FOOTBALL Attendance matters....
- Thread starter FranklinRaider315
- Start date
No way they move up to the belt. They just lost their coach. All attendance is down. Thanks to ESPN and Fox, everything is about big name brands. Why go to a MT game playing the mighty Charlotte 49ers when you can watch UT vs. Florida with your buddies. While your doing that, you can pull up another P5 team on your iphone and watch it too. That's why I say schedule all the big boys for your OOC. We're not gonna be any less relevant then we are now plus if we beat a couple P5, we'll get some media glory and some attendance boost ourselves.
WKU game last year drew 22,411 (reported)
After that overtime meltdown.....
USTA - 13,505 (reported)
FAU Senior Day - 10,227 (reported)
After that overtime meltdown.....
USTA - 13,505 (reported)
FAU Senior Day - 10,227 (reported)
Of course! Again, what was ESPN showing during those games?
WKU was our litmus test and we failed. We had the game won and had an incomplete pass attempt with 2:30 left. Had we ran the stupid thing, they burn their final timeout and we move it. 2nd and 3rd down we run and we grind clock. If we punt it, they get it deep with like 48 seconds left instead of 2 minutes. Anyhoo, it was an afternoon game and UT was just playing BAMA at the friggin same time. That's all.
UTSA Game - Vandy was playing Auburn, UT played at the same time we did, So did most of the SEC teams. I wonder who's winning? Oh yeah, who's UTSA?
FAU game - Vandy vs. UT (Come on!) Who gives a crap about a 3 win F?U team?
I'm sorry. What the hell do we expect? People are gonna pick us over Bama vs. UT or even VU vs. UT? For the last 4 years, we've been scheduling head to head against the SEC and we are disappointed? Massaro and whoever books these times are morons. I know there's TV but hell, how can we expect big crowds when 5 SEC teams are playing at the exact same time? We've done that repeatedly. Look at when we were in the Belt. Troy on Tuesday and Thursday, FAU on Thursdays, WKU on Thursdays, etc. We had good numbers for those games. You know why? Other teams in the area weren't playing. DUH.
We are at the bottom of the totem. It's what it is. We gotta do creative shiz. That's what's up. We are in the "on demand", "watch on your phone or iwatch", "ESPN Wal-Mart" universe. Why are we still upset about the attendance? We are playing southeast nowhere state at the same the SEC plays. 14k shows up and we're pissed because it's not standing room only. So stupid.
When Brad Smith was here, he'd work all angles and in 2009, he got 29k here for the Memphis game and the atmosphere was electric. What did smith do? He promoted the hell out of it. He got shirts made and gave them away with the tix. He called in every favor he could to get the costs down of the shirts. Raider Tees was awesome and hooked him up. Massaro crapped on the relationship BTW. Idiot move. He crapped on Smith too which is why he took off. It was also a local matchup and somehow, it was in the late afternoon after UT played. Everything went right. Same for the Maryland game in 08.
BUT.... We didn't have as many games on back then. We didn't have the SEC, ACC, Big10 networks and we didn't have all these games accessible online that you could get on your phone. All of that has made things worse for schools like ours.
Sorry for the Tolstoy novel but people make these attendance remarks and don't analyze all of the other legit factors that contribute. It's not the product. We could win 12 games for 3 years straight and it wouldn't matter much. Look at WKU. Those dudes won 12 games in 2015 and 11 in 2016. They have like a max of 20k and they didn't sell out much at all. They look good when they have 15k and we look empty. They won a crapload of games and 2 championships and their championship games weren't sold out either. So it doesn't matter. We gotta stop focusing on who's not coming and focus on scheduling during off peak times, doing sweet offers, and telling the commish to do weeknight games. Put pressure on them to move us to a midweek option where we aren't head to head with friggin UT and Florida. That's a suicide run and that's also why I can bring a couch into the stadium when we play nowhere state in a nowhere conference. We should reduce the size of the stadium. Shrink that crap down to 20k max and we'll look full too. Be strategic. Don't just keep doing the same crap over and over and expect people to just walk in. So stupid.
WKU was our litmus test and we failed. We had the game won and had an incomplete pass attempt with 2:30 left. Had we ran the stupid thing, they burn their final timeout and we move it. 2nd and 3rd down we run and we grind clock. If we punt it, they get it deep with like 48 seconds left instead of 2 minutes. Anyhoo, it was an afternoon game and UT was just playing BAMA at the friggin same time. That's all.
UTSA Game - Vandy was playing Auburn, UT played at the same time we did, So did most of the SEC teams. I wonder who's winning? Oh yeah, who's UTSA?
FAU game - Vandy vs. UT (Come on!) Who gives a crap about a 3 win F?U team?
I'm sorry. What the hell do we expect? People are gonna pick us over Bama vs. UT or even VU vs. UT? For the last 4 years, we've been scheduling head to head against the SEC and we are disappointed? Massaro and whoever books these times are morons. I know there's TV but hell, how can we expect big crowds when 5 SEC teams are playing at the exact same time? We've done that repeatedly. Look at when we were in the Belt. Troy on Tuesday and Thursday, FAU on Thursdays, WKU on Thursdays, etc. We had good numbers for those games. You know why? Other teams in the area weren't playing. DUH.
