Football Attendance for 2012

[ZachTheZip]

I don't understand why more students aren't at the games. There is no more excuse of having to drive to the RB. A nice fall afternoon in a nice stadium on campus was my dream when I was in school.Yes, the team sucks, but their is no atmosphere like a college Saturday afternoon.

Because they have more entertaining things to do than sit and watch a team they don't connect with practice against a bunch of scrubs.

Like I said, I don't understand that at all. They need to learn to connect. When I was in school, I never missed a game and that included driving my POS Pinto to the RB.Something needs to be done. Obviously winning will cure most of this, but just getting the students to tthe game will help.Maybe a University wide extra credit for students that attend games, or something like that. Get the students there, they have a good time and want to come back.

In soccer, the team connects to the fans. Even when there were only like 20 of us at the games five years ago, the players and the coaches went out of their way to thank the fans that were showing support. The players celebrate with the fans after they score, and the coaches are friendly.In football, the players isolate themselves from the rest of the student body and the coaches resent the students, even the ones who do show up. And then they wonder why they don't see any support. Ianello and the assistant coaches needs to show up to university events like the occasional student fairs held on the commons and talk to people. They need to be sociable. Even if the head coach is busy they could send out some position coaches. Same thing goes for the players: talk to your classmates. Show some pride and show the students that you're worth caring about instead of being that miserable quiet kid in the "football clique". This isn't high school anymore. The students need to be recruited by the coaches and team, just like prospects. Give them a reason to care, get them invested in the team.

[g-mann17]

In soccer, the team connects to the fans. Even when there were only like 20 of us at the games five years ago, the players and the coaches went out of their way to thank the fans that were showing support. The players celebrate with the fans after they score, and the coaches are friendly.In football, the players isolate themselves from the rest of the student body and the coaches resent the students, even the ones who do show up. And then they wonder why they don't see any support. Ianello and the assistant coaches needs to show up to university events like the occasional student fairs held on the commons and talk to people. They need to be sociable. Even if the head coach is busy they could send out some position coaches. Same thing goes for the players: talk to your classmates. Show some pride and show the students that you're worth caring about instead of being that miserable quiet kid in the "football clique". This isn't high school anymore. The students need to be recruited by the coaches and team, just like prospects. Give them a reason to care, get them invested in the team.

Zach, send this comment to Wistrcill. Seriously. It is very honest and factual. The AD would like to hear this and it is solid student opinion. If he doesn't give you a response then let me know and I will submit too.

[Buckzip]

I don't understand why more students aren't at the games. There is no more excuse of having to drive to the RB. A nice fall afternoon in a nice stadium on campus was my dream when I was in school.Yes, the team sucks, but their is no atmosphere like a college Saturday afternoon.

Because they have more entertaining things to do than sit and watch a team they don't connect with practice against a bunch of scrubs.

Like I said, I don't understand that at all. They need to learn to connect. When I was in school, I never missed a game and that included driving my POS Pinto to the RB.Something needs to be done. Obviously winning will cure most of this, but just getting the students to tthe game will help.Maybe a University wide extra credit for students that attend games, or something like that. Get the students there, they have a good time and want to come back.

In soccer, the team connects to the fans. Even when there were only like 20 of us at the games five years ago, the players and the coaches went out of their way to thank the fans that were showing support. The players celebrate with the fans after they score, and the coaches are friendly.In football, the players isolate themselves from the rest of the student body and the coaches resent the students, even the ones who do show up. And then they wonder why they don't see any support. Ianello and the assistant coaches needs to show up to university events like the occasional student fairs held on the commons and talk to people. They need to be sociable. Even if the head coach is busy they could send out some position coaches. Same thing goes for the players: talk to your classmates. Show some pride and show the students that you're worth caring about instead of being that miserable quiet kid in the "football clique". This isn't high school anymore. The students need to be recruited by the coaches and team, just like prospects. Give them a reason to care, get them invested in the team.

