...from Mr. Hackenberg of the Toledo Blade. I agree.

http://www.toledoblade.com/DaveHackenber...uster.html

On the flipside, well over a million people will probably view the game. Rockets-NIU could be the talk of the nation's sport scene tomorrow morning like the 63-60 game was in 2011. Whether or not the Toledo community shows up for a big time event is a reflection of them not what is happening on the field. We all know the old saying "Excuses are like...
everybody's got one." That how I feel about MAC midweek games.

(11-20-2013 06:20 AM)SylvaniaRocket Wrote:  ...from Mr. Hackenberg of the Toledo Blade. I agree.

http://www.toledoblade.com/DaveHackenber...uster.html

I never bought the recruiting angle. Back when these weeknight ESPN games started, not every MAC school was on TV. Only the good ones. And UT got more than its fair share of televised games. I never saw a correlation between the ESPN games and "better than the rest of the MAC" recruiting classes.

Just because the game is being televised doesn't mean people are watching. It looks good on paper before and after the season, but unless you're vested in the team or schools, are Californians or Texans really hanging on the edge of their seats to watch MAC games? Earlier this season on a random week night I was flipping through the channels and caught an Arkansas State game. I stayed on long enough to see the score, noticed the stadium was empty and this was a beautiful late fall night. I could care less about Ark St, and flipped to a Law and Order re-run I've seen 40 times. I love football but usually don't watch unless I have an interest in a MAC team or a team in our region i.e. the Big 14. If I catch Indiana playing Purdue, I'll probably stay with it until the next commercial, slightly longer than the Ark State game. I watched all of the BSU vs. NIU game because the outcome affected our game. The Texas vs. Oklahoma game could be on a Wednesday night I can could care less, becaue I don't have any interest in those teams....cue Law and Order.

Also why 8 p.m. vs 7 p.m.? What ESPN 30/30 re-run can't they delay for us to start the game earlier. Heaven forbid it's close and goes into overtime at 1 a.m.

These games may increase exposure, but also reinforce to the rest of the country that our (MAC) teams are irrelevant when they see an empty stadium. Last week, my buddy called during the UB game and asked where our fans were. He could not understand why so few came out to support the team and university. I can see how many in the MAC struggle to fill there stadiums due to their remote locations, but UT is in a decent sized city and should have no problem filling up the Glass Bowl. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but man, it is frustrating to see such poor attendance.

If our game is one of a only couple games on any network that night I can see some value. However, I really think they should be blacked out locally. Or maybe better yet, make them PPV locally at the cost of a GA ticket and UT gets a share of the proceeds. Maybe there is some value in broadcasting 1 game per year locally OTA to the general public, I don't know--maybe a projected sellout.

On a bit of a tangent, I think the importance of the TV market is somewhat overstated. For example, in our "market" I can understand the broadcasting of UM, OSU, and a few regional teams. (I'm talking the non-ESPN networks here.) But, why is our "market" force-fed PAC 10, SEC, etc. matchups? Those schools aren't in our "market," and I don't give two hoots about those games. Yet supposedly Toledo is less attractive to the Big East partially due to TV market share. It doesn't make sense to me.

(11-20-2013 08:42 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 06:20 AM)SylvaniaRocket Wrote:  ...from Mr. Hackenberg of the Toledo Blade. I agree.

http://www.toledoblade.com/DaveHackenber...uster.html

I never bought the recruiting angle. Back when these weeknight ESPN games started, not every MAC school was on TV. Only the good ones. And UT got more than its fair share of televised games. I never saw a correlation between the ESPN games and "better than the rest of the MAC" recruiting classes.

As you say, UT got more than its fair share of televised games. In addition, UT has out-recruited most of the MAC. I don't know why we've been able to out-recruit other schools, but the correlation between TV exposure and good recruiting at least suggests that there might be a cause/effect relationship there.

(11-20-2013 10:08 AM)Toledo Football 1st Wrote:  If our game is one of a only couple games on any network that night I can see some value. However, I really think they should be blacked out locally. Or maybe better yet, make them PPV locally at the cost of a GA ticket and UT gets a share of the proceeds. Maybe there is some value in broadcasting 1 game per year locally OTA to the general public, I don't know--maybe a projected sellout.

On a bit of a tangent, I think the importance of the TV market is somewhat overstated. For example, in our "market" I can understand the broadcasting of UM, OSU, and a few regional teams. (I'm talking the non-ESPN networks here.) But, why is our "market" force-fed PAC 10, SEC, etc. matchups? Those schools aren't in our "market," and I don't give two hoots about those games. Yet supposedly Toledo is less attractive to the Big East partially due to TV market share. It doesn't make sense to me.

If you are a true fan of "college football" you watch those teams. That's where the competition is the best(SEC/PAC10) with the best college athletes. Personally, I would never turn off a college game to watch a TV series. The joke about TV markets is the geographic size of some of them. The Orlando-Daytona-Melbourne TV market is often talked about in college sports.The distance from one part of the market to the other is almost 100 miles. Draw a 100 mile radius around Toledo, how big a populus do you get? UT ticket sales is another story. Again most business will change staff/the way they do things if the job is not getting done.

Anyways, today is a football day in the Glass Bowl- how lucky are those that get to see in person a talented Rocket FB team and pay homage to UT FB Seniors that have been a big part of the rebuilding of the program on and off the field.
Go R-R-Rockets!!!

The TV conversation has to pop up in the recruiting commentary with a kid. Toledo being on Television multiple times does sound more impressive when compared to EMU and has to be a bullet point on our recruiting prospectus. You would like to think the institution, the coaches, scheme, team and facilities are what get us superior recruits. Region does matter. I see more kids staying closer to home so mom and dad can watch. Last night on the news a Whitmer girls basketball player just signed with IPFW and she said she liked the team (felt like family) and the fact it was close to home so her parents could attend.

