Game 2 Attendance

[Lee Adams]

face it its only going to get worse..the INFO effect wore off even fatser than i expected...can you imagine how small the crowds will be in november when the weather is bad and the record...well...face it no wins no butts in the seats...brookhart has to win 7 this year...the new AD has no loyalty to him,nor should he...they didn't build a $60million stadium to have brookhart go 4-8 or 5-7 every year...he has already turned off a big chunk of the fan base..

[RootforRoo44]

Fans and students are not going to want to see this type of product, even if it is a sparking new stadium. You can gift wrap a turd, but it is still a turd.

Good post. It's not even that they will not want to see it. They may go if tickets are free. They will not spend their hard earned money to watch a bad product...that's the real problem.

Id watch Zips football for 20 dollars a game even if they were the worst team in the nation (see:Can't State Football).I could care less about the buckeyes or anything else, i just love watching Zips football.

[ZachTheZip]

Bottom line, whether any of us want to admit it or not... The MAIN reason there were only 18,000 butts in the seats yesterday?? OUR GAME OVERLAPPED WITH OSU. I don't really care if you want to say this is a small time mentality, because at the moment, guess what, we are small time. From now on, when we're setting the time for games, we need to wait until OSU sets their's and then set ours FAR FAR away from that time. Why'd we sell out last week? Because OSU played at night. If we would've played at night this week, we would've seen 7,000 more people at the game and you can put your hard earned money on that fact. If you want to take some time and go through attendance figures over the past 20 years, regardless of how the team was doing, our best attended games have been at times when OSU wasn't playing. Our worst attendances have always been when we tried to overlap the big boys.Poor planning by the athletic department, and even poorer play on the field.

You're probably right. I wonder if ESPN forced their hand.

Most definitely. UA probably wanted this matchup televised because it was a Big10 opponent, but ESPN could only give them this time slot, which also happened to overlap with OSU.

My philosophy is that we should only televise games if it convenient for us. Playing at the same time that OSU was 30 miles down the road and not televised (meaning that everyone will go to the game) was not convenient. If ESPN offers to put us on TV, we shouldn't accept in the name of 'exposure" if it means taking away something else like attendance. If it works out then sure, put us on TV, but only if it doesn't take anything away.

[ZipsAlum92]

The attendance for game 2 was poor, especially when you consider that we were hosting a Big Ten team. I realize the Buckeyes were playing just up I-77, but you can't honestly say that was the reason for the huge fall off from the Morgan State game. There were only 19,000 at the stadium yesterday, which is pathetic considering it was the second game in a new stadium, let alone when you consider that they were playing Indiana.

[ZippyAlum]

Come on guys. I thought the Zips were pretty well represented. Sure OSU took some of our fans away. I wish they would have taken more, (eg. the idiots who wore OSU shirts to our game). But I couldn't believe how poorly represented Indiana was. THEY'RE the big ten team and they brought very few fans. I thought the home side was pretty full but the visitor side was way too empty. I hope the MAC schools are better represented.

[ZipsAlum92]

Come on guys. I thought the Zips were pretty well represented. Sure OSU took some of our fans away. I wish they would have taken more, (eg. the idiots who wore OSU shirts to our game). But I couldn't believe how poorly represented Indiana was. THEY'RE the big ten team and they brought very few fans. I thought the home side was pretty full but the visitor side was way too empty. I hope the MAC schools are better represented.

Indiana isn't well represented even when they are playing at home. They just aren't that much of a football school. Go to an Ohio State game in Bloomington some time. Most of the butts in the stands will be Buckeyes fans, because it is easier for most fans to get tickets to see the Buckeyes play in Indiana than it is for them to get tickes to see the Buckeyes play at home.

[BostonZip]

I made the trip to Ohio to attend the Indiana game, and was surprised by the small crowd, but I guess shouldn’t have been. Akron sports fans have been largely disinterested in Zip football for as long as I have been observing (40+ years).In my view, the pecking order for football interest in the Akron area goes something like this:1. Browns2. Ohio State3. Notre Dame4. High schools5. Akron UAnd that’s a distant No. 5.Clearly a new stadium isn’t enough to instantly bring consistent, big crowds.Would a winning team? Who knows – the Zips have not won as many as eight games in a season since 1985, and aren't likely to this year.Even when the team was decent, it didn’t draw. In 1986, Gerry Faust’s ballyhooed first year as head coach, the Zips drew 35,202 (at greatly discounted ticket prices) for the traditional Acme-Zip opener, but then averaged only 12,887 for their remaining five home games, despite going 5-1 at the Rubber Bowl.Moving to the Mid-American Conference and more familiar opponents was supposed to result in more fans, but the opposite has occurred. Since joining the MAC in 1992 through last season, the Zips averaged 11,968 fans per home game -- less than what the team averaged at home in the 1970s (12,458) and 1980s (13,646).The 2005 MAC championship team (7-6, 3-2 home) averaged a paltry 10,893 fans per home game. The next year saw a bump in average home attendance to 16,132 (8th highest all time), but home attendance declined in 2007 and again in 2008.Six different athletic directors over the last 15 years have tried to find the solution to creating interest in Zips football. Now it’s Tom Wistrcill’s turn.Good luck, Tom.

