Dambrot says 'yes' to Duquesne this time

[skip-zip]

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

NIT= Potato Bowl.

 

I've never seen a bar in Akron packed with people (Johnny J's) in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday for an NIT basketball game.  But, I sure saw it for the Potato Bowl.  

[Hilltopper]

Define packed. 25 people? 50 people? 100 people? 250 people? .....

 

That weekend in Las Vegas there were probably 200 Zips basketball fans at a meaningless tournament.

[LZIp]

16 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

Define packed. 25 people? 50 people? 100 people? 250 people? .....

 

That weekend in Las Vegas there were probably 200 Zips basketball fans at a meaningless tournament.

How many Zips fans at the meaningless bowl game? I don't understand why everyone wants to make it basketball vs football. There are many other less value-added sports to take aim at.

Edited March 29, 2017 by LZIp

[skip-zip]

11 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

Define packed. 25 people? 50 people? 100 people? 250 people? .....

 

If you weren't there, here's more details. 

 

I walked in with my wife about an hour early (we had 4 others coming).  Went to the back section where all of the tv's are located, and several people were already sitting at all of the high tables, saving them for groups.  We could only get a table all the way back at the front door, with one TV.   We took that one and watched as Zips fans continued to come in the door.  By gametime, many of them were standing.  When the rest of our group arrived (all of them left work early), we still had a couple of seats left and a few others we knew who could not find a seat anywhere came and sat down with us.  This was a weekday in the middle of the afternoon, if you recall.  

 

Does that give you a better idea?  I'd love to see that interest in an NIT game.  

[Dr Z]

 

[kreed5120]

45 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

I've never seen a bar in Akron packed with people (Johnny J's) in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday for an NIT basketball game.  But, I sure saw it for the Potato Bowl.  

 

Football has a much larger following and there are 41 bowl games spread a crossed a month compared to ~100 basketball games between the NCAAT and NIT (not including CIT or CBI) with the bulk of those played in a 2 week period. As a measure of success yes a CBI appearance=Potato Bowl appearance. As a measure of fan interest they aren't equivalent, but that's because a bad Akron football team can still attract 9,000 people to a game, meanwhile, a great Akron team can only attract about a 1/3 of that.

 

Edit: I'd imagine had Akron won its region and made it to MSG, we would have seen interest in the NIT.

Edited March 29, 2017 by kreed5120

[skip-zip]

5 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Football has a much larger following and there are 41 bowl games spread a crossed a month compared to ~100 basketball games between the NCAAT and NIT (not including CIT or CBI) with the bulk of those played in a 2 week period. As a measure of success yes a CBI appearance=Potato Bowl appearance. As a measure of fan interest they aren't equivalent. 

 

And Akron's interest in being in a Bowl Game only added to that.   

[kreed5120]

3 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

And Akron's interest in being in a Bowl Game only added to that.   

 

Just in general they are also way different. In a football bowl game it is winner take all. You have to win 5 NIT games to be declared winner. The deeper they got into the tournament, the more interest Akron fans would have had in it.

[Let'sGoZips94]

2 hours ago, LZIp said:

Original post is updated and here are the updated numbers:

Made the tournament in 08-09. Avg. attendance - 2,984. Attendance the following season was 2,824.

Made the tournament in 10-11. Avg. attendance - 2,821. Attendance the following season was 3,440.

Made the tournament in 12-13. Avg. attendance - 3,782. Attendance the following season was 3,609.

 

2 hours ago, skip-zip said:

 

Wow.  I had no idea. On average, that would be an overall DROP following NCAA tournament appearances.  

 

1. Lost all 3 NCAA Tournament games, one of them by 40. 

2. Continued to bring in weak, WEAK opponents. 

[morris buttermaker]

The attendance each of the last 2 years has been right around 3,300

[ZachTheZip]

3 minutes ago, morris buttermaker said:

The attendance each of the last 2 years has been right around 3,300

And that's a minor miracle given the quality of our home opponents.

[K92]

54 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

 

I've never seen a bar in Akron packed with people (Johnny J's) in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday for an NIT basketball game.  But, I sure saw it for the Potato Bowl.  

Skip, Skip, Skip. . .

 

I love football too, but c'mon.  This was the 2nd bowl Akron had ever made in its FBS history.  A terrible program had just gotten out of the worst hole (3-33) of its sad history.  Of course people were excited to show up at a bar and watch.  It also probably didn't hurt that it was on December 22.  People were already out shopping.  The Potato Bowl wasn't a whole lot different than the Go Daddy Bowl that the MAC Champ BG Falcons went to.  The disparity in bowls between the top of the MAC and an also-ran isn't much, whereas the difference between the basketball tournaments is huge.  But other than the NY6 games, they are all NIT, CBI, CIT.  They totally don't matter to anyone other than the players, the players' parents and football fanatics.  There just happens to be a lot more football fanatics than basketball fanatics.  I mean, my goodness.  I watched NM/UTSA in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl and loved it.  Great game.  On the other hand, once the Zips are done playing basketball, I am done watching basketball.

 

I appreciate your passion for Zips football, though.