Seeing that I only make it back home for 1-2 games per year, that sounds very bad. You would think that the team being as bad as they are that the coach would go far out of his way to try to earn the students support. How in the hell does our AD not see the same thing that you see? Or better question is does he see it and not care?

[jem101]

In soccer, the team connects to the fans. Even when there were only like 20 of us at the games five years ago, the players and the coaches went out of their way to thank the fans that were showing support. The players celebrate with the fans after they score, and the coaches are friendly.In football, the players isolate themselves from the rest of the student body and the coaches resent the students, even the ones who do show up. And then they wonder why they don't see any support. Ianello and the assistant coaches needs to show up to university events like the occasional student fairs held on the commons and talk to people. They need to be sociable. Even if the head coach is busy they could send out some position coaches. Same thing goes for the players: talk to your classmates. Show some pride and show the students that you're worth caring about instead of being that miserable quiet kid in the "football clique". This isn't high school anymore. The students need to be recruited by the coaches and team, just like prospects. Give them a reason to care, get them invested in the team.

Seeing that I only make it back home for 1-2 games per year, that sounds very bad. You would think that the team being as bad as they are that the coach would go far out of his way to try to earn the students support. How in the hell does our AD not see the same thing that you see? Or better question is does he see it and not care?

I think it makes it even more egregious of an error that there is a prime example of how to connect with the students, yet Ianello does not follow up with a similar approach. I know that is part of the reason I love the soccer team so much. The "I Believe" chant at the end of wins with the team is incredible. When I show up to a soccer match and participate, I feel that I may have had a tiny impact on the game. It's not just the team either that connects with the students. After the Ohio State draw last year, Porter came over and personally apologized for the play of the team to the students who made the trip. Maybe Ianello needs to attend a few soccer matches.

[skip-zip]

I think I see some confusion again about how attendance is counted, including something about being able to count some "alottment" of students.Unless something has changed in the last 30 years, here is what I believe is always counted as "paid attendance", which is the figure you see reported.1) Tickets Sold2) Students who walk through the gate with their student ID (they count as "paid" because free admission to sporting events is included in student fees).

[MaxZIP]

I think I see some confusion again about how attendance is counted, including something about being able to count some "alottment" of students.Unless something has changed in the last 30 years, here is what I believe is always counted as "paid attendance", which is the figure you see reported.1) Tickets Sold2) Students who walk through the gate with their student ID (they count as "paid" because free admission to sporting events is included in student fees).

1,000-1,500 season tickets (more than generous)2,000 single game tickets1,000 Students (Generous)=4,000-4,500plus 2,000 tickets possibly given to sponsors and your have max 6,500. I just don't see how over 15,000 ticekts were sold to this game. Hell if they can sell that many to this team more power to them. They are making numbers up at this point because they will have a hard time doing it at the end of the season when 500 people are in the stands. Expect a number right around 14,500 for the VMI game.

[Lee Adams]

In soccer, the team connects to the fans. Even when there were only like 20 of us at the games five years ago, the players and the coaches went out of their way to thank the fans that were showing support. The players celebrate with the fans after they score, and the coaches are friendly.In football, the players isolate themselves from the rest of the student body and the coaches resent the students, even the ones who do show up. And then they wonder why they don't see any support. Ianello and the assistant coaches needs to show up to university events like the occasional student fairs held on the commons and talk to people. They need to be sociable. Even if the head coach is busy they could send out some position coaches. Same thing goes for the players: talk to your classmates. Show some pride and show the students that you're worth caring about instead of being that miserable quiet kid in the "football clique". This isn't high school anymore. The students need to be recruited by the coaches and team, just like prospects. Give them a reason to care, get them invested in the team.

Zach, send this comment to Wistrcill. Seriously. It is very honest and factual. The AD would like to hear this and it is solid student opinion. If he doesn't give you a response then let me know and I will submit too.

I have sent e-mails directly to Wistrcill before. He has always responded if not the next day,within a few days.

[g-mann17]

I have sent e-mails directly to Wistrcill before. He has always responded if not the next day,within a few days.

