(12-25-2022 12:56 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(12-25-2022 11:56 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  

(12-24-2022 10:47 PM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  

(12-24-2022 10:35 PM)MGMFIN86 Wrote:  Spot on we are part of the small niche that like MAC mid major sports. Merry Christmas

With that being said....The MAC and my old buddy the WAC used to be something

I'm still pretty young, so I've only known the NIU Huskies since 2006. I've known my UH Bows ever since I can remember. The Bows used to have fans back in the early 00s through early 10s. And from all of the NIU classic games I've watched on YouTube such as NIU/Bowling Green, NIU/Miami Ohio, NIU/Toledo, we used to have quite the following too.

A combination of the Power 5, the NCAA, the MAC itself, and ourselves have killed us and brought us to a level slightly above 8A football.

The fan base is still there, they just need to get back in the habit of actually traveling to the stadium on game day. Attendance is down all over the FBS, it's not a special NIU/MAC issue.

I hope college football fans start migrating back towards the live event.

The problem I see now is that people won’t attach to a team because players will leave every year. The team plays well and wins a championship, and players will leave with greener pastures in their eyes. That could mean a whole different team the next year. The time of four-year players is gone. Smaller schools like NIU will become mere stepping stones. Imagine what it would have been like with Garrett Wolfe, Michael Turner, and Jordan Lynch here for just one year. Those players put their stamp on the university and built excitement and the fan base.

This has been happening with professional sports for generations yet we still root for that laundry no matter who is wearing it.