UC goal: 30,000+ fans for PBS home games
Tom Groeschen, tgroeschen@enquirer.com 6:06 p.m. EDT September 6, 2014

Athletic director Mike Bohn hopes the University of Cincinnati will draw its customary crowds of 30,000-plus this year at Paul Brown Stadium, the Bearcats' temporary home for 2014.

UC opens its season against Toledo on Friday (7 p.m.) at PBS, which the Bearcats will share with the Bengals this season.

UC's Nippert Stadium is undergoing an $86 million renovation and expansion from 35,000 to 40,000 seats. The Bearcats will not return to their campus home until the 2015 season.

UC will bus the 3.1 miles from their Clifton campus to the Bengals' 65,515-seat Downtown facility for 2014 home games.

"The goal is 30,000 or more (fans) for every game," Bohn said. "Our season tickets are trending up, and we're encouraged by that."

Bohn said UC has sold more than 14,000 season tickets, including more than 2,100 student packages. Bohn said UC enjoyed an 82 percent renewal rate on season tickets from last year, with more than 1,000 new season ticket holders.

UC also is jazzing things up for its year Downtown, including "Bearcats At The Banks" gameday festivals and postgame Rozzi fireworks for the Toledo game. There also may be fireworks at other games.

"What better way to salute the hottest college in America?" Bohn said, echoing the mantra of UC President Santa Ono.

UC has played occasionally at PBS, most recently in 2011. Playing a full season at PBS is another matter, with rent and other arrangements having to be sorted out.

Bob Bedinghaus, the Bengals' director of business development, said the UC-Bengals relationship has never been better. UC approached the Bengals last year about sharing PBS in 2014, and the two parties were able to agree on things fairly quickly.

"There is more of a sense of trying to bring the two organizations closer," Bedinghaus said. "The coaches have always been quick to communicate with each other, but from an administrative end we never really had too much of a relationship with anybody. We've had Santa Ono and Mike Bohn down for lunch. I think we're developing a mutually positive relationship."

Under terms of their lease with Hamilton County, which owns the stadium, the Bengals are entitled to 50 percent of the rent while the other 50 percent goes to the county.

UC will pay the same rental fee to play at PBS that it paid when the Bearcats played there before. That is based on a sliding scale, which begins with UC paying 10 percent of the first $1 million in ticket revenue per game played there. One difference now is that the Bengals will return their share of the rent to UC.

"We have agreed to donate back to the university 100 percent of our share of the rent," Bedinghaus said. "We also agreed to let them sell their merchandise without any fee. Everything else is the same."

The Bengals normally would get a 20 percent cut of all merchandise revenue, but they waived that for UC this year. The Bengals and the county will split the money from parking and concessions on a 50-50 basis.

UC will have the American Athletic Conference logo on the field during its games at PBS. The Bearcats also will have wall banners to "brand" the stadium as theirs on game days. Bengals branding will remain at midfield and in the end zones during UC games.

The Bengals and UC also are borrowing each other's practice facilities on an ongoing basis, free of charge. The Bearcats occasionally practice at PBS, and the Bengals sometimes use UC's indoor bubble when late-season weather turns nasty.

UC averaged 31,771 fans per game at Nippert Stadium last year. Bearcats coach Tommy Tuberville is not sure what to expect at PBS.

"This is kind of just a fun year for us to go down there and play," Tuberville said. "It's really not a home-field advantage for us because we're not on campus. It's not a regular routine for us, but we just look forward to playing."

UC players are taking the move in stride. Some players participated in UC's last visit to PBS in 2011, and many played in NFL stadiums last year at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium and Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium (Belk Bowl).

"I actually don't think it matters how big the stadium is," UC senior cornerback Adrian Witty said. "It doesn't matter how many people are in the stands. You come out and play ball for your brothers and try to win championships."

UC sophomore safety Zach Edwards said he played in PBS for Middletown High School in 2008 as part of the Kirk Herbstreit prep series.

