(12-12-2013 01:47 PM)TampaRocket Wrote:  I said it another thread, but none of the attendance numbers are impressive. As for traveling fan bases, our conference suffers as a whole there as well. Attendance seems like an easy excuse for the bowl director to throw out. How many people are going to dig into that other than the MAC fans on this board? Personally, I think OU.'s Admin & AD outmaneuvered UT's. They must have made a much more compelling case, while we took it for granted that we would be chosen due to our performances vs. BG & Buff. We had to have dropped the ball somewhere...that's all that makes sense.

Ryan, I was planning on coming down and partying on your dime this in a couple of weeks, but that's not going to happen. Looks like I'll have to wait on one of the other Florida bowl to come thru for me.

(12-12-2013 02:12 PM)Terry Wrote:  

(12-12-2013 01:47 PM)TampaRocket Wrote:  I said it another thread, but none of the attendance numbers are impressive. As for traveling fan bases, our conference suffers as a whole there as well. Attendance seems like an easy excuse for the bowl director to throw out. How many people are going to dig into that other than the MAC fans on this board? Personally, I think OU.'s Admin & AD outmaneuvered UT's. They must have made a much more compelling case, while we took it for granted that we would be chosen due to our performances vs. BG & Buff. We had to have dropped the ball somewhere...that's all that makes sense.

Ryan, I was planning on coming down and partying on your dime this in a couple of weeks, but that's not going to happen. Looks like I'll have to wait on one of the other Florida bowl to come thru for me.

We would have had a nice tailgate for sure.

Here's a comparison of home games for Ohio and Toledo by week-

Week 1
None

Week 2
24,511- N Texas v Ohio, Sat. 7pm.

Week 3
24,836- Marshall v Ohio, Sat. 8pm.
20,459- E Washington v Toledo, Sat. 7pm.

Week 4
19,547- Austin Peay v Ohio, Sat. 2pm.

Week 5
None

Week 6
17,621- WMU v Toledo, Sat. 3pm.

Week 7
23, 826- CMU v Ohio, Sat. 2pm.

Week 8
18,221- Navy v Toledo, Sat. 12pm.

Week 9
21,638- Miami v Ohio, Sat. 2pm.

Week 10
17,492- EMU v Toledo, Sat. 7pm.

Week 11
None

Week 12
15,036- Buffalo v Toledo, Tues. 7:30pm.

Week 13
21,974- N Illinois v Toledo, Wed. 8pm.
17,181- Kent State v Ohio, Tues. 8pm.

Week 14
13,161- UMass v Ohio, Fri. 2pm.


For Toledo the 4 Saturday games averaged 18,448 and the 2 MACtion games averaged 18,505 so the weeknight games actually helped slightly. My only guess for the lower attendance to start the season is the tough OOC schedule caused Toledo to start out below .500 which might have dissuaded a few fans from turning out. Just a guess. The Glass Bowl has a higher capacity than Peden and usually Toledo is able to boost their average with a big home game but that didn't happen this year.

Could be worse, you could win 10 games like Ball State and have nobody show up.

(12-12-2013 01:48 PM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

(12-12-2013 12:42 PM)rocketinchitown Wrote:  I think the marketing department definitely needs to get their act together in terms of generating interest amongst locals in the Toledo area.

The Navy game should have had at least 25k at the game, rain or shine.

There is enough in the area to get 25-30k consistently to that stadium-- I know on a much smaller scale and with nicer weather, the Hens can fill Fifth Third Field every weekend.

I also think the Toledo fans dont travel very well. I now live in Chicago, so I of course go to the NIU games, but Ive traveled Purdue, Athens, Miami, BG, Detroit to see the Rockets.

**oh my name used to be rocketinchicago- forgot my login info and my email was my old work email which I cant access-- had to recreate.

There is certainly enough folks to do that, but I don't think you're ever going to consistently get that in the current Toledo economy with the current cost of tickets...especially with most home games being televised and without any blackout.

Be thankful they're doing the ticket deal they are...or the figures would likely be quite a bit worse.

Im definitely in agreement.

I do think to see UT play EMU for 28 dollars can be a bit excessive especially if UT is having attendance problems. I think easier opponents or night week games should be cheaper to get the casual fan to the game.

If they can two people for the price of one at $28, they've already done better than before. Plus, they'll have more people for concessions, apparel, etc.. not even mentioning people in the stadium.

This year starting the year out at home against a team like New Hampshire, Toledo should have above 20k there starting the attendance in the right direction.

Game 2 against Missouri will surely exceed that number most likely, especially if Mizzou is ranked in the top 10 coming into the Glass Bowl.

The BG game should be close to a sell out especially if both teams have a respectable record.

Ball State will be a weeknight game for ESPN, but depending on whats happening, could be an important game that marketing steps up and gets people the stadium.

Depending on the cross over games besides BGSU, hosting OU could be nice--- and fun for redemption.

Toledo competes with ND 2.5 hours, UM 1 hour, O$U 2.5 hours.
Toledo had rain on the day of EWU, and WMU. It rained during the game vs. EMU, and Navy. Buffalo was 20 degrees. And NIU was an average late November night.
We played two midweek games.
We had no BCS opponent, nor conference rival, nor nonAQ rival which some teams like OU have.
Toledo is also a city, and the students do other things than watch football...sadly.

No one should be surprised OU outdrew us. But next season I will be very surprised if they do. We should have two games approaching 30k.

And I was very impressed with who showed up at BSU when we played there in week 5. That place was loud and pretty dang full. It's a smaller MAC venue, and the weather was perfect... still. They helped Lembo's squad to a W. So did the 10 penalties on UT to BSU's 1...