMU attendance, their department purchases all of the tickets and donates them to charities in the area in order to have a high enough attendance. There probably would have been way more people in the stands had the game not been moved from Saturday to Sunday due to weather.

Although the game was free and didn't have to compete with the NFL regular season games which would normally be the case on a Sunday. Can't imagine passing up a free game if I were around the Ypsi area but apparently folks did in droves. Last year's UT game was well attended by EMU standards-I would say over 15,000 actually there. But yeah, EMU plays the system and the NCAA will never force anyone's hand on that issue anyway.

bgsufalcon24 wrote: Honestly, EMU doesn't provide much for the MAC academically or athletically, outside of some success in a few of the non-revenue sports. If they someday have to drop to I-AA, we'll manage.

Go back and look at records of BGSU and EMU and you'll be happy that EMU hasn't asked the conference to kick us out.

transfer2BGSU wrote:

bgsufalcon24 wrote: Honestly, EMU doesn't provide much for the MAC academically or athletically, outside of some success in a few of the non-revenue sports. If they someday have to drop to I-AA, we'll manage.

Go back and look at records of BGSU and EMU and you'll be happy that EMU hasn't asked the conference to kick us out.

I'm going to need some solid proof as to how EMU is better than us at either football or basketball, because I can't find it anywhere. Like, when was the last time they had even a .500 year in football?

bgsufalcon24 wrote: I'm going to need some solid proof as to how EMU is better than us at either football or basketball, because I can't find it anywhere. Like, when was the last time they had even a .500 year in football?

There is more to the MAC than just basketball and football.

Take a look at where Eastern stands in relation to BGSU in recent years of the Reese and Jacoby Cups.

I thought we'd already established the the Reese and Jacoby cups are pretty much irrelevant to 95% of the people who follow MAC sports...

Flipper wrote:I thought we'd already established the the Reese and Jacoby cups are pretty much irrelevant to 95% of the people who follow MAC football ...

Fixed it for you. Very relevant to those who are sports fans.

If giving a crap about secondary...if not tertiary...collegiate sports at the mid major level is a requirement to be a sports fan, then there are about 12 sports fans in Ohio...

Flipper wrote:If giving a crap about secondary...if not tertiary...collegiate sports at the mid major level is a requirement to be a sports fan, then there are about 12 sports fans in Ohio...

We have a little club actually....

h2oville rocket wrote:

Flipper wrote:If giving a crap about secondary...if not tertiary...collegiate sports at the mid major level is a requirement to be a sports fan, then there are about 12 sports fans in Ohio...

We have a little club actually....

I'm in the Alabama Chapter. We have 11 fans.

Thought I'd note that EMU drew 4,500 to today's game, totaling a whopping 8,000 for their first two games combined.

drumstix2388 wrote:Thought I'd note that EMU drew 4,500 to today's game, totaling a whopping 8,000 for their first two games combined.

So with four more home games, they should get that 15,000 attendance mark.