Quote:Posted: Jul 9, 2010 at 1:32 PM [Jul 9, 2010]
Ron English’s coaching debut with the Eastern Michigan football team came against Army in September 2009, and it drew a crowd.
Attendance, helped by tailgates for Armed Forces veterans, reached 14,500.
“There are some people who’ve been around here an awfully long time, and they all said it was the biggest crowd we’ve ever had at Rynearson Stadium,” Eastern Michigan athletic director Derrick Gragg said. “There was a lot of excitement around the program, and it was great to see a crowd like that.”
The crowds didn’t last. Three weeks later, after the Eagles struggled to an 0-3 start, 3,300 fans came to English’s second home game, a 24-12 loss to Temple. The low point of the season was Oct. 24, when 1,500 people attended Eastern Michigan’s game against Ball State.
Some victories and more incentives should help increase attendance for the Eastern Michigan football program in coach Ron English's second season with the Eagles.
According to statistics released by the NCAA after the 2009 regular season, the Eagles averaged 5,016 fans per home game, the lowest average attendance in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The next lowest was Florida International with 10,200.
http://www.annarbor.com/sports/eastern-m...all-games/
(07-12-2010 11:51 AM)Airport KC Wrote: [ -> ]Quote:Posted: Jul 9, 2010 at 1:32 PM [Jul 9, 2010]
Ron English’s coaching debut with the Eastern Michigan football team came against Army in September 2009, and it drew a crowd.
Attendance, helped by tailgates for Armed Forces veterans, reached 14,500.
“There are some people who’ve been around here an awfully long time, and they all said it was the biggest crowd we’ve ever had at Rynearson Stadium,” Eastern Michigan athletic director Derrick Gragg said. “There was a lot of excitement around the program, and it was great to see a crowd like that.”
The crowds didn’t last. Three weeks later, after the Eagles struggled to an 0-3 start, 3,300 fans came to English’s second home game, a 24-12 loss to Temple. The low point of the season was Oct. 24, when 1,500 people attended Eastern Michigan’s game against Ball State.
Some victories and more incentives should help increase attendance for the Eastern Michigan football program in coach Ron English's second season with the Eagles.
According to statistics released by the NCAA after the 2009 regular season, the Eagles averaged 5,016 fans per home game, the lowest average attendance in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The next lowest was Florida International with 10,200.
http://www.annarbor.com/sports/eastern-m...all-games/
Dr. Gragg's statement is not accurate.
There were some games in '95 which drew much larger crowds.
I believe the biggest crowd was over 24K for UNLV.
The butts in seats for that game were probably 2x the Army game.
(I attended both the UNLV game and last year's Army game).
The 'stadium dedication' game - think it was '91 or '92 (vs. Akron) was also a very, very large crowd.
EMU had some good attendances in '87 when they were bowl bound.
IF Gragg has said, largest crowd in the last dozen years, he'd been correct.
IF had said, the crowds have been small in the last dozen or so years because the team never played consistently good ball (the team OCCASSIONALLY would rise up and beat CMU or WMU but wins could be counted on one hand).
(07-12-2010 12:06 PM)emu steve Wrote: [ -> ] (07-12-2010 11:51 AM)Airport KC Wrote: [ -> ]Quote:Posted: Jul 9, 2010 at 1:32 PM [Jul 9, 2010]
Ron English’s coaching debut with the Eastern Michigan football team came against Army in September 2009, and it drew a crowd.
Attendance, helped by tailgates for Armed Forces veterans, reached 14,500.
“There are some people who’ve been around here an awfully long time, and they all said it was the biggest crowd we’ve ever had at Rynearson Stadium,” Eastern Michigan athletic director Derrick Gragg said. “There was a lot of excitement around the program, and it was great to see a crowd like that.”
The crowds didn’t last. Three weeks later, after the Eagles struggled to an 0-3 start, 3,300 fans came to English’s second home game, a 24-12 loss to Temple. The low point of the season was Oct. 24, when 1,500 people attended Eastern Michigan’s game against Ball State.
