I got to spend some time in Buffalo last week. I was surprised at the amount of marketing this game has. There were TV and Radio commercials, print ads and the sports talk guys were talking up the game. AS a Kent fan, where we have zero marketing, I was almost jealous that a MAC school was pumping this kind of money and PR towards the program.


I now understand why UB is in the MAC. When they start winning, they will be a great draw. The Buffalo want to get behind this team, and the season opener against Syracuse will be huge. If they win, the attendence should go up. It would be the kind of shot in the arm that the whole confrence got last September when we upset all the BCS teams.

Then I saw this article:
<a href='http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040717/1019883.asp' target='_blank'>Buffalo News</a>

Kinda sad to see who is at the Bottom. UB fans, get behind this team.

Kinda surprised actually that 15,000 tickets still remain for the Syracuse game?!? I've heard many people say that 'Cuse will have 15,000 Orange fans there taking over the stadium. I've said all along that's a bunch of B.S. Syracuse would do well to draw 30,000 to their own stadium to see UB....let alone drive 3 hours down the NYS Thruway to see it. My guess is they'll have 3,000 or so hardcore Orange fans there, the rest will be rooting for UB. I bought 3 tickets for the SU game and bought a season ticket as well.

I don't think UB will fall short on the attendance requirement. The team has to be a bit better and the students seem to care about sports again. I also feel like some of the other MAC teams won't be as dominant as the past few years. Maybe a little more parity will keep people's interest into November.

Wow, this is really weird. I'm living on campus and I haven't heard a damn thing about the game. It's nuts how being on campus is like being on a different world!

I don't live up there anymore but the only advertising I've seen is on Empire Sports Network. They seem to run two ads for the game on every Sports report. I'll be up there next weekend visiting family so I'll have to keep my eyes open for this big marketing blitz!

Remember...before Buffalo went Div I-A just a few years ago...most Upstate New Yorkers (aka Buffalo/Rochester) were and many still ARE...Syracuse fans.

Yes...most don't travel to Syracuse on game-day...but a game in their backyard (aka Buff) will probably bring out a BUNCH of fair-weather Cuse fans in Buff/Roch area.

Sadly...this game shouldn't of required any advertising whats-so-ever...This game should of sold-out on Day one.

KL

PS. But...yes, Buff has "potential"...and Buff is one of the best Sports Cities in the USA.

Bufallo's stadium only holds like 30,000 right? Hmm, I think it's troublesome that 15K still remain for that game.

With Cuse in town, you should be able to fill that place the first day tickets go on sale.

However, this may indicate one of two things-

1. Buffalo fans just don't exist, and don't care

OR

2. Syracuse fans are all talk and no punch, and can't travel nearly as well as they claim. When UCF played Syracuse last year, their "dome" had an echo effect- because there were about 25,000 people there. Afterall, it's that "Big East" power.

seems we got about 9,000 for the basketball first round tourney game, with all sporting events unfortunately a team must win to bring in fans. Watch the hoops attendance this year.

KnightLight Wrote:Remember...before Buffalo went Div I-A just a few years ago...most Upstate New Yorkers (aka Buffalo/Rochester) were and many still ARE...Syracuse fans.

Yes...most don't travel to Syracuse on game-day...but a game in their backyard (aka Buff) will probably bring out a BUNCH of fair-weather Cuse fans in Buff/Roch area.

Sadly...this game shouldn't of required any advertising whats-so-ever...This game should of sold-out on Day one.

KL

PS. But...yes, Buff has "potential"...and Buff is one of the best Sports Cities in the USA.

Like I said, I am kinda surprised 15K still remains for that game but I'm sure the place will be near capacity come gameday. You look at Syracuse' home attendance against some lesser teams and it's usually pretty bad (like in the UCF example above). Also, take a look at Rutgers home game against SU last Thanksgiving weekend. Thousands of SU alum & students live downstate and around NYC/ NJ and would have been home on break. Yet Rutgers could only muster 18,500 for their Big East rivalry game vs SU. Not very impressive (and Rutgers wasn't half bad last year!).

My point is, if UB draws in the high 20's, it shouldn't be a big disappointment since SU fans aren't coming in droves like some believe.

If UB football can shake off the losing bug, like basketball did,,,,,the attendance issue won't even be a factor.

I agree with zrb2, if UB shakes the loser image I think upstate NY will jump on the bandwagon in droves.

By the way, not to make excuses for my team but the weather was really bad for the SU game last season. It was windy as hell, it was so bad people didn't leave there houses for anything that weekend to include football and shopping. RU had one of the biggest jumps in attendance last season and we expect to add to that this season.