"It's not Nippert Stadium, but I believe Paul Brown is going to be good for us," Edwards said. "You have to adapt to different things like the hashes, the yard marks, but it should be a great thing for us to play Downtown."¦

UC home attendance since 2009

(Nippert Stadium games)

Year – Home Games – Average

2013 – 6 – 31,771

2012 – 7 – 29,138

2011 – 4* - 26,159

2010 – 6* - 31,203

2009 – 6 - #33,957

*Does not include home games held at Paul Brown Stadium. In 2011, UC averaged 44,562 for two home games (against West Virginia and Louisville) at Paul Brown Stadium. In 2010, UC drew 58,253 for a game against Oklahoma at Paul Brown Stadium.

#Nippert season record

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c.../15208367/

Question: say we beat OSU. How much does this number fluctuate?

considering our home slate, weak conference, and being at PBS, I'd say 30K is a good target for home average this year

we beat OSU and go on a 2009 type run, then we can figure it will climb from there

Love the growing relationship between UC and the Bengals. I greatly appreciate the efforts of the university to bring fans to PBS and and truly make it an event. Glad they are setting a goal for 30,000+ butts in the seats too.

(09-06-2014 07:02 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote:  Question: say we beat OSU. How much does this number fluctuate?

If UC beats OSU and gets to 3-0, and with the Reds out of the playoff race, I could see 40-50K at PBS easy. It's been forever since an Ohio team beat OSU at the shoe. It would make national headlines and UC would be ranked in the top 25. I would hate to be Memphis on October 4th.

(09-06-2014 08:25 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  

(09-06-2014 07:02 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote:  Question: say we beat OSU. How much does this number fluctuate?

If UC beats OSU and gets to 3-0, and with the Reds out of the playoff race, I could see 40-50K at PBS easy. It's been forever since an Ohio team beat OSU at the shoe. It would make national headlines and UC would be ranked in the top 25. I would hate to be Memphis on October 4th.

On the other hand, what if Cincinnati loses to Toledo, Ohio state and at Miami of Florida, what would attendance be like for the Memphis game? UC must remain in contention not just for a conference championship in this crappy conference, but be a top 25 to top 30 team for us to draw well.

I think the goal should be closer to 35,000. With a biggest stadium there is a larger quantity of good seats to sell. Anyway, I still believe Miami game will be get close to 40,000.

(09-06-2014 08:42 PM)vabearcat Wrote:  

(09-06-2014 08:25 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  

(09-06-2014 07:02 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote:  Question: say we beat OSU. How much does this number fluctuate?

If UC beats OSU and gets to 3-0, and with the Reds out of the playoff race, I could see 40-50K at PBS easy. It's been forever since an Ohio team beat OSU at the shoe. It would make national headlines and UC would be ranked in the top 25. I would hate to be Memphis on October 4th.

On the other hand, what if Cincinnati loses to Toledo, Ohio state and at Miami of Florida, what would attendance be like for the Memphis game? UC must remain in contention not just for a conference championship in this crappy conference, but be a top 25 to top 30 team for us to draw well.

That wasn't the question...

Either way, this sends a real poor message. Right now they are working on an expansion to FORTY thousand seats. He is publicly stating that the goal should be THIRTY??

Now, with all the hassle involved with moving games downtown this season, and the "bad schedule", yes, maybe 30K is "reasonable" and "realistic". But, when you're working on a 40K seating arrangement, and spending a bazillion dollars to do it, don't publicly state that the goal is ONLY THIRTY FREAKING THOUSAND!!

Seriously, is our schedule going to be that much better in the future? Maybe if they put UCF on our schedule someday.

(09-08-2014 07:38 AM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  Either way, this sends a real poor message. Right now they are working on an expansion to FORTY thousand seats. He is publicly stating that the goal should be THIRTY??

Now, with all the hassle involved with moving games downtown this season, and the "bad schedule", yes, maybe 30K is "reasonable" and "realistic". But, when you're working on a 40K seating arrangement, and spending a bazillion dollars to do it, don't publicly state that the goal is ONLY THIRTY FREAKING THOUSAND!!

Seriously, is our schedule going to be that much better in the future? Maybe if they put UCF on our schedule someday.