Some victories and more incentives should help increase attendance for the Eastern Michigan football program in coach Ron English's second season with the Eagles.
According to statistics released by the NCAA after the 2009 regular season, the Eagles averaged 5,016 fans per home game, the lowest average attendance in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The next lowest was Florida International with 10,200.
http://www.annarbor.com/sports/eastern-m...all-games/
Dr. Gragg's statement is not accurate.
There were some games in '95 which drew much larger crowds.
I believe the biggest crowd was over 24K for UNLV.
The butts in seats for that game were probably 2x the Army game.
(I attended both the UNLV game and last year's Army game).
The 'stadium dedication' game - think it was '91 or '92 (vs. Akron) was also a very, very large crowd.
EMU had some good attendances in '87 when they were bowl bound.
IF Gragg has said, largest crowd in the last dozen years, he'd been correct.
IF had said, the crowds have been small in the last dozen or so years because the team never played consistently good ball (the team OCCASSIONALLY would rise up and beat CMU or WMU but wins could be counted on one hand).
Why did you fire your coach and hire Ron English? That was a mistake.
At a normal school you need to give a coach 4-5 years to see if he can get it done.
At EMU they need to allow a coach 8 to 10 years. Any thing beyond 2 wins a season is progress.
The Doug Martin fomula is working at Kent State.
http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coachin...achid=3735
He's never won more than 6 games in a season in 6 years but he's brought in a lot of out-of-state talent to allow the Flashes to compete in the MAC.
And its paying off. Its year 7 of Doug's regime and he's projected to take Kent State to its first bowl game in the modern era.
We all can agree that Laing Kennedy knows what he is doing. He's showing it in football by giving Pees and now Martin time.
I watched EMU stage a mighty come from behind battle against what turned out to be a pretty good Northwestern last year, only to lose on a 52 yard FG. The Eagles had some fight that day.
(07-12-2010 01:03 PM)FlashFan Wrote: [ -> ]I watched EMU stage a mighty come from behind battle against what turned out to be a pretty good Northwestern last year, only to lose on a 52 yard FG. The Eagles had some fight that day.
This goes back to my point about the MAC becoming more nationally competitive.
These days winless MAC schools can compete in BCS games and schools with 3-5 wins are capable of pulling off BCS upsets.
If the MAC could just lighten up on the schedules and rack up wins against WAC/SBC/CUSA/FCS some pretty nice computer ratings will come about. Especially with playing the enhanced B10 (Nebraska, 3 New Year Florida bowl games) on a regular basis.
It is sad not enough people go to EMU games. I was talking to an EMU player and even as a WMU fan I wish we could get up and excited for a good game against them as an in state opponent but in the MAC they haven't been competative and the WMU home games aren't even close with EMU winning every once in a while it doesn't build a rivalry like CMU. This way every year we had a big home game not only when CMU comes. EMU has built some great facilities and wish fans would go and recognize it.
(07-12-2010 01:52 PM)wmu2012 Wrote: [ -> ]It is sad not enough people go to EMU games.
well ill try to help start the movement. toledo opens on a friday so i think im gonna head up for the emu/army opener saturday
(07-12-2010 02:12 PM)Time4Church8 Wrote: [ -> ] (07-12-2010 01:52 PM)wmu2012 Wrote: [ -> ]It is sad not enough people go to EMU games.
well ill try to help start the movement. toledo opens on a friday so i think im gonna head up for the emu/army opener saturday
TimeforChurch8,
May not be an incredibly large incentive, but if you do decide to come to the EMU game on September 5th let me know and I'll buy your ticket! (Provided that you're not a potential recruit and I'd be violating any rules)
(07-12-2010 01:52 PM)wmu2012 Wrote: [ -> ]EMU has built some great facilities and wish fans would go and recognize it.
I was in town over the past weekend and unfortunately (for me) the indoor practice facility was closed.
Put 12 - 15K in Rynearson and say 3 - 4K in the Convo and the facilities are nice and LOOK nice.
Rynearson needs butts in seats to soften the concrete look of the stadium.
