Flushes Pushing Attendance

[K-Roo]

http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/zips/2010/06/k...ce-requirement/

http://www.90Can't State.com/index

"Is it possible that Akron's closest rival will be sanctioned for poor fan support?

Can't State is making a marketing push to get 90,000 fans into the Dix Stadium this year. (The logo below and an accompanying Web site were leaked to me by a Can't State staff member.) Ninety-thousand represents the total needed to meet the NCAA's requirement of averaging 15,000 fans per home game (paid or actual attendance). If you believe the announced attendance (and I don't), Can't State barely scraped that figure last year at 93,432.

You would think that, because Akron-Can't is at Dix Stadium this year, 90,000 should be attainable. But when you look at the rest of the schedule, it's not a slam-dunk. Akron vs. Can't usually attracts about 20,000. That means Can't's other five games have to average about 14,000 each. Four of the other home games are scheduled for Oct. 30 or later. The fifth home game is against Murray State. No team other than Akron (and maybe Ohio) is likely to bring any of its own fans.

Akron's attendance last season was 104,294. Unlike in previous years when attendance was embarrassingly inflated, I actually think that number is legit. Don't take a sigh of relief, though. It was the opening season for InfoCision Stadium. Akron-Can't was a home game. The Zips welcomed their first Big Ten visitor (Indiana). Also, aside from the Eastern Michigan game, the weather was pretty good each week.

Akron's outlook in 2010 will depend on how the team is doing at the end of the season. If the Zips are contending for the MAC East, they will have two winnable games against Miami and Buffalo to finish the schedule, and fans are likely to take interest. If the Zips have a conference record of 1-5 or 2-4 heading into those games, nobody is going to show up to watch meaningless football in the chilly late November. This is the reason we hired Tom Wistrcill.

What happens if you drop below the 15,000 average for two straight seasons? No one knows for sure because the NCAA has not had to enforce it. Generally, a university buys up the tickets necessary to reach compliance before it gets to that point. The NCAA has threatened to take away FBS status if the problem persists long enough.

With the economy in Northeast Ohio not permitting a whole lot of discretionary spending, the attendance issue is something to watch for both Akron and Can't fans this fall.."

[cornbread]

What does it say about us that our main rival could be sanctioned?

Feels like booing at the special Olympics.

[ZachTheZip]

Can't has much less to worry about than EMU. EMU had a grand total of 25,000 people attend their games last year. Not 25k per game, but 25k total. Next year they might fudge some numbers to get above the threshold, but if the NCAA wanted to they could just take a look and enforce their rules on EMU.

[skip-zip]

First, I just want to point out that Akron has been in a similar situation many, many times in our D-1A era; having to boost attendance in order to meet the requirement.

Secondly, in mentioning other MAC schools who may be struggling to meet this requirement, we should worry about the bigger question. Will the entire MAC conference someday have to face the possibility of being downgraded to a lower division if ALL of us don't start to hit some more respectable attendance numbers?

[g-mann17]

Well the MAC could use some decent "filtering". GP1 mentions "quality of product" all the time. Typically you improve quality by trimming unnecessary parts.

The question is, how do you determine those parts?

Attendance is only one measure. That means EMU, Can't. And it wasn't more than 5 years ago that we had issues, and there is no guarantee we won't.

The biggest problem is how over represented Ohio is in the conference (6 teams). It really dillutes the chances of the Ohio schools of succeeding.

[lance99]

Can't has much less to worry about than EMU. EMU had a grand total of 25,000 people attend their games last year. Not 25k per game, but 25k total. Next year they might fudge some numbers to get above the threshold, but if the NCAA wanted to they could just take a look and enforce their rules on EMU.

EMU only had 25,000 total all season!? There are high school teams that draw more(McKinley, Massillion to name a couple) If the NCAA really wanted to enforce the threshold, there are lots of schools, not just in the MAC that would be in trouble.

[g-mann17]

Can't has much less to worry about than EMU. EMU had a grand total of 25,000 people attend their games last year. Not 25k per game, but 25k total. Next year they might fudge some numbers to get above the threshold, but if the NCAA wanted to they could just take a look and enforce their rules on EMU.