Rocket fans in the metro area are those who come to campus and support their teams. Besides the obvious indoors vs outdoors, what's the difference in a week night for football and basketball? If you support the team then support the team. I'm tired of hearing/reading excuses. Wonder if Hack took notice of the crowd in DeKalb (population 44K) for the Ball State game and I do believe that was held on a dang week night. BTW, NIU has an enrollment of less than 17K

Just stop it already!

(11-20-2013 07:47 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  On the flipside, well over a million people will probably view the game. Rockets-NIU could be the talk of the nation's sport scene tomorrow morning like the 63-60 game was in 2011. Whether or not the Toledo community shows up for a big time event is a reflection of them not what is happening on the field. We all know the old saying "Excuses are like...
everybody's got one." That how I feel about MAC midweek games.

I've always liked one or two midweek games as I think it significantly helps with recruiting. We don't have to compete with 50 other games on national or regional TV. The majority of high school players -- that dream of playing at the next level -- are watching midweek games.

I think in terms of recruiting, the initial contact with the player and then directing them to the games on TV helps. The thing that sucks about MAC recruiting is the risk. If you go for the prettiest girl at the dance you loose your girlfriend. Competing vs better schools is key. You guys do a great job of scheduling. Cudo's to your AD. Even though they were loses this year you guys competed. We need the rest of the conference to step up. I've always have had a love/hate view of the Rockets. Football only. We need to work on our other programs.

Weekday games are a double edge sword. There were over 1 million viewers for the Ball State game. The marketing value for the university as a whole is worth way more than a packed stadium untelevised game.

Sucks, but thats the reality of the MAC. We've had a lot of promotions to but butts in the seats this year. One was a season ticket package, 5 games for $50 and receive $50 in Huskie bucks to spend on concessions or parking. Almost free tickets. Vets at the last game could get in for a $1. You could buy tickets for the last two home games for $24. This is what we needed to do to try and show a full stadium for perception. All this is coming off a OB visit and being an hour west of Chicago. Embarrassing that a undefeated team ranked in the top 25 gets no support. I'd love to make the drive out to Toledo, but that would mean two days off of work and a Hotel and time away from my family. If it were a Saturday night, I would do it. Felt sorry for the Kent vs Ohio game that got scheduled on a Tuesday only to be bumped to ESPN3 for a college basketball game. Why play a weekday game for ESPN3. The same ESPN3 broadcast could have been done on a Saturday game and at least they could have had increased the attendance at the game.

Think this one will be a great one tonight.

Coaches can't find every player. Sometimes the player find us, especially if the player is out of our typical recruiting areas. Not competing with other televised games on a weeknight helps this process.

(11-20-2013 11:08 AM)NewMex RocketFan Wrote:  Rocket fans in the metro area are those who come to campus and support their teams. Besides the obvious indoors vs outdoors, what's the difference in a week night for football and basketball? If you support the team then support the team. I'm tired of hearing/reading excuses. Wonder if Hack took notice of the crowd in DeKalb (population 44K) for the Ball State game and I do believe that was held on a dang week night. BTW, NIU has an enrollment of less than 17K

Just stop it already!

That's just undergrad. Total enrollment of just over 21k. For some reason enrollment continues to drop

http://www.niutoday.info/2013/09/11/niu-...-students/

http://www.niu.edu/about/fastfacts.shtml

I could be wrong, but it looks like Toledo has a smaller enrollment.

https://www.toledoblade.com/Education/20...-Copy.html

But yes, Toledo has a much larger direct pool of potential people to attend their games than NIU.

Don't the coaching relationships at the HS level have a lot to do with recruiting. A few years ago Beckman too our UT football camp on the road and visited a ton of high schools. Thought that was a neat concept.

(11-20-2013 01:20 PM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 11:08 AM)NewMex RocketFan Wrote:  Rocket fans in the metro area are those who come to campus and support their teams. Besides the obvious indoors vs outdoors, what's the difference in a week night for football and basketball? If you support the team then support the team. I'm tired of hearing/reading excuses. Wonder if Hack took notice of the crowd in DeKalb (population 44K) for the Ball State game and I do believe that was held on a dang week night. BTW, NIU has an enrollment of less than 17K

Just stop it already!

That's just undergrad. Total enrollment of just over 21k. For some reason enrollment continues to drop

http://www.niutoday.info/2013/09/11/niu-...-students/

http://www.niu.edu/about/fastfacts.shtml

I could be wrong, but it looks like Toledo has a smaller enrollment.

https://www.toledoblade.com/Education/20...-Copy.html

But yes, Toledo has a much larger direct pool of potential people to attend their games than NIU.

Then there's another statistical where NIU and UT are very similar!

Just looked at the ESPN college football homepage, not a mention of the "big game" they are televising with a top 25 team. So much for the extra television exposure.

(11-20-2013 01:27 PM)emanoh Wrote:  Just looked at the ESPN college football homepage, not a mention of the "big game" they are televising with a top 25 team. So much for the extra television exposure.

We may lose a few households to ABC's Modern Family but the die hard college football fans will be watching ESPN2.

(11-20-2013 01:36 PM)RocketGrad88 Wrote:  

(11-20-2013 01:27 PM)emanoh Wrote:  Just looked at the ESPN college football homepage, not a mention of the "big game" they are televising with a top 25 team. So much for the extra television exposure.

We may lose a few households to ABC's Modern Family but the die hard college football fans will be watching ESPN2.

Nationally alot of people remember the 2011 game. It will hit the West Coast Sport's Bars at 5PM and go 3-3.5 hrs. I'm sure a few TV's will have on in the Fresno area.