Western Michigan 52
@ Ball State 20
Attendance 5,614

Bowling Green 20
@Notrhern Illinois 45
Attendance 4,790

(11-01-2016 11:41 PM)JoeJag Wrote:  Western Michigan 52
@ Ball State 20
Attendance 5,614

Bowling Green 20
@Notrhern Illinois 45
Attendance 4,790

Makes the 18K or so we had look like 100K.

Wow.....NIU appears to be making a statement to their AD.

Northern Illinois and Bowling Green each combined for 3 wins before their game Tuesday night. So I'm not surprised by the low turnout for that game. Ball State and Western Michigan I would have thought 10k would have stumbled in there. But Tuesday night is so tough and then you have the Mid-west World Series to deal with with both Chicago and Cleveland. I'm sure that played a big factor in fans decision.

ESPN did a pretty good job of making it *appear* as if there were many more in the stands than the official tally at the WMU game.

(11-02-2016 01:10 AM)SouthJags2012 Wrote:  Northern Illinois and Bowling Green each combined for 3 wins before their game Tuesday night. So I'm not surprised by the low turnout for that game. Ball State and Western Michigan I would have thought 10k would have stumbled in there. But Tuesday night is so tough and then you have the Mid-west World Series to deal with with both Chicago and Cleveland. I'm sure that played a big factor in fans decision.

NIU especially gets to pass being so close to Chicago. I'm glad our Tuesday and Wednesday games are opposite the MLB Wild Card games and Division Series and not Game 6 of the World Series.

Meanwhile we're over here with a measly 23k for our first Thursday game.

(11-01-2016 11:41 PM)JoeJag Wrote:  Western Michigan 52
@ Ball State 20
Attendance 5,614

Bowling Green 20
@Notrhern Illinois 45
Attendance 4,790

For the Ball State game, it shouldn't be too big of a surprise. They had one really impressive season in 2008 when they went 12-0 in the regular season (Brady Hoke's last season; never wouldve become Michigan's coach without it), then got rolled in the MAC title game and in the bowl game. They've been pretty awful before and since. Plus, Muncie is not the type of town people, even alumni, like to go back to visit. I lived in Indiana for five years and had to go to Muncie a number of times. Muncie is like the anti-Boone. It's not charming. It's not pretty. It's just a really sad example of a Midwestern industrial town whose heyday was 40 or 50+ years ago. At a time when population in every state of the union is growing, Muncie' s is shrinking. It's too bad because Ball State is a really good university, truly the ONLY good thing going on for the town in which it resides. But alumni and fans just don't want to drive to that town from Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Chicago, and elsewhere in the middle of the week to watch their alma master's football team play bad football.

I think in the Sun Belt, attendance is helped because each team only plays 1 or 2 midweek games and the towns the schools are in aren't depressing to visit.

(11-02-2016 05:08 AM)eaglewraith Wrote:  Meanwhile we're over here with a measly 23k for our first Thursday game.

On a down year.

Are these the official numbers? If so, then the main thing that surprises me is that they don't have more of a plan in place to bump up the stats. I don't doubt that we've had 4,790 in attendance before, but I'm sure we announced quite a bit more.

And if those ARE the adjusted numbers, they should get better accountants. Or, maybe folks really just don't care about attendance numbers that much anymore.

Maybe we could just double our mid week games and take more money from ESPN. Sell the games with teams that don't mind mid week games. I don't think USA minds them that much. No World Series problem down here. I get that teams like Ga Southern or stAte minds them. Does Georgia State mind them? I'd rather have a mid week game than a Thanksgiving weekend or Halloween Saturday home game.

No way we do it without more money. But if the MAC can't deal with them anymore, and ESPN is willing to pay us more money (enough to get us above CUSA)....

How about this as a package. Same mid week schedule, PLUS 1 extra mid week game at USA, Georgia State, ULM and Coastal?

(11-02-2016 08:25 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(11-01-2016 11:41 PM)JoeJag Wrote:  Western Michigan 52
@ Ball State 20
Attendance 5,614

Bowling Green 20
@Notrhern Illinois 45
Attendance 4,790

For the Ball State game, it shouldn't be too big of a surprise. They had one really impressive season in 2008 when they went 12-0 in the regular season (Brady Hoke's last season; never wouldve become Michigan's coach without it), then got rolled in the MAC title game and in the bowl game. They've been pretty awful before and since. Plus, Muncie is not the type of town people, even alumni, like to go back to visit. I lived in Indiana for five years and had to go to Muncie a number of times. Muncie is like the anti-Boone. It's not charming. It's not pretty. It's just a really sad example of a Midwestern industrial town whose heyday was 40 or 50+ years ago. At a time when population in every state of the union is growing, Muncie' s is shrinking. It's too bad because Ball State is a really good university, truly the ONLY good thing going on for the town in which it resides. But alumni and fans just don't want to drive to that town from Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Chicago, and elsewhere in the middle of the week to watch their alma master's football team play bad football.

