9100 Attendance

[Balsy]

4 minutes ago, 94zipgrad said:

To me the way to grow attendance is through the student base.  The University has done its part with great facilities.  Now how do we get students to go enjoy the day.  Get the student base up & the environment gets more exciting & word gets out about crowds & excitement others will come.

 

         

 

To be fair though, there's been several ZNO members (myself included, recent grad, graduated 2013) that have talked at length on this forum about how the student body is where to start.  I've previously suggested that Athletics should hold competitions to official student orgs (greek life, Relay for Life, etc...) for $ prizes that go towards those groups charitable efforts.  I've personally seen this work on a mid-level scale with student orgs fundraising for Relay For Life.  When I was a chairperson for that, student orgs would organize their members to show up at stuff in order to gain points towards competitions and $$ towards their team's fundraising.  It worked.

You could start small, and grow it.  Banner competitions with # of members present.  IDK, literally ANYTHING is better than what they're doing now.  

The problem with this, is you've got to have decision makers who give a damn enough to plan this well (unlike most events at UA, haphazardly planned IMHO), and you...and I can't stress this enough...NEED TO INCLUDE STUDENTS IN THE PLANNING/DECISION MAKING PROCESS...in order for it to be any kind of a success.  And the planning needs to focus on not just the competition/reason for students to show up, but get everything down from the entertainment side.

 

Example of what not to do:  They had a sweet t-shirt/rally towel giveaway last year at the first home game, for like the first large amount of students, and they DID show up.  They made the giveaway at half-time (so they didn't just walk in and then walk out).  But I watched a freshman, who had gone to the game herself, walk around the stadium unable to find where the giveaway was...even several people working there directed her in the wrong direction.  I finally pointed out to her where it was (because I'd walked by it previously).

Stuff like that matters.  That ONE student's lasting memory of a Zips game was that no-one knew anything about where the giveaway was, and had to walk around the stadium over and over just to find it.  Just saying.  

Perhaps I'm overthinking this.  My fond football memories were 3-33.    And being drunk at the Syracuse game, where my friends and I left at some point before the game was over.

[LZIp]

4 minutes ago, Balsy said:

 I've previously suggested that Athletics should hold competitions to official student orgs (greek life, Relay for Life, etc...) for $ prizes that go towards those groups charitable efforts.  I've personally seen this work on a mid-level scale with student orgs fundraising for Relay For Life.  When I was a chairperson for that, student orgs would organize their members to show up at stuff in order to gain points towards competitions and $$ towards their team's fundraising.  It worked.

You could start small, and grow it.  Banner competitions with # of members present.  IDK, literally ANYTHING is better than what they're doing now. 

I was never a greeker, but I am pretty sure that athletics does do this, at least at minimum for men's basketball games. Can somebody confirm?

[a-zip]

22 minutes ago, 94zipgrad said:

It's one of the reasons I try an appeal to the wallet.  Get your friends to go, get attendance up so school doesn't have to buy tickets to reach D1 standards & save yourself $1,100 dollars a year.  Go, it's free, have fun & create a culture that it becomes the standard

It's a great idea but why don't they do it.  Is it because our administration hasn't figured out and promoted this?  Or have they tried to do it and the students aren't biting?

[94zipgrad]

3 minutes ago, a-zip said:

It's a great idea but why don't they do it.  Is it because our administration hasn't figured out and promoted this?  Or have they tried to do it and the students aren't biting?

When I told them, none of them knew they where paying to be D1 in their tuition, I'm hoping I have convinced my sons group of friends to start going, I may be bringing a camper & becoming a cook on the grill for them but hopefully they can make it grow

[ZipsVoice]

24 minutes ago, LZIp said:

I was never a greeker, but I am pretty sure that athletics does do this, at least at minimum for men's basketball games. Can somebody confirm?