Yeah he is much better than Mack was at responding to people. And open to meeting with people.They actually beg for that kind of involvement. They want to know what people think, what they want from the program (not just wins, but community involvement from the teams, event activies, scheduling etc.) The UCF game happened because they had a number of people mention how they used to be a big rival with us when they were in the MAC.

[skip-zip]

I think I see some confusion again about how attendance is counted, including something about being able to count some "alottment" of students.Unless something has changed in the last 30 years, here is what I believe is always counted as "paid attendance", which is the figure you see reported.1) Tickets Sold2) Students who walk through the gate with their student ID (they count as "paid" because free admission to sporting events is included in student fees).

1,000-1,500 season tickets (more than generous)2,000 single game tickets1,000 Students (Generous)=4,000-4,500plus 2,000 tickets possibly given to sponsors and your have max 6,500. I just don't see how over 15,000 ticekts were sold to this game. Hell if they can sell that many to this team more power to them. They are making numbers up at this point because they will have a hard time doing it at the end of the season when 500 people are in the stands. Expect a number right around 14,500 for the VMI game.

Max, as far as I know, there's some very strict rules as to what you can count as "paid attendance", which would not include tickets that are given away. If the only thing schools had to do was inflate their numbers, without any standards, restrictions or penalties, then nobody would ever have a problem reaching the minimum attendance mark required, right? And since EMU reports attendance around 5,000, I would guess that inflating your numbers isn't an advisable thing to try to do.Remember, many large companies in the area purchase large blocks of tickets to Akron sporting events. Heck, I even know owners of small businesses who buy groups of tickets to several sports, and often do not use them, or are unable to give them away to people who might use them. And those still count, even if they don't show up. When a family of 4 buys tickets, but little Johnny gets sick and they don't show up, those count as well. It's no secret. Football did this on a very large scale back in 1985 to get our attendance to the level needed to jump to D-1A.

[MaxZIP]

I think I see some confusion again about how attendance is counted, including something about being able to count some "alottment" of students.Unless something has changed in the last 30 years, here is what I believe is always counted as "paid attendance", which is the figure you see reported.1) Tickets Sold2) Students who walk through the gate with their student ID (they count as "paid" because free admission to sporting events is included in student fees).

1,000-1,500 season tickets (more than generous)2,000 single game tickets1,000 Students (Generous)=4,000-4,500plus 2,000 tickets possibly given to sponsors and your have max 6,500. I just don't see how over 15,000 ticekts were sold to this game. Hell if they can sell that many to this team more power to them. They are making numbers up at this point because they will have a hard time doing it at the end of the season when 500 people are in the stands. Expect a number right around 14,500 for the VMI game.

Max, as far as I know, there's some very strict rules as to what you can count as "paid attendance", which would not include tickets that are given away. If the only thing schools had to do was inflate their numbers, without any standards, restrictions or penalties, then nobody would ever have a problem reaching the minimum attendance mark required, right? And since EMU reports attendance around 5,000, I would guess that inflating your numbers isn't an advisable thing to try to do.Remember, many large companies in the area purchase large blocks of tickets to Akron sporting events. Heck, I even know owners of small businesses who buy groups of tickets to several sports, and often do not use them, or are unable to give them away to people who might use them. And those still count, even if they don't show up. When a family of 4 buys tickets, but little Johnny gets sick and they don't show up, those count as well. It's no secret. Football did this on a very large scale back in 1985 to get our attendance to the level needed to jump to D-1A.

Still no way were 15,000+ tockets sold.

[ZachTheZip]

In soccer, the team connects to the fans. Even when there were only like 20 of us at the games five years ago, the players and the coaches went out of their way to thank the fans that were showing support. The players celebrate with the fans after they score, and the coaches are friendly.In football, the players isolate themselves from the rest of the student body and the coaches resent the students, even the ones who do show up. And then they wonder why they don't see any support. Ianello and the assistant coaches needs to show up to university events like the occasional student fairs held on the commons and talk to people. They need to be sociable. Even if the head coach is busy they could send out some position coaches. Same thing goes for the players: talk to your classmates. Show some pride and show the students that you're worth caring about instead of being that miserable quiet kid in the "football clique". This isn't high school anymore. The students need to be recruited by the coaches and team, just like prospects. Give them a reason to care, get them invested in the team.

