Is Midweek MACtion Killing The MAC? Has the novelty worn out?

No.

Post this thread in a down year for the MAC. In an up year, like this year, the MAC is getting substantial benefits from the midweek games.

I don't see how its killing the MAC but when games are on ESPNU and ESPN3 its a waste and hurts attendance for terrible coverage.. The games should only be on ESPN or ESPN2 if MAC teams are going to play midweek games.

Basketball starting is killing you

(11-18-2015 10:18 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  I don't see how its killing the MAC but when games are on ESPNU and ESPN3 its a waste and hurts attendance for terrible coverage.. The games should only be on ESPN or ESPN2 if MAC teams are going to play midweek games.

That's the deal for getting onto ESPN2 ... ESPN gets two games to pick from, they can put the best on ESPN2.

Getting two games on ESPN2 and two games on ESPNU is more coverage than the MAC would be getting if all of those games are on Saturday. If they were Saturday games, ESPNU would be the ceiling for what the MAC could normally hope for.

A smaller change that the MAC could push for with some chances of success is making sure that when MAC games are not selected for ESPNU, they are included among the ESPN3 games that are now going to cable.

(11-18-2015 10:19 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Basketball starting is killing you

Basketball? What's that?

(11-19-2015 01:38 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 10:19 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Basketball starting is killing you

Basketball? What's that?

Why NIU so consistently drags down the MAC's Conference API in a nutshell.

(11-19-2015 02:05 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 01:38 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 10:19 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Basketball starting is killing you

Basketball? What's that?

Why NIU so consistently drags down the MAC's Conference API in a nutshell.

Hey we are 3-0 and all against D1 opponents right now

(11-19-2015 02:11 AM)Stay Cool Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 02:05 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 01:38 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 10:19 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Basketball starting is killing you

Basketball? What's that?

Why NIU so consistently drags down the MAC's Conference API in a nutshell.

Hey we are 3-0 and all against D1 opponents right now

Just keep it up. I don't know about Cal State Northridge, but South Dakota and/or Wright State might end up being respectable wins.

And taking away your games+, your three opponents are 3-3 so far. So keep it up, and bring some good news for the Conference API this year.

(+: Obviously, its too early in the season to say "but none of those opponents have winning records", when the game you beat them is a quarter of CSN's record, a third of Wright State's record, and half of the Coyotes record.)

(11-19-2015 03:26 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 02:11 AM)Stay Cool Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 02:05 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 01:38 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 10:19 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Basketball starting is killing you

Basketball? What's that?

Why NIU so consistently drags down the MAC's Conference API in a nutshell.

Hey we are 3-0 and all against D1 opponents right now

Just keep it up. I don't know about Cal State Northridge, but South Dakota and/or Wright State might end up being respectable wins.

And taking away your games+, your three opponents are 3-3 so far. So keep it up, and bring some good news for the Conference API this year.

(+: Obviously, its too early in the season to say "but none of those opponents have winning records", when the game you beat them is a quarter of CSN's record, a third of Wright State's record, and half of the Coyotes record.)

Also it was a tourney...

So the record of all the other teams without the NIU games have to add up to 3-3.

MACtion is great when you have MAC contenders with a good crowd (i.e. UT-BG), but those empty stadiums for some of the other games do not enthuse me as much. Sure, it hurts attendance vs. Saturday games, but the visability probably offsets the bad crowds. I just think we have a few too many of these mid-week games scheduled.

(11-19-2015 11:36 AM)exCincy Kid1 Wrote:  MACtion is great when you have MAC contenders with a good crowd (i.e. UT-BG), but those empty stadiums for some of the other games do not enthuse me as much. Sure, it hurts attendance vs. Saturday games, but the visability probably offsets the bad crowds. I just think we have a few too many of these mid-week games scheduled.

But to get the strongest potential rating draw games on ESPN2, the MAC has to offer a choice of two per night, so if there's going to be two cracks at ESPN2 per week in November, that's four midweek games scheduled per week.

Stepping down to Tuesday-only would be half of the chances at ESPN2, and would require giving back some of the money in the ESPN contract extension ... and I reckon the lost exposure from the first is the more serious loss of value to the MAC.

But ESPN has got to be liking some of the MACtion ratings this year ... this is the season to be pushing for ESPN to make sure that the MAC weekend ESPN3 game(s) are among the ones on the ESPN3 cable games.

Being an alum that doesn't live near the MAC (Since Temple left), I love the midweek games. I try and attend all the Toledo games I can within driving distance. Buffalo will now be the closest game location (6hrs uggh). I was at the Umass game this year, at the last Temple and Syracuse games (Talk about bad replay officiating). The TV games let me watch my farorite team. I would think it has to be a huge help for recruiting.

I could understand blacking out the broadcasts locally to get butts in the seat. I do understand the distain of the weeknight fan for local fans. Honestly, the weeknight games did not keep me and my young son from attending games when I lived in Toledo. But we lived just past the Hospital.

