More Trouble Ahead for the G5?

[Flipper]

When I was knocking around campus in the early 80's, we were 1AA for a time. I didn't enjoy the games any less or give the notion of being "David" much thought at all. I just wanted to beat Toledo and Miami. But then...I was also drunk a fair amount of the time....,

[jpfalcon09]

The recent ruling against the NCAA in the O'Bannon case doesn't help the G5 one bit at all either. That ruling has basically opened the door for conferences and schools to compete among each other to provide the best player benefits and revenue streams as possible. That will eventually phase out everyone besides the P5 to compete for the best players and ultimately snuff out the mid-majors from having any real chance to compete on the D1 level in any sport.

Globe, basketball will be going this way too soon enough. The plan is to ultimately force what are currently the FCS schools in D1 basketball to move to a similar division and the mid-majors may follow as well. Its quite clear that the major college sports schools are looking to hoard all the resources for themselves and leave everyone else in the dust.

[Schadenfreude]

In short, the thing that makes college football so magical for me is the whole David vs Goliath thing. You can't get that in the NFL, and even if, say, Purdue beats ohio state, that's nothing compared to BG beating Wisconsin in week 3. If that is no longer possible in college football, I will be very upset.

Well said. Cubs fans have nothing on us. And it's fun that way.

[Schadenfreude]

When I was knocking around campus in the early 80's, we were 1AA for a time. I didn't enjoy the games any less or give the notion of being "David" much thought at all. I just wanted to beat Toledo and Miami. But then...I was also drunk a fair amount of the time....,

It was just one season, 1982, and my understanding is that the MAC did its best to carry on as if nothing had happened. Rather than participate in the I-AA playoffs, the MAC instead sent its champion (Bowling Green) to the California Bowl.

[Flipper]

I thought it was 1982 and 1983...but it was 1982...nonetheless, the larger point remains. We were not grouped in with the majors in any real sense...we had to build rickity bleachers to inflate the capacity of the Doyt and start scheduling "major" programs to meet the average attendance requirement (IIRC, part of the 1A requirement was the number of people you played in front of home and away. ) We had 33,000 for the Toledo game in 1983 when the prize was a trip to the Cal Bowl...a game that wasn't even considered a "real" bowl game. I didn't care...I was BG student and I wanted to see BG win.

This notion that we have to be considered at least somewhat on par with the bottom of the P5 schools to be interesting smacks of the same kind of elitism that we rip on the top of the P5 for. For me it's as simple as this...I like football...I graduated form BGSU. Therefore..if BGSU is playing football, I'm going to watch.

[factman]

[Globetrotter]

I thought it was 1982 and 1983...but it was 1982...nonetheless, the larger point remains. We were not grouped in with the majors in any real sense...we had to build rickity bleachers to inflate the capacity of the Doyt and start scheduling "major" programs to meet the average attendance requirement (IIRC, part of the 1A requirement was the number of people you played in front of home and away. ) We had 33,000 for the Toledo game in 1983 when the prize was a trip to the Cal Bowl...a game that wasn't even considered a "real" bowl game. I didn't care...I was BG student and I wanted to see BG win.

This notion that we have to be considered at least somewhat on par with the bottom of the P5 schools to be interesting smacks of the same kind of elitism that we rip on the top of the P5 for. For me it's as simple as this...I like football...I graduated form BGSU. Therefore..if BGSU is playing football, I'm going to watch.

Tell that to the people who will continue to not go to games and follow the program.

This notion that we are ok as a second tier program and will maintain even the below average interest from fans is ignoring the coming train. We will be closer to ODU than OSU.

[MarkL]

Here's my worry. In the form of an exercise.

Part 1. Try to name all participants this past year in BCS bowl games. Can you name how many there were? Can you name who they were? Can you name their conferences? Can you remember the winning teams?

Part 2. Now, try to name all participants in this past year's FCS playoffs. Can you name how many there were? Can you name who they were? Can you name their conferences? Can you remember the winning teams?

I'm guessing you did better in part 1 than part 2. If the top 5 decide to play with themselves (and yes that was intentional) then the lack of media coverage on the MAC will begin to make us as relevant as the football fans on the whole view FCS football. The results would be disastrous and nothing short of it.

[Flipper]

I thought it was 1982 and 1983...but it was 1982...nonetheless, the larger point remains. We were not grouped in with the majors in any real sense...we had to build rickity bleachers to inflate the capacity of the Doyt and start scheduling "major" programs to meet the average attendance requirement (IIRC, part of the 1A requirement was the number of people you played in front of home and away. ) We had 33,000 for the Toledo game in 1983 when the prize was a trip to the Cal Bowl...a game that wasn't even considered a "real" bowl game. I didn't care...I was BG student and I wanted to see BG win.

This notion that we have to be considered at least somewhat on par with the bottom of the P5 schools to be interesting smacks of the same kind of elitism that we rip on the top of the P5 for. For me it's as simple as this...I like football...I graduated form BGSU. Therefore..if BGSU is playing football, I'm going to watch.

