Say it ain't so...........Sad day for the MAC

[gmartin]

Boise goes down to Air Force. Eliminates them. If WMU wins out they should be going to Cotton Bowl. Navy has an outside chance. No Boise. No Houston.

[Flipper]

Got to say that WMU deserves it...assuming they win out ...although they'll try like hell to get Navy in there for the name value.

They've been keeping WMU low all year. In season's past an unbeaten MAC team would he higher than the low 20's

[kdog27]

Yeah they definitely will do anything they can to sneak Navy up those rankings.

[Falconfreak90]

WMU is legit Top 15...God I hope they demolish OU and get to that NYD Bowl.

[hammb]

WMU is legit Top 15...God I hope they demolish OU and get to that NYD Bowl.

I hope so too. If for no other reason than the fact that WMU going to a big bowl game likely brings a bigger paycheck to BG than anything we've done all year outside of, maybe, the OSU game.

Those dollars mean SO much for our conference, I'll be pissed if they don't get in when they do really deserve it. Doesn't hurt that Corey Davis has legit top 50, and perhaps first round, draft potential

[gmartin]

Wyoming and San Diego State both lost last night. No way that MW Conference will jump WMU now. Their conference champ will have AT LEAST 3 losses.

It's either WMU or Navy. In the polls today WMU in 14 and Navy jumped to 20. Can a 10-2 Navy or 10-3 Temple jump WMU. Also what happens if Navy is selected over WMU and then goes on to lose in the Army Navy game. I think it's pretty much a lock for WMU. With several teams losing ahead of them this week especially the teams in the teens WMU should be about 15 in the CFP.

[Class of 61]

WMU is legit Top 15...God I hope they demolish OU and get to that NYD Bowl.

I hope so too. If for no other reason than the fact that WMU going to a big bowl game likely brings a bigger paycheck to BG than anything we've done all year outside of, maybe, the OSU game.

Those dollars mean SO much for our conference, I'll be pissed if they don't get in when they do really deserve it. Doesn't hurt that Corey Davis has legit top 50, and perhaps first round, draft potential

Hambb, good points about the cash flow for ALL MAC teams if WMU gets to Cotton Bowl. We had a talk w/ BG official couple of weeks ago. Seems that ALL Bowl money plus ESPN Maction tv games etc. is pooled, then shared by ALL MAC teams. Not sure how the " non bowl eligibles" fit into this. At any rate BG got approx. 1.3 Mill. Last yr., which is why they agree to the weeknite games in Nov. doubt they'd make that much from Sat. Day games.

[FalconTurf]

WMU is legit Top 15...God I hope they demolish OU and get to that NYD Bowl.

I hope so too. If for no other reason than the fact that WMU going to a big bowl game likely brings a bigger paycheck to BG than anything we've done all year outside of, maybe, the OSU game.

Those dollars mean SO much for our conference, I'll be pissed if they don't get in when they do really deserve it. Doesn't hurt that Corey Davis has legit top 50, and perhaps first round, draft potential

Hambb, good points about the cash flow for ALL MAC teams if WMU gets to Cotton Bowl. We had a talk w/ BG official couple of weeks ago. Seems that ALL Bowl money plus ESPN Maction tv games etc. is pooled, then shared by ALL MAC teams. Not sure how the " non bowl eligibles" fit into this. At any rate BG got approx. 1.3 Mill. Last yr., which is why they agree to the weeknite games in Nov. doubt they'd make that much from Sat. Day games.

25,000 x $20 = $500,000. So that one home game played on Tuesday instead of Saturday is made up for. Obviously that is a little inflated considering students are paying whether they attend or not and season ticket holders are paying either way.

On the other hand loyalty is priceless. What does a Tuesday game really cost?

[gmartin]

Maybe electric rates for the lights are cheaper on Tuesday rather than on a weekend.

[transfer2BGSU]

25,000 x $20 = $500,000. So that one home game played on Tuesday instead of Saturday is made up for. Obviously that is a little inflated considering students are paying whether they attend or not and season ticket holders are paying either way.

