Big East
Louisville - 52,091
Rutgers - 50,855
USF - 42,752
UCF - 40,478
Navy - 35,671
Boise St - 35,521
UConn - 34,736
Memphis - 33,095
Houston - 30,675
Cincy - 30,337
Temple - 28,016
SDSU - 26,576
SMU - 26,069

Potential Targets/Replacement Schools
BYU - 58,680
East Carolina - 49,023 (football replacement for Louisville if the Cards ever leave?)
Air Force - 35,282
Army - 30,176
Fresno St - 27,588

Future C-USA by Comparison
Warning: some of these numbers are highly inflated. See UAB, Tulane and Rice.
49,023 - East Carolina
36,535 - UTEP
34,140 - Southern Miss
29,377 - Marshall
28,612 - UAB
28,079 - UTSA
27,846 - Tulane
23,228 - Louisiana Tech
22,041 - North Texas
20,418 - Tulsa
19,985 - Old Dominion
18,655 - Rice
14,002 - Florida International

Future MWC by Comparison
Air Force - 35,282
Hawaii - 31,430
New Mexico - 28,450 (also Top 20 in hoops attendance)
Fresno St - 27,588
Colo St - 23,471
Wyoming - 21,708
Utah St - 21,261
Nevada - 21,102
UNLV - 15,585 (averages almost as many in hoops)
San Jose St - 7,326

(09-24-2012 04:21 AM)CougarRed Wrote:  Big East
Louisville - 52,091
Rutgers - 50,855
USF - 42,752
UCF - 40,478
Navy - 35,671
Boise St - 35,521
UConn - 34,736
Memphis - 33,095
Houston - 30,675
Cincy - 30,337
Temple - 28,016
SDSU - 26,576
SMU - 26,069

Potential Targets/Replacement Schools
BYU - 58,680
East Carolina - 49,023 (football replacement for Louisville if the Cards ever leave?)
Air Force - 35,282
Army - 30,176
Fresno St - 27,588

Future C-USA by Comparison
Warning: some of these numbers are highly inflated. See UAB, Tulane and Rice.
49,023 - East Carolina
36,535 - UTEP
34,140 - Southern Miss
29,377 - Marshall
28,612 - UAB
28,079 - UTSA
27,846 - Tulane
23,228 - Louisiana Tech
22,041 - North Texas
20,418 - Tulsa
19,985 - Old Dominion
18,655 - Rice
14,002 - Florida International

Future MWC by Comparison
Air Force - 35,282
Hawaii - 31,430
New Mexico - 28,450 (also Top 20 in hoops attendance)
Fresno St - 27,588
Colo St - 23,471
Wyoming - 21,708
Utah St - 21,261
Nevada - 21,102
UNLV - 15,585 (averages almost as many in hoops)
San Jose St - 7,326

Although it's flattering for you to put us as a potential target, I just don't see it happening. If you're talking about an eastern school, UAB or Tulane would bring new large markets for the Big East's TV contract.

As a side note for ECU though, we max out at 50,000 capacity (since 2010 expansion) and averaged 49,665 in 2010 and 50,012 in 2011. We have a planned (and permitted) expansion to go to 60,000 that has been put on hold.

One of the real problems with attendance in Texas is the abject arrogance of both Dallas and Houston. The communities won't do anything on the weekend unless they can brag to their friends about it. They want to feel important. That's why a 4-12 Texans can sell out and a 12-1 UH spends half the season on page 2 of the local paper.

Two dreadfull college attendance cities. They will watch on TV however, explaining why our TV ratings considerably drub our stadium attendance. Our away ratings are usually very good. These rats feel safe watching at home because their neighbors won't see them.

(09-23-2012 08:16 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  I will disagree on your comment about conf wins not meaning much if you get crushed in your bsc bowl games....

Disagree all you want but if Boise had gone undefeated in the WAC but got blown out against Oklahoma in 2007 nobody would take them seriously.

The years Cincinnati won the Big East the conference as a whole was down. In 2008 you guys got blown away by an average Virginia Tech team. If you had beaten or even made it respectable against Florida in 2009 then your season would've been a lot more meaningful nationally.

(09-25-2012 12:53 PM)cardinal_fan123 Wrote:  

(09-23-2012 08:16 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  I will disagree on your comment about conf wins not meaning much if you get crushed in your bsc bowl games....

Disagree all you want but if Boise had gone undefeated in the WAC but got blown out against Oklahoma in 2007 nobody would take them seriously.

The years Cincinnati won the Big East the conference as a whole was down. In 2008 you guys got blown away by an average Virginia Tech team. If you had beaten or even made it respectable against Florida in 2009 then your season would've been a lot more meaningful nationally.

The 2008 was not a blow out. The final score was 20-7 and the score was still 10-7 at the half. Cincinnati had a chance to cut the lead to six with five minutes left in the game but fell short of the 1 yard line. Statistically the game was close, with a big variance being the 4 INTs that Tony Pike threw (including one in the end zone at the end of the first half which could have potentially given UC the lead at the break).

Regarding the 2009 season, it was not as "down" as you recall. Yes Louisville and Syracuse sucked but Cincinnati had 12 wins, Pitt won 10 games, WVU and Rutgers won 9 games and USF and UCONN had 8 wins. There were also a couple of key OOC wins that year against BCS opponents. I challange you to name anybody in the country who was going to beat that Florida team at the Sugar Bowl that night. People conveniently forget that the Gators were the defending national champions with most of their parts back from the year before and were the #1 team in the country all year until their loss to Bama in the SEC CCG. That Florida roster was loaded with guys who are currently playing in the NFL. The only team that would have competed with them would have Alabama, but I don't know if they could have pulled off a win in a rematch and what was Tim Tebow's and Urban Meyer's swan song in Gainesville.

...and Brian Kelly just had left.