(12-20-2013 05:51 PM)ohiobobcats11 Wrote:  The only reason Akron and Buffalo are up is by lying through their teeth. I saw games and pictures. Don't tell me it's "tickets sold" either. You don't sell 22,000 tickets only to have 5,000 show up unless there's a monsoon. It's flat-out lying...no if's, and's or but's about it.

1st of all Most UB games looked to me to be pretty close to the reported attendance. The only two that were off a bit would be UConn and Ohio. But even those games I am guessing we were in the 15K range.

Secondly It's damn easy to sell 25K tickets to a game in a metro area of a million people with multiple businesses. Whites "East Club" tickets cost 1K a year (with a 10 year commit) and won't be ready until 2016 or so and he has already sold several thousand of them.

(12-21-2013 12:17 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(12-20-2013 05:51 PM)ohiobobcats11 Wrote:  The only reason Akron and Buffalo are up is by lying through their teeth. I saw games and pictures. Don't tell me it's "tickets sold" either. You don't sell 22,000 tickets only to have 5,000 show up unless there's a monsoon. It's flat-out lying...no if's, and's or but's about it.

1st of all Most UB games looked to me to be pretty close to the reported attendance. The only two that were off a bit would be UConn and Ohio. But even those games I am guessing we were in the 15K range.

Secondly It's damn easy to sell 25K tickets to a game in a metro area of a million people with multiple businesses. Whites "East Club" tickets cost 1K a year (with a 10 year commit) and won't be ready until 2016 or so and he has already sold several thousand of them.

cough

I was there for the UMass game. Perhaps 8-9k there and reported attendance was over 18k.

You and I saw different crowds... Maybe 13-15K for UMass...

It's always been based on tickets sold..

Mainly as part of sponsorship deals. Summa and Infocision get tickets as part of the stadium deal. Local businesses buy blocks of tickets as part of their deals as well..

So yes, the tickets arent used but they are sold.

Why do we always end up arguing with each other over this? None of us are in any position to put down anyone else on this.

(12-20-2013 11:40 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  We should be solid next year in the upper teens after going from roughly 10.9 k to 15.9k. Next year we have a home game against Boston College. BC fans will go if they expect to win and win big, but if it's like BB in Boston, they don't show-up and even in their home court, it becomes our home court.

There is a solid change we can beat the 32.8k attendance for the first Gillette game against UNH.

I think having 3 games back on campus next year will also help I just wish the first on campus game was week 3 rather than at the earliest week 5. (First 4 weeks are booked with BC then Colorado at Gillette before going on the road to Vandy and Penn State weeks 3-4).

(01-01-2014 09:04 PM)Sam Minuteman Wrote:  

(12-20-2013 11:40 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  We should be solid next year in the upper teens after going from roughly 10.9 k to 15.9k. Next year we have a home game against Boston College. BC fans will go if they expect to win and win big, but if it's like BB in Boston, they don't show-up and even in their home court, it becomes our home court.

There is a solid change we can beat the 32.8k attendance for the first Gillette game against UNH.

I think having 3 games back on campus next year will also help I just wish the first on campus game was week 3 rather than at the earliest week 5. (First 4 weeks are booked with BC then Colorado at Gillette before going on the road to Vandy and Penn State weeks 3-4).

Agree homecoming should sell out. Don't know for sure if band day will be on campus or Gillette. That will be a good one as well. The third game could be very tough. Let's see who our next coach is, a few candidates could immediately increase sales.

Seen some posts on the dream team of Mark Whipple and Don Brown as DC. That would be as shocking as us going FBS, but not impossible with 10 years needed for a state pension. One of them would be great.

UMass is going to play some games on campus next year? That'll be great for them! Hopefully that'll get more people from the campus area to go to games and help build the fanbase. It'll also help get more students to some games.

Adding this on top and his interview confirmation in Gazette
Mark Whipple Interview Scheduled

Rumors are flying for our new coach. The MaroonMusket posts, a players tweet which is retreet by UMass Beat writer etc. Announcement said to be Jan 14th.

This quote is from the MaroonMusket.