We are at the bottom of the totem. It's what it is. We gotta do creative shiz. That's what's up. We are in the "on demand", "watch on your phone or iwatch", "ESPN Wal-Mart" universe. Why are we still upset about the attendance? We are playing southeast nowhere state at the same the SEC plays. 14k shows up and we're pissed because it's not standing room only. So stupid.
When Brad Smith was here, he'd work all angles and in 2009, he got 29k here for the Memphis game and the atmosphere was electric. What did smith do? He promoted the hell out of it. He got shirts made and gave them away with the tix. He called in every favor he could to get the costs down of the shirts. Raider Tees was awesome and hooked him up. Massaro crapped on the relationship BTW. Idiot move. He crapped on Smith too which is why he took off. It was also a local matchup and somehow, it was in the late afternoon after UT played. Everything went right. Same for the Maryland game in 08.
BUT.... We didn't have as many games on back then. We didn't have the SEC, ACC, Big10 networks and we didn't have all these games accessible online that you could get on your phone. All of that has made things worse for schools like ours.
Sorry for the Tolstoy novel but people make these attendance remarks and don't analyze all of the other legit factors that contribute. It's not the product. We could win 12 games for 3 years straight and it wouldn't matter much. Look at WKU. Those dudes won 12 games in 2015 and 11 in 2016. They have like a max of 20k and they didn't sell out much at all. They look good when they have 15k and we look empty. They won a crapload of games and 2 championships and their championship games weren't sold out either. So it doesn't matter. We gotta stop focusing on who's not coming and focus on scheduling during off peak times, doing sweet offers, and telling the commish to do weeknight games. Put pressure on them to move us to a midweek option where we aren't head to head with friggin UT and Florida. That's a suicide run and that's also why I can bring a couch into the stadium when we play nowhere state in a nowhere conference. We should reduce the size of the stadium. Shrink that crap down to 20k max and we'll look full too. Be strategic. Don't just keep doing the same crap over and over and expect people to just walk in. So stupid.
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The OVC has become well positioned for what it is, a local small D1 FCS conference. With overall growth of their hub, Nashville, it seems to have helped them remain fairly healthy.
Of course, very few beyond the hardcore fans at their individual schools care about their football. Generally, their football is pretty irrelevant. At least the relative close proximity of conference mates helps keep travel costs down, and it makes road game travel fairly easy for those hardcore fans.
With that auto bid, the OVC still seems to get decent local interest for basketball games. Again, so many of the teams in close proximity seems to help with local media covering 2 local teams at one game i.e. Belmont vs TSU, APSU vs TSU, etc etc.
To top it off, the ovc seems to have done a pretty good job of developing their "digital" presence. In my opinion, the ovc's digital platform is better than C-USA's at present.
Whatever the case, good for them in the ovc that circumstances have worked out for them to have a fairly cohesive conference that still garners a little local media attention during basketball season anyways.
Of course, very few beyond the hardcore fans at their individual schools care about their football. Generally, their football is pretty irrelevant. At least the relative close proximity of conference mates helps keep travel costs down, and it makes road game travel fairly easy for those hardcore fans.
With that auto bid, the OVC still seems to get decent local interest for basketball games. Again, so many of the teams in close proximity seems to help with local media covering 2 local teams at one game i.e. Belmont vs TSU, APSU vs TSU, etc etc.
To top it off, the ovc seems to have done a pretty good job of developing their "digital" presence. In my opinion, the ovc's digital platform is better than C-USA's at present.
Whatever the case, good for them in the ovc that circumstances have worked out for them to have a fairly cohesive conference that still garners a little local media attention during basketball season anyways.
I agree about the OVC DukeWayne. I love the proximity of schools in that conference. Very Smart. UT Chatt is a great fit there and the competition is fine. They have Jacksonville St. right?
I honestly think that proximity will become more important than "TV Markets" when it comes to realignment in the future. I would love to be in a conference with WKU, UAB, Troy, Appy St., Ark. St., La Tech, Ga Southern, USA, Ga State, Southern Miss and Marshall. Talk about competition. It would also be better proximity overall.
Call it the South12 Conference. (S12) That would be a scrap every weekend. Seriously. No runaways in that conference ever which generates a certain amount of interest on it's own and the proximity helps attendance. Run those games on weeknights. Mondays Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Avoid the P5 conference schedules with a passion to get maximum views. Be creative and strategic and attendance will rise.
OVC's digital platform is better than CUSA. Judy needs to be gone.
I honestly think that proximity will become more important than "TV Markets" when it comes to realignment in the future. I would love to be in a conference with WKU, UAB, Troy, Appy St., Ark. St., La Tech, Ga Southern, USA, Ga State, Southern Miss and Marshall. Talk about competition. It would also be better proximity overall.
