Brandon complains about attendance in Blade

[BGSU33]

From the Toledo Blade:

The day went so well, Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon's biggest complaint was that only 16,669 fans came to watch the contest.

"Yeah, I'm really disappointed in the fans," Brandon said. "Our students showed up, but where was everybody else? This is homecoming, and to have 17,000 is disappointing. Our kids deserve better than that."

I completely agree. I know the weather sucked, but we should have had more than 17,000. That is disappointing.

[Warthog]

Of all the things to have to hear the coach say, this is one of the things that upsets me the most. I really wish our coach wouldn't have to beg and plead with the fans to get them to come out and see a very entertaining team. But since he brought it up, I wish Brandon would have thrown a thank you out to those of us who stuck it out and were still out there during the fourth quarter.

[Metz]

I'd be complaining if I was him too. I don't care who BG plays, it's still a BG football game and people should want to be there to watch no matter how the weather is. I hate fans that go by the weather. To me, that isn't really being a fan at all. That was football weather and to be honest, it wasn't all that cold. Games will get much worse, especially when mid to late November rolls around and the snow comes. Wear more layers if you have to people!!! Just stay and support your Falcons!!!

They play the game and people come to watch. There should be no invitations to the game or thank you for coming after the game. When a coach has invite and thank, that's just pathetic IMO. If he has to start doing that, they might as well just stop selling tickets and just letting people in who get invitations. If you aren't on the list, you can't watch the game. I'm sure the attendance would still be around the 500-1,000 left at the end of the game. If people really want to be thanked for attending a BG football game, you might as well consider BG abottom 10 team because I'm sure most teams there have to beg their fans to attend games.

[Falconboy]

Someone want to post a column in the Sentinal or something with a call and an advisory to come out to the games and wear appriate clothing? This is northwest ohio people , its flat as a pancake okay? So, your're gonna just have to break out the thermal underwear, go to Andersons in Maumee or Walmart if you don't have any and dress in layers. I goin to be wearing two sweatshirts as well as a long sleave shirts plus my coat pretty soon here. You people need to start wearing some clothes instead of wearin' mini-skirts(girls) and the like to a fall football game. Can I get a Amen?? :-\

[rollalongFF0304]

Any why do marketing too? That's just like inviting people to come to the game. People in NW Ohio don't need to be constantly bombarded with ads to go to the football game. When our teams are good, people should just know that and then go to the game. Think of the things we could buy if we still had all the money from those mailings and commercials and coaches' shows that we do. Heck, we could probably bring back track and swimming.



I think that's awesome what coach is doing regarding fans. Years ago, UM went on a tour of the frat houses and res halls on campus to drum up support. Four years ago we had student attendances of 500 people. Now we've got a steady 7,000 students coming to the game. Gregg Brandon knows he's got the student support, and now he's working on the community. If he wants to stand on a milk crate in the middle of downtown with a megaphone trying to get people to the games, then more power to him! We've got to do everything we can to get people in the Doyt - and we're lucky to have a coach who is willing to help out.

[bgsufan67]

I am a student to went see our Falcons yesterday at the game. With the weather being in the 40's and having a HORRIBLE wind at 20-25 mph, nobody wanted to stay and watch the whole game. Trust me. I heard pretty much all the students saying how they wanted to leave. When we scored 28 points in the first half me and my buddy left.

[BGSU96]

I get so tired of people using the weather as an excuse for not coming out to the games. I mean, it is always on the windy side in BG so why do people act so surprised?? Those of us that were there had a grat time and saw a great game.

[Tech83]

I may get flamed for this but....

We can't see Brandon's eyes and hear the inflection in his voice concerning attendance - we can only read the quote. However, I think complaining about attendance at yesterday's game is misplaced. We were at yesterdays game and I think the crowd could have been bigger. BUT....

First look at the stats over the last two years. (Somebody else can chase down previous years.)

2002- 6 games - 17,819 avg. attendance
2003 - 7 games - 21, 002 avg attendance. This number is inflated by three big games played at BG (Northern Ill, Toledo and the MAC Championship)

Last year's Homecoming Game (Central Michigan) had 20.649. So let's figure the cruddy weather wasted 3,000 people from the gate, plus Homecoming was a week after nearly knocking off Ohio State. So attendance starts to climb as a natural effect. Yesterday's attendance matches the 2002 average. Or in other words, we had horrible weather and we still matched the average attendance.

As a business owner (Architect), I never want to accentuate the negative. I want to talk about the negatives in a manner that changes the issue for the better. Therefore, if a coach is bad-mouthing fans for not coming out to support the team, do I really want to come out. It's that honey attracts more flies thing.

I would rather hear coach say, "Well the weather seems to have kept some of our fans home today, but we need them here for our next home game against Eastern. We have great fans and I want to see them here in two weeks." So reading the quote, this is not good business on Brandon's part. It's the same as me saying, "The house turned out great. The owner's really enjoy it. It meets all their needs, but they neeeded to spend more money so it would have been REALLLY great."