[goodthts]

I made the trip to Ohio to attend the Indiana game, and was surprised by the small crowd, but I guess shouldn’t have been. Akron sports fans have been largely disinterested in Zip football for as long as I have been observing (40+ years).In my view, the pecking order for football interest in the Akron area goes something like this:1. Browns2. Ohio State3. Notre Dame4. High schools5. Akron UAnd that’s a distant No. 5.Clearly a new stadium isn’t enough to instantly bring consistent, big crowds.Would a winning team? Who knows – the Zips have not won as many as eight games in a season since 1985, and aren't likely to this year.Even when the team was decent, it didn’t draw. In 1986, Gerry Faust’s ballyhooed first year as head coach, the Zips drew 35,202 (at greatly discounted ticket prices) for the traditional Acme-Zip opener, but then averaged only 12,887 for their remaining five home games, despite going 5-1 at the Rubber Bowl.Moving to the Mid-American Conference and more familiar opponents was supposed to result in more fans, but the opposite has occurred. Since joining the MAC in 1992 through last season, the Zips averaged 11,968 fans per home game -- less than what the team averaged at home in the 1970s (12,458) and 1980s (13,646).The 2005 MAC championship team (7-6, 3-2 home) averaged a paltry 10,893 fans per home game. The next year saw a bump in average home attendance to 16,132 (8th highest all time), but home attendance declined in 2007 and again in 2008.Six different athletic directors over the last 15 years have tried to find the solution to creating interest in Zips football. Now it’s Tom Wistrcill’s turn.Good luck, Tom.

Great post! Good luck indeed. Hope he succeeds. I just want to watch a Zips game in late December.

[mivid12]

face it its only going to get worse..the INFO effect wore off even fatser than i expected...can you imagine how small the crowds will be in november when the weather is bad and the record...well...face it no wins no butts in the seats...brookhart has to win 7 this year...the new AD has no loyalty to him,nor should he...they didn't build a $60million stadium to have brookhart go 4-8 or 5-7 every year...he has already turned off a big chunk of the fan base..

hopefully brookhart doesn't have a chance after this year to continue his garbage brand of football...my guess is that the University would be happy if the average attendance at the Info was 18-20kthe thing that slays me with tOSU is probably 90% of their 'fans' never attended the university...now that's ok and all, but i was born and raised in Ohio & i despise that team

[Zipmeister]

I made the trip to Ohio to attend the Indiana game, and was surprised by the small crowd, but I guess shouldn’t have been. Akron sports fans have been largely disinterested in Zip football for as long as I have been observing (40+ years).In my view, the pecking order for football interest in the Akron area goes something like this:1. Browns2. Ohio State3. Notre Dame4. High schools5. Akron UAnd that’s a distant No. 5.Clearly a new stadium isn’t enough to instantly bring consistent, big crowds.Would a winning team? Who knows – the Zips have not won as many as eight games in a season since 1985, and aren't likely to this year.Even when the team was decent, it didn’t draw. In 1986, Gerry Faust’s ballyhooed first year as head coach, the Zips drew 35,202 (at greatly discounted ticket prices) for the traditional Acme-Zip opener, but then averaged only 12,887 for their remaining five home games, despite going 5-1 at the Rubber Bowl.Moving to the Mid-American Conference and more familiar opponents was supposed to result in more fans, but the opposite has occurred. Since joining the MAC in 1992 through last season, the Zips averaged 11,968 fans per home game -- less than what the team averaged at home in the 1970s (12,458) and 1980s (13,646).The 2005 MAC championship team (7-6, 3-2 home) averaged a paltry 10,893 fans per home game. The next year saw a bump in average home attendance to 16,132 (8th highest all time), but home attendance declined in 2007 and again in 2008.Six different athletic directors over the last 15 years have tried to find the solution to creating interest in Zips football. Now it’s Tom Wistrcill’s turn.Good luck, Tom.