(07-13-2010 07:43 AM)KPJ Wrote: [ -> ] (07-12-2010 02:12 PM)Time4Church8 Wrote: [ -> ] (07-12-2010 01:52 PM)wmu2012 Wrote: [ -> ]It is sad not enough people go to EMU games.
well ill try to help start the movement. toledo opens on a friday so i think im gonna head up for the emu/army opener saturday
TimeforChurch8,
May not be an incredibly large incentive, but if you do decide to come to the EMU game on September 5th let me know and I'll buy your ticket! (Provided that you're not a potential recruit and I'd be violating any rules)
When I lived in the Detroit area, I used to catch about 3-5 EMU games a year (I even bought season tickets once) but it sure seemed like I cared more than the majority of their students. There were games where I swear that the band was most of the EMU following. I think they moved the band to the visitors' side so they wouldn't be "eyeball compared" in size to the paying EMU faithful. I finally gave up on it.
After that, I just made the (much longer) treks to BGSU, Toledo, WMU and CMU instead. Going to CMU games won me over. A much better and more enjoyable use of my time - true even before they got good.
The best thing about EMU football was when they stopped charging for parking.
The most fans I ever saw at Rynearson was for a HS football game (BBR vs DCC back in the 1980s) - and that was before the expansion.
Likewise, I went to a couple of men's BB games before deciding that just going to OaklandU or Detroit-Mercy games instead. I tried going to Savage Hall (U of Toledo) a few times, but that was more driving than I was willing to do for basketball.
I don't know how you build from that long of a term of no one caring.
(07-13-2010 07:43 AM)KPJ Wrote: [ -> ] (07-12-2010 02:12 PM)Time4Church8 Wrote: [ -> ] (07-12-2010 01:52 PM)wmu2012 Wrote: [ -> ]It is sad not enough people go to EMU games.
well ill try to help start the movement. toledo opens on a friday so i think im gonna head up for the emu/army opener saturday
TimeforChurch8,
May not be an incredibly large incentive, but if you do decide to come to the EMU game on September 5th let me know and I'll buy your ticket! (Provided that you're not a potential recruit and I'd be violating any rules)
haha thanks for the offer but im not gonna make you do that. im almost for sure gonna come and ill try to bring one or two people with me. i always enjoy rooting for mac teams to win ooc games
Personally, I've never seen more than about 12K in the stands at Rynearson. I will, however, most likely be there again this fall. Once, anyway.
(07-13-2010 12:00 PM)nert Wrote: [ -> ] (07-13-2010 07:43 AM)KPJ Wrote: [ -> ] (07-12-2010 02:12 PM)Time4Church8 Wrote: [ -> ] (07-12-2010 01:52 PM)wmu2012 Wrote: [ -> ]It is sad not enough people go to EMU games.
well ill try to help start the movement. toledo opens on a friday so i think im gonna head up for the emu/army opener saturday
TimeforChurch8,
May not be an incredibly large incentive, but if you do decide to come to the EMU game on September 5th let me know and I'll buy your ticket! (Provided that you're not a potential recruit and I'd be violating any rules)
When I lived in the Detroit area, I used to catch about 3-5 EMU games a year (I even bought season tickets once) but it sure seemed like I cared more than the majority of their students. There were games where I swear that the band was most of the EMU following. I think they moved the band to the visitors' side so they wouldn't be "eyeball compared" in size to the paying EMU faithful. I finally gave up on it.
After that, I just made the (much longer) treks to BGSU, Toledo, WMU and CMU instead. Going to CMU games won me over. A much better and more enjoyable use of my time - true even before they got good.
The best thing about EMU football was when they stopped charging for parking.
The most fans I ever saw at Rynearson was for a HS football game (BBR vs DCC back in the 1980s) - and that was before the expansion.
Likewise, I went to a couple of men's BB games before deciding that just going to OaklandU or Detroit-Mercy games instead. I tried going to Savage Hall (U of Toledo) a few times, but that was more driving than I was willing to do for basketball.
I don't know how you build from that long of a term of no one caring.
Winning helps. CMU probably didn't go through a season without a win.
