RE: Big East attendance
I'm going to take the attendance in a different direction.
Going into the New Big East, the two things most thought would be crucial to the Big East's perception as a BCS football conference by the media were regular season attendance and bowl-traveling fans.
We need a lot of work on the latter still, but the attendance concerns I feel are being addressed. Of course, it's all relative. For the Big East, SEC type crowds are NOT the expectation. However, 35K and above should be.
With Pitt and Syracuse, they simply need competitive teams and decent competition and they will return to their usual 40K plus (sometimes 50K plus with Pitt when they get a good ND at home and are competitive).
Both Rutgers and Louisville are talking expansion. Hopefully the speed bumps both programs are experiencing this year doesn't slow that down.
Going into the New Big East the question marks were UConn, USF and especially Cincinnati.
I always felt that UConn would hold their own. They get plenty of support within the state, so as long as they continued to show improvement, they would be fine.
I'm a little surprised by their slight dropoff in attendance this year even though they are 5-0. Have to think that they will need to schedule better in order to continue to get close to max and have any hope of expanding in the future. Still, it's UConn. Somehow, they'll get the job done.
Tampa is like Miami and most northeastern cities. As long as the Bulls win, they will be more than fine. However, if they have a mediocre season, they still need to average 35K. It's too early to say whether this will happen or not. But for now, with them winning, they are exceeding expectations.
So, the real attendance question mark remains Cincinnati, which is handicapped somewhat by a stadium that is maxed at 35K (a figure I think should be the minimum standard for the Big East in terms of football).
I think the combination of Kelly and winning is addressing the concerns here and perhaps getting one marquee game at Paul Brown stadium each year will address the small size of the stadium until they can expand in the future.
So, in terms of attendance, three years into the NBE, I think the league is more than holding its own.
Cheers,
Neil
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