While we're at it, let's beat this dead horse, too

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:51 pm

If you need a break from lambasting Brandon, take a moment to moan about our home attendance.

Many, including Krebs, knew the 2005 schedule was not the recipe for big numbers, but I'll bet even he is disappointed with the end result. I wanted to dig up the preseason predictions some folks made, expecting us to average 20K or more, but, well, just looking at these numbers is painful enough.

BG's average home attendance for 2005: 14,929
Yup, less than 15,000.

For some perspective, here's how the MAC shapes up.

NIU: 23,130 (pending today's game)
Toledo: 21,817
WMU: 18,906
Ohio: 18,033
CMU: 15,971
Miami: 15,240
BGSU: 14,929
Balls Tate: 12,952
Temple: 12,735
Akron: 11,380 * (pending Thursday's game)
Buffalo: 8,914
Kent State: 6,734 * (no attendance report for BG game)
EMU: 6,413

Want some lemon juice for this paper cut?

Toledo had only one game where they drew less than our biggest crowd. NIU is in the same boat (pending today's game).

Ohio had only one crowd smaller than our average. And even without the big Pitt game, they averaged more than 16,000.

Buffalo drew more for Rutgers than we drew for Toledo.

BGSU-Ph.D. · Post by **BGSU-Ph.D.** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:59 pm

I think that many of the schools in the MAC overreport their attendance. You know, like BG did up until this year.

For example, it certainly didn't look like 21,000 were at the UT - NIU game.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:03 pm

Our "fans" are a bunch of front running candy asses. Give them a big conference game early like NIU in 2003 and they show up. Hang a couple of early season losses on the team (like 2004 and 2005) and they stay home .

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:22 pm

I suppose this is the time to really study the attendance rule and see what it takes to stay I-A.

My impression: As long as we meet the requirement every other year, we should be okay. Assuming we get a good crowd for the Wisconsin opener (I'm thinking 30,000-plus), we ought to be okay next year.

I can't believe we didn't hit 15,000. Shocked, shocked, shocked.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:34 pm

Schadenfreude wrote:I can't believe we didn't hit 15,000. Shocked, shocked, shocked.

Schade: Having 17K last night sealed the deal. If we had 356 more in attendance last night, we would have averaged 15K for the season.

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:37 pm

17! Was that all it was. Seemed like more.

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 12:12 am

Flipper wrote:Our "fans" are a bunch of front running candy asses. Give them a big conference game early like NIU in 2003 and they show up. Hang a couple of early season losses on the team (like 2004 and 2005) and they stay home .

Can't argue with that.

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 9:16 am

Flipper wrote:Our "fans" are a bunch of front running candy asses. Give them a big conference game early like NIU in 2003 and they show up. Hang a couple of early season losses on the team (like 2004 and 2005) and they stay home .

Well said, Flip.

Tswam · Post by **Tswam** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 9:26 am

Flipper wrote:Our "fans" are a bunch of front running candy asses. Give them a big conference game early like NIU in 2003 and they show up. Hang a couple of early season losses on the team (like 2004 and 2005) and they stay home .

I couldn't agree with you more. That's the way it's always been at BG.

NIUBIGGS · Post by **NIUBIGGS** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 10:20 am

Tenn Tech 26123

Miami OH 20023

E. Mich 27641

Balls 18732

W. Mich 18361

Total 110880

average 22176

I have been very pleased with our attendance the last 3 years...but can also remember how very very empty our stadium was 5-6 years ago.

cbjhack · Post by **cbjhack** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 10:58 am

According to NCAA you have to average 15,000 over a two year period. Depending on what we averaged last season and will average next year, we are pretty safe. But to the person who said we have a bunch of candyass fans. I couldn't agree more. As I have said in other posts, 50,000 or more showed up to the Snow Bowl game in 1950 to watch OSU and Michigan. Interesting considering most people in C-deck couldn't see the field. You don't see too many empty seats in Cleveland Browns stadium in late December when the Brownies are 7-8 and out of the play-offs, do you?

Of course, next year with the Wisconsin game in Cleveland we better get 35,000. Regardless of whether most of the people are Badger fans, we get credit as a home game, or should get credit. That should help seal attendance above the 15,000 mark.

BelieveNBG · Post by **BelieveNBG** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 12:48 pm

One big attendance problem was not having a home game until October. We finally have a home game and it's Temple and it's October. A team that had much hype had been beaten nationally in two of the first 3 games and all the hype was lost. Toledo was a front runner all year. Their first loss was against Fresno. Their first MAC loss was at the end of October, so it was easier for the band wagon fans to stay with the team and attend the games.

Unfortunately, in order to have good attendance, you need the band wagon fans at the game. When you are not the "hot" team, those fans are not going to come to the game. It certainly doesn't help if you are asking them to come sit in the cold. We have got to have home games in September. Some folks wait all year for football to finally get here and then we make them wait an extra month. Poor scheduling in my opinion.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 1:20 pm

BelieveNBG wrote:One big attendance problem was not having a home game until October. We finally have a home game and it's Temple and it's October.

Oddly enough, that was our biggest crowd of the year, too.[/QUOTE]

BelieveNBG wrote:A team that had much hype had been beaten nationally in two of the first 3 games and all the hype was lost.

Yeah, if the team had started hot, I'd bet we'd have see more than 20K for Temple and bigger crowds than we saw for the other games, too.

BelieveNBG wrote:Some folks wait all year for football to finally get here and then we make them wait an extra month. Poor scheduling in my opinion.

Krebs said the same thing at the beginning of the year and seemed to put the blame squarely on the MAC. If they had given us a home game instead of Ball State on the road for our second contest, I think we'd have seen a much higher overall number for the year. They compounded the problem by giving us a home date during Fall break. We drew a decent crowd for Ohio (I added 2 -

), but, again, it could've been better with better timing.

But the Akron game has to be considered a major disappointment, not only in regard to the final score, but attendance-wise. It was a huge game in regard to the MAC East (think of how big it looks now!) and we drew less than 10K.

You're right about needing bandwagon fans to pack the place. And I think Flip has described the situation perfectly.

jjwasil · Post by **jjwasil** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 2:26 pm

I think we need to make our rivalry game easier for students to attend. Every year its the same story, a lot of students have to leave town for vacation. Maybe they should move the BG v UT game back a week or something. I think by making the game as accessable as possible, more students may get excited for football games throughout the seasons.

I say the hell with making it convenient for espn, lets make it convenient for our fans for damn sake.

doughash · Post by **doughash** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:22 pm

I guess the fact that our best attended game by far in the last 2 seasons was against a 1-AA team shows that for our fan base when you play is more important than who you play. I agree that the Akron crowd was by far the most disappointing this year. It was a beautiful fall day, with a game time temp near 60 degrees and only 9000 show up. I know the Western loss was tough for some to swallow but not to draw at least 13,000 or 14,000 for Akron really surprised me.