MAC Attendance

[Z-Pouch]

Interesting article on MAC attendance in the Beacon this morning. Some of the Can't State Trolls that have been on the board lately don’t know their facts very well. I hope that everyone around here agrees, that as we develop a winning tradition in basketball with 20 win seasons and football with MAC championships, our attendance figures should NEVER be this low.Can’t readCan’t writeCan’t protect your own student sectionCan’t get fans to the gamesCan’t State…Note - This is written by the Can't shill at the paper. Of course, there was no mention of large contigency of Akron fans and the Stark County students sections pulling the "Switch a Roo" which helped attendance on Saturday. With the large number of Can't State students (800-1000 ?) that do go to their games, its shows how poor their support outside of the campus really is with these numbers. Why does the Beacon even cover them ? Can't State deserves better support on homefrontBall State sets pace in MAC attendance, uses different tactics to attract fansBy Gary EstwickBeacon Journal sportswriterKENT - This is my third season of covering Can't State basketball, and I've never easily spotted ticket ushers on the upper deck at the M.A.C. Center. Well, not until Saturday afternoon's showdown against the University of Akron.The announced attendance was 6,532 fans, the 14th-largest crowd to watch a game in Can't, and easily, the largest of the season.``It was everything that big-time college basketball has,'' coach Jim Christian said.All the seats were filled, unless fans were standing up to cheer the Golden flushes, or boo their opponents from 15 minutes away.Fans were energetic, especially as Can't State mounted a rally early in the second half and held on late.``Our performance was related to them being in it and staying excited,'' forward Kevin Warzynski said of fan support.``Every single one of our guys were into it. If we can have that kind of crowd on a nightly basis, we can't lose at home.''In preparation for the game, guard Armon Gates jammed three fingers on his right hand in practice.``In warmups, I was feeling it, but when that game started, you forget all about it because you don't want to come out,'' Gates said.It's no surprise that this game, which Can't State won 63-57, drew so many fans. Can't State is the second-largest university in Ohio. It's men's basketball team is one of 12 Division I teams in the nation to win at least 20 games over the past seven seasons, and the flushes are within reach of adding another year.What does come as a shock is that it's an anomaly.Can't State might lead the Mid-American Conference with a 10-1 record, but home attendance at men's basketball games ranks sixth in the Mid-American Conference (3,364 fans). This is from a team that has lost just one MAC home game this season, and overall, just two home games in Can't.Until Saturday's record crowd, Can't State's average attendance at home games this season ranked behind Akron (3,036 fans).[/B]Ball State leads the MAC in home attendance by averaging 5,279 fans at Worthen Arena.The Cardinals have struggled this season en route to a 7-12 record (3-8 in MAC), which has dropped their attendance statistics. Still, their approximately 3,200 season-ticket holders -- a high number for the MAC -- has kept the Cardinals better than the rest.Chris Taylor, a Ball State athletic department spokesman and director of GameDay Experience, also attributes the attendance numbers to the athletic department's ability to draw students and gameday promotions.Last season, the student section was named ``The Nest.'' Any student that sits in the section is given a T-shirt.``We've given our student section an identity,'' Taylor said. ``Over the last year now, you see students wearing those T-shirts around campus and wearing them back to games.''The athletic department has added pregame concerts and other promotions to liven up the atmosphere.``It's not the NBA, and we understand that,'' Taylor said. ``But some of the things we do surrounding the game, we've tried to look at what the NBA does to make it fan friendly and an atmosphere that's more than just the game.''

[Z-Pouch]

Also part of the article but not on Ohio.com was the attendence figures for everyone.Here they are.Ball State 5279Ohio 4724Buffalo 4425Miami 4000Toledo 3990Can't 3364 - Includes Akron Sellout Akron 3036WMU 3035NI 2291CMU 2091BG 1730 EMU 1538

[msopher]

It's odd to see that Toledo draws more than Can't and Akron. Both of these 2 schools need to find ways to get more butts in the seats.

