(11-28-2022 12:33 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  SBC Final Avg Attendance

App State - 33,566
Troy - 26,346
Southern Miss - 25,131
James Madison - 22,966
Marshall - 21,842
Old Dominion - 20,232
Texas State - 17,541
Georgia Southern - 17,379
Coastal Carolina - 17,168
South Alabama - 16,646
Georgia State - 16,023
Arkansas State - 15,265
Louisiana - 14,997
ULM - 13,380

Louisiana right at 15K is flat out unacceptable and embarrassing. The University needs to bring back the loose tailgating/RV fees and exit/entry rules of years past. Make it a party like it used to be, and we will return to the days of averaging close to 30K.

(11-28-2022 12:33 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  SBC Final Avg Attendance Hosting JMU (and select others)

App State - 33,566 ....33,248 (UNC 40.2k, Troy 34.4k, continued to fall as season went on with a bump for Robert Morris on HC with 32.5k)
Old Dominion - 20,232 ....21,934 (VT 21,944, Liberty 18.4k, Marshall 18.3k)
Georgia Southern - 17,379 ....18,738 which was Family Day (App State on Senior day was next highest at 18,683)
Arkansas State - 15,265 ....20,083 (ULM on HC was next highest at 18.2k)

Thought it would be interesting to see how our away games shook out.
- App State attendance fell as losses climbed so tough to tell.
- ODU saw a big spike for us and JMU (driven by away fans). Ark St was Family Weekend with 20.6k and Ga Southern was Homecoming with 20.2k so discounting those slightly.
- Ga Southern was the biggest crowd of season but likely more due to Family Day than anything us (such as our short lived ranking).
- Ark St is a bit of a head scratcher but I guess its the same with App St as attendance continued to fall with only 11.7k for USA, 14.4k for UMass, and 9.4k for Troy). Still surprised it was so far above estimate and other SBC teams. Ark St also doesn't appear to use a Family Day to boost attendance (or at least doesn't publish the day on their schedule).

(11-28-2022 11:30 PM)DoubleDogDare Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 12:33 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  SBC Final Avg Attendance Hosting JMU (and select others)

App State - 33,566 ....33,248 (UNC 40.2k, Troy 34.4k, continued to fall as season went on with a bump for Robert Morris on HC with 32.5k)
Old Dominion - 20,232 ....21,934 (VT 21,944, Liberty 18.4k, Marshall 18.3k)
Georgia Southern - 17,379 ....18,738 which was Family Day (App State on Senior day was next highest at 18,683)
Arkansas State - 15,265 ....20,083 (ULM on HC was next highest at 18.2k)

Thought it would be interesting to see how our away games shook out.
- App State attendance fell as losses climbed so tough to tell.
- ODU saw a big spike for us and JMU (driven by away fans). Ark St was Family Weekend with 20.6k and Ga Southern was Homecoming with 20.2k so discounting those slightly.
- Ga Southern was the biggest crowd of season but likely more due to Family Day than anything us (such as our short lived ranking).
- Ark St is a bit of a head scratcher but I guess its the same with App St as attendance continued to fall with only 11.7k for USA, 14.4k for UMass, and 9.4k for Troy). Still surprised it was so far above estimate and other SBC teams. Ark St also doesn't appear to use a Family Day to boost attendance (or at least doesn't publish the day on their schedule).

What is "Family Day" exactly?

(11-28-2022 11:36 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  What is "Family Day" exactly?

"Family Day" is stupid, not sure why I said that. "Family Weekend" is a fake celebration to get parents on campus to boost bookstore sales and football tickets, similar to Hallmark making up holidays to sell cards. Seems like Ark St decided it didn't need the extra revenue this year.

(11-28-2022 06:33 PM)High Country Student Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 12:52 PM)SVHerd Wrote:  Kudos to App, Troy and USM for solid numbers. Marshall's average is the lowest since the Joan opened I believe - 1991

Marshall fans not so thrilled with joining the Sun Belt?

We went a month without a home game at the beginning of the season, Herd fans are happy to be in the Belt.

(11-28-2022 11:52 PM)DoubleDogDare Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 11:36 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  What is "Family Day" exactly?

"Family Day" is stupid, not sure why I said that. "Family Weekend" is a fake celebration to get parents on campus to boost bookstore sales and football tickets, similar to Hallmark making up holidays to sell cards. Seems like Ark St decided it didn't need the extra revenue this year.

