Does anyone have a clue about what the ratings are for those games. I would take Saturdays and give up the exposure - I think it has minimal impact. Get on cable for Saturday games. I would be fine with one weeknight game but that is enough.

Lets not forget that 4 top 10 teams played on a Thursday night this week.

(11-09-2013 05:47 PM)BobL Wrote:  Lets not forget that 4 top 10 teams played on a Thursday night this week.

How many games does each team play midweek? Also it's easier to do that when you're playing in California and Texas and you don't have to worry about snow and freezing temperatures.

(11-09-2013 05:17 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:13 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:08 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:05 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:03 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  Be very careful what you wish for. Someday NIU will wiff when replacing the HC and our attendance will suck with a losing team. Look at Miami's attendance this season even with their rich football tradition.

+1. We've had mostly paltry attendance the past 4 years with a team that won every time at home. What will it be if we start losing?

The question was whether the MAC cared about attendance and the answer is no, at least when weighing whether to put the backend of the league schedule on national TV midweek at the expense of butts in the seats.

An I will go on record as saying even if NIU experiences a downturn in the program, they will not report attendance anywhere near Eastern Michigan levels. 3,000 fans for a Saturday home game in September is beyond pathetic. If the MAC is cool with that, then you know exactly where the leagues priorities lie.

We already know where the league's priorities lie, based on all the weekday games. If we had 1 game a year on a weeknight, fine, I can live with it for exposure. 3? And 2 out of our 5 home games?

I stand corrected on EMU's attendance, per the main MAC board they set a new season low today with 2K fans in attendance. And you wonder why NIU isn't taken seriously when taking about the top teams in all of FBS. We have a great program and have had some nice wins over P5 programs but the bottom of the MAC more closely resembles a community college.

Yeah, we're not being taken seriously because of EMU's attendance.

(11-09-2013 05:17 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  We have a great program and have had some nice wins over P5 programs but the bottom of the MAC more closely resembles a community college.

We've had a great program since Novak turned things around. You have NO perspective on the past. As badmoonrising 13 noted, "Been there and done that. Charlie Sadler era." The ratings haven't been that tremendous and by the time the ESPN money gets sliced, diced and handed out, it's not that much. As NIU007 noted, it's easier to play midweek in California or Texas, plus when they're doing it only once a season -- not three -- it's still somewhat unique. As niusfactuary pointed out, Herbsh.it & Co. are biased simply because of EMU's attendance. Go around town and find out how much the local businesses despise these midweek games and then you won't be so surprised when they start holding back some support. The time and the place for the ESPN deal has come and gone. You cannot convince me that a midweek game in front of half-empty stands is as valuable exposure or a boost to recruiting as much as NIU playing in a real bowl game, or someone from the MAC knocking off a P5 team -- almost always on the road since the majority of those schools will only schedule us as a home game. You can keep on thinking ESPN exposure is the secret to success all you want, but it's clearly no longer a secret ESPN only wants the rich to get richer. That's why they have anal-ysts saying there should be a cap on how high to vote an NIU, Fresno, etc.

I think the benefits from the exposure need to be quantified. If the exposure helped the MAC, it would be improving relative to the other conferences. That's a hard comparison now since the other non-AQs have gotten weaker due to realignment. So we'd have to compare to P5 conferences I think (and not AAC). Is the MAC getting better quality recruits? Is our attendance higher? Are they having more success on the field vs. P5 schools? How else would we measure it?

(11-09-2013 05:43 PM)RedShark27 Wrote:  Does anyone have a clue about what the ratings are for those games. I would take Saturdays and give up the exposure - I think it has minimal impact. Get on cable for Saturday games. I would be fine with one weeknight game but that is enough.

+1

(11-09-2013 07:30 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I think the benefits from the exposure need to be quantified. If the exposure helped the MAC, it would be improving relative to the other conferences. That's a hard comparison now since the other non-AQs have gotten weaker due to realignment. So we'd have to compare to P5 conferences I think (and not AAC). Is the MAC getting better quality recruits? No. Is our attendance higher?no Are they having more success on the field vs. P5 schools? NoHow else would we measure it?

(11-09-2013 07:30 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I think the benefits from the exposure need to be quantified. If the exposure helped the MAC, it would be improving relative to the other conferences. That's a hard comparison now since the other non-AQs have gotten weaker due to realignment. So we'd have to compare to P5 conferences I think (and not AAC). Is the MAC getting better quality recruits? Is our attendance higher? Are they having more success on the field vs. P5 schools? How else would we measure it?

There is a strong case to be made that NIU would not be where they are without the midweek games, Novak, Kill and Doeren stated how the exposure helped recruiting. Thats not quantification but it is all I need.

From HUskiewire article:

The midweek games averaged roughly 470,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. A Wednesday night matchup of Bowling Green and Ohio was the highest-rated midweek game with 719,000 viewers. NIU's lone midweek contest of the year, a Wednesday night game against Toledo at Huskie Stadium, drew 557,000 viewers.

"The MAC owns midweek football," said Tom Valdiserri, the executive vice president of KemperLesnik, a sports event marketing and public relations firm based in the Chicago area. "From a conference perspective it's raised the bar on awareness and familiarity throughout the country, as well as the schools who play."


"Any time you can put your team out there in the national exposure, it separates from other conferences," first-year NIU athletic director Sean Frazier said. "The fact that we have a relationship with ESPN, the fact that we have a relationship with college football gives us that platform. I think that's a wonderful thing.

"And it's something you need for recruiting and exposure. It's a great thing for the conference."