Tell that to the people who will continue to not go to games and follow the program.

This notion that we are ok as a second tier program and will maintain even the below average interest from fans is ignoring the coming train. We will be closer to ODU than OSU.

The historic average attendance at Doyt Perry Field is right around 15k. That was true in the 70's...80's..90's...2000's....the recent (other than the blip that was 1985) phenomenon of the program beating siome larger schools and being in the discussion for a national ranking doesn't seem to have budged the needle much at all.
Trying to hold onto the notion that we "matter" in the landscape of NFL lite football is counterproductive...we should be focused more on marketing the unique regional rivalries that we have and quit worrying about the other name on the non-conference scoreboard. Largely because it doesn't matter...is the game against Indiana going to draw that much more interest than the game against VMI?

[FalconTurf]

The G5 will only be able to completely dominate the talent pool/recruits if they return to 120 scholarships - Title IX will not allow it. They will miss some, there will be the developing talent they leave behind, there will be those that choose not to get kicked week after week at Purdue or other outsiders within the group, and some will screw up and land with at smaller schools. The talent gap won't get any greater in my opinion. They'll simply tick off fan bases that are accustomed to those 3 - 4 out of conference wins that make them bowl eligible and look like a future contender which never happens.

[jpfalcon09]

I thought it was 1982 and 1983...but it was 1982...nonetheless, the larger point remains. We were not grouped in with the majors in any real sense...we had to build rickity bleachers to inflate the capacity of the Doyt and start scheduling "major" programs to meet the average attendance requirement (IIRC, part of the 1A requirement was the number of people you played in front of home and away. ) We had 33,000 for the Toledo game in 1983 when the prize was a trip to the Cal Bowl...a game that wasn't even considered a "real" bowl game. I didn't care...I was BG student and I wanted to see BG win.

This notion that we have to be considered at least somewhat on par with the bottom of the P5 schools to be interesting smacks of the same kind of elitism that we rip on the top of the P5 for. For me it's as simple as this...I like football...I graduated form BGSU. Therefore..if BGSU is playing football, I'm going to watch.

Tell that to the people who will continue to not go to games and follow the program.

This notion that we are ok as a second tier program and will maintain even the below average interest from fans is ignoring the coming train. We will be closer to ODU than OSU.

The historic average attendance at Doyt Perry Field is right around 15k. That was true in the 70's...80's..90's...2000's....the recent (other than the blip that was 1985) phenomenon of the program beating siome larger schools and being in the discussion for a national ranking doesn't seem to have budged the needle much at all.
Trying to hold onto the notion that we "matter" in the landscape of NFL lite football is counterproductive...we should be focused more on marketing the unique regional rivalries that we have and quit worrying about the other name on the non-conference scoreboard. Largely because it doesn't matter...is the game against Indiana going to draw that much more interest than the game against VMI?

As a home game? Yes. Casual fans will come to the Doyt because Indiana is a B1G school and its a rarity to see a team like that travel to a MAC school. Name recognition is everything in college sports. We all saw the turnout for when Boise and Minnesota came here, Indiana will be no different. The key is winning those games and keeping the fan base interested all season long. Last year for example, the Tulsa game was well attended but after the Indiana blowout, attendance declined dramatically for the rest of the season except for Toledo. But, I do agree in the long-term its more important to focus on regional schools and conference rivalries than it is to see how well we can compete on a national level because as we all know a mid-major will ever see the opportunity to get to the playoff.

[Dayons_Den]

A near capacity crowd of 23,000 plus on 9/11/04 vs. SEMO a week after getting beat by Oklahoma 40-24 will always stand out to me and make me more in line with Flipper's thinking here on the attendance issue.

I think weather (and promotions) plays a lot more in to ticket sales at Bowling Green than name recognition of opponents, especially because on the every 2-3 years we can get Minnesota, Boise State, Indiana or Maryland to come in we are still challenged to draw. Yes casual fans might see them as a Big Ten / bigger name, but realistically they aren't all THAT big of a name. Mizzou at BG with plenty of walk up seats available in 2002 is the flip side to this... oh because it rained early in the day people stayed away?

Yes Toledo will sell. Yes a ranked NIU with college gameday will sell. But more often than not we are selling the BG experience. Supporting the Falcons, your school, your band, tailgating, Freddie & Frieda more so than the 85 guys on the visiting sideline.

[jpfalcon09]

I'll always support BG no matter who they're playing, but I also want to be able to share that experience with others, whether they're a fan of another school or just looking for a fun event to go to. I think being able to play a P5 school at home is an important cog in growing not only fan and student interest but also in being able to recruit better players. If it ends up that the G5 will ultimately be removed from being able to compete on the same field as those schools then I'll be greatly disappointed.

[Flipper]

I don't think playing a B1G bottom feeder like IU will generate that much buzz....they have next to zero football history there.

[fredthefalcon]

I don't think playing a B1G bottom feeder like IU will generate that much buzz....they have next to zero football history there.

Tell that to John Pont. Oh, wait he's dead. Nevermind.