I didn't remember if we ever had one. Of course my youngest is 36 so its been awhile since I had kids on campus. Waiting for the grandkids to start.

(11-28-2022 06:33 PM)High Country Student Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 12:52 PM)SVHerd Wrote:  Kudos to App, Troy and USM for solid numbers. Marshall's average is the lowest since the Joan opened I believe - 1991

Marshall fans not so thrilled with joining the Sun Belt?

Marshall is very happy to be in the Sun Belt. Marshall did not play its first home Saturday FBS game until October 29, and it was with the team struggling. The schedule was rough enough, then the weather was awful.

Game 1: Norfolk State- Hot. It was 90-ish degrees that day, and an FCS opponent with no name recognition.

Game 2: Gardner-Webb-- Rainy. Very rainy. The miserable/it rained all day type of rain. Hard rain at times. FCS opponent with no name recognition. We were riding a two game losing streak and were offensively handcuffed at the time.

Game 3: Louisiana- Wednesday night. Rainy. Had an hour long lightning delay in which people were forced out of the stadium completely. On top of a still anemic offense.

Game 4: Coastal Carolina- Good weather if I recall correctly. Team was still anemic on offense. Homecoming. This was the draw I was most disappointed in.

Game 5: Appalachian State- Rained all day. Rained during the game at times. Offense was starting to improve.

Game 6: Georgia State- Holiday weekend. Weather was finally picture perfect, after early forecasts called for snow/rain mix. They got it right within two days of the game though. Opponent right now has no name recognition here.

While those are going to sound like excuses, and I accept that, it is what it is. I was at all 6 games to the final whistle and that's all I can account for. But even at that, some of these games were challenging to sit in the elements for.

(11-28-2022 09:26 PM)ThunderingHerdFan Wrote:  Marshall also seats just a shade more than 30k now. The erector set bleachers will soon be just a memory.

Marshall has a nice stadium. The Herd, App St., TXST, and SoMiss all have excellent FB venues, and provide a standard in capacity all SBC schools should try to match and fill.

Look forward to visiting Marshall next year for its game against JMU.

(11-28-2022 06:33 PM)High Country Student Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 12:52 PM)SVHerd Wrote:  Kudos to App, Troy and USM for solid numbers. Marshall's average is the lowest since the Joan opened I believe - 1991

Marshall fans not so thrilled with joining the Sun Belt?

No, we are extremely happy to be in the Belt. Just poor weather for games and bad play from week 3 to week 7 sorta killed any mojo from the ND win. Our students suck - they never attend games. We have some issues in attendance that need fixed.

(11-28-2022 11:30 PM)DoubleDogDare Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 12:33 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  SBC Final Avg Attendance Hosting JMU (and select others)

App State - 33,566 ....33,248 (UNC 40.2k, Troy 34.4k, continued to fall as season went on with a bump for Robert Morris on HC with 32.5k)
Old Dominion - 20,232 ....21,934 (VT 21,944, Liberty 18.4k, Marshall 18.3k)
Georgia Southern - 17,379 ....18,738 which was Family Day (App State on Senior day was next highest at 18,683)
Arkansas State - 15,265 ....20,083 (ULM on HC was next highest at 18.2k)

Thought it would be interesting to see how our away games shook out.
- App State attendance fell as losses climbed so tough to tell.
- ODU saw a big spike for us and JMU (driven by away fans). Ark St was Family Weekend with 20.6k and Ga Southern was Homecoming with 20.2k so discounting those slightly.
- Ga Southern was the biggest crowd of season but likely more due to Family Day than anything us (such as our short lived ranking).
- Ark St is a bit of a head scratcher but I guess its the same with App St as attendance continued to fall with only 11.7k for USA, 14.4k for UMass, and 9.4k for Troy). Still surprised it was so far above estimate and other SBC teams. Ark St also doesn't appear to use a Family Day to boost attendance (or at least doesn't publish the day on their schedule).

You cant say JMU fans drove attendance for ODU. We sold out season tickets and we sold out mini plans. Less than 50 tickets were sold on a single game basis for that game through ODU (not including the visitor allotment).

JMU did bring a lot of fans but the majority bought those on the secondary market, which is a different discussion altogether.

