NCAA rule presses UB on attendance
By RODNEY MCKISSIC
News Sports Reporter
7/17/2004

With the NCAA's minimum football attendance requirement scheduled to start this season, the University at Buffalo continues to search for more ways to put more fans in UB Stadium. If it doesn't, it could jeopardize the Bulls' Division I-A status.
And the Bulls aren't the only ones with a serious case of low-attendance-itis.

The NCAA is implementing a rule this fall requiring an average of 15,000 fans per home game in actual attendance - not tickets sold - to remain at I-A. It is the most contentious of a list of increased membership standards that was originally put into action to slow a migration of I-AA schools to I-A, not kick schools out.

UB ranked 111th of 117 I-A schools last season, averaging 12,419 per home game. Five other Mid-American Conference teams - Central Michigan, Akron, Ball State, Eastern Michigan and Kent State - and 11 schools total, fell below 15,000.

"There's always concerns because of our history of drawing fans in Western New York," said Bill Maher, UB's interim athletics director. "When we play five games, one or two of those are going to be in November and it is difficult to try and attract larger crowds at the end of the season."

The Bulls have drawn well for their home opener the last three seasons, averaging 21,361 fans in games against Rutgers, Lehigh and Colgate. Yet UB suffered unexpected blowout losses to Lehigh and Colgate and attendance for the remainder of those seasons tailed off considerably. Buffalo has won only two home games - both against Ohio University - the last three seasons.

"We want to build this as competitively and as quickly as we can," Maher said. "We're trying to make it as attractive as we can and build our fan base from there."

In an April meeting, the NCAA's Division I Board of Directors discussed attendance concerns, plus the penalty or consequences for not reaching those standards. The proposed penalties were if a school doesn't qualify in the first year, it would be placed on probationary membership. A second year of noncompliance means bowl ineligibility and a third year means the institution would be reclassified to I-AA but wouldn't be allowed to compete for the I-AA national championship.

Those proposals were tabled, and the board meets again in August, when a decision on penalties is expected. Two presidents, however, Carol Cartwright of Kent State and Wyoming's Philip Dubois, have publicly expressed concerns over the attendance requirements. Kent State, which averaged 8,524 fans last season, ranked last in the country in attendance.

"There is a growing feeling among key members of the NCAA Board of Directors that are questioning the need for Division I-A membership criteria," Maher said. "They are really trying to understand what is it gaining for us, how does it advance the NCAA's objectives? What is the goal?"

As for UB, the school is scaling back some of the larger promotions such as Tony Hawk performances and Shaggy concerts because they don't necessarily retain football fans. After Hawk completed his halftime routine two years ago during a game against Connecticut, most of the fans departed.

This year, UB is creating a tailgate area in front of UB Stadium and a large tent will be placed nearby for pregame shows. UB has thus far sold 4,000 season tickets, up 300 from last season.

But most of UB's marketing efforts are being pumped into the Syracuse University game on Sept. 11, which could go a long way to determining whether or not the Bulls meet the attendance requirement. UB has five home games: SU, Central Florida, Miami (Ohio), Kent State and Central Michigan. If UB sells out the Orange game at 31,000 capacity and averages the same amount of fans for its remaining four games as it did last season (12,419), it would meet the attendance requirement with an average of 16,135.

UB has sold 8,400 tickets for the SU game and 7,500 are allotted for students, Maher said. That leaves slightly more than 15,000 tickets remaining.

The school has already marketed the game on campus for faculty and staff and used direct mail advertising. Television, radio and print ads will be used throughout August. Former Olympian Bruce Jenner will be on campus to speak with the student-athletes on how to prepare for championship competition. Country singer Lee Ann Womack will sing the national anthem.

"It's just another thing to draw fans to the game, but it's different from the way we've done it in the past," Maher said. "It's not on the same level as concerts and things of that nature. The focus is to create and retain football fans and get people involved in UB."

The largest crowd at UB Stadium was 22,658, on Aug. 30, 2001 against Rutgers, which was coach Jim Hofher's debut. The largest crowd to see a UB home game was 26,126, on Sept. 29, 1951, in War Memorial Stadium against Colgate.

"We're anticipating a sellout, we're really working toward that," Maher said. "It's not a given, but we have every expectation that we'll break the UB Stadium record."



Attendance

A list of Division I-A schools that ranked under 15,000 in attendance for the 2003 season. Michigan ranked No. 1, averaging 110,918 over seven games:
Teams Games Avg.
Utah State 5 14,921
La.-Lafayette 6 13,995
Central Michigan 6 13,907
Akron 6 13,812
BUFFALO 6 12,419
Ball State 6 12,339
Idaho 5 12,064
Louisiana-Monroe 5 11,298
Eastern Michigan 7 11,258
Middle Tennessee 6 11,021
Kent State 6 8,524


e-mail: rmckissic@buffnews.com



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