I think in the Sun Belt, attendance is helped because each team only plays 1 or 2 midweek games and the towns the schools are in aren't depressing to visit.

Ball State won 10 or 11 games in 2013. But yes it should be no surprise. Those are the two schools most honest with attendance with teams who usually have bad attendance. Add a week night game against in one case the worst team in the conference, and in the other against a top 25 team they were going to get blown out against... Still. 5k is embarassing for the MAC. WMU, Toledo, and Ohio will have to carry the attendance banner the rest of the way.

The MAC pretty much stops playing on Saturdays at this point.
This week they play 2 Tuesday games, 1 Wednesday game, 1 Thursday game, 1 Friday game, and 0 Saturday games.
Next week they play 2 Tuesday games, 2 Wednesday games, and 1 Saturday game.
Week 12 they play 2 Tuesday games, 2 Wednesday games, and 1 Saturday game.
Week 13 they play 3 Tuesday games and 3 Friday games.

Of the 21 MAC games this week through the rest of the season only 2 are on a Saturday. It's crazy.

(11-02-2016 10:43 AM)_x_ Wrote:  The MAC pretty much stops playing on Saturdays at this point.
This week they play 2 Tuesday games, 1 Wednesday game, 1 Thursday game, 1 Friday game, and 0 Saturday games.
Next week they play 2 Tuesday games, 2 Wednesday games, and 1 Saturday game.
Week 12 they play 2 Tuesday games, 2 Wednesday games, and 1 Saturday game.
Week 13 they play 3 Tuesday games and 3 Friday games.

Of the 21 MAC games this week through the rest of the season only 2 are on a Saturday. It's crazy.

#MACtion

Man, looking at the MAC schedule and the CUSA bowl tie-ins makes me thankful for the Belt.

(11-02-2016 10:43 AM)_x_ Wrote:  The MAC pretty much stops playing on Saturdays at this point.
This week they play 2 Tuesday games, 1 Wednesday game, 1 Thursday game, 1 Friday game, and 0 Saturday games.
Next week they play 2 Tuesday games, 2 Wednesday games, and 1 Saturday game.
Week 12 they play 2 Tuesday games, 2 Wednesday games, and 1 Saturday game.
Week 13 they play 3 Tuesday games and 3 Friday games.

Of the 21 MAC games this week through the rest of the season only 2 are on a Saturday. It's crazy.

That is NOT what I want for my college football team. That is how you vaporize a fanbase.

(11-02-2016 10:55 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Man, looking at the MAC schedule and the CUSA bowl tie-ins makes me thankful for the Belt.

CUSA's bowl tie-ins are better than ours though.

(11-02-2016 11:18 AM)BurlingtonApp Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 10:55 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Man, looking at the MAC schedule and the CUSA bowl tie-ins makes me thankful for the Belt.

CUSA's bowl tie-ins are better than ours though.

Hawaii, Bahamas, New Mexico, Shreveport? Hard/Costly to get to Hawaii and Nassau. And ABQ and Shreveport aren't appealing destinations to travel to around the holiday season.


Nah. Rather have Orlando, New Orleans and Mobile. If/When Myrtle Beach launches a bowl that'll be acceptable too.

(11-02-2016 11:18 AM)BurlingtonApp Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 10:55 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Man, looking at the MAC schedule and the CUSA bowl tie-ins makes me thankful for the Belt.

CUSA's bowl tie-ins are better than ours though.

Maybe by payout, but not for accessibility to fans. The Bahamas, New Mexico, Hawaii, and South Florida are really far and expensive to reach for most C-USA fans. By contrast, New Orleans, the Alabama bowls, and the Orlando bowl are within driving distance and/Or cheap flights. The Arizona bowl is an anomaly since it's far away. For C-USA, the New Orleans and Dallas bowls are the exceptions because the rest are too far for the average fan base of a 7-5ish team to reach and actually attend.

(11-02-2016 10:55 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  Man, looking at the MAC schedule and the CUSA bowl tie-ins makes me thankful for the Belt.

Ditto that.

We are in the best conference of that group.