Yeah LZ they do do these things.  Almost every sport offers some nights/days and multiple times for organizations to attend and compete, with banners, attendance numbers, spirit nights, etc.  Marketing may not do a great job as far as we see outside the campus, but remeber they are mostly grad students or students themselves, and they don't "think" this through as savy as a seasoned sports marketing person would.  No excuses, just been around a lot fo them and they are still just kids.  They do promote their assigned sport, and they are very disappointed when they can't find people to attend, or even for their time-out or halftime competitions for our entertainment.  The students just don't give a .  Hell, even they night at football they were giving away thousands of $$$ in scholarship and housing money there couldn't have been 1,000 studnets in attendance, so what's that tell you?  You can't buy their love!

[a-zip]

55 minutes ago, ZipsVoice said:

Yeah LZ they do do these things.  Almost every sport offers some nights/days and multiple times for organizations to attend and compete, with banners, attendance numbers, spirit nights, etc.  Marketing may not do a great job as far as we see outside the campus, but remeber they are mostly grad students or students themselves, and they don't "think" this through as savy as a seasoned sports marketing person would.  No excuses, just been around a lot fo them and they are still just kids.  They do promote their assigned sport, and they are very disappointed when they can't find people to attend, or even for their time-out or halftime competitions for our entertainment.  The students just don't give a .  Hell, even they night at football they were giving away thousands of $$$ in scholarship and housing money there couldn't have been 1,000 studnets in attendance, so what's that tell you?  You can't buy their love!

That is absolutely amazing to me (pathetic).  Maybe we should tell their parents ;-)  ........I am quite sure a lot of them would be pissed if they knew their son or daughter could get a scholarship for attending a game and they didn't take advantage of the opportunity.

[K92]

We are all different.  Each of us have our own values and ideals, goals, dreams and frustrations.  Likewise our comments and actions are as varied as the former.  We are all Zips fans though and we are the sniping-est bunch of fans ever.  We are the MAC version of the Bickering Bills.  I am personally ok with the back and forth because I am an active participant in it and I still have respect for the rest of you guys even though our opinions differ. . . Because you are advocates for the University.  You all are family to me even though I have never met face-to-face with a lot of you.  A lot of you, I have.  The entire shebang revolves around the social aspect of attending these games.  If it weren't for that, I would be a TV Zips fan.  It was not watching the game in person that brought me to Infocision Stadium on a ass-biting cold blizzard night to watch the Zips play the hapless UMass Minutemen in 2014, it was the shared experience with my buddies.

 

I know that the key to getting people to the games is the party experience at the tailgate.  You can watch at home but you have to be there to tailgate.  Primetime programs have hordes of people tailgating outside the stadium that never go into the game.  They are there for the party.  I have tried to promote tailgating.  I created a Facebook Zips tailgating page that has really sputtered.  It is an easy interface to share pictures, if nothing else but no one but me was posting pictures.  I stopped posting because I figured the members that we have on that page were sick of seeing me and my friends' ugly mugs on there.  It's still up and active and every year when the season is about to start, I make another plea on this forum to join and use it, but it has gone nowhere fast.

 

I have added to my tailgating setup every year to make it better and accommodate more people.  Last year, I bit the bullet and purchased a tailgating trailer.  ZG01 bought a 87 foot long land yacht of a RV to tailgate out of.  There are people over in Lot 10 who have made a large financial investment in their tailgating gear.  Every year the Phi Psis put on one helluva tailgate for homecoming.  Efforts are being made by a lot of people to encourage attendance through tailgating but it's a tough go.  A 25-year co-worker of mine who is a good friend has a son that is coming back this fall as a Sophomore.  Last summer, I primed this kid to come over and tailgate with us.  We are just a short walk from his dorm.  I promised to feed him well.  Do you think he bothered to come over and even just snoop around even once?  Nope.  There is no incoming student that had any more priming for Akron Football than this kid, trust me.  This is a kid who is a football fan and who was a high school all-star player.  What does his total lack of interest tell you?