Call it the South12 Conference. (S12) That would be a scrap every weekend. Seriously. No runaways in that conference ever which generates a certain amount of interest on it's own and the proximity helps attendance. Run those games on weeknights. Mondays Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Avoid the P5 conference schedules with a passion to get maximum views. Be creative and strategic and attendance will rise.
OVC's digital platform is better than CUSA. Judy needs to be gone.
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BlueRaiderJT, some good points. Maybe it's just a cyclical thing. It's likely more to do with the ever evolving technology's effect on society and social behavior, but I'm currently of the mind that some money games in OOC is probably the best option for now. I wouldn't want to lock MT into that philosophy for the next 15-20 years, but it does seem to make sense for the next 4 or so years. In addition to helping pay the bills, it will likely help force the issue of mediocre results combined with a HC's seemingly endless contract. With a tougher schedule, something will have to give. At least it won't be home attendance that gives with OOC games on the road for big bucks. Games that will also likely put MT in front of national tv audiences during prime college football time.
At a time when C-USA seems to be at a real crossroads, some serious changes need to be made at the top. JT, you mentioned something that jarred my memory of one of the aspects of the awful media rights deal C-USA ended up with. Apparently, the conference leadership demanded the same prime times of scheduling for tv games that C-USA had earned and enjoyed in the past with some great years with great teams. Reports were that the C-USA demand really backed off some of the big networks from making better offers. That really looks like it really turned out to be a horrible and costly decision on the part of the C-USA leadership. Perhaps now C-USA will be more pragmatic in the next round of discussions next year in flexible scheduling. A bunch of C-USA football games may not be on prime Saturday slots, but they could be getting paid to play on a national broadcast on nights when there isn't much other competition with a slew of other games. As JT mentioned, the crowds in the stadium just might be better too as the games won't be competing with same region SEC or ACC football games.
While I generally like the idea of standing up for your conference to have a seat at the table during prime times, current difficult circumstances for the conference just aren't conducive to fighting for those principles at this time. Presently, MT and C-USA really needs to be more pragmatic and flexible to get the best media rights deals, best coverage, and best game attendance as possible. C-USA should do this even if it means playing on Thursday nights, Friday nights, and an occasional Tuesday night!
Once C-USA can build and reestablish themselves to a reasonable degree with better media rights deals, better national coverage, better attendance, and better results on the field, then C-USA will be in a better position to barter for better game times in prime Saturday slots.
At a time when C-USA seems to be at a real crossroads, some serious changes need to be made at the top. JT, you mentioned something that jarred my memory of one of the aspects of the awful media rights deal C-USA ended up with. Apparently, the conference leadership demanded the same prime times of scheduling for tv games that C-USA had earned and enjoyed in the past with some great years with great teams. Reports were that the C-USA demand really backed off some of the big networks from making better offers. That really looks like it really turned out to be a horrible and costly decision on the part of the C-USA leadership. Perhaps now C-USA will be more pragmatic in the next round of discussions next year in flexible scheduling. A bunch of C-USA football games may not be on prime Saturday slots, but they could be getting paid to play on a national broadcast on nights when there isn't much other competition with a slew of other games. As JT mentioned, the crowds in the stadium just might be better too as the games won't be competing with same region SEC or ACC football games.
While I generally like the idea of standing up for your conference to have a seat at the table during prime times, current difficult circumstances for the conference just aren't conducive to fighting for those principles at this time. Presently, MT and C-USA really needs to be more pragmatic and flexible to get the best media rights deals, best coverage, and best game attendance as possible. C-USA should do this even if it means playing on Thursday nights, Friday nights, and an occasional Tuesday night!
Once C-USA can build and reestablish themselves to a reasonable degree with better media rights deals, better national coverage, better attendance, and better results on the field, then C-USA will be in a better position to barter for better game times in prime Saturday slots.
On scheduling a bunch of OOC big money games, I do hope the AD and HC can spread those games out over the course of each season. It will make things exceedingly more difficult for the MT football team if they have to start out each of their seasons with 3 straight road games vs Top 10 and Top 20 P5 teams. It would make it really difficult for the the MT football team to have to try to dig out and recover from such difficult and adverse starts to each season.
Yes, Judy does need to be gone.
Good point about proximity. It's served the OVC well in the long run.
One other area that I think C-USA really hurt itself beside virtually ignoring proximity, they chose media market ranking over the actual quality of athletic program and the fans they actually bring to the table. The big debacle for C-USA? Adding FxU! Even with that media market, the media rights deal still was awful. Just because they are in a big media market, it's pretty clear that FxU gets very little fan support and attendance. I imagine tv viewership isn't much better for them. Meanwhile, the SunBelt went with small media markets but better proximity and better program performance and have been tremendously boosted by adding Ga Southern and App St. Again, C-USA really blew it. I still don't know how they looked at the overall performance of the FxU schools and decided that they should be a priority for adding to C-USA. Boggles my mind.
I'm all about that passion. 
It's a lot of factors at play and some bad leadership to boot that has led to the low energy we have. I guess that's all I'm saying.
It's a lot of factors at play and some bad leadership to boot that has led to the low energy we have. I guess that's all I'm saying.
