How does this town consider itself even an average sports town when it wont get 35000 people to go to watch a top 15 football team (truth is it is really a top 10 team)?

people complain about the reds and bengals and those two "pro" franchises lose year after year, setting the mark for professional sports futility. yet, this city still goes to those, albeit not as much as other baseball cities.

now we have a winning bcs level college football team, but we cant sell out one of the smallest venues in major college football.

and worse, how many uc alumni live within 100 miles of here??? where are the alums?

i challenge anyone to find a worse sports town than cincinnati.

You're preaching to the choir and not alone in your frustration.

I think UC being in a pro town is more of a problem than I thought it was. That and for some reason it seems as though UC has maxed out on fans for now.

UC has come a long way. Drawing over 30,000 for visiting teams that do not bring any of their fans is a major accomplishment, let alone drawing over 30,000 for a league game against teams other than WVU or UofL. An awful lot of progress has been made.

But it is mind boggling that this game has failed to sell out at this point.

I've noticed some other things going on also. The Bengals seem to have a sports talk show or at the very least a sports talk segment on WLW, 1530 Homer, or both every single day. They have 2 + hours devoted to pregame on their game days.

The Reds have a similar setup, but not quite as much as the Bengals.

UC , after winning the Big East and going to the Orange Bowl, is still relegated to about 15 minutes of pregame on WLW (if the Reds are not playing) after adding in commercial time, which is pathetic for a BCS team. Local news coverage, while somewhat improved, still lags woefully behind the Reds and Bengals, and sadly, even high school football.

Does UC, or WLW, or 1530 Homer, market the Bearcats well for advertising? Maybe that needs to be more aggressive. I really believe advertising $ drive how much air time UC gets, and I think to some extent more attention might equal more people at the games.

(09-24-2009 02:51 PM)franzeal Wrote:  You're preaching to the choir and not alone in your frustration.

Yep, only thing to do for now is to keep showing up and supporting them so that further winning will keep momentum going in building the fan base. The real Bearcat football fan base will be built from the students who have just now started to experience all of this in the last several years coming back with their families and friends when they have jobs.

Yes some of the pro sports town stuff matters, but remember that there are still plenty of people who attend any college and while they might casually know something about a sports team might not want to actually attend a game. So the key is to build the total base of "fanatics" who are wanting to attend the game. I believe that this is happening, but not as fast as we would all like of course.

Wait a sec. Looks like we are selling out a game against a state univerisity located in a city most on this board couldn't find on a map with a cheat sheet. If there are 35,600 seats, no traveling fans, and we sell them out, I'd say that constitutes being a pretty good sports town. Looks like the remaining 4 home games will likewise be at capacity. Until there is an expansion, what more do folks want? Fans stepped it up. There are no bonus points for selling out in August..

(09-24-2009 03:13 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Wait a sec. Looks like we are selling out a game against a state univerisity located in a city most on this board couldn't find on a map with a cheat sheet. If there are 35,600 seats, no traveling fans, and we sell them out, I'd say that constitutes being a pretty good sports town. Looks like the remaining 4 home games will likewise be at capacity. Until there is an expansion, what more do folks want? Fans stepped it up. There are no bonus points for selling out in August..

agree - but until they announce the stadium will be at full capacity this saturday, it isn't a sellout

Very good sports town for supporting losing pro teams. I have an Uncle from Indy, his friend from Lexington, and a UC grad from my gym who maybe has never been to a UC game before going to Nippert Saturday. The undergrads and young grads are taking ownership regarding support and going to the games.

I think it is strange though..... I hate tO$U but in Cleveland where I am from people support both the Suckeys and the Browns almost equally. I know many people that travel Saturdays to OSU games and then watch Browns games at home on Sundays. Oh and HS football is just as big up there.

I started going to both football games and basketball since I started as undgrad at UC in 2000. I always was a fan before that. Cincinnati is a bandwagon/pro sports/high school town for some odd reason. That being said even the Reds are having a lot of issues because of the past decade of losing. Its almost like the city needs to confirmation that a team is good before they support them. The economy being in tank hurts every team.

If UC puts on a winning product in football and basketball the current students will be the ones the become diehards in the coming decades. When i was student the University did not do a great job of selling its sport teams to the students, nor were the traditions, songs, and history of UC ever discussed.

The Zimpher-Huggs fued really hurt UC basketball and drove off a solid stream of cash and fans. However, not trying to open old wounds its seems like with all members of said drama gone now it looks like UC football and basketball could put together a great year.

We are still growing a fan base. Many fans did not care about the Cats since they were not winners and we are now building alumni that will care (As you can tell by the great student section). They will likely be Cats fans for life (I hope) and future season ticket holders. There are a lot of fans that root the Cats on the tube, but do not attend games (I know a lot of those and they do not attend Reds/Bengals games often either). The Cats really are the cheapest and most cost effective ticket in town and more people need to realize that. Every time I take a newbie to a Cats game, they love it and can't wait to get back. The program is growing and with success, more fans will come.

BTW - I am sick of the Bearcat fans that are complaining about the bandwagon jumpers that are now rooting for the Bearcats and wishing they wouldn't. We need those fans to help increase our base, so I don't understand those that complain (Not on this board but all over the talk radio, bars, etc).