There obviously must be an ROI with exposure, TV revenue and recruiting that get the MAC to extend the ESPN contract. It must be worth not filling all the seats on a saturday.

(11-19-2015 11:36 AM)exCincy Kid1 Wrote:  MACtion is great when you have MAC contenders with a good crowd (i.e. UT-BG), but those empty stadiums for some of the other games do not enthuse me as much. Sure, it hurts attendance vs. Saturday games, but the visability probably offsets the bad crowds. I just think we have a few too many of these mid-week games scheduled.

I have no clue how close BGSU and Toledo are to each other (i know its a short distance) but a game like that SHOULD have strong attendance. Also, how many fans did Toledo bring?

I don't think i've seen any MAC team bring more than 100 fans to Huskie Stadium. We don't have the luxury of having a rivalry with anyone nearby or playing close to the rest of the conference. Closest team is WMU (3 hours away). NIU is earning 99% of its attendance on its own.

(11-20-2015 09:39 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 11:36 AM)exCincy Kid1 Wrote:  MACtion is great when you have MAC contenders with a good crowd (i.e. UT-BG), but those empty stadiums for some of the other games do not enthuse me as much. Sure, it hurts attendance vs. Saturday games, but the visability probably offsets the bad crowds. I just think we have a few too many of these mid-week games scheduled.

I have no clue how close BGSU and Toledo are to each other (i know its a short distance) but a game like that SHOULD have strong attendance. Also, how many fans did Toledo bring?

I don't think i've seen any MAC team bring more than 100 fans to Huskie Stadium. We don't have the luxury of having a rivalry with anyone nearby or playing close to the rest of the conference. Closest team is WMU (3 hours away). NIU is earning 99% of its attendance on its own.

Toledo had 23K+ for the NIU game!!!

(11-21-2015 01:04 AM)Rocket A Wrote:  

(11-20-2015 09:39 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 11:36 AM)exCincy Kid1 Wrote:  MACtion is great when you have MAC contenders with a good crowd (i.e. UT-BG), but those empty stadiums for some of the other games do not enthuse me as much. Sure, it hurts attendance vs. Saturday games, but the visability probably offsets the bad crowds. I just think we have a few too many of these mid-week games scheduled.

I have no clue how close BGSU and Toledo are to each other (i know its a short distance) but a game like that SHOULD have strong attendance. Also, how many fans did Toledo bring?

I don't think i've seen any MAC team bring more than 100 fans to Huskie Stadium. We don't have the luxury of having a rivalry with anyone nearby or playing close to the rest of the conference. Closest team is WMU (3 hours away). NIU is earning 99% of its attendance on its own.

Toledo had 23K+ for the NIU game!!!

I believe that it was very well attended game. Curious though, does Toledo count butts in the seats or tickets?

(11-20-2015 09:39 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 11:36 AM)exCincy Kid1 Wrote:  MACtion is great when you have MAC contenders with a good crowd (i.e. UT-BG), but those empty stadiums for some of the other games do not enthuse me as much. Sure, it hurts attendance vs. Saturday games, but the visability probably offsets the bad crowds. I just think we have a few too many of these mid-week games scheduled.

I have no clue how close BGSU and Toledo are to each other (i know its a short distance) but a game like that SHOULD have strong attendance. Also, how many fans did Toledo bring?

I don't think i've seen any MAC team bring more than 100 fans to Huskie Stadium. We don't have the luxury of having a rivalry with anyone nearby or playing close to the rest of the conference. Closest team is WMU (3 hours away). NIU is earning 99% of its attendance on its own.

About 25 miles to BGSU from to UT. It's also about an hour from UT to EMU. I would guess UT brought about 6,000-7,000 to the game at the Doyt.

Reality is that if these games were on Saturday most would not draw much better. That is the appeal for the c conference. Revenue from TV more than offsets revenue from gate

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(11-21-2015 10:14 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(11-20-2015 09:39 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 11:36 AM)exCincy Kid1 Wrote:  MACtion is great when you have MAC contenders with a good crowd (i.e. UT-BG), but those empty stadiums for some of the other games do not enthuse me as much. Sure, it hurts attendance vs. Saturday games, but the visability probably offsets the bad crowds. I just think we have a few too many of these mid-week games scheduled.

I have no clue how close BGSU and Toledo are to each other (i know its a short distance) but a game like that SHOULD have strong attendance. Also, how many fans did Toledo bring?

I don't think i've seen any MAC team bring more than 100 fans to Huskie Stadium. We don't have the luxury of having a rivalry with anyone nearby or playing close to the rest of the conference. Closest team is WMU (3 hours away). NIU is earning 99% of its attendance on its own.

About 25 miles to BGSU from to UT. It's also about an hour from UT to EMU. I would guess UT brought about 6,000-7,000 to the game at the Doyt.

It would be 100% amazing if NIU could average even 3000-5000 in visiting fans for our MAC home football games, we'd be 20k+ 95% of the time. We see 200 visiting MAC fans on average being so far away, sucks.