[clarkwgriswold]

Wow, I hit a Potato Bowl nerve!  It was a joke gentlemen!

[zippy5]

4 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Wow, I hit a Potato Bowl nerve!  It was a joke gentlemen!

There's no joking about the Potato Bowl

[Blue & Gold]

28 minutes ago, ZachTheZip said:

And that's a minor miracle given the quality of our home opponents.

Exactly.  Given our opponents and the JAR, 99% of the people at Akron basketball games are total die hards who truly bleed blue & gold.  The other 1% probably saw relatively slow basketball, against a team they'd never heard of, while torturing their backsides on wooden bleachers and won't be in a hurry to return.

[kreed5120]

11 minutes ago, ZachTheZip said:

And that's a minor miracle given the quality of our home opponents.

 

We're talking paid attendance, not butts in the seats. It amazes me we don't have a larger STH base considering we are one of the best mid-majors over the past decade and you really only need to commit to 4 games out of 15 total to break even on season tickets. Hell split them with your neighbor and you'd only need to attend 2. 

[zippy5]

2 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

We're talking paid attendance, not butts in the seats. It amazes me we don't have a larger STH base considering we are one of the best mid-majors over the past decade and you really only need to commit to 4 games out of 15 total to break even on season tickets. Hell split them with your neighbor and you'd only need to attend 2. 

Again, it takes a die-hard to sit at the JAR to watch the teams we play. I think it really is that simple. Heck I bet we had 7k+ at the Q for the MACC. It's a big time feel, people will drive an hour for that. The JAR is about as small time as it gets

[Dr Z]

Please talk football in the football forum. There are plenty of topics started. 

[kreed5120]

2 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Again, it takes a die-hard to sit at the JAR to watch the teams we play. I think it really is that simple. Heck I bet we had 7k+ at the Q for the MACC. It's a big time feel, people will drive an hour for that. The JAR is about as small time as it gets

 

9 of our home games are against MAC teams like Buffalo, Ohio, Kent, etc. Its not like all 15 of our games are against Adrian. Just because you buy season tickets doesn't mean you have to go to every game, I didn't. There are still plenty of quality opponents that make it to the JAR that you can get your moneys worth.

[ZachTheZip]

7 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

9 of our home games are against MAC teams like Buffalo, Ohio, Kent, etc. Its not like all 15 of our games are against Adrian. Just because you buy season tickets doesn't mean you have to go to every game, I didn't. There are still plenty of quality opponents that make it to the JAR that you can get your moneys worth.

 

Three of out home games are against good MAC teams. OU, Kent, and Buffalo. The entire West is garbage and has been for many years now, same with BG and Miami.

 

Three decent games out of fifteen is not worth season tickets. It's not even worth multi-game ticket packages.

[zippy5]

 

4 minutes ago, ZachTheZip said:

 

Three of out home games are against good MAC teams. OU, Kent, and Buffalo. The entire West is garbage and has been for many years now, same with BG and Miami.

 

Three decent games out of fifteen is not worth season tickets. It's not even worth multi-game ticket packages.

Exactly. You buy tickets to 15 home games and see 3 that might catch "Joe Akron's" eye. Sure, we're at most of them.. But the casual fan doesn't want to sit on bleachers and watch us play BG, Miami, NIU, Ball State, etc let alone Adrian and Coppin State

[skip-zip]

54 minutes ago, K92 said:

This was the 2nd bowl Akron had ever made in its FBS history.  A terrible program had just gotten out of the worst hole (3-33) of its sad history.  Of course people were excited to show up at a bar and watch.

 

I appreciate your passion for Zips football, though.

 

Yes, I agree that this all contributed to the enthusiasm.  But it was still more than I expected.  And to keep this on topic, I DO wish there was even 1/4 of that gathering and enthusiasm for a postseason NIT game, even if it is only a 1st or 2nd round, and even if it was in the evening.  

 

I appreciate your passion too.  

[kreed5120]

19 minutes ago, ZachTheZip said:

 

Three of out home games are against good MAC teams. OU, Kent, and Buffalo. The entire West is garbage and has been for many years now, same with BG and Miami.

 

Three decent games out of fifteen is not worth season tickets. It's not even worth multi-game ticket packages.

 

OU, Kent, Buffalo, Ball State, Marshall, and Georgia Southern were all solid home opponents for us this year. Even a game like Ohio, who'd I'd label as our #2 rival behind Kent, we managed to attract only 3,598 fans. Its no miracle that we attract the number of people that we do as you previously stated. There are worse programs than us who play weaker schedules than us who get more people out to games.

 

Edit: It amazes me we can get 12,000 out to watch Akron play Ark-Pine Bluff in football, but those same people turn around and use it as justification for why they don't attend basketball games.

Edited March 29, 2017 by kreed5120

[zippy5]

7 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Ball State, Marshall, and Georgia Southern ....

There are worse programs than us who play weaker schedules than us who get more people out to games.

 

No one cares about those teams. Also to your second point - find an example that has a comparable arena.

[clarkwgriswold]

Don't forget Radford.  That was well worth my $4.