The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

rocketman49 Wrote:The attendance for tonights game vs. Akron was 7,925.

Now, that makes UT average attendance for the season roughly 6,280!

thanks to all of the toledo fans and their team ..hope you enjoyed the roo stew.... lmfao

oldfan1 Wrote:

rocketman49 Wrote:The attendance for tonights game vs. Akron was 7,925.

Now, that makes UT average attendance for the season roughly 6,280!

thanks to all of the toledo fans and their team ..hope you enjoyed the roo stew.... lmfao

I wouldn't mind taking Akron out of the tourny for the 2nd straight year! ;-)

Look at these averages:
EMU: 783 (High-1,556, Low-407)
NIU: 1,492 (H-2,049, L-690)
BGSU: Men: 1,408, Women: 1,535

burden Wrote:That's a good point. I was wondering myself if moving the MAC Tournament and MAC offices to Cleveland hurt. It was good for the MAC but maybe not good for Akron and Kent. Last year Ohio games were broadcast on a Cleveland station but not Kent games. Switching to 640 AM has hurt as it can not be heard in Macedonia let alone Cleveland.

I don't think that having the MAC Tournament in Cleveland has hurt Kent or Akron. Maybe OU games are getting better ratings than KSU or UA games, I don't know. Did you ever go to the Seagate Center in Toledo ? What a joke. We have a pro arena which is in the Akron/Kent market. MAC Tournament attendance is up dramatically since the move. If the "zips" would do their part every once in a while and join us in the final, can you imagine the attendance ? As far as the radio thing goes, that's an issue for the KSU athletic dept. to figure out.

Looks like WMU shares the problem, given the crowd for this game today. Maybe it's the weather.

Makes me long for the "good old days" but I hear that makes me seem older than I am. I also hear they weren't that good but I digress.

When I was an undergrad in the 70's at WMU, we had an incredible team in 75-76 that made an NCAA run and was ranked #10. Started the season 17-0 before breaking into the top 20.

This was before they "re-did" Read Fieldhouse. (I hate that "new" configuration.) That year we had a number of crowds near and over 10,000, including the record 10,159 against Miami.

When a team is winning consistently and generating a lot of buzz, the casual fans will come out. Look at Toledo this year. Give them an exciting, fun product and they may come back. Students these days have a lot of other diversions and the schools really need to market their products hard. I think a lot of MAC schools fail to adequately market themselves, including WMU.

I'm surprised that with the tradition and success of KSU over the years that you're not drawing better. Good points about the pro markets though. The marketing should stress the VALUE you get for your money in comparison to going to a pro game where two tickets, two hotdogs and two beers and you've spent $150 - 200.

Kflasher,

Maybe I didn't say that right. I certainly don't want to leave the Q and go back to Toledo. The issue is all the other MAC alumni in Cleveland get to see their teams. They get publicized on radio. Ohio even got their games broadcast. All this makes it a little less likely fans will come to Kent or Akron to see there old school play. Cleveland is much more aware of MAC basketball now but I am not sure Kent or Akron are benefitting that much. Nothing much you can do about it it's just the way it is.

The only real attention the MAC gets in Cleveland is around the MAC tourney when the PD does a special section on Monday, and WKNR does all of the games on the radio. KSU does have their men's games and football games on a radio station in Cleveland, so that is a wash. OU and BG have both had their games broadcast in Cleveland in the past, and that was because alumni were power brokers at those stations.

The TV stations (usually I watch WKYC Ch. 3 when I am in Cleveland) do come down the freeway to get highlights of home games, but they do what the audience wants. In a three-minutes newscast, it is Cavs, Browns free agency, Indians spring training and OSU before CSU and the MAC in Feb. and early March. That is just the way it is.

But as I have said before, the students and local alumni base in Portage County are the important people. KSU can't try to get a few people to drive down from Eastlake for a 7 p.m. start on Wednesday when they can't get the people in Beall and McDowell Halls to walk over.

Your right I forgot Kent was on WHK in Cleveland this year. Stupid me I'm trying listen to 640 as I drive from Cleveland and if I just switch to 1420 everythingwould have been fine. Oh well. I still believe the PD went from a Kent focus to a general MAC focus. Ellen has travelled everywhere the last few years. Hardly ever see him at Kent anymore.