As I recall. the 2006 attendance figure benefited greatly from creative counting, especially towards the end of the season.

[Spin]

I tell you what, a LOT of people are turned off by the school jacking up the prices for the Indiana and Can't State games. And to consider Indiana a "Big Ten" team, please. Technically it is. But not quite the Big Ten we want to see...

[Lee Adams]

I am sure it is from the league, but WHY televise home games???????????? The league and all MAC schools want and need attendance but continually televise these games. This will continue to be a problem to build a fan base when it is so easy just to sit at home and watch a game. Away games, obviously no problem. Televising home games has got to stop it you want to put people in the stands.

its called the BIG TEN

[Lee Adams]

we'll see how many of you are there on 11-27-09...

[Dr Z]

The pecking order for football interest in the Akron area goes like this: Browns, OSU, ND, High schools and then The University of Akron

It's too bad the Zips can't put it together this year, with the state of the Browns, if the Zips were playing well, they could attract more football fans to the Info later in the year. Probably more press too.

[RACER]

the reason people don't go to the akron games is because they don't win.why don't we win games.alott of the problem is the mac conference.there is no tv money in the mac.the big ten gets millions of dollars in tv revenue.so when you don't have any tv $ coming in guess what happens? the mac teams have to play against bcs teams to make any $.the akron a.d. thinks they are making more money by playing on the road.what they are actually doing is killing the fan base,and any $ that would come from attending home games.every year we lose 1-2 games playing bcs teams at the start of the season.this teams needs to play home/home with teams.right now we have no business playing top 25 teams on the road ,and getting destroyed.if you don't get a return home game don't schedule the team.we need to play winnable home games.we have a new stadium ,but i bet we will never play more than 6 home games ever.the way akron has scheduledfor the last 25 years has destroyed the program.when was the last time any mac finished in the top 25.akron is like a business who thinks they are saving a nickel,but they are actually losing a dime.i would like them to shedule one 1-aa teamfor home game every year.then play home,and home with other teams.we would seven home games that we could win.we have no business playing bcs teams right now.the two games with big ten teams showed how bad we right now.

[MDZip]

when was the last time any mac finished in the top 25.

2003. Miami (with Roethlisberger) finished at #10, BG was at #23 (and NI at #29)Marshall was 24th in 2002.Toldeo just missed in 2005 at #26.Bowling Green and NI were close in 2004 (#27 and #29 respectively).No one since 2005 has even finished in the Others Receiving Votes category except Ball State last year (#32).

[GP1]

the akron a.d. thinks they are making more money by playing on the road.what they are actually doing is killing the fan base,and any $ that would come from attending home games.every year we lose 1-2 games playing bcs teams at the start of the season.this teams needs to play home/home with teams.

Excellent post. What other sport at UofA plays 75% of their OOC games against what would be BCS level schools. NONE, they know they would get killed (soccer excluded from this discussion). Our scheduling guarantees poor starts each year and a loss of public interest. It needs to stop and it needs to stop ASAP. In a few weeks, we play ANOTHER BCS level school and we will walk away with a loss. Before the season, I thought maybe we could, but it ain't gonna happen. At what point do they say, "this isn't working"? Enough is enough already. Everything has to go PERFECTLY for UofA to do well with this schedule. We are killing ourselves.I'll be honest...they will be 1-3 after this week. I was planning on coming to a game this year. My interest level is almost zero. I don't care if they have a new stadium or not. I'm not spending 14 hours of my weekend driving from SC to OH and back to watch junk. I doubt I will watch many of the TV games as well. Can anyone seriously say to someone who watched that game last weekend, "Come out to The Big Phone Booth, the MAC is great". The other person will think you are mentally unstable.I hope the new AD can fix this horrible scheduling we have had to swallow. The schedule is the #1 football problem that needs to be fixed.Future schedules should include:One pay-dayTwo I-AA schools at home. If UofA beat a I-AA team last week, there would still be fan interest.One CUSA, low level mountain west or sunbelt team (pick one) - Home and home.

[MDZip]

Future schedules should include:One pay-dayTwo I-AA schools at home. If UofA beat a I-AA team last week, there would still be fan interest.One CUSA, low level mountain west or sunbelt team (pick one) - Home and home.

One problem with this is that one of those 1-AA games would not count toward bowl eligibility, and making a bowl also helps fan interest. No reason to make one of your games "not count". I agree with eguins, let's bring YSU in next year.