Zach, send this comment to Wistrcill. Seriously. It is very honest and factual. The AD would like to hear this and it is solid student opinion. If he doesn't give you a response then let me know and I will submit too.

I will send it, but I'm looking into a few more things first.It goes beyond comparing Football to just Soccer. Dambrot and the basketball staff is another great example, as are the players on the team. Ron Arenz, the volleyball coach, is another one. I get the vibe that our baseball coach will also go along those lines. So why not football?

[skip-zip]

I think I see some confusion again about how attendance is counted, including something about being able to count some "alottment" of students.Unless something has changed in the last 30 years, here is what I believe is always counted as "paid attendance", which is the figure you see reported.1) Tickets Sold2) Students who walk through the gate with their student ID (they count as "paid" because free admission to sporting events is included in student fees).

1,000-1,500 season tickets (more than generous)2,000 single game tickets1,000 Students (Generous)=4,000-4,500plus 2,000 tickets possibly given to sponsors and your have max 6,500. I just don't see how over 15,000 ticekts were sold to this game. Hell if they can sell that many to this team more power to them. They are making numbers up at this point because they will have a hard time doing it at the end of the season when 500 people are in the stands. Expect a number right around 14,500 for the VMI game.

Max, as far as I know, there's some very strict rules as to what you can count as "paid attendance", which would not include tickets that are given away. If the only thing schools had to do was inflate their numbers, without any standards, restrictions or penalties, then nobody would ever have a problem reaching the minimum attendance mark required, right? And since EMU reports attendance around 5,000, I would guess that inflating your numbers isn't an advisable thing to try to do.Remember, many large companies in the area purchase large blocks of tickets to Akron sporting events. Heck, I even know owners of small businesses who buy groups of tickets to several sports, and often do not use them, or are unable to give them away to people who might use them. And those still count, even if they don't show up. When a family of 4 buys tickets, but little Johnny gets sick and they don't show up, those count as well. It's no secret. Football did this on a very large scale back in 1985 to get our attendance to the level needed to jump to D-1A.

Still no way were 15,000+ tockets sold.

For the most part, I am just sharing what I know, and trying to get additional information from someone in the know.If attendance numbers can easily be inflated or "made up", why do we have the ever-ending drama to see which schools are meeting the required attendance mark?

[Dave in Green]

I guess I can claim greater expertise on sports event attendance than the average bear due to the fact that I was once responsible for producing the annual Goodyear auto racing attendance report. Each year I would compile attendance figures for all major auto racing events in the U.S., and the numbers were widely quoted throughout the sporting media as the most accurate numbers available. I personally counted seats from Daytona to Indianapolis, and could tell when a race promoter was fudging numbers.Back in the old days of auto racing, promoters would issue wildly optimistic numbers of spectators in attendance, and then report ridiculously small numbers of paid attendance to the IRS. The IRS eventually caught on, and nailed a number of promoters for pretty serious penalties. As the IRS began cracking down, sports promoters of all kinds began posting legitimate paid attendance numbers that matched what they reported on their tax returns.With that in mind, I'd say the odds are about zero that a state institution such as UA would announce inflated paid attendance numbers. Whatever they publicly announce as official paid attendance numbers must match up with the official paid attendance numbers they report to the IRS, or they risk an IRS audit that is not nearly worth the pain of whatever gain they might get from having the public believe there was more paid attendance than the actual number of tickets sold.While I have no direct experience with the finer details of how a university counts paid sporting event attendance, it would obviously include season ticket sales, walk-up ticket sales, suite sales, and some formula for counting students. In addition, any seat tickets that would be given to any season or game sponsors as part of a paid sponsorship package could legitimately be counted as part of official paid attendance.There is always a gap between official paid attendance and actual attendance (butts in seats). Paid admissions go unused for a variety of reasons. But, generally speaking, the gap is greater when a sports team is on the decline than when it's on the rise.So it's pretty obvious to me why there's such a big gap between UA football official paid attendance and actual butts in seats at games.