[ziptrumpet87]

The problem might be that these two schools are geographically so close that the public doesn't know which band wagon to jump onto yet.Also the local TV media doesn't want abandon its hometown team (Vikes) or don't want to appear to favor one or the other, so they either don't cover them or just don't care. I wish the Akron TV news was still on (I don't have cable and bet that many others still don't or have Dish and don't get it).

[Valpo Zip]

I have though about this issue for years and years and here is what i came up with:Whenever you have a college in a town that is geographically close to a professional team, fans will never show up for the college games.Look at northeast ohio, even though NEO dominates the MAC basketball, the fans don't seem to care because the Cavs are around. While at Tolede, Athens, Cincy or even columbus all you got is college so people show up. To prove my point further, universities like CSU, Unive of Chicago, Detroit, UWM all play in the horrible horizon league and they all suck because they are all NBA team cities. On the other hand, Kentucky and Connecticut are two states with no NBA teams so you got Louisville, UK and Uconn. One more example the carolinas have Duke, UNC, NCSU, Wake, Clemson, etc... why because the closest team to any of those cities is Charlotte (2 hours driving)... Got my point ?The only exceptions to thid rule are California and NY states.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Whenever you have a college in a town that is geographically close to a professional team, fans will never show up for the college games.

My theory:When you have a college team that has wavered between pathetic and mediocre for 18 years, people simply don't go "bananas" overnight. We're 16-5 in February, not 31-2 in March.If the Zips make it to the finals at "The Q" everyone will be shocked to see 10k-12k Zips fans packing the arena. Those fans will come to the JAR the following season. For now we simply have to live with the nominal increases we've seen thusfar. 12k sound crazy? In mid-October, how much weed would you have been accused of smoking if you predicted the Zips would bring 15,000 fans to a road game of ANY sort? Bales and bales of the stuff. The Zips fans are there...waiting...BTW: The TV game vs OU and the Can't rematch will put our attendance in the MAC upper-half by season's end.

[Z-Pouch]

Good point skhorbotly.But with 20 win seasons and tourney appearances that develop a winning tradition, I find it hard to believe that regular sellouts in a 6000 seat arena are that lofty of a goal, especially for a community the size of Akron. Cav’s ticket prices are outrageous not to mention all the out of pocket expenses besides the tickets. It’s a pretty good commitment to attend more then a handful of their games. Start a winning tradition, beat some bigger schools on the road and get some decent out of conference teams to the JAR and there won’t be any open seats. We have to win in March and at the Q tourney to get things moving.It’s very sad that after all these years of winning Can't has difficulty with attracting a fan base. There is no way with our marketing talent that we will make the same mistakes. We have already seen improvement this year and the two main college spectator sports – basketball and football – should feed on each other.

[MRasor0200]

Tom Gaffney wrote a similar story about Akron's attendance for tomorrow's ABJ.He makes good points so check it out.

[Zip Watcher]

Whenever you have a college in a town that is geographically close to a professional team, fans will never show up for the college games.

My theory:When you have a college team that has wavered between pathetic and mediocre for 18 years, people simply don't go "bananas" overnight. We're 16-5 in February, not 31-2 in March.If the Zips make it to the finals at "The Q" everyone will be shocked to see 10k-12k Zips fans packing the arena. Those fans will come to the JAR the following season. For now we simply have to live with the nominal increases we've seen thusfar. 12k sound crazy? In mid-October, how much weed would you have been accused of smoking if you predicted the Zips would bring 15,000 fans to a road game of ANY sort? Bales and bales of the stuff. The Zips fans are there...waiting...BTW: The TV game vs OU and the Can't rematch will put our attendance in the MAC upper-half by season's end.

What he said. :macc:

[GP1]

For Akron, it just shows that the theory of recruiting local talent does nothing to draw people to games in either basketball or football. CK is correct. Winning will draw a crowd.