[you am i]

I liked the OOC schedule this year. A good MAC team could knock off both Indiana and Syracuse. The Penn State game was a money game, but it was also a chance to at least put up a fight and gain some national respect, sort of like the game at Ohio State a few years ago. Akron gave OSU all they wanted for 3 quarters. I don't like the idea of an almost guaranteed loss at the start of the season. But I understand why its done.The MAC program that Akron should model itself after - I think - is Toledo. Every year they seem to take on a couple of BCS schools and they manage to knock off a fair number of them. That's what gets their fan base excited. If they can do it, so can we. If they can't get a one/one deal with a BCS school, they get a two/one deal. The Toledo fans would go berserk if two small schools were put on the home schedule. I don't think Akron's schedule is the problem; it's the underperformance of the team. Momentum-wise, a win over Indiana would have been huge for the players and the fans. What an opportunity lost. Winning cures everything.

[WinZip]

I liked the OOC schedule this year. A good MAC team could knock off both Indiana and Syracuse. The Penn State game was a money game, but it was also a chance to at least put up a fight and gain some national respect, sort of like the game at Ohio State a few years ago. Akron gave OSU all they wanted for 3 quarters. I don't like the idea of an almost guaranteed loss at the start of the season. But I understand why its done.The MAC program that Akron should model itself after - I think - is Toledo. Every year they seem to take on a couple of BCS schools and they manage to knock off a fair number of them. That's what gets their fan base excited. If they can do it, so can we. If they can't get a one/one deal with a BCS school, they get a two/one deal. The Toledo fans would go berserk if two small schools were put on the home schedule. I don't think Akron's schedule is the problem; it's the underperformance of the team. Momentum-wise, a win over Indiana would have been huge for the players and the fans. What an opportunity lost. Winning cures everything.

agreed

[bUAkronG]

when was the last time any mac finished in the top 25.

2003. Miami (with Roethlisberger) finished at #10, BG was at #23 (and NI at #29)Marshall was 24th in 2002.Toldeo just missed in 2005 at #26.Bowling Green and NI were close in 2004 (#27 and #29 respectively).No one since 2005 has even finished in the Others Receiving Votes category except Ball State last year (#32).

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm 90% sure BSU was around 12th in the nation last year going into the MACC.

[goodthts]

The only good thing I can forsee about a mediocre team this year will be the tailgaiting will be increasingly more open to allow for a wider open lot 9 passing game.Oh yeah, and more adult beverages for me! Also, less people will allow for me to lay out and take naps in the stands when the Zips have the ball.

[RACER]

good info. thanks.i was refering to end of the year.i thought ball state would go undefeated until the mac champ game.i just don't see this conference doing anything.cmu is supposed to the class of the mac.if you look thoughthey are 16-11 in the last two years.i would hardly call that domination.because of the tv money; i just don't see any mac team ending up in the top 25 again.it may happen one year,but it will never happen on a consistant basis.if the zips ever do get a chance to get out of the mac they should jump at it.the mac is a one bid in b-ball.there is no tv money for b-ball,or f-ball.when temple came in the mac the schedules are a mess.how can you not playall the teams in your own division? i think all this effects attendance.

[RootforRoo44]

good info. thanks.i was refering to end of the year.i thought ball state would go undefeated until the mac champ game.i just don't see this conference doing anything.cmu is supposed to the class of the mac.if you look thoughthey are 16-11 in the last two years.i would hardly call that domination.because of the tv money; i just don't see any mac team ending up in the top 25 again.it may happen one year,but it will never happen on a consistant basis.if the zips ever do get a chance to get out of the mac they should jump at it.the mac is a one bid in b-ball.there is no tv money for b-ball,or f-ball.when temple came in the mac the schedules are a mess.how can you not playall the teams in your own division? i think all this effects attendance.

Ever heard of capitalization or spacing after periods?

[MDZip]

when was the last time any mac finished in the top 25.

2003. Miami (with Roethlisberger) finished at #10, BG was at #23 (and NI at #29)Marshall was 24th in 2002.Toldeo just missed in 2005 at #26.Bowling Green and NI were close in 2004 (#27 and #29 respectively).No one since 2005 has even finished in the Others Receiving Votes category except Ball State last year (#32).

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm 90% sure BSU was around 12th in the nation last year going into the MACC.

You are correct, they plummeted to #22 following the loss to Buffalo and then all the way to #32 after their bowl game loss.