I know you guys are great fans and want the best for BG football. You bleed Brown and Orange. Maybe a little more than me, I don't know, but going to homecoming is more than Football. Its getting back to campus, visiting town, getting some DiBennetto's subs to take home, and getting in a game. I thought the atmosphere around the stadium was great. The weather was garbage. Typical BG weather. Spent some money in town/on campus, spent time in the College of Technology tent talking to good people and seeing a solid football team teach the game to a lesser squad. What more do I want?

Why in God's name do I want to hear a negative comment about attendance. Aren't we all preaching to the choir on this one. How about bringing a fellow alum, who typically does not get back to campus, to the next game. That's what we did yesterday. Bring a friend or let your kids bring a friend... that's how you effect attendance on a personal level.

[orangeandbrown]

I would rather hear coach say, "Well the weather seems to have kept some of our fans home today, but we need them here for our next home game against Eastern. We have great fans and I want to see them here in two weeks." So reading the quote, this is not good business on Brandon's part. It's the same as me saying, "The house turned out great. The owner's really enjoy it. It meets all their needs, but they neeeded to spend more money so it would have been REALLLY great."

Well said, and good analysis. I thought the same thing when I read the quote. Other coaches would have said that "we just have to work harder at getting people involved," or words to that effect. I think it comes off like the team has a right to have people at the games.

Hammb has a good post on this on another thread. We just don't have that kind of fan base yet. I have been watching our teams for a long time, and I have never seen us have that kind of a fan base. Furthermore, you're sitting in the nasty weather watching a total blow out and an uninteresting game. I frankly don't blame anyone who left.

Finally, as for "begging." It isn't begging, its called sales and marketing. Its not beneath Coach Brandon to try to get people to the games. People have far more ways to spend their time then there is time, and you have to persuade people to come to the games. For many people, lots of things would come before sitting in the sleet watching a total massacre of a bad team. Not me mind you--I was there. But for many people, it would.

[Tricky_Falcon]

I'm certain he's thinking of it from a players point of view...these guys bust their asses year round and have done a heck of a job turning this program around. People expect Bowling Green to win each game, that wasn't the case a few years ago. These guys just finished playing three games on the road and were probably expecting to come back home to a filled stadium, especially since it was Homecoming. These players deserve better. The fans wanted a better product on the field and that's what we have...It's time for fans to do their part.

[bacn3]

yeah the weather was bad and such but i think the number one thing that kept people away was the niu game had we won we get 20+ there but now beating ball st. doesn't hold as much as it would have had we won the niu game. That said i think a lot of people gave up after that loss and that's too bad but being bg and knowing our history every game is a must win and when we don't win we don't have anything to complain about.

[BGorDeath]

I think the main reason people left is the 21 points scored in the first quarter. Maybe Coach B. should think about spreading those points evenly to each quarter.

[Schadenfreude]

We can't see Brandon's eyes and hear the inflection in his voice concerning attendance - we can only read the quote.

I heard it. He sounded sincerely frustrated.

Don't blame him a bit.

We averaged 17812 in 2001, hosting Toledo
We averaged about 17,836 in 2002, not hosting Toledo
We averaged about 20,363 in 2003 if you throw out the MAC title game.

We can certainly equal what we did last year. We just need to average 20,686 for the final three games. With Marshall coming in, that still seems possible.

I had hoped for more, though. Breaking the record will be tough. We'd need to average 24,118 for the last three games. Not sure that's going to happen.

[Falconfreak90]

One stat to keep in mind....for all home games at the Doyt since it opened in 1966, BG has AVERAGED about 15,700 fans a game over that span.
We will continue to build the fan base and all the improvements to the Doyt have helped.

One thing I must vent about is the two choch nuggets that sit next to me in Section 13, Row 24. I simply loathe seeing them coming up the steps every game. GET OFF YOUR AZZ AND MAKE SOME NOISE INSTEAD OF CONSTANTLY COMPLAINING ABOUT THE FANS AROUND YOU!!!
This man and woman piss and moan about everything and always leave before halftime. Why show up? I want to buy 6 season tickets from now on to insure they don't sit there anymore...or somone else please buy these two! They have seats 7 and 8 where as I have 5 & 6. I also have two seats in Row 25, 5 & 6. Ed and Michelle can vouch for these two. It is a football game, not the library. When BG scores and the Tootsie rolls fly, they get all ticked off and throw them back at the source. My son Josh accidently waved his pom pom in this woman's face one time and she admonished him sternly like he was her son. Lady, the boy is 8 years old. Get a freakin life. Oh how I wish they would sit on the East side.

OK, I'm done. GO FALCONS!

[Flipper]

We don't want them on the east side either....