[g-mann17]

I will send it, but I'm looking into a few more things first.It goes beyond comparing Football to just Soccer. Dambrot and the basketball staff is another great example, as are the players on the team. Ron Arenz, the volleyball coach, is another one. I get the vibe that our baseball coach will also go along those lines. So why not football?

Well, my guess is with basketball they have something to work with (wins) so now they need the personality to along with it to get students out. I mean you get the student crowd that showed up for the football game to the basketball games (4000 + contrary to most reports) you have standing room only. With the others its about building support so that they can get additional funding to improve. They see how soccer did it and are trying to emilate it. Football, I think they just assume people will show. Or worse yet, they assume people won't show until they are winning (mostly true) so why expose students and coaches to extra abuse. We're tied 0-0 had held Temple twice before the delay and Ianello elects to punt from the 50 and people are screaming profanity and chanting "We want Tressel". Difficult to get someone to want to meet those kinds of fans.

[Zipgrad01]

Scoring Summary Scoring Summary (Final) 2010 University of Akron Football Buffalo vs Akron (11/26/10 at Akron, Ohio) Buffalo (2-10,1-7) vs. Akron (1-11,1-7) Date: 11/26/10 • Site: Akron, Ohio • Stadium: InfoCision Stadium • Attendance: 5216 Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score Buffalo 0 0 7 7 14 Akron 0 12 7 3 22 I was so cold and bored during last year's Buffalo game that we tried to count all of the people in the stands. We hit about 350 and i still have the program with the tallys by section to prove it. Infact one guy was able to pass out free hot beverage coupons to all present in about 20 in. Bottom line is that their couldn't have been more than 2000 season ticket holders last year and they managed to inflate the records to unconscionable levels. The invisible people will be out in full force this year. Hell, they reported that 7600 people showed for the Miami game.

I had 2 friends try to buy tickets in section 210 on saturday because they wanted to sit with us. The ticket salesman said that no tickets were available in that section because of the groups that bought the tickets to sit there. Needless to say, the section was 95% empty.

[Captain Kangaroo]

In soccer, the team connects to the fans. Even when there were only like 20 of us at the games five years ago, the players and the coaches went out of their way to thank the fans that were showing support. The players celebrate with the fans after they score, and the coaches are friendly.In football, the players isolate themselves from the rest of the student body and the coaches resent the students, even the ones who do show up. And then they wonder why they don't see any support. Ianello and the assistant coaches needs to show up to university events like the occasional student fairs held on the commons and talk to people. They need to be sociable. Even if the head coach is busy they could send out some position coaches. Same thing goes for the players: talk to your classmates. Show some pride and show the students that you're worth caring about instead of being that miserable quiet kid in the "football clique". This isn't high school anymore. The students need to be recruited by the coaches and team, just like prospects. Give them a reason to care, get them invested in the team.

Zach, send this comment to Wistrcill. Seriously. It is very honest and factual. The AD would like to hear this and it is solid student opinion. If he doesn't give you a response then let me know and I will submit too.

That's what we need...Zach to be Wistrcill's advisor.Shoot me now.

[Zipmeister]

Despite some posters claims that it is next to impossible to fudge paid attendance numbers, let me suggest that if the OC had as much imagination as does the person in charge of compiling attendance numbers for football home games, the Zips would have scored over 20 points in each of the first two games this year.

[you am i]

I found an article on NCAA football attendance calculation methods that was a few years old so maybe the rules have changed, but as of a few years ago the NCAA allowed schools to establish their own method of calculating attendance.Some schools count only the butts in the seats. Some use tickets sold, even if not used. Some use the number of tickets distributed, even if given away. Some use the total number of people present in the stadium, including officials, ushers, and the hot dog vendor. Some will county a luxury box that seats 20 as 20 people attending, even if only 2 people are in the box.My guess is that for Akron, the hot dog man counts as two.

