I am all for playing the MACC at a neutral site, but we have got to find a way to increase the attendance for the game. Does anyone have any creative ideas? I think with the possibility of C-USA moving its tv coverage from ESPN, one would think the game would be on a Saturday in the future and thus help attendance somewhat. What else could be done? Perhaps moving to a smaller venue? The conference usually puts a good product on the field, but we need to find a way to build a better atmosphere for the championship.

Agreed... This is really the first time I have watched the MAC Championship... It was pretty poor when it came to attendance. People get on TEMPLE for playing in a big NFL stadium with a small crowd, but this looked as bad if not worse than any TEMPLE game this year... OK, maybe not the last game vs. Akron. Just looked really bad on TV. What about doing it at home field of team with best record? Or even rotate it around the stadiums of the league. That was really bad on TV to see so few (in comparison to the # of seats in the stadium) people.

Move the game back a week with Army-Navy & play it on Sat night

Being on Saturday night would probably help it a little.

Play at the home field of the higher seed.

templefootballfan Wrote:Move the game back a week with Army-Navy & play it on Sat night

If you play it on Saturday night then you are competing with either the Big 12 title game or the SEC title, then no one is watching on TV, except for MAC fans.

It depends on what you want. If you want TV coverage, you have to play on Friday because you have the ACC, Big 12, Sec, Army/Navy, and some Big East games to compete with. However, if you want attendance than you definitely want it on Saturday.

During the game Friday night I was thinking about the venue and figured if you didn't want a neutral site, then you would have to alternate between division. For example, regardless of who plays, this year the championship is played at the East Champions stadium and next year is at the West Champions stadium. But I would think a neutral site is the best scenario. Playing at the higher seat gives that team too much of an advantage and could possibly get confusing if the teams have comparable records. I would suggest possibly a smaller stadium such as the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH, although it is outdoors in December and in NE Ohio.

When I said move game to Sat, I meant 2nd sat in Dec.
You could also move game up a week to thanksgiving weekend.
plenty of time slots thanksgiving weekend.
it also moves season up a week & would help with cold weather games.
Now MAC has games on TV that week, See if ESPN could move weekday games up to
Sept & Oct, where weather does not effect games as much

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday.

Have it the same day as the other league championships.

11AM CUSA & MAC games. (ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, FOX, or any other national outlets)

2PM ACC

5PM SEC or Big XII

8PM Big XII or SEC

I don't understand how the MAC can get 50,000 (regardless of opponent) for its Motor City Bowls yet struggles to get 15,000 in the house for a MAC Championship.

As an alternative approach, would it be beneficial to move the game to Cleveland where there might be more casual fan interest in a college football championship game?

Even if we could get 10,000 locals to show up for a MACC that would make a serious difference. I could be satisfied with a crowd of 25,000 for this game. You could tarp over the endzone sections and it would look too bad.

Average attendance for a Browns game is 72,000 while average attendance for a Lions game is 56,000. If its hard enough to get people to go to a Lions game there is not going to be much interest in the MAC.

MAC alumni will come out of the woodwork more in Cleveland and Ohio is a very big football recruiting state so its a good place for a championship game.

If memory serves me right, the MAC moved from THURSDAY night to FRIDAY so that more fans could attend (that was after the NIU/Akron game).

That still doesn't work well if both teams are from the furthest geographical points in the MAC.

(this isn't "your dad's" MAC with schools only in Ohio, MI and IN.)

For the MACC to work well, as least one team should be from MI or Toledo.

What I didn't like is that there were probably nearly zero fans who weren't from either school.

Where were the MAC fans?

I'm afraid the attendance at the MCB will be bad as well.

(I'm thinking the economy will hurt).

cosmicflash Wrote:I would suggest possibly a smaller stadium such as the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH, although it is outdoors in December and in NE Ohio.

The problem I see with Canton is would as many local fans turn out for a game in Canton not that there is a lot now but generating local interest in a Browns stadium is more realistic.

Isn't there issues with Friday do to High School playoffs? As some has said maybe a noon kickoff on Saturday would be preferable.