(11-29-2022 11:50 AM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 09:26 PM)ThunderingHerdFan Wrote:  Marshall also seats just a shade more than 30k now. The erector set bleachers will soon be just a memory.

Marshall has a nice stadium. The Herd, App St., TXST, and SoMiss all have excellent FB venues, and provide a standard in capacity all SBC schools should try to match and fill.

Look forward to visiting Marshall next year for its game against JMU.

There isn't nor should there be a status quo for stadium size given the drastically different makeups, profiles, and sizes of each university. A University should have the right size stadium for them. Not too big or small.

(11-29-2022 11:46 AM)ThunderingHerdFan Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 06:33 PM)High Country Student Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 12:52 PM)SVHerd Wrote:  Kudos to App, Troy and USM for solid numbers. Marshall's average is the lowest since the Joan opened I believe - 1991

Marshall fans not so thrilled with joining the Sun Belt?

Marshall is very happy to be in the Sun Belt. Marshall did not play its first home Saturday FBS game until October 29, and it was with the team struggling. The schedule was rough enough, then the weather was awful.

Game 1: Norfolk State- Hot. It was 90-ish degrees that day, and an FCS opponent with no name recognition.

Game 2: Gardner-Webb-- Rainy. Very rainy. The miserable/it rained all day type of rain. Hard rain at times. FCS opponent with no name recognition. We were riding a two game losing streak and were offensively handcuffed at the time.

Game 3: Louisiana- Wednesday night. Rainy. Had an hour long lightning delay in which people were forced out of the stadium completely. On top of a still anemic offense.

Game 4: Coastal Carolina- Good weather if I recall correctly. Team was still anemic on offense. Homecoming. This was the draw I was most disappointed in.

Game 5: Appalachian State- Rained all day. Rained during the game at times. Offense was starting to improve.

Game 6: Georgia State- Holiday weekend. Weather was finally picture perfect, after early forecasts called for snow/rain mix. They got it right within two days of the game though. Opponent right now has no name recognition here.

While those are going to sound like excuses, and I accept that, it is what it is. I was at all 6 games to the final whistle and that's all I can account for. But even at that, some of these games were challenging to sit in the elements for.

Georgia Southern feels your pain. Firing the coach mid season didn't help but the 2021 season was pretty much a rain out. Three games were a total loss to flooding rain with a 4th misting the entire game. Only two this year but 70% average capacity is good. Rainy seasons are the worst.

We do have the benefit of cover but 15 thousand people crowded under one deck get's a bit tight.

(11-29-2022 05:05 PM)Monarchist13 Wrote:  You cant say JMU fans drove attendance for ODU. We sold out season tickets and we sold out mini plans. Less than 50 tickets were sold on a single game basis for that game through ODU (not including the visitor allotment).

JMU did bring a lot of fans but the majority bought those on the secondary market, which is a different discussion altogether.

Why can't I? Attendance is butts in the seats, it's not who was clicking through payment prompts online. Sure, ODU drove ticket sales, but, JMU fans drove attendance. I'm sure some ODU fans went because their tickets didn't sell and I'm sure others would have gone if the tickets weren't going for a premium on secondary. So it's not a one-for-one offset but it doesn't matter if JMU bought tickets from JMU, or ODU, or on stubhub, or from the dude on the corner; JMU fans drove attendance.

Kudos ODU

(11-30-2022 01:28 PM)TrueBlueDrew Wrote:  

Kudos ODU

The interest is there ... If there's something worth watching on the field. Last year gave fans tentative hope, but we were let down again. Might take a full successful year before people believe again. Two or three successful years will turn Ballard into a party

(11-29-2022 05:47 PM)TealNation Wrote:  

(11-29-2022 11:50 AM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 09:26 PM)ThunderingHerdFan Wrote:  Marshall also seats just a shade more than 30k now. The erector set bleachers will soon be just a memory.

Marshall has a nice stadium. The Herd, App St., TXST, and SoMiss all have excellent FB venues, and provide a standard in capacity all SBC schools should try to match and fill.

Look forward to visiting Marshall next year for its game against JMU.

There isn't nor should there be a status quo for stadium size given the drastically different makeups, profiles, and sizes of each university. A University should have the right size stadium for them. Not too big or small.