[skip-zip]

I guess I can claim greater expertise on sports event attendance than the average bear due to the fact that I was once responsible for producing the annual Goodyear auto racing attendance report. Each year I would compile attendance figures for all major auto racing events in the U.S., and the numbers were widely quoted throughout the sporting media as the most accurate numbers available. I personally counted seats from Daytona to Indianapolis, and could tell when a race promoter was fudging numbers.Back in the old days of auto racing, promoters would issue wildly optimistic numbers of spectators in attendance, and then report ridiculously small numbers of paid attendance to the IRS. The IRS eventually caught on, and nailed a number of promoters for pretty serious penalties. As the IRS began cracking down, sports promoters of all kinds began posting legitimate paid attendance numbers that matched what they reported on their tax returns.With that in mind, I'd say the odds are about zero that a state institution such as UA would announce inflated paid attendance numbers. Whatever they publicly announce as official paid attendance numbers must match up with the official paid attendance numbers they report to the IRS, or they risk an IRS audit that is not nearly worth the pain of whatever gain they might get from having the public believe there was more paid attendance than the actual number of tickets sold.While I have no direct experience with the finer details of how a university counts paid sporting event attendance, it would obviously include season ticket sales, walk-up ticket sales, suite sales, and some formula for counting students. In addition, any seat tickets that would be given to any season or game sponsors as part of a paid sponsorship package could legitimately be counted as part of official paid attendance.There is always a gap between official paid attendance and actual attendance (butts in seats). Paid admissions go unused for a variety of reasons. But, generally speaking, the gap is greater when a sports team is on the decline than when it's on the rise.So it's pretty obvious to me why there's such a big gap between UA football official paid attendance and actual butts in seats at games.

They used to count them with hand clickers when a student ID was shown. I don't know if they still do it that way.

[skip-zip]

Scoring Summary Scoring Summary (Final) 2010 University of Akron Football Buffalo vs Akron (11/26/10 at Akron, Ohio) Buffalo (2-10,1-7) vs. Akron (1-11,1-7) Date: 11/26/10 • Site: Akron, Ohio • Stadium: InfoCision Stadium • Attendance: 5216 Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score Buffalo 0 0 7 7 14 Akron 0 12 7 3 22 I was so cold and bored during last year's Buffalo game that we tried to count all of the people in the stands. We hit about 350 and i still have the program with the tallys by section to prove it. Infact one guy was able to pass out free hot beverage coupons to all present in about 20 in. Bottom line is that their couldn't have been more than 2000 season ticket holders last year and they managed to inflate the records to unconscionable levels. The invisible people will be out in full force this year. Hell, they reported that 7600 people showed for the Miami game.

I had 2 friends try to buy tickets in section 210 on saturday because they wanted to sit with us. The ticket salesman said that no tickets were available in that section because of the groups that bought the tickets to sit there. Needless to say, the section was 95% empty.

That's precisely my point about companies buying large groups of tickets. I was told I couldn't get any extra tickets in my section for a few unexpected guests also, and was told nothing was available nearby, although I was surrounded by empty seats.

[ZachTheZip]