Also being so close to UM doesn't help. EMU playing CMU or WMU there are as many WMU or CMU fans as EMU because both teams have more fans and don't have UM in their backyard.
(07-14-2010 11:41 AM)wmu2012 Wrote: [ -> ] (07-13-2010 12:00 PM)nert Wrote: [ -> ] (07-13-2010 07:43 AM)KPJ Wrote: [ -> ] (07-12-2010 02:12 PM)Time4Church8 Wrote: [ -> ] (07-12-2010 01:52 PM)wmu2012 Wrote: [ -> ]It is sad not enough people go to EMU games.
well ill try to help start the movement. toledo opens on a friday so i think im gonna head up for the emu/army opener saturday
TimeforChurch8,
May not be an incredibly large incentive, but if you do decide to come to the EMU game on September 5th let me know and I'll buy your ticket! (Provided that you're not a potential recruit and I'd be violating any rules)
When I lived in the Detroit area, I used to catch about 3-5 EMU games a year (I even bought season tickets once) but it sure seemed like I cared more than the majority of their students. There were games where I swear that the band was most of the EMU following. I think they moved the band to the visitors' side so they wouldn't be "eyeball compared" in size to the paying EMU faithful. I finally gave up on it.
After that, I just made the (much longer) treks to BGSU, Toledo, WMU and CMU instead. Going to CMU games won me over. A much better and more enjoyable use of my time - true even before they got good.
The best thing about EMU football was when they stopped charging for parking.
The most fans I ever saw at Rynearson was for a HS football game (BBR vs DCC back in the 1980s) - and that was before the expansion.
Likewise, I went to a couple of men's BB games before deciding that just going to OaklandU or Detroit-Mercy games instead. I tried going to Savage Hall (U of Toledo) a few times, but that was more driving than I was willing to do for basketball.
I don't know how you build from that long of a term of no one caring.
Winning helps. CMU probably didn't go through a season without a win.
Also being so close to UM doesn't help. EMU playing CMU or WMU there are as many WMU or CMU fans as EMU because both teams have more fans and don't have UM in their backyard.
EMU is not in the MAC for football based reasons that is for sure.
Its in the MAC exclusively for political reasons as WMU wanted more Michigan schools and to create for itself a situation like you have in Ohio with multiple in-state representation.
EMU has the facilites and budget at the MAC level which is the most important requirements these days if a school wants to play in the MAC.
IL State doesn't have the football stadium, ect. Major barrier right there from moving up.
i would say there were more people at the Maryland game that was - i think - in '05. i would also guess the Howard game a few years ago had a bigger crowd, although a lot of those fans were there because of the draw of Howard's band.
but yeah, our attendance sucks. we might have had 1,000 people there for the Kent game last year.
(07-15-2010 03:17 PM)EMUAARON Wrote: [ -> ]i would say there were more people at the Maryland game that was - i think - in '05. i would also guess the Howard game a few years ago had a bigger crowd, although a lot of those fans were there because of the draw of Howard's band.
but yeah, our attendance sucks. we might have had 1,000 people there for the Kent game last year.
I believe the Howard game did go over 15,000, I want to say it was 17,000. But you're right... The band was a HUGE draw
Perhaps EMU would do better if more of their games were scheduled on Sat nites. at the very least their MAC opponents would have an easier time getting to the game. It's a 5 hour drive from Chicago.
(07-16-2010 01:19 AM)onlinepole Wrote: [ -> ]Perhaps EMU would do better if more of their games were scheduled on Sat nites. at the very least their MAC opponents would have an easier time getting to the game. It's a 5 hour drive from Chicago.
If I recall, at one time EMU played exclusively on Saturday nights. I assume mostly to stay away from Michigan's games which are always during the day since Michigan Stadium doesn't have lights. Not sure when that changed, but I'm pretty sure for years they played all their home games at night and it didn't really matter.
(07-15-2010 03:17 PM)EMUAARON Wrote: [ -> ]but yeah, our attendance sucks. we might have had 1,000 people there for the Kent game last year.
Announced attendance was 2401, which I guess are parents and true die-hards.