On the other hand loyalty is priceless. What does a Tuesday game really cost?

Falconturf, not sure if I'm reading your comments above correctly (and this is not meant to be a flippant post)

25,000?

For a home game on a Saturday in November?

They better move Family Weekend and Homecoming to November and pray for good weather, because we are never going to see that many at a November home game without some type of promotion (unless we're undefeated and playing for a chance for New Years Day bowl game).

I've said it before. The University Presidents of the MAC schools are the ones who have us playing on weeknights in November. They see it as advertising that our institutions cannot normally afford to pay for. Every time they come back from a commercial (we had over 45 minutes of commercials in the Kent State game alone) they say the name of the university the game is being played at; they show a campus shot. That is big bucks right there. In addition, we get two national ads each game (and then BGSU also purchases a number of regional ads in areas we want to target - for prospective students as well as alums and donations). Weeknight games are not just athletic events - they are recruiting events; they are fund raising events; they are feel-good events. Maybe because we were on TV, some alum with a few bucks decides to make a donation to the university. It might not be for athletics - they may donate money for the library, the College of Business, or for an endowed scholarship. BGSU is not just an athletic department, it's a university.

From my admissions/enrollment point-of-view, I totally understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. Got to look at the B!G picture.

[MarkL]

How many did we draw in 2012 for Kent State? I ask that because I cannot think of another Saturday November home game since. I also cannot think of a better and higher stake home conference game since.
I believe if the conference moves one premiere midweek game each week to Saturday, they would find packed crowds and exciting atmospheres at the stadiums. I know midweek games are here and they're not going away, but that 2012 BG/Kent game shows just what a late season Saturday game can actually be.

[Flipper]

Does the 45 minute commercial on ESPN3 mean a f**king thing? Nobody is watching unless they took the time and effort to search it out. So far as home attendance goes...yeah..you do virtually everything in your power to drive fans away from attending the games so they can be a TV show instead of a sporting event and the live attendance will suffer.

[apollo]

Whatever we're doing isn't working for BG. Can't afford the sports we sponsor and slowly killing our fan base...every year the community and alumni become a little more disengaged from BGSU athletics.

[factman]

25,000 x $20 = $500,000. So that one home game played on Tuesday instead of Saturday is made up for. Obviously that is a little inflated considering students are paying whether they attend or not and season ticket holders are paying either way.

On the other hand loyalty is priceless. What does a Tuesday game really cost?

Falconturf, not sure if I'm reading your comments above correctly (and this is not meant to be a flippant post)

25,000?

For a home game on a Saturday in November?

They better move Family Weekend and Homecoming to November and pray for good weather, because we are never going to see that many at a November home game without some type of promotion (unless we're undefeated and playing for a chance for New Years Day bowl game).

I've said it before. The University Presidents of the MAC schools are the ones who have us playing on weeknights in November. They see it as advertising that our institutions cannot normally afford to pay for. Every time they come back from a commercial (we had over 45 minutes of commercials in the Kent State game alone) they say the name of the university the game is being played at; they show a campus shot. That is big bucks right there. In addition, we get two national ads each game (and then BGSU also purchases a number of regional ads in areas we want to target - for prospective students as well as alums and donations). Weeknight games are not just athletic events - they are recruiting events; they are fund raising events; they are feel-good events. Maybe because we were on TV, some alum with a few bucks decides to make a donation to the university. It might not be for athletics - they may donate money for the library, the College of Business, or for an endowed scholarship. BGSU is not just an athletic department, it's a university.

From my admissions/enrollment point-of-view, I totally understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. Got to look at the B!G picture.

If all that is true, the "university" should be paying the athletic department for their services, just as the athletic
department has to pay the university for the services they provide to the department.

[guest44]

Ya, I'm sure prospective students are locked into ESPNU on a Tuesday night. I assume these people don't have kids that age, because they aren't watching that. The majority of people watching these midweek games are gamblers, and only because they have action on the game. If this is the case, take the 400-500K you spend on a bad football coach, and just buy national advertising.