I guess I can claim greater expertise on sports event attendance than the average bear due to the fact that I was once responsible for producing the annual Goodyear auto racing attendance report. Each year I would compile attendance figures for all major auto racing events in the U.S., and the numbers were widely quoted throughout the sporting media as the most accurate numbers available. I personally counted seats from Daytona to Indianapolis, and could tell when a race promoter was fudging numbers.Back in the old days of auto racing, promoters would issue wildly optimistic numbers of spectators in attendance, and then report ridiculously small numbers of paid attendance to the IRS. The IRS eventually caught on, and nailed a number of promoters for pretty serious penalties. As the IRS began cracking down, sports promoters of all kinds began posting legitimate paid attendance numbers that matched what they reported on their tax returns.With that in mind, I'd say the odds are about zero that a state institution such as UA would announce inflated paid attendance numbers. Whatever they publicly announce as official paid attendance numbers must match up with the official paid attendance numbers they report to the IRS, or they risk an IRS audit that is not nearly worth the pain of whatever gain they might get from having the public believe there was more paid attendance than the actual number of tickets sold.While I have no direct experience with the finer details of how a university counts paid sporting event attendance, it would obviously include season ticket sales, walk-up ticket sales, suite sales, and some formula for counting students. In addition, any seat tickets that would be given to any season or game sponsors as part of a paid sponsorship package could legitimately be counted as part of official paid attendance.There is always a gap between official paid attendance and actual attendance (butts in seats). Paid admissions go unused for a variety of reasons. But, generally speaking, the gap is greater when a sports team is on the decline than when it's on the rise.So it's pretty obvious to me why there's such a big gap between UA football official paid attendance and actual butts in seats at games.

They used to count them with hand clickers when a student ID was shown. I don't know if they still do it that way.

They swipe Zip Cards now on electronic readers. You can't be counted twice by leaving and going back in a different entrance like you used to.

[skip-zip]

I guess I can claim greater expertise on sports event attendance than the average bear due to the fact that I was once responsible for producing the annual Goodyear auto racing attendance report. Each year I would compile attendance figures for all major auto racing events in the U.S., and the numbers were widely quoted throughout the sporting media as the most accurate numbers available. I personally counted seats from Daytona to Indianapolis, and could tell when a race promoter was fudging numbers.Back in the old days of auto racing, promoters would issue wildly optimistic numbers of spectators in attendance, and then report ridiculously small numbers of paid attendance to the IRS. The IRS eventually caught on, and nailed a number of promoters for pretty serious penalties. As the IRS began cracking down, sports promoters of all kinds began posting legitimate paid attendance numbers that matched what they reported on their tax returns.With that in mind, I'd say the odds are about zero that a state institution such as UA would announce inflated paid attendance numbers. Whatever they publicly announce as official paid attendance numbers must match up with the official paid attendance numbers they report to the IRS, or they risk an IRS audit that is not nearly worth the pain of whatever gain they might get from having the public believe there was more paid attendance than the actual number of tickets sold.While I have no direct experience with the finer details of how a university counts paid sporting event attendance, it would obviously include season ticket sales, walk-up ticket sales, suite sales, and some formula for counting students. In addition, any seat tickets that would be given to any season or game sponsors as part of a paid sponsorship package could legitimately be counted as part of official paid attendance.There is always a gap between official paid attendance and actual attendance (butts in seats). Paid admissions go unused for a variety of reasons. But, generally speaking, the gap is greater when a sports team is on the decline than when it's on the rise.So it's pretty obvious to me why there's such a big gap between UA football official paid attendance and actual butts in seats at games.

They used to count them with hand clickers when a student ID was shown. I don't know if they still do it that way.

They swipe Zip Cards now on electronic readers. You can't be counted twice by leaving and going back in a different entrance like you used to.

I guess I just revealed my age My memory is how they checked us into games in the early 80s.

[ZachTheZip]

I guess I just revealed my age My memory is how they checked us into games in the early 80s.

They only started swiping cards three years ago.

[bobbyake]

they have the official attendance for the VMI game at 14,257 which makes no sense. There were no more than 3,000 at the game. As far as paid tickets go, that number can not be more than 5,000. They are obviously counting tickets that are given out as gifts for donations and sponsors. I would love to do an audit on their attendance figures.

I'm not sure if I'll continue updating the chart due to attendance figures being too inflated.

[g-mann17]

they have the official attendance for the VMI game at 14,257 which makes no sense. There were no more than 3,000 at the game. As far as paid tickets go, that number can not be more than 5,000. They are obviously counting tickets that are given out as gifts for donations and sponsors. I would love to do an audit on their attendance figures.

I'm not sure if I'll continue updating the chart due to attendance figures being too inflated.

Bobby, you need go back to North and learn how to count. Was there 14000 no, but there was about 10000.