(10-29-2018 10:44 PM)BullsBEAST Wrote:  Why is anyone defensive about attendance? Who wants to watch group of 5 football? That any of us get tens of thousands of people to watch group of 5 football live is a miracle in itself.

It is one of those things that is simply unfair about college athletics. The die-hards will show up, but the larger number-- the casual fans-- simply have the mindset that Group of 5 football is second-rate, thus will not show up in large quantities. This is especially true in larger markets that have professional sports and other forms of entertainment, not to mention P5 programs within 100 miles.

I have decided I'm not going to worry about this any more. I go the games and have a great time. If others chose to join us, so much the better.

American Conference-Wide Average Attendance
2013 = 33,712
2014 = 29,193 - departure of Louisville, Rutgers, addition of ECU, Tulsa
2015 = 31,842 - addition of Navy, conference title game
2016 = 31,611
2017 = 28,669
2018 = 28,660 to date

This year so far is the worst attendance since inception.

That said, just about every league except the SEC was down at least 2K per game in 2017 compared to 2013. Big 10 and Pac-12 are down 4K per game.

(10-29-2018 10:52 AM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  Houston fans, not to disparage, but you're crowd was VERY underwhelming Saturday. I already know USF's leaves a ton to be desired, however ours have been pretty good this year (42,000+ for UConn). What's the story for your crowd Saturday; your stadium looked half full. Maybe.

To be fair...usf homecoming actual crowd for that UConn game was just over 30,000 which is actually aHUGE AAC conf crowd for usf these days.

https://twitter.com/brianhattab33/status...72485?s=20

(10-31-2018 12:32 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 10:52 AM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  Houston fans, not to disparage, but you're crowd was VERY underwhelming Saturday. I already know USF's leaves a ton to be desired, however ours have been pretty good this year (42,000+ for UConn). What's the story for your crowd Saturday; your stadium looked half full. Maybe.

To be fair...usf homecoming actual crowd for that UConn game was just over 30,000 which is actually aHUGE AAC conf crowd for usf these days.

https://twitter.com/brianhattab33/status...72485?s=20

Ya because the crowd was full of UCONN snowbirds.

(10-31-2018 12:32 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 10:52 AM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  Houston fans, not to disparage, but you're crowd was VERY underwhelming Saturday. I already know USF's leaves a ton to be desired, however ours have been pretty good this year (42,000+ for UConn). What's the story for your crowd Saturday; your stadium looked half full. Maybe.

To be fair...usf homecoming actual crowd for that UConn game was just over 30,000 which is actually aHUGE AAC conf crowd for usf these days.

https://twitter.com/brianhattab33/status...72485?s=20

If USF had 30k actual, then Houston had about 17k...
With that said, I expect a lame crowd Saturday against Tulane after how poorly we played.

jeez USF...just flippin build an erector set stadium ~40k on campus and get it over with already

If need be, you can add the club seats, expensive facade and pirate ship later.

(10-30-2018 08:49 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 10:44 PM)BullsBEAST Wrote:  Why is anyone defensive about attendance? Who wants to watch group of 5 football? That any of us get tens of thousands of people to watch group of 5 football live is a miracle in itself.

It is one of those things that is simply unfair about college athletics. The die-hards will show up, but the larger number-- the casual fans-- simply have the mindset that Group of 5 football is second-rate, thus will not show up in large quantities. This is especially true in larger markets that have professional sports and other forms of entertainment, not to mention P5 programs within 100 miles.

The problem is people realize that even if you win all your games, it doesn't matter. You will never get a shot at the playoffs. Why support something that can't reach the top and is excluded. The other problem is the teams in the conference. If Houston was in the B12 they would sell out ever game (like some other AAC schools would) and then when a Tulane came to town there would still be a huge crowd. When you play Tulane's every week, nobody cares. Not digging on Tulane.

(10-31-2018 06:16 PM)Sellular1 Wrote:  

(10-30-2018 08:49 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 10:44 PM)BullsBEAST Wrote:  Why is anyone defensive about attendance? Who wants to watch group of 5 football? That any of us get tens of thousands of people to watch group of 5 football live is a miracle in itself.

It is one of those things that is simply unfair about college athletics. The die-hards will show up, but the larger number-- the casual fans-- simply have the mindset that Group of 5 football is second-rate, thus will not show up in large quantities. This is especially true in larger markets that have professional sports and other forms of entertainment, not to mention P5 programs within 100 miles.

The problem is people realize that even if you win all your games, it doesn't matter. You will never get a shot at the playoffs. Why support something that can't reach the top and is excluded. The other problem is the teams in the conference. If Houston was in the B12 they would sell out ever game (like some other AAC schools would) and then when a Tulane came to town there would still be a huge crowd. When you play Tulane's every week, nobody cares. Not digging on Tulane.

If Houston was in the Big 12 we wouldn't just sellout our 40k, we'd also have the occasional UH-UT and UH-OU Reliant game that would have 70-80k, like we did in the old SWC days with the Astrodome. Alas, Houston isn't getting that invite. Currently I think the Houston fan base is still hungover from the success of our 2015 campaign and the roller coaster that was the following year. At least we're getting back to winning games. Thats ultimately all we can do.

(10-31-2018 06:16 PM)Sellular1 Wrote:  

(10-30-2018 08:49 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 10:44 PM)BullsBEAST Wrote:  Why is anyone defensive about attendance? Who wants to watch group of 5 football? That any of us get tens of thousands of people to watch group of 5 football live is a miracle in itself.

It is one of those things that is simply unfair about college athletics. The die-hards will show up, but the larger number-- the casual fans-- simply have the mindset that Group of 5 football is second-rate, thus will not show up in large quantities. This is especially true in larger markets that have professional sports and other forms of entertainment, not to mention P5 programs within 100 miles.

The problem is people realize that even if you win all your games, it doesn't matter. You will never get a shot at the playoffs. Why support something that can't reach the top and is excluded. The other problem is the teams in the conference. If Houston was in the B12 they would sell out ever game (like some other AAC schools would) and then when a Tulane came to town there would still be a huge crowd. When you play Tulane's every week, nobody cares. Not digging on Tulane.

Definitely. I personally know some former UC season ticket holders who stopped following them for that reason.

You are also correct about the league as a whole. Let's face it, this league for at least half of the schools is a marriage of convenience and nothing else. Most of us would rather be playing regional or historic opponents. UC would draw much better in the Big 10 (hell we were max capacity for a bad Purdue team a few years ago) or the ACC (we consistently sold out games against Louisville and Pitt). Like you said, no offense to anyone but this is just the way it is.