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(10-22-2022 07:42 AM)OKIcat Wrote:  How embarrassing was that "crowd" for Tulsa @ Temple last night on national TV? ESPN worked hard not to show the empty seats but it was unavoidable in certain camera angles.

I know, the Phillies were hosting a playoff game nearby and neither team is going anywhere in the AAC race this season but Temple has had a long history of poor attendance. It got the Owls booted from football-only membership years ago in the old Big East.

Thankfully for UC fans, scenes such as that of life in the AAC are about to appear in our rear view mirror...forever. It makes me appreciate all the more what game day is now like on our campus.

I don't disagree but I think you have to take certain things into account...
1) The Phillies were playing in Game 3 of the NLCS, a series that went into the game tied up at 1-1. That alone, would have put a serious dent in the attendance, especially as the Phillies have sucked in recent memory and suddenly they are playing for the NL pennant.

2) The Phills were not playing "nearby" but literally across the street. The Linc and Citizen's Ballpark share parking lots. And the Phills game was sold out. So you can imagine the mess down there just with ONE game going on. And not only that, I was told on the main, conference board, that the Wells Fargo Arena...which also shares parking with the two other stadiums, was hosting a Smashing Pumpkins concert at the same time. So, you had THREE events, all with exactly the same ingress and egress and sharing parking, going on at the same time. I can't imagine the traffic issues. That would also put a dent into even a serious fan base's attendance.

3) It's Tulsa...the smallest of the FBS level schools, and a school that doesn't have an appreciable alumni or fan base on the East Coast. (Do that have an appreciable alumni or fan-base anywhere??? They can't even sell out their own, reduced capacity stadium.) So, you're relying purely on Temple fans to attend this game.

I'm not excusing the paltry attendance. When I tried to "pull the chain" on the main board by saying "dozens of fans" would be in attendance, the Temple folks told me that even that was optimistic. This was NEVER going to be a "high attendance" game, no matter what, but circumstances conspired to make it a real problem. UC has run into similar issues like when we played down at PBS and had the Reds (and OctoberFest downtown) playing in the playoffs at the same time. And that was with PBS and GAPB not sharing ingress/egress and parking.

And lets not forget we're dragging Houston along...and their fans are among the most fickle and fair-weathered in the Conference. Even with a relatively nice and new OCS, Houston fans don't need an excuse to stay away.

But, yeah...I'm glad to put this whole mess behind us as well.