Have to agree--why put any number out there? 30,000 sounds small; put 40,000 out there and average 38K and the naysayers swarm in to say we can't even fill 40,000 seats (62% of capacity). Even though 38K would be a new high water mark in average attendance. The focus should have been entirely on season tickets and student season tickets sold. The trajectory of football support is a great story to share.

LucyTheBearcat (@LucyTheBearcat) tweeted at 1:17 PM on Wed, Sep 10, 2014:
Students: UC - Toledo tickets are still available! While you're at it, pick up your Homecoming ticket for next week! @GoBEARCATS

I guess the availability of the student tickets is a reflection on the students getting down to PBS.

As far as the general public goes I think there will be a lot of people buying tickets on gameday. Hopefully UC staffs the ticket booths well to keep the lines moving.

(09-10-2014 12:46 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  I guess the availability of the student tickets is a reflection on the students getting down to PBS.

As far as the general public goes I think there will be a lot of people buying tickets on gameday. Hopefully UC staffs the ticket booths well to keep the lines moving.

As per below, there is a shuttle but it's $10 and there are only 250 available. I'm guessing students that get free tickets probably don't want to shell out $10 to get downtown.

It would have been nice if a special city bus route could have been set up for UC students on game days.

It will be interesting to see what kind of student attendance there is. It would be disappointing but not unexpected to see it be much less than recent years at Nippert as student attendance has been very good for the most part.


https://twitter.com/GoBEARCATS

Students: we have 250 single shuttle passes available for Friday's game on sale tomorrow at noon in person at ticket office only, $10 each

I have no idea what the transportation arrangement was for PBS games with OK, WVA and UL but student attendance was excellent for those as I expect it will be for this one.

(09-10-2014 01:10 PM)indycat Wrote:  I have no idea what the transportation arrangement was for PBS games with OK, WVA and UL but student attendance was excellent for those as I expect it will be for this one.

Big difference on teams for those three games. I think as a one year deal we can get students down there, but the school needs to make it as easy as possible. Long term getting students downtown would be a tough proposition (one of the reason I am not a big fan of having a downtown basketball arena).

(09-06-2014 08:19 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Love the growing relationship between UC and the Bengals. I greatly appreciate the efforts of the university to bring fans to PBS and and truly make it an event. Glad they are setting a goal for 30,000+ butts in the seats too.

Remember if UC had not let the Bengals play at Nippert in 1968?where would they have had to play? Crosley Field? XU's old field? Miami U's Yeager? Lockland HS?

They owe UC.

(09-10-2014 01:17 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  Big difference on teams for those three games. I think as a one year deal we can get students down there, but the school needs to make it as easy as possible. Long term getting students downtown would be a tough proposition (one of the reason I am not a big fan of having a downtown basketball arena).

During our days of both football and basketball being downtown, yellow school buses would line up in front of the Fieldhouse approximately 1.5 hours before kick/tipoff. Then as one bus filled it would take off. The buses would then stay at the venue so students could leave early if they wanted to. Same story, as soon as a bus filled up it would head back to Clifton.

If a game was a blowout, but you stayed until the bitter end, there was a chance that you would miss the last bus. There was no passes, so some people who had come down with friends would jump on a bus to head back to UC. A poor bus employee would stand out front of the Stadium or Coliseum and try to communicate with a walkie-talkie to an early bus that they had to come back and get the remaining group.

(09-10-2014 01:10 PM)indycat Wrote:  I have no idea what the transportation arrangement was for PBS games with OK, WVA and UL but student attendance was excellent for those as I expect it will be for this one.

Same here, no idea what the arrangement was. I did a ton of students tailgating for those games, many at Longworth.

(09-10-2014 02:09 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(09-10-2014 01:10 PM)indycat Wrote:  I have no idea what the transportation arrangement was for PBS games with OK, WVA and UL but student attendance was excellent for those as I expect it will be for this one.

Same here, no idea what the arrangement was. I did a ton of students tailgating for those games, many at Longworth.

I was a student for those games. There was some sort of bus schedule for students, but we drove ourselves and tailgated at longworth.

The major reason for there still being tickets available is no sorority girls are allowed to attend the game due to meetings they are holding all day. That is a good 500 students or more easily.