(11-09-2013 07:30 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I think the benefits from the exposure need to be quantified. If the exposure helped the MAC, it would be improving relative to the other conferences. That's a hard comparison now since the other non-AQs have gotten weaker due to realignment. So we'd have to compare to P5 conferences I think (and not AAC). Is the MAC getting better quality recruits? Is our attendance higher? Are they having more success on the field vs. P5 schools? How else would we measure it?

The espn contract pays more (not billions more) than the lost revenue from a reduced gate. That's....some....quantification.

(11-09-2013 07:02 PM)niusfactuary Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:17 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:13 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:08 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:05 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

I stand corrected on EMU's attendance, per the main MAC board they set a new season low today with 2K fans in attendance. And you wonder why NIU isn't taken seriously when taking about the top teams in all of FBS. We have a great program and have had some nice wins over P5 programs but the bottom of the MAC more closely resembles a community college.

Yeah, we're not being taken seriously because of EMU's attendance.

Not quite. What it does say though is that standards are low and mediocrity is acceptable in this league and when you have programs drawing less than Division III programs and playing football at about the same level we all lose. Looking at it that way makes it pretty easy to why it is so hard to gain respect on a national level from playing in the MAC.

(11-09-2013 08:09 PM)The Frisky Biscuit Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 07:30 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I think the benefits from the exposure need to be quantified. If the exposure helped the MAC, it would be improving relative to the other conferences. That's a hard comparison now since the other non-AQs have gotten weaker due to realignment. So we'd have to compare to P5 conferences I think (and not AAC). Is the MAC getting better quality recruits? Is our attendance higher? Are they having more success on the field vs. P5 schools? How else would we measure it?

The espn contract pays more (not billions more) than the lost revenue from a reduced gate. That's....some....quantification.

Ok. Then they can't complain about attendance. How many NIU fans will stay home to watch it within their warm family room on a big screen tv. Or go to a warm bar where they can drink. How many can't make it because of work? 3 straight weeks of freezing weather. NIU would still be getting exposure because we are good and we are beating the Big 10.

(11-09-2013 07:20 PM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:17 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  We have a great program and have had some nice wins over P5 programs but the bottom of the MAC more closely resembles a community college.

We've had a great program since Novak turned things around. You have NO perspective on the past. As badmoonrising 13 noted, "Been there and done that. Charlie Sadler era." The ratings haven't been that tremendous and by the time the ESPN money gets sliced, diced and handed out, it's not that much. As NIU007 noted, it's easier to play midweek in California or Texas, plus when they're doing it only once a season -- not three -- it's still somewhat unique. As niusfactuary pointed out, Herbsh.it & Co. are biased simply because of EMU's attendance. Go around town and find out how much the local businesses despise these midweek games and then you won't be so surprised when they start holding back some support. The time and the place for the ESPN deal has come and gone. You cannot convince me that a midweek game in front of half-empty stands is as valuable exposure or a boost to recruiting as much as NIU playing in a real bowl game, or someone from the MAC knocking off a P5 team -- almost always on the road since the majority of those schools will only schedule us as a home game. You can keep on thinking ESPN exposure is the secret to success all you want, but it's clearly no longer a secret ESPN only wants the rich to get richer. That's why they have anal-ysts saying there should be a cap on how high to vote an NIU, Fresno, etc.

I am against the midweek games just as much as the rest but as long as we are in the the MAC our hands are tied. I think the solution is to pursue the AAC. I just turned on the television to see UCF and Houston on ESPN2. Saturday night, primetime game. When was the last time the MAC had a Saturday night conference game on ESPN. That would be us sitting at 9 - 0 and nationally ranked.

(11-09-2013 08:17 PM)NIU17 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 08:09 PM)The Frisky Biscuit Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 07:30 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I think the benefits from the exposure need to be quantified. If the exposure helped the MAC, it would be improving relative to the other conferences. That's a hard comparison now since the other non-AQs have gotten weaker due to realignment. So we'd have to compare to P5 conferences I think (and not AAC). Is the MAC getting better quality recruits? Is our attendance higher? Are they having more success on the field vs. P5 schools? How else would we measure it?

The espn contract pays more (not billions more) than the lost revenue from a reduced gate. That's....some....quantification.

Ok. Then they can't complain about attendance. How many NIU fans will stay home to watch it within their warm family room on a big screen tv. Or go to a warm bar where they can drink. How many can't make it because of work? 3 straight weeks of freezing weather. NIU would still be getting exposure because we are good and we are beating the Big 10.

It's a tradeoff. You want to have an awesome home field advantage and you don't want to screw over your loyal fans....but money is just really hard to turn down.

If someone wants to donate enough money to NIU and the MAC to allow them to play on Saturdays, I'd be for that.

Ratings for all national TV games last year, including MACtion:

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2012/12/...is-season/

Ratings are NOT that bad.

(11-09-2013 03:45 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 03:05 PM)RedShark27 Wrote:  A beautiful Saturday in November wasted without a NIU home game because of the idiotic MAC. And they wonder why they can't build attendance and tradition.

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

If we played Ball State today, we'd have over 24K attendance and turning people away at the gates. There would be scalping galore.

This was our bye week no matter what...the ball st NiU game would have been next Saturday.

(11-09-2013 08:40 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 03:45 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 03:05 PM)RedShark27 Wrote:  A beautiful Saturday in November wasted without a NIU home game because of the idiotic MAC. And they wonder why they can't build attendance and tradition.

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

If we played Ball State today, we'd have over 24K attendance and turning people away at the gates. There would be scalping galore.

This was our bye week no matter what...the ball st NiU game would have been next Saturday.

I thought week 2 was our bye week, had to make our way upto Moscow, thanks jiff.