zipboy Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 I feel very passionate about this but a lot has already been said. A few thoughts, I have been tracking MAC attendance during the season. I think attendance for MAC games is a better gague of where a program is. Ball State hosted IU in nonconference play and sold out. We don't get anyone like that at home. That is just an unfair comparison. Also, students are out for much of Dec. Interesing how much higher OUs attedance is during MAC play than not in MAC play. Through Wed, here are teams averages. Akron is 6th.OU 6033 (1 large game of 10K where they gave away tickets for sibling weekend)Buffalo 4595Toledo 4483Ball 4200Can't 3786Miami 3267Akron 3235WMU 3214CMU 2227NIU 2002BG 1877EMU 1312If we sell out Can't and OU and draw 4K for BG which I think we will, we would average over 3800 for MAC play. Putting this in perspective, our all time record for attendance was 4179, the first year of the JAR. Next was 3780 during Huggins last year. Third was 3620 during Hipshers good teams. We had bottomed out to 2400 during the Hipsher era and averaged 3369 last year. We will probably end up over 3500 including non conference games this year, a 1000 improvement from a few years ago. There are about 320 teams in Div1. Last year the 100th best avg attendance was around 5K. Only 1 MAC team, OU even falls into the top 100. From a league perspectiv we are where you expect. From a lets grow the program with KDs vision, we are not. I agree with CK, if we make it to the Q on Mar 11th, there will be 10K Zips fans. I also agree that next year, we take the next leap and probably average around 4500K. But I am surprised that attendance has not jumped more this year. KD is one of the most popular people in Akron, everyone loves him, and he is a winner. I know that we have been crappy in the past, but last year showed that those demons are going away. Maybe it was the football euphoria, but given the jump we saw last year, I really expected the momentum to keep building.This posting is not well thought out but my point is that we have never drawn that well and will actually end up this year probably in the top 5 attendance in Akron history. But that is nowhere where we want to be, need to be or will be. Good times are coming. In 3 years, The JAR will be selling out every night. I really believe that. KD talks about making Akron the next Gonzaga and he will. We have a guy who is one of us, believes in Akron and wants to make Akron a national power. Plus he can coach. Stay the course KD, it will change faster than you think. I am glad that he went off last night. I felt the same way driving home. But I can tell you that I brought 23 people to Can't, and am bringing 19 for the OU game and double digits for Can't. This was the first year where people were actually asking when we were going to Akron to see the Zips. You can't turn it around overnight but it is coming. I just think of all the AK Rowdies after they graduate and start coming back. I can't wait. Go Zips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipboy Posted February 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 I know we are 7th, but I refuse to consider Can't ahead of us in anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearTheRoo Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 So what do you do?You ugive away a ton of 'community tickets' alreadyYou spend tens of thousands on Fear the Roo billboardsYou have a coach who bitches about it (rightfully) in every postgame interviewYou have solid coverage in the BeaconYou have free parking You allow students in for freeWhat more??!!!I really fault the students. The student section is pitiful and unorganized. Plus there are only 10 rows at the end of each court. They should be stuffing that place! They get in free. Keep in mind: there are abou 23,000 enrolled! This is not a small college. There should be at least 1000 students there each game.I attend as an alumni. I take someone to everygame and usually more than just one. What more can I do? I travel for business and listen to most games through the Internet. When I am home, I am there. I traveled to Detroit and will be at The Q.What more can Rhodes do (new AD) other than give away the tickets??!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryno aka Menace Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 So what do you do?You ugive away a ton of 'community tickets' alreadyYou spend tens of thousands on Fear the Roo billboardsYou have a coach who bitches about it (rightfully) in every postgame interviewYou have solid coverage in the BeaconYou have free parking You allow students in for freeWhat more??!!!I really fault the students. The student section is pitiful and unorganized. Plus there are only 10 rows at the end of each court. They should be stuffing that place! They get in free. Keep in mind: there are abou 23,000 enrolled! This is not a small college. There should be at least 1000 students there each game.I attend as an alumni. I take someone to everygame and usually more than just one. What more can I do? I travel for business and listen to most games through the Internet. When I am home, I am there. I traveled to Detroit and will be at The Q.What more can Rhodes do (new AD) other than give away the tickets??!! Man I agree what more can you do, it doesn't make sense to be winning games "and" losing money because we are giving stuff away. This is not the way to keep a good coach. I think it will be one of 2 things to improve attendance at both basketball and football, when we host a top 25 team and/or the minute we beat a top 25 team...then bangwagoneers will come out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JP Morgan Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 I could write for hours on this subject, but I'll keep it short and limit to details not yet discussed above.I think a facelift for the JAR would help, add about 2000 seats and make it more like a typical conf USA or A10 arena. The feel of the JAR does not feel like "big time" basketball. CSU has a really nice arena, but with years of bad teams they don't get the numbers they could.There's a general rule in churches that your attendance on Sunday mornings will never average more than 80% of your total capacity. Never really got a good answer as to why but It's generally a proven phenomena across the board. Don't know how that translates to basketball arena's but I thought I'd throw it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 I don't believe for one second that adding additional seats will bring out more people. That would just be 2,000 more empty seats.I'll be interested to see how the attendance