Quote:Greetings, As you know, the AD had mentioned before that the announcement would come mid January.
I can't give you specifics, but a few notes on why the announcement will be when it is.
1. We need to to explore minority options to follow through with our general search guidelines. "The University of Massachusetts Amherst is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and members of minority groups are encouraged to apply."
2. It's necessary to wait till the Bowl Season has ended so that UMass can get contact with suitable candidates who may be currently on another schools staff.
3. This is not a normal administrative hire, it needs to be within a certain time frame to stabilize recruiting and hire a staff. I sit on a search committee for another administrative post and I can tell you, seeing a selection for someone in a few weeks is an incredible feat (Not to mention a few days..ie what Penn State wants). Especially since we want to get this right. Most searches for academic positions can take up to a year!

So short answer yes, and yes (but it's also coincidence).

MaroonMusket thread.

Quote:Bob McGovern ‏@BobMcGovernJr 16m
From the redundancy department, I am now up to seven different people who are telling me it's Whipple, but so far it's via hearsay.

Thread from UMassHoops

Wow, someone posted his Q & A from 7/21/1999 and it all good stuff and most applies today.

Offical Athletic Site Q & A link

This would guarantee a nice pickup in ticket sales.

Speaking of attendance (if we must), what where the attendances announced for the 4 MAC bowl games so far?

Poinsettia was about 23K

I personally think the MAC should cut UMass a break and allow a couple games to be played at it's campus stadium. It may be subpar at the moment but it's not like we have not had some subpar facilities in this conference. The old Rubber Bowl was awful and frankly Peden's visiting locker rooms leave a little to be desired. How do you expect for UMass to truly build a student following if you make it's student body to travel that far? If the game is going to be on TV then play in Gillett but if not let them play at home. For goodness sakes at least give them homecoming at home since it is HOMECOMING!

(01-05-2014 09:46 PM)GalliaCat Wrote:  I personally think the MAC should cut UMass a break and allow a couple games to be played at it's campus stadium. It may be subpar at the moment but it's not like we have not had some subpar facilities in this conference. The old Rubber Bowl was awful and frankly Peden's visiting locker rooms leave a little to be desired. How do you expect for UMass to truly build a student following if you make it's student body to travel that far? If the game is going to be on TV then play in Gillett but if not let them play at home. For goodness sakes at least give them homecoming at home since it is HOMECOMING!

I take it you haven't read any posts in this thread about UMass, huh?

(01-05-2014 09:46 PM)GalliaCat Wrote:  I personally think the MAC should cut UMass a break and allow a couple games to be played at it's campus stadium. It may be subpar at the moment but it's not like we have not had some subpar facilities in this conference. The old Rubber Bowl was awful and frankly Peden's visiting locker rooms leave a little to be desired. How do you expect for UMass to truly build a student following if you make it's student body to travel that far? If the game is going to be on TV then play in Gillett but if not let them play at home. For goodness sakes at least give them homecoming at home since it is HOMECOMING!

GallicaCat, we will be ready for three home games, which is step one. The beef with the MAC was our Press Box did not meet FBS standards. I bet after a few sell-outs, there will be expansion plans put foward and have heard about two ideas/plans. One is to drop the field 2 feet to add up front seating. The major expansion is to close of the end zone with seating as a horseshoe.

Looking forward to the spring to see our match-ups and who will be the first team to play on campus in front of a sold out crowd. It will be our homecoming game.

Here are fairly current pictures of the Press and Sky box and other end zone football facility. It will be state of the art and at the top end of the MAC.

UMass will be fine once they get on campus. I think their program will show more life over the next couple years (on the field and in the stands) than programs in this league have shown in 30 years. Hopefully the MAC can hang on to them when the program really begins to take off.

Why are all of the MAC's attendances so low and why in the hell is it taking UMASS so long to renovate their stadium? We've been building a stadium twice as big AND completely from scratch long after UMASS started on theirs and are about to finish before they do.

(01-05-2014 11:22 PM)Cougar King Wrote:  Why are all of the MAC's attendances so low and why in the hell is it taking UMASS so long to renovate their stadium? We've been building a stadium twice as big AND completely from scratch long after UMASS started on theirs and are about to finish before they do.