12-06-2002, 04:40 PM
<a href='http://www.stater.kent.edu/today/fristories/attendance.html' target='_blank'>NY Times story angers officials </a>
NY Times story angers officials
Article claims football attendance was miscounted
Mike Gardner
Daily Kent Stater
A New York Times reporter said Kent State is miscounting its football attendance. Kent State officials said he was lying.
Laing Kennedy, Kent State's athletic director, said the article's author, Jayson Blair, never even contacted the university about how the school counts its football attendance.
"It's full of inaccuracies," Kennedy said. "It's totally irresponsible and not true. It infuriates me."
Neither Blair nor various editors at The New York Times could be reached for comments after numerous attempts.
The story says the university has sponsored tailgating parties and counted those packed on flatbed trucks and sitting on lawn chairs in the parking lot as being in attendance.
In one version of the article, Blair quotes Pete Mahoney, associate athletic director who oversees marketing, as saying, "We are going to do it until someone tells us to stop." In another version of the article, the same quote was attributed to "one Kent State official."
"I never saw the article," Mahoney said. "I got a phone call after it ran. Those are not my quotes.
"We're not very happy, especially about some comments that were made. 'Flatbed trucks' never came out of my mouth. My whole objective is to get people in the stands. The gate revenue is very important."
Kennedy backed-up Mahoney's comment, stating attendance numbers are accurately reported based on people coming through the turnstiles at Dix Stadium.
"We are not free and easy with the NCAA," Kennedy said. "They are very clear on how to count attendance. We don't count tailgaters. We don't count people on flatbed trucks, and we don't count people in lawn chairs."
There are certain NCAA stipulations Division IA schools must meet to still be considered Division IA. A school must have 90 percent of its scholarships occupied, must sponsor 16 sports (six of them men's) and must have 200 scholarships. The final stipulation -- averaging 15,000 people per home game against Division IA opponents -- is still being decided upon. Kennedy said the rule has been referred to the NCAA board of directors and, if passed, will go into effect Aug. 1, 2004.
This stipulation is what concerns the university. In 2001, it was about 8,000 people short of the proposed standard, but numbers are creeping up. In 2002 it averaged 11,447 people -- a hike of close to 90 percent.
Ramifications of not meeting the requirements have not yet been settled on by the NCAA, but the ramifications for the university could be huge.
To be a full-fledged member of the Mid-American Conference, the school must sponsor football, volleyball, baseball, softball and men's and women's basketball at a Division IA status. If the football program is dropped to IAA, Kent State would lose all its MAC membership.
The athletic department is working on new and innovative marketing ideas to put more people in the stands at football games. While Kennedy admitted winning is the best way to boost attendance, he said there are ways of encouraging more participation. Mahoney said the marketing department wants to reach out more to the community and to the students. Kennedy is looking at some schedule changes in order to not directly compete with larger football powerhouses like Ohio State.
"We need to be proactive and get creative and get rid of the sacred cow that Kent State football has to be played on Saturday at 2 p.m."
Kennedy said he wants to play more games on Thursdays and Fridays and make some of the game times later in the evening.
I don't see how this could pad the attendence any more than a couple hundred for the season. If they want to do a good job pading the attendence they should just make up number. It worked for Toledo
<!--EDIT|FunkmasterFlash|Dec 6 2002, 04:47 PM-->
NY Times story angers officials
Article claims football attendance was miscounted
Mike Gardner
Daily Kent Stater
A New York Times reporter said Kent State is miscounting its football attendance. Kent State officials said he was lying.
Laing Kennedy, Kent State's athletic director, said the article's author, Jayson Blair, never even contacted the university about how the school counts its football attendance.
"It's full of inaccuracies," Kennedy said. "It's totally irresponsible and not true. It infuriates me."
Neither Blair nor various editors at The New York Times could be reached for comments after numerous attempts.
The story says the university has sponsored tailgating parties and counted those packed on flatbed trucks and sitting on lawn chairs in the parking lot as being in attendance.
In one version of the article, Blair quotes Pete Mahoney, associate athletic director who oversees marketing, as saying, "We are going to do it until someone tells us to stop." In another version of the article, the same quote was attributed to "one Kent State official."
"I never saw the article," Mahoney said. "I got a phone call after it ran. Those are not my quotes.
"We're not very happy, especially about some comments that were made. 'Flatbed trucks' never came out of my mouth. My whole objective is to get people in the stands. The gate revenue is very important."
Kennedy backed-up Mahoney's comment, stating attendance numbers are accurately reported based on people coming through the turnstiles at Dix Stadium.
"We are not free and easy with the NCAA," Kennedy said. "They are very clear on how to count attendance. We don't count tailgaters. We don't count people on flatbed trucks, and we don't count people in lawn chairs."
There are certain NCAA stipulations Division IA schools must meet to still be considered Division IA. A school must have 90 percent of its scholarships occupied, must sponsor 16 sports (six of them men's) and must have 200 scholarships. The final stipulation -- averaging 15,000 people per home game against Division IA opponents -- is still being decided upon. Kennedy said the rule has been referred to the NCAA board of directors and, if passed, will go into effect Aug. 1, 2004.
This stipulation is what concerns the university. In 2001, it was about 8,000 people short of the proposed standard, but numbers are creeping up. In 2002 it averaged 11,447 people -- a hike of close to 90 percent.
Ramifications of not meeting the requirements have not yet been settled on by the NCAA, but the ramifications for the university could be huge.
To be a full-fledged member of the Mid-American Conference, the school must sponsor football, volleyball, baseball, softball and men's and women's basketball at a Division IA status. If the football program is dropped to IAA, Kent State would lose all its MAC membership.
The athletic department is working on new and innovative marketing ideas to put more people in the stands at football games. While Kennedy admitted winning is the best way to boost attendance, he said there are ways of encouraging more participation. Mahoney said the marketing department wants to reach out more to the community and to the students. Kennedy is looking at some schedule changes in order to not directly compete with larger football powerhouses like Ohio State.
"We need to be proactive and get creative and get rid of the sacred cow that Kent State football has to be played on Saturday at 2 p.m."
Kennedy said he wants to play more games on Thursdays and Fridays and make some of the game times later in the evening.
I don't see how this could pad the attendence any more than a couple hundred for the season. If they want to do a good job pading the attendence they should just make up number. It worked for Toledo
<!--EDIT|FunkmasterFlash|Dec 6 2002, 04:47 PM-->