improves when more weekend games are played. We had a lot of weekend games early in the season and they seem to have tapered off the last two or three weeks. The last weekend game I went to was on a Saturday when the football team was the halftime event and the place was packed.There is no excuse for students not going to games. I really can't put my finger on that one other than general apathy. Maybe with the student Rec. Center and other improvements on campus, they are offered more options for how to spend their free time. The snow Wednesday may have hurt the attendance. It was snowing pretty hard prior to the game and during the game.I go on weekends because I travel for work Tuesday-Thursday, but I also refuse to go to a game and sit in the seats high up. If I can't get two chair back seats down low, I'm not going to break my back for two hours sitting up high. So far, I have been able to sit down low each game I attended.One thing they (UA and the Beacon) should stop doing is talking down to the general population around Akron about how there is no excuse for them going to games. People don't like to be told how to spend their free time and money. It is the same as me telling one of my customers, "Look how great my product is. You're and idiot for not buying it." I can't see that improving my sales. Akron just needs to keep winning. The rest will take care of itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msopher Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Students don't go to the games because most don't know about it and most live off campus. The AK-Rowdies or somebody else needs to litter the campus with flyers before every home game. Students who live on campus need to be enticed to go, esepcially on school nights. As for people off campus, most don't want to stick around for a basketball game or drive back to campus after they have been home for several hours. Free or not, students are not going to go unless Zips basketball becomes the "thing to do" on campus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSteve Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Akron consistently gives the MAC a bad name with attendance.Nobody really cares about the happenings in Akron athletics, so therefore you shouldn't expect a lot of excitement on gameday. It humors me to see so many disgruntled fans on this board regarding the subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quickzips Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Akron consistently gives the MAC a bad name with attendance.Nobody really cares about the happenings in Akron athletics, so therefore you shouldn't expect a lot of excitement on gameday. It humors me to see so many disgruntled fans on this board regarding the subject. Interesting seeing as your average attendance for the year is an insignificant 32 people per game higher than ours. Guess Miami is an embarrasment too huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Nobody really cares about the happenings in Akron athleticsYou being here shows me that people from Miami care about Akron sports.Thank you for your support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z.I.P. Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Students don't go to the games because most don't know about it and most live off campus. The AK-Rowdies or somebody else needs to litter the campus with flyers before every home game. Students who live on campus need to be enticed to go, esepcially on school nights. A Division II school in my town (a private institution) has found an effective way to entice students to games: They give away partial scholarships or tuition credits to members of the student "Booster Team". Any student can receive credit for a part of tuition if they attend a certain number of games throughout the school year.Would that be legal in D-1 -- and would it be financially feasible at Akron? It may be worth some consideration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 Given Akron's history, the fans will turn out for the big games, but keep doing what everyone did when the Zips sucked. It will take a while to turn things around. The more big games we play in and win, the more people will slowly get hooked. There are very few people hooked on Zips athletics right now. Once people get hooked, then there will be more local talk around the water cooler and the attendance will start to go up. Until then, I'm afraid we'll have to put up with the spew from spoiled brat fans who go to school 50 miles from nowhere. I can say with confidence that the excitment is growing about Zips athletics. We're getting more coverage in the media. Hell, even here in Michigan the local sports radio show knew that Akron was the "Zips" and that we were a decent BB team. I think the best example I can point to is the traffic on this board. Last season, there was just a handfull of chatter on the board this time of year. Now, hell, I don't have time to read everything! I just briefly scan the posts to get the message. I firmly believe that this is by far the best place to go for Zips info, and IMHO, it's a big factor in getting people hooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearTheRoo Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 RedSteve,Thanks for the support and interest! Man, I would never even THINK about joining a forum dedicated to the RedSkins...err... RedHawks...err, whatever their name is this year! hell, I wouldn't even Google it to read the trash!As for the above comment on Wednesday's attendance linked to snow: they live ON CAMPUS!!! Who the hell cares if it snows! It is a 3 minute walk AND ITS FREE!I know there are still a lot of commuters, but thousands live on campus. Many, many more than when I last was there in 1999. They built two new dorms and renovated the others!!!The AK-Rowdies have a long way to go, but they are making steady progress and should be commended. You are right, they need to start pumping things up. When was the last time they had an on campus pep rally prior to a game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OHIO fan Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 OU 6033 (1 large game of 10K where they gave away tickets for sibling weekend) Just because we have better attendance than you doesn't mean that you have to make stuff up. The 10,000 game (CMU) was NOT sibling weekend and we did NOT give away tickets. THIS weekend is sib's weekend, but there is no home game. The only people who get free tickets are the students--we don't even have "community day" or "faculty/staff appreciation day" like you guys are talking about.Ohio consistently gets 7,000+ for weekend games and usually 5,000 for weekdays. This is always "butts in seats" attendance, not "paid". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fear the brown roo Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 who gives a damn about ohio and miami? let those two has-beens battle it out for the cowshit country trophy. the present and future is here in akron :macc: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 The AK-Rowdies have a long way to go, but they are making steady progress and should be commended. You are right, they need to start pumping things up. When was the last time they had an on campus pep rally prior to a game? How big are the rowdies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OHIO fan Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 How big are the rowdies?Well, there were about 3 of them in Athens, and I think that's about what they get in the JAR as well!!!YOU JUST CAN'T BEAT THE OZONE!By the way, we are and will remain....... :macc: I'm not sure why you guys have that MAC Champs emotion on your board--it is more usefull for fans of opposing teams that it ever will be for you all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fear the brown roo Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 ahhhh. living in the past, the poor guy. yesterday's news. this guy must be hanging out with frank the tank, you know the drunk head football coach who sets a fine example for the impressionable young men of athens. no wonder they burn the place down at halloween. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearTheRoo Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 I'm not sure why you guys have that MAC Champs emotion on your board--it is more usefull for fans of opposing teams that it ever will be for you all!Hey Dumb F$$$, FOOTBALL 2005. Oh, and the reason why your attendance is slightly higher is because There is nothing else to do in BFA!!!! Now go drink yourself silly, riot and get arrested or whatever you people do down there........ :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: :macc: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liljc Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 The ohiofan wonders why we have the MAC Champs emotion on our board? Wonder what he's been doing since the end of last basketball season. Maybe we should send him the links to our football, soccer and track teams. You guys had a nice run with your hoops team last year, but it's just about over, don't you think? You're not going to win the MAC tourney this season. Maybe, if "Frank the tank " can stay sober, your football team might be able to win more than your usual 3 or 4 games. Akron has the :macc: emotion because we are :macc: . We are future :macc: and you had better learn to deal with it, because it is going to be a long time before you guys are :macc: , again. :macc: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearTheRoo Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 Well put!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 Absolutely. The present and future of the MAC is right here! Everyone knows it. They'll either live in denial or spit sour grapes. But the truth is that We're absolutely ready to dominate this conference in football and men's basketball. We rule the MAC. Everyone else better get used to bowing down real quick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipboy Posted February 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 Sorry Ohio fan, I was sure that I had read it was sibling weekend or Fathers weekend or one of those when reading the postgame story. But I stand corrected. 10K seemed like an unusually large crowd especially since you are drawing around 7 for games like Miami etc. So I assumed that there were some free tickets. But thanks for correcting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sloopy Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 People will come when it is convenient. The students need to show up for games, especially the midweek games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 People will come when it is convenient.No they wont. Not even if it is sooo convenient that they magically find themselves having appeared there out of nowhere.Seriously though, think of it as a forumula where lack of convenience is the deterant (divisor) and Xfactor is the desire to go (dividend). It's not calculus, but the difficulty is that Xfactor is too abstract to quantify. X----- CConvenience helps A LOT, but it's not the only thng you need to consider. This region has a much greater football psyche than basketball. For that reason, a lot more people will travel to the ruberbowl (not very convenient) than to the JAR. If the ruberbowl was more convenient (on campus), forget about it. Sold out.The example above, football has some of the Xfactor that can be explained. People 'round here grew up with football in their blood. That is not to say that you need to try to conceive ways to force a basketball psyche on NEOhio (lebron can do that 100000x better then any masterplan you can hatch anyway). But it does mean that if you want to draw a crowd to the JAR, you need to remember the top half of your equation. The JAR is convenient enough. So, why isn't winning doing as much as you would expect for the Xfactor? It's the most predicatable aspect to calculating the top half of the equation. Winning is usually the biggest part of Xfactor. That is why I said in the beginning that Xfactor can seem so abstract, almost mythical.Remember how Jacobs field sold out sooooo consistently over a long period of time? Winning was the greatest factor by far. But there was more to it then that. Timing. The timing of a new stadium created a phenomenon similar to magic wad of mystique, fad, and momentum, all rolled up into a gargantuan snowball on a steep slope.Winning is a part. But sometimes wins only get the ball rolling. Somehow, you need to make the ball larger, with more momentum, and then you need to find a way to defy the logic of physics and make that slope steeper. That is the abstract and unquantifiable aspect to all this. That is why this forumula can't be wrought out on a blackboard or brutforce computed by IBM.AKrowdies. That is your best angle by far (aside form the winning team, of course). You need to make it vogue to support the team. You need to make it fun to be a part of it. You need to make an atmosphere such that people desire could overcome convenience no matter how great it was. Don't focus so much on the C (convenience). That's been taken care of. You energy should be focused on cultivating X. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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