(09-24-2009 04:51 PM)BigDawg Wrote:  We are still growing a fan base. Many fans did not care about the Cats since they were not winners and we are now building alumni that will care (As you can tell by the great student section). They will likely be Cats fans for life (I hope) and future season ticket holders. There are a lot of fans that root the Cats on the tube, but do not attend games (I know a lot of those and they do not attend Reds/Bengals games often either). The Cats really are the cheapest and most cost effective ticket in town and more people need to realize that. Every time I take a newbie to a Cats game, they love it and can't wait to get back. The program is growing and with success, more fans will come.

BTW - I am sick of the Bearcat fans that are complaining about the bandwagon jumpers that are now rooting for the Bearcats and wishing they wouldn't. We need those fans to help increase our base, so I don't understand those that complain (Not on this board but all over the talk radio, bars, etc).

I agree, bandwagoners are a good things because they are always there when the team is winning. 1,2,3, or 4 losses wont make band wagon fans jump off so their support is great for the school and only allows more banter for the school.

Fact is Cincy is a pro sports town. That will never change.

Pittsburgh is very similar with professional teams and a BCS team. The Pitt/UC game is shaping up to be a great one, maybe decide the Big East. Heinz Field holds about 65,000, but 20,000 will be empty for that game. How many Bearcat fans, even those on this board, have already made plans to visit Heinz Field in early December?

I agree with what Rath posted. 35,000 is great attendance for a noon kickoff against the team from the "land of the fruits and nuts."

I think the rest of the country would differ on the pro-sports town description of Cincinnati. The alleged pro teams are semi-pro caliber at best, however people here think they are world class. I came from Cleveland and its amazing how they went out in force to support high school on friday, college on Sat, and Browns on Sunday. Every weekend with no excuses. This is in a city with the same to probably worse economy than Cincinnati. This is a city where the Browns are awful. Coming to Cincinnati the one thing I noticed is the vast majority love excuses. I think those of us who are older on this and other boards are about it for being diehards. I am glad the University has been and is currently growing our future fan base. The last few years and with continuing classes of students we will create a huge fanbase. We may even need expansion to accommodate them. I guess we will have to wait to reap the rewards of these classes of students. The older generations of Cincinnati are a lost cause. I guess they would rather get drunk at a Bungles games and talk about the past then experience a world class game day environment and attend bowl games.

Rag, if both teams are undefeated then Heinz Field will be sold out. If it is the conference championship game (as in each team within a game of each other) then I'm sure it will sell out as well. I'm in the early stages of planning my trip to Pittsburgh... the issue is my company is moving its headquarters that weekend (In Washington, D.C.) and I may be stuck doing some work (as Director of IT Services you get stuck with that kind of BS).

This is a TOUGH market.

Professional baseball and football in a relatively small market.

Ohio State, Miami and Kentucky all have fan bases in Cincinnati. South of the river KY is the dominant football program. Middletown and north, Ohio State is the fan favorite.

We have no real tailgating area.

There are no corporate boxes.

Still. It can be done. It must be done.

We owe it to Coach Kelly.

The problem is with UC Alumni period.

(09-24-2009 08:45 PM)mlb Wrote:  I'm in the early stages of planning my trip to Pittsburgh...

Just finished mine up today. A friend of mine's brother-in-law is a longtime Pitt donor and he's got two tickets for us. I'll have to sit on the Pitt side, but when we win it'll be worth it.

His brother-in-law was telling him that if the game in any way decides the Big East Champion there's no way it won't be sold out.

(09-24-2009 08:45 PM)mlb Wrote:  Rag, if both teams are undefeated then Heinz Field will be sold out. If it is the conference championship game (as in each team within a game of each other) then I'm sure it will sell out as well. I'm in the early stages of planning my trip to Pittsburgh... the issue is my company is moving its headquarters that weekend (In Washington, D.C.) and I may be stuck doing some work (as Director of IT Services you get stuck with that kind of BS).

My bride, my two mini-mes and I will be at PITT on December 5th.

(09-24-2009 09:08 PM)OneUChoopsfan Wrote:  This is a TOUGH market.

Professional baseball and football in a relatively small market.

Ohio State, Miami and Kentucky all have fan bases in Cincinnati. South of the river KY is the dominant football program. Middletown and north, Ohio State is the fan favorite.

We have no real tailgating area.

There are no corporate boxes.

Still. It can be done. It must be done.

We owe it to Coach Kelly.

Many many places to tailgate. Shields lot, Martino's lot, Bogarts lot, couple other lots up near short Vine, green space off Calhoun, just to name a few. At other schools they do not need a designated spot. You tailgate where you find a place to park. When WVU comes they tailgate where ever they find a place to park the RV. There are other fan bases in the area, however UC has about 100,000 alumni living in Cincinnati.

(09-24-2009 02:43 PM)50Cent Wrote:  How does this town consider itself even an average sports town when it wont get 35000 people to go to watch a top 15 football team (truth is it is really a top 10 team)?

people complain about the reds and bengals and those two "pro" franchises lose year after year, setting the mark for professional sports futility. yet, this city still goes to those, albeit not as much as other baseball cities.

now we have a winning bcs level college football team, but we cant sell out one of the smallest venues in major college football.

and worse, how many uc alumni live within 100 miles of here??? where are the alums?

i challenge anyone to find a worse sports town than Cincinnati.

Seattle &
Los Angeles

and for a town that supports the highest number of moribund franchises:

Detroit