NCAA Attendance Penalty

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NCAA reconsidering attendance penalty

Requirements could change to help football programs, like Ball St., remain in Division I-A.

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Home blues

Increased standards for membership in NCAA Division I-A, scheduled to go into effect this fall, include a minimum average attendance of 15,000 at home football games. Here are the schools that fell below that number last season:

Avg. home

Rank School attendance

107 Utah State 14,921

108 La.-Lafayette 13,995

109 C. Michigan 13,907

110 Akron 13,812

111 Buffalo 12,419

112 Ball State 12,339

113 Idaho 12,064

114 La.-Monroe 11,298

115 E. Michigan 11,258

116 Mid. Tenn. St. 11,021

117 Can't State 8,524

Source: NCAA

By Mark Alesia

mark.alesia@indystar.com

April 30, 2004

The NCAA's top legislative group spent part of Thursday reconsidering a minimum football attendance requirement, scheduled to start this season, that could threaten the Division I-A status of Ball State and other schools in the Mid-American Conference.

At issue is a rule requiring an average of 15,000 fans per home game in actual attendance -- not tickets sold -- to stay in the highest level of college football.

The rule is the most controversial part of a package of increased membership standards that was originally designed to prevent schools in Division I-AA from jumping to Division I-A, not to kick schools out.

Ball State ranked 112th of 117 Division I-A schools last season, averaging 12,339 per home game. Five other MAC teams, and 11 overall, were below 15,000.

"I don't understand what attendance has to do with your commitment to participating in Division I-A football," Ball State athletic director Bubba Cunningham said.

NCAA president Myles Brand has expressed concern about the attendance standard.

"There is some discomfort with the rule, and it's legitimate," Brand said last week to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "We want to make sure the people in Division I-A really belong there, but the best way to do that may be in terms of scholarships."

Unlike the attendance requirement, criticized by some as a measure of marketing, most of the other standards relate to the amount of money a school invests in its athletic program.

Among those standards, a school must:

• Sponsor 16 sports.

• Offer 200 scholarships or at least $4 million in scholarships for athletes in the entire program.

• Play at least four home football games each season against Division I-A teams in 2004 and 2005, and a minimum of five after that.

• Use 90 percent of football scholarships allowed over rolling two-year periods.

On Thursday, the Division I Board of Directors discussed the attendance and opponent issues, plus the punishment for not meeting those standards, NCAA vice president David Berst said.

It's not clear when a final decision on the attendance requirement will be made. The next meeting of the board is in August.

Cunningham said he thinks implementation might be delayed.

"In my view, the single greatest event the NCAA offers -- the men's basketball tournament -- is open to 327 schools with no attendance requirement," Cunningham said. "I don't understand why access to that kind of event wouldn't be more burdensome. The NCAA doesn't even govern postseason football. I'm at a loss to understand that."

Schools that don't meet the criteria would be on probation the next year and unable to play in a bowl game. Those that don't meet the criteria during the probation year would drop out of Division I-A the next year. Other sports would not be affected.

Cunningham noted that schools generally schedule games years in advance, and the rule could have unintended consequences on teams that need games against Division I-A opponents.

"If we aren't in I-A, (other) schools will be affected," said Cunningham, whose school moved to Division I-A for football in 1983.

During last season's game against Bowling Green, a graduate student, skeptical of the athletic department's attendance claims, took digital pictures of the stands and counted the fans. He reported the results in a letter to the editor of the Ball State Daily News: 3,249 fans at the start of the second quarter. The announced attendance was 8,325.

Cunningham said the school reported actual attendance last year after using paid attendance in previous years. Ball State averaged 15,370 fans per game from 1999-2002.

[Zipsrifle]

Nice Article. This is one area that really bugs me. Why in the world do we have an attendence problem!?! Look at the demographic of the area...It's Northeast OHIO!!! Last time I checked, people eat, sleep, and breath the sport!!!! How many people live within 1/2hr of the Rubber Bowl? How many within an Hour? HOW IN THE WORLD DID CMU HAVE A HIGHER ATTENDENCE..... IT'S IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!!

Yea, NE Ohio is fixated on OSU. I don't know how we're going to change that....It's a task for UAM. Especially since ABJ doesn't even know we exist. I know I drag as many people to each game as I can.

I think that the shakeup with the coaching staff and the Fryesman campaign will pack them in this year. Creative scheduling of the games will work too. I was the first one to whine about the Can't State game last year when it was on a Trs. Boy, was I wrong about that one! The ESPN game will count for 2+ games worth of attendence... it'll sellout, 35,202 baby. I should have no problem in getting 15-20 people for that one....up from the 5-8 that usually come. Ahhh, the allure of being on National Television. Miami travels well too. Might be able to get my brother to bring his frat to that game (yea, I should disown him for being a Redhawk.) Hopefully the Can't State game will be packed again this year, heat the rivalry up!

[Big Zip]

One thing the Zips have going against them this year is when the home games are being played. At the end of the season. If Akron doesn't do anything early these games are complete no brainers for those on the fence -- they'll just stay home. The game might not matter and it'll be cold out. It makes the beginning of the season and a win at Penn State that much more important. I still think the U missed their biggest opportunity when the NFL was out of town for a few years. We're still paying for that mistake today.