(10-03-2015 02:03 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  Everyone pads attendance stats. Common knowledege, common practice.

Well, yes.

As a result, trying to compare and discern attendance numbers is difficult. All we have is estimates from people who attended the games as 12k listed attendance in 1980 is not necessarily the same as 12k listed attendance in 2009.

(10-03-2015 02:04 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Perhaps they justify by saying it was paid attendance (or complimentary-tickets-included "paid" attendance?) Either way, it is far better to just consistently field teams that excite and entertain tons of football fans, whether affiliated or not, to come fill the seats, eat and drink concessions, and buy our merchandise.

Exactly.

And this answers the OP's question succinctly. This is exactly why Rice schedules these games.

Maybe we need to add Western Kentucky to the "games not to schedule anymore" list.