Scheduling in the future

[BSinCJ]

Has it bothered others here that BG has not looked into moving the UT game into Sep or Oct time frame since we moved over to the East Division??

My hopes are that we make the Miami game the season ending game instead of Toledo.

My concern is simply this....there is a good chance in years to come, both UT and BG will be coming down the stretch and have the Div crown sewn up and looking at playing each other twice in a matter of seven days. It is not good for the league and either schools. Not to mention prep time, facing the same team twice in a week, sucks on the prep side of the house. Also, if it plays out like it did this year, where the loser of the MACC doesn't go anywhere, it really makes it tough.

When I was a student 88-92, UT was played in Sep or Oct if I remember correctly, and it was cut and dry, play through the league and keep winning to get the one bowl birth.

Interested to hear thoughts on this one. Don't get me started on the fact MAC plays their Championship and a bowl game in the same city....can't we get the RCA dome to host the MAC. with Ball State and NIU in the league it makes sense to have an Indiana location. Again, I don't think it is good to visit the same city for both events. I think the contract on Ford Field for MAC C is coming up.

C-YA

[San Diego Falcon]

there is a good chance in years to come, both UT and BG will be coming down the stretch and have the Div crown sewn up and looking at playing each other twice in a matter of seven days.

Let's see if it actually ever happens. If it does happen one year, they may look to adjust the schedule for the following season since dates are set until the spring preceding the upcoming season.

[1987alum]

The season-ending game only dates back to the turn of the century. Prior to that, it was typically nestled in the October MAC schedule.

If anyone has more background, chime in, but here's my theory on what the Powers That Be were thinking - if we put that game at the end of the year, we'll have a good attendance game.

Consider this scenario - what if BG and Toledo finished the season on the road, let's say BG @ Kent State and Toledo@CMU. What kind of attendance would you be looking at?

[San Diego Falcon]

Consider this scenario - what if BG and Toledo finished the season on the road, let's say BG @ Kent State and Toledo@CMU. What kind of attendance would you be looking at?

Not good - especially on a Wed

Plus the MAC and ESPN would rather show BG/Toledo on a Nov Wed night vs the 2 match-ups you presented. Likely no TV for BG/Toledo in early Oct on a Sat.

[Flipper]

Well...in 1991 we won the MAC. Our final game was a home date with Kent State. It had snowed earlier in the week and we had clinched the title the previous week. We still drew @ 20,000 IIRC.

[Falconfreak90]

I love the BG/UT game as the last week of the season. I can't see this changing anytime soon. ESPN seems to love this matchup for TV...although I'd much rather see it on a Saturday like 2003, even with a noon kickoff.

[1987alum]

Well...in 1991 we won the MAC. Our final game was a home date with Kent State. It had snowed earlier in the week and we had clinched the title the previous week. We still drew @ 20,000 IIRC.

Flip: But let's make Kent the last game in the 2006 schedule. We had little chance of winning the MAC and it was @ Kent State. Predicted attendance? Not much.

[Flipper]

think the mindset that says we won't draw against a given opponent is becominga crutch to paper over and justify some generally lackluster marketing efforts.

I also acknowledge that cable TV forever changed the landscape for conferences like the MAC. When I was a youngin' we had Toledo and Detroit for TV and the Blade and Toledo Times for newspapers. when the Times folded in 1975, the Detroit dailies widened distribution in Toledo.

We got a lot of OSU and UM shoved down our throats, but we also got a lot of MAC coverage that wasn't drowned out by 24 hour sports networks with dickweeds like Trev Alberts and assmunchers like Craig James who belittled conference.

The local coverage wasn't drowned out, so we seemed like a bigger deal than we do now to our base. I think that's the central issue we need to overcome to improve attendance...we need to build the perception that we're worht watching even if we aren't "big time"

[1987alum]

think the mindset that says we won't draw against a given opponent is becominga crutch to paper over and justify some generally lackluster marketing efforts.

Agreed. If we're at home, we should draw. Period. Our home attendance last year was painful.

My focus was on the road. If we're at Kent State for the last game of 2005, the attendance is going to stink on ice.

[Flipper]

That's Kent's problem...if they have no interest in fixing it, I'm not sure we can do anything about it. I really dislike the notion that we have to back load our schedule with our toughest games all coming in the last few weeks because Kent can't convince more than a few hundred people to wander out to the trailer park atmosphere at Dix Stadium

[1987alum]

That's Kent's problem...if they have no interest in fixing it, I'm not sure we can do anything about it. I really dislike the notion that we have to back load our schedule with our toughest games all coming in the last few weeks because Kent can't convince more than a few hundred people to wander out to the trailer park atmosphere at Dix Stadium

Flip: I agree with you, 100%. I'm just trying to present potential reasons for having the BG-UT game locked in at the end of the schedule.

[orangeandbrown]

think the mindset that says we won't draw against a given opponent is becominga crutch to paper over and justify some generally lackluster marketing efforts.

Agreed. If we're at home, we should draw. Period. Our home attendance last year was painful.

My focus was on the road. If we're at Kent State for the last game of 2005, the attendance is going to stink on ice.

Well, maybe we should, but in reality, the only opponent we draw for consistently is Toledo. If we're going to play a game in November in the cold, its better for it to be Toledo than kent. If we're going to play on a great day in October, why waste it on Toledo?

So why didn't we draw against Akron? Because we don't have the kind of fan base that loyally shows up to every game.

[1987alum]

o&b:

The turnout for Western was even more perplexing. The team was 3-0 in the MAC, coming off a road victory and it was Family Weekend. And fewer than 14,000 show up.

Drawing less than 10K for Akron was bad, but at least you could cite the combination of people jumping off the bandwagon and Omar being hurt.

Either way, our attendance in 2005 was bad.

[hammb]

o&b:

The turnout for Western was even more perplexing. The team was 3-0 in the MAC, coming off a road victory and it was Family Weekend. And fewer than 14,000 show up.

I think that's probably because the teams we had beaten in the MAC were pretty much nobodies. We lost to Wisconsin, and got shellacked by BSU. Those losses took a lot of wind out of the sails of the fanbase. Even our 3-0 were not the dominant wins we expected. I think by that point it was pretty apparent that we were not nearly the team we hoped to be. Combine that with WMU being seen as another patsy that we should roll over on, and you have a recipe for poor attendance in BG.


Of course I don't remember too much of that game, so I could be way off base...Crown & Orange Twist Smirnoff all over the stands

[always a falcon]

Remember, we were the last team in the nation to have a home game. We had some trouble on the road, and "people" (casual football fans) were turned off before they ever had a chance to see us play in person.

Get us home early in the season in a pretty much win game, and start the attendance off right.