The only game involving a MAC team that draws well at Ford Field is the MCB. Let's at least be thankful for that. I believe it's simply been a tradition that's been built up. Additionally, its date is perfect, during the Christmas holidays when the kids are out of school.

I'd like to see the MACC played a couple times on a SATURDAY to see if that helps attendance. If not, then consider another venue.

^
I completely agree, but you contradict yourself. In another thread you said "WMU is also in the mix, but the MCB folks may be hedging against it. Earlier this year, a dismal crowd showed up to Ford Field for an excellent match-up between the Broncos and Illinois."

Which is it?

That said, admittedly CMU has done a great job filling FF these past couple years and they present a very "safe" option for the MCB folks. So it's looking more and more like CMU in Detroit, Ball St in Mobile, WMU in Shreveport and of course Buffalo in Toronto.

I was kind of hoping for Texas with the more attractive matchup in Rice and an easier-to-get-to city in Houston. But at least the Independence Bowl will be on ESPN (not the NFL network) and I believe the payout is higher.

I realize you think I'm thinking from a "Chippewa" perspective, but in actuality I was writing my comments trying to think from the MCB organizers point-of-view.

Here's another possible scenario:
If the MCB gets an ACC team, then WMU could be in over CMU.
If the MCB gets a SUN BELT or WAC team, then CMU is in.

A lot of this is simply demographics: nearly 35,000 Central alumni live in Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland counties. A large number of students will be back home for the holidays, too.

The ACC title game is getting beat up for only having 53K fans. This was in a stadium that seats 65K. Empty seats for a title game doesn't look good no matter what the league. 12K in Detroit is unacceptable.

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/a...928999.ece

A move to Saturday is a must. I also think a change in venue is in order. I like the Canton idea. In addition to he game, fans travleing will have a chance to see the NFL HOF. It would make for a fun weekend road trip. At the end of the day, we are a cold weather conference. Why not the move the game back outdoors? West Virginia played in the snow yesterday in front of a decent crowd and Tulsa had a good turnout for their game. Detroit is a solid place for the Motor City bowl but it seems all other scheduling agreements are not working out. I think going there multiple times within a month takes the luster out of both games as I am not sure how many fans want to make two trips. Especially non-Michigan fans. One of the top priorities for the MAC should be enhancing the image of its championship game and finding a way to increase attendance/build a better game atmosphere. The ACC seems pretty open to moving its game around until it finds the right fit, I think we should be just as open too.

For the record, there were NOT 53K fans at the ACC title game this year. That's the number of tickets "distributed", i.e., mailed to the schools for storing in their mailrooms. They maybe had 20K in the seats, if they were lucky.


The ACC had the same problem last year.


Unless Florida State or Miami plays, I doubt they will sell out for their championship game next year, either.

This isn't a dig at the ACC schools or their fans, but at the utter stupidity of their commissioner to think people would flock to Tampa Bay in addition to a subsequent bowl game. I think they will finally play in their core area (Charlotte) in 2010.

I don't want to move the game out of Detroit. It was 17 degrees and windy on Friday night. Even if you played the game on home fields, who wants to sit outside for 4 hours when in is brutally cold? Play the game on Saturday and maybe find a sponsor to try and get some loacal fans in attendance. I was there and there were probably less than 500 people at the game who were not from UB or BSU. We need to get 10,000 locals to the game.

DICK Wrote:I don't want to move the game out of Detroit. It was 17 degrees and windy on Friday night. Even if you played the game on home fields, who wants to sit outside for 4 hours when in is brutally cold? Play the game on Saturday and maybe find a sponsor to try and get some loacal fans in attendance. I was there and there were probably less than 500 people at the game who were not from UB or BSU. We need to get 10,000 locals to the game.

I wouldn't make the drive to sit out in the cold. (Yes, I really do live in Buffalo). And while the Friday night makes it tougher to attend on short notice (work and kids in school), it also give the MAC a monopoly on the college football world for an evening.

Detroit still seems like a good central location, and I really like the idea that the game is indoors.

Considering that the average attendance for a MAC game is probably only ~15,000 or so, I think the attendance woes go deeper than the location and the date.