The “makeups” (as you call it) aren’t all that deferent between SBC member schools. Sure, some institutions have larger enrollments (take TXST for one example at near 40k, and Marshall at 12k), but the beauty of the SBC is that there is (in general terms) profiles that are similar and shared by member institutions.

The point of my previous observation was that (with the focus on FB) SBC schools should be looking to maximize it venues to promote the highest possible attendance. The higher the attendance, the higher the media profile. The higher the attendance and media profile, the higher the recruiting profile and football generated income to support our programs.

Of course each school will decide for itself what the optimum size of their stadium should be, however, a minimum seating capacity of 30k shouldn’t be out of reach for all SBC schools.

(11-28-2022 10:37 PM)Big Buds Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 12:33 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  SBC Final Avg Attendance

App State - 33,566
Troy - 26,346
Southern Miss - 25,131
James Madison - 22,966
Marshall - 21,842
Old Dominion - 20,232
Texas State - 17,541
Georgia Southern - 17,379
Coastal Carolina - 17,168
South Alabama - 16,646
Georgia State - 16,023
Arkansas State - 15,265
Louisiana - 14,997
ULM - 13,380

Louisiana right at 15K is flat out unacceptable and embarrassing. The University needs to bring back the loose tailgating/RV fees and exit/entry rules of years past. Make it a party like it used to be, and we will return to the days of averaging close to 30K.

When did you guys average close to 30K? Not asking as a knock, just curious when that was.

(11-30-2022 04:35 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 10:37 PM)Big Buds Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 12:33 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  SBC Final Avg Attendance

App State - 33,566
Troy - 26,346
Southern Miss - 25,131
James Madison - 22,966
Marshall - 21,842
Old Dominion - 20,232
Texas State - 17,541
Georgia Southern - 17,379
Coastal Carolina - 17,168
South Alabama - 16,646
Georgia State - 16,023
Arkansas State - 15,265
Louisiana - 14,997
ULM - 13,380

Louisiana right at 15K is flat out unacceptable and embarrassing. The University needs to bring back the loose tailgating/RV fees and exit/entry rules of years past. Make it a party like it used to be, and we will return to the days of averaging close to 30K.

When did you guys average close to 30K? Not asking as a knock, just curious when that was.

In 2011 under Hudspeth we only had 5 home games.
32,823 vs UNT
29,775 vs Troy
28,741 vs Nicholls
28,171 vs ULM
26,339 vs FAU

(11-30-2022 01:28 PM)TrueBlueDrew Wrote:  

Kudos ODU

You mean the ODU that is two spots below Arkansas State in the list you posted? Yet you only mentioned ODU...

Speaking of Arkansas State, we had one of the worst years in our history. We also had three homes games where it rained the entire time. Also one game where the high was 21. Even with one of the worst records we've had and one of the worst years as far as weather, we increased our attendance. I'm not happy about it but it's better than going negative.

(11-30-2022 01:36 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-29-2022 05:47 PM)TealNation Wrote:  

(11-29-2022 11:50 AM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-28-2022 09:26 PM)ThunderingHerdFan Wrote:  Marshall also seats just a shade more than 30k now. The erector set bleachers will soon be just a memory.

Marshall has a nice stadium. The Herd, App St., TXST, and SoMiss all have excellent FB venues, and provide a standard in capacity all SBC schools should try to match and fill.

Look forward to visiting Marshall next year for its game against JMU.

There isn't nor should there be a status quo for stadium size given the drastically different makeups, profiles, and sizes of each university. A University should have the right size stadium for them. Not too big or small.

The “makeups” (as you call it) aren’t all that deferent between SBC member schools. Sure, some institutions have larger enrollments (take TXST for one example at near 40k, and Marshall at 12k), but the beauty of the SBC is that there is (in general terms) profiles that are similar and shared by member institutions.

The point of my previous observation was that (with the focus on FB) SBC schools should be looking to maximize it venues to promote the highest possible attendance. The higher the attendance, the higher the media profile. The higher the attendance and media profile, the higher the recruiting profile and football generated income to support our programs.

Of course each school will decide for itself what the optimum size of their stadium should be, however, a minimum seating capacity of 30k shouldn’t be out of reach for all SBC schools.

I don't think the majority of schools in the conference will be averaging 30k anytime soon. I'd rather some schools go the opposite direction and maybe invest in more chair backs because the stadium is too large for this era of in person attendance. I'd just rather see fuller looking stadiums across the league.