EMU only had 25,000 total all season!? There are high school teams that draw more(McKinley, Massillion to name a couple) If the NCAA really wanted to enforce the threshold, there are lots of schools, not just in the MAC that would be in trouble.

Most of the Sunbelt

[skip-zip]

Can't has much less to worry about than EMU. EMU had a grand total of 25,000 people attend their games last year. Not 25k per game, but 25k total. Next year they might fudge some numbers to get above the threshold, but if the NCAA wanted to they could just take a look and enforce their rules on EMU.

EMU only had 25,000 total all season!? There are high school teams that draw more(McKinley, Massillion to name a couple) If the NCAA really wanted to enforce the threshold, there are lots of schools, not just in the MAC that would be in trouble.

Most of the Sunbelt

Is there any real difference between MAC attendance and Sun Belt attendance? The last time I checked, there wasn't any.

[ZachTheZip]

Well the MAC could use some decent "filtering". GP1 mentions "quality of product" all the time. Typically you improve quality by trimming unnecessary parts.

The question is, how do you determine those parts?

Attendance is only one measure. That means EMU, Can't. And it wasn't more than 5 years ago that we had issues, and there is no guarantee we won't.

The biggest problem is how over represented Ohio is in the conference (6 teams). It really dillutes the chances of the Ohio schools of succeeding.

Bowling Green has the lowest athletic budget of any MAC school, and they have the least to show for what they do spend. They would make a very nice D-II school.

[GP1]

Can't State is making a marketing push to get 90,000 fans into the Dix Stadium this year.

The only way Can't State gets 90K total is if they give away free joints to all paying customers.

[g-mann17]

Well the MAC could use some decent "filtering". GP1 mentions "quality of product" all the time. Typically you improve quality by trimming unnecessary parts.

The question is, how do you determine those parts?

Attendance is only one measure. That means EMU, Can't. And it wasn't more than 5 years ago that we had issues, and there is no guarantee we won't.

The biggest problem is how over represented Ohio is in the conference (6 teams). It really dillutes the chances of the Ohio schools of succeeding.

Bowling Green has the lowest athletic budget of any MAC school, and they have the least to show for what they do spend. They would make a very nice D-II school.

So than we are looking at EMU, BGSU. Takes us to 10 football teams, force Temple to join or bounce (that decision should be coming pretty soon anyway) and then look to the Big 12, Big East, C-USA leftovers.

If 16 becomes the trend then you have to figure the ACC, and SEC will raid the Big East and C-USA for a total of 8 teams. There are 20 in there. If the Big 12 tries to stay alive they have to replace up to 8 teams (depending on what the PAC 10 does).

I believe it was in another thread but I believe in 8 conferences of 16 (that totals 128 teams, but there are at least 8 teams that want to advance out of FCS).

Schedules would work to where you play your 7 division opponents, 2 conference opponents and 3 teams from similar level from 3 different conferences (For instance Boise State would likely have to play Iowa, Cal, & Miami). You play 8 championship games the eight winners are seeded into bowl games (based off of OOC performance and overall record, in addition to some computer ranking factoring those things in). 1 plays 8 etc. You keep a bowl structure for the 8 conference losers and up to 8 bowl games. Meaning bowls actually drop to 20. Then you have the winners of the "Championship" bowls play in a semi final game, then a final. Still takes the same length of time, a real champion is named, max games played is 16 (12 regular, 1 Championship, 1 quarterfinal bowl, 1 semi-final bowl, 1 final).

It appeases everyone (excpet the reductionist GP1) by keeping the FBS as group of over 120 schools, forces independents into conferences, and it gives every team in the country a chance. Also it holds onto the integrity of the regular season as records matter still for post season play, and adds an 8 team playoff. A team might say we went 12-1, why does 9-4 so&so get a chance to play for the championship. Well you didn't win your conference, if you can't win your conference how can you be national champion?

Tangent over.

[Spin]

I just figured out how to get to the website. Pretty funny stuff.

"Everybody counts"

Does that mean Can't State has raised their admission requirements?