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Can we put this to bed right now? I have called and verified, there is only 1 attendance number. It is Bham Parks & Rec's turnstile count PLUS the estimate provided by UAB of those not likely included in that count. There is ONE number and it HAS to be one number because $$ is at stake for the Bham Parks & Rec (how much they pay vendors) and reputation for UAB (to avoid the embarrassment from years ago of announcing one number only to have the turnstile count surface early the following week). The system we have now is the compromise solution reached between UAB and Bham Parks & Rec. There is no double-secret number held by any party because both "butts in seats" are accounted for (the turnstile count) and whatever additional reasonable number UAB needs to add. The End.

Still think we had more for A&M than Troy by a margin of > 2,500.

The A&M crowd might be the biggest I've ever seen at a UAB game since 2007.

I didn't try to do any real attendence estimating, but it looked like there were a lot more people there than there were at the Troy game. No way there was only 2,500 more.

(09-18-2014 01:44 PM)Blazer on the southside Wrote:  I didn't try to do any real attendence estimating, but it looked like there were a lot more people there than there were at the Troy game. No way there was only 2,500 more.

There's no doubt that at least one of the numbers is a lie- the Troy count or the A&M count. Maybe both.

I don't really care that much though because the bottom line is that UAB is drawing decent crowds again for the first time in years! Let's keep it up!!

(09-18-2014 01:21 PM)blazr Wrote:  There is ONE number and it HAS to be one number because $$ is at stake for the Bham Parks & Rec (how much they pay vendors)

Which is why the Park Board directs people around turnstiles to keep the numbers lower than actual...

The controversy is only at an end if you choose to bury your head in the sand.

(09-18-2014 02:14 PM)blazerjay Wrote:  

(09-18-2014 01:21 PM)blazr Wrote:  There is ONE number and it HAS to be one number because $$ is at stake for the Bham Parks & Rec (how much they pay vendors)

Which is why the Park Board directs people around turnstiles to keep the numbers lower than actual...

The controversy is only at an end if you choose to bury your head in the sand.

How much trouble would it be for the AD to put some intern at each gate to keep this from happening?

It's something UAB gets pilloried over. We deserve an honest number.

Where can we get the not announced attendance?

(09-18-2014 02:37 PM)Smaug Wrote:  

(09-18-2014 02:14 PM)blazerjay Wrote:  

(09-18-2014 01:21 PM)blazr Wrote:  There is ONE number and it HAS to be one number because $$ is at stake for the Bham Parks & Rec (how much they pay vendors)

Which is why the Park Board directs people around turnstiles to keep the numbers lower than actual...

The controversy is only at an end if you choose to bury your head in the sand.

How much trouble would it be for the AD to put some intern at each gate to keep this from happening?

It's something UAB gets pilloried over. We deserve an honest number.

That's one of about a hundred things I wish the atheltic department could get someone to do.

The people manning the turn-styles, or to be more accurate the people hiring and managing the people manning the turn-styles, have a financial incentive to deflate attendance counts. I asked the two people over the years who have motioned me around and was told by one that the turnstiles weren't counted (which i know to be a lie) and by the other that they were told to let people go around.

This is not a situation where UAB compromised with the park board to let them do this. Well, unless your definition of compromise is that the the alternatives given to us by the park board were to not rent legion field from the city, or to pay 7x what we currently pay them to use it.

(09-18-2014 02:59 PM)TPBlaze84 Wrote:  

(09-18-2014 02:37 PM)Smaug Wrote:  

(09-18-2014 02:14 PM)blazerjay Wrote:  

(09-18-2014 01:21 PM)blazr Wrote:  There is ONE number and it HAS to be one number because $$ is at stake for the Bham Parks & Rec (how much they pay vendors)

Which is why the Park Board directs people around turnstiles to keep the numbers lower than actual...

The controversy is only at an end if you choose to bury your head in the sand.

How much trouble would it be for the AD to put some intern at each gate to keep this from happening?

It's something UAB gets pilloried over. We deserve an honest number.

That's one of about a hundred things I wish the atheltic department could get someone to do.

Several of us tried to do it about 10 years ago and were all told by security that we couldn't hang around the gate areas once the figured out what we were doing.

Maybe we should all "accidently" spin it twice on our way in

I have done it every time I see them direct someone around. They made my grandchild walk around so I spun it and received a very dirty look. It's ridiculous. No telling how many people that happens to and they think nothing of it.

Trouble is if you say something you are labeled a whiner or paranoid. Fact of the matter is we witnesses it. It's not made up.

I do suspect (as hinted by BlazerMatt) that UAB was told to shut up about it unless they want to play at the Hoover Met.

If, as stated, the turnstile count determines how vendors are paid, then the correct term for what the Park Board has its employees do to dishonestly deflate the numbers is FRAUD. This is an illegal felony in every state. Is UAB cooperating in this cheating of vendors for its own purposes - like keeping the stadium rental down?

UAB has a more obvious motive for accepting the turnstile count as part of their official number: avoiding that weekly embarrassment I mentioned in the OP. Perhaps some don't remember, but for a program fighting for credibility in the public's eye amidst media members intent on the opposite, it was not productive to have a separate article/topic on Monday/Tuesday that there were actually 25% less people watching UAB football than the AD claimed. Even if that 25% less was still a respectable number, there was no way to spin that news so as to make it not reflect very, very bad on UAB.

EDIT: That the Parks & Rec folks accept an additional, estimated number from UAB is indeed a compromise from the prior circumstances.

(09-18-2014 01:21 PM)blazr Wrote:  Can we put this to bed right now? I have called and verified, there is only 1 attendance number. It is Bham Parks & Rec's turnstile count PLUS the estimate provided by UAB of those not likely included in that count. There is ONE number and it HAS to be one number because $$ is at stake for the Bham Parks & Rec (how much they pay vendors) and reputation for UAB (to avoid the embarrassment from years ago of announcing one number only to have the turnstile count surface early the following week). The system we have now is the compromise solution reached between UAB and Bham Parks & Rec. There is no double-secret number held by any party because both "butts in seats" are accounted for (the turnstile count) and whatever additional reasonable number UAB needs to add. The End.

And I'm sure if there were a double-secret number, they would tell some guy that called and asked for it as long as he asked very nicely. I'm convinced!

I'm just wondering how many of you have actually been trained in estimating crowd size? I have. It's not easy. Quit bitching about what you think the numbers were -- when most of you have no idea how to actually estimate a crowd size -- and what were actually reported and be glad we have a product on the field people want to see.

(09-18-2014 10:27 PM)Grammar-Nazi Wrote:  I'm just wondering how many of you have actually been trained in estimating crowd size? I have. It's not easy. Quit bitching about what you think the numbers were -- when most of you have no idea how to actually estimate a crowd size -- and what were actually reported and be glad we have a product on the field people want to see.

Good enuff for me!

Estimating how many people are in a crowd is difficult. Comparing two different crowds relative to each other is much easier. Most of us have witnessed the gate attendants direct people with purchased tickets around the turnstyle. Why do you think they are doing this?