 

If the whole premise of this 9100 thread is to shine a light on the embarrassment that our attendance is and how to increase it, perhaps we should lower our sights a little bit.  Maybe we should be discussing what can be done to maintain 9100 because I think we are dangerously close to having season ticket holders who NEVER miss a game pack it in and be done with it.  There are is a certain contingent, myself included, who buy season tickets for the assurance of a preferred parking pass.  If I was not assured a Lot 9 pass, I would not be buying season tickets any longer.  I would walk up purchase on the dates I wanted to attend, which sure as Hell ain't all 6.  The schedule being such a complete travesty has brought me to the point of actually deliberating if it is worth it.  The two best home opponents are on Tuesday nights in November.  Saturday tailgates are for a FCS, Iowa State, Ball State & Buffalo.  That is not a sked that excites even the most die-hard of Akron football fans.

 

This is a sad state of affairs.  We can go on and on and on and I feel after reading what I just wrote that this post is mostly rehash, too.  Skip Zip is right.  What we need is an injection of 10,000 people just like the folks who already care.  NOW.  Wishful thinking. . .

[K92]

83 pages long, but a good read.

DECLINING ATTENDANCE TRENDS IN COLLEGIATE AND PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

[skip-zip]

10 hours ago, K92 said:

I know that the key to getting people to the games is the party experience at the tailgate.  You can watch at home but you have to be there to tailgate.

I think we are dangerously close to having season ticket holders who NEVER miss a game pack it in and be done with it.

 

This is a sad state of affairs.  We can go on and on and on and I feel after reading what I just wrote that this post is mostly rehash, too.  Skip Zip is right.  What we need is an injection of 10,000 people just like the folks who already care.  NOW.  Wishful thinking. . .

 

Yes, I think the tailgating/party experience COULD be a key.  But the problem is still that the event (Akron Football) that's associated with the party is simply not a place where people want to be.  An Akron Football Event is not the "cool place to be" for Akronites.  People in this city still snicker at us a bit for being "diehard Akron".  That's the barrier 

 

I am also, unfortunately, getting a vibe among some people on this forum, and far away from it, that this could really be a "I'm just not into it anymore" year.  It seems that the drop-off after after 2015's promise wiped out the excitement for some of them.  And the OU and Kent games in November on a Wednesday was a final nail in the coffin.   

[a-zip]

1 hour ago, skip-zip said:

 

Yes, I think the tailgating/party experience COULD be a key.  But the problem is still that the event (Akron Football) that's associated with the party is simply not a place where people want to be.  An Akron Football Event is not the "cool place to be" for Akronites.  People in this city still snicker at us a bit for being "diehard Akron".  That's the barrier 

 

I am also, unfortunately, getting a vibe among some people on this forum, and far away from it, that this could really be a "I'm just not into it anymore" year.  It seems that the drop-off after after 2015's promise wiped out the excitement for some of them.  And the OU and Kent games in November on a Wednesday was a final nail in the coffin.   

I hope you are wrong.

[Balsy]

21 hours ago, LZIp said:

I was never a greeker, but I am pretty sure that athletics does do this, at least at minimum for men's basketball games. Can somebody confirm?

 

For one game yes.  But What I'm advocating is every game.  Make it a collective effort based on ALL games not just one.  Points for how many members attend each game etc.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Compete for championships...good attendance.

Compete for the basement...bad attendance.

 

Thank you. Drive home safely.

[skip-zip]

7 hours ago, a-zip said:

I hope you are wrong.

 

I hope so too.  I was just expressing my agreement with K92 about being dangerously close to a situation where a number of longtime supporters are at that point where they just don't care enough to continue right now.   

[K92]

38 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Compete for championships...good attendance.

Compete for the basement...bad attendance.

 

Thank you. Drive home safely.

There is plenty of evidence that refutes this claim.

[Captain Kangaroo]

5 minutes ago, K92 said:

There is plenty of evidence that refutes this claim.

Please list the times the Zips football program has competed for a championship in the past 30 years. And please, include no season when we were 3-4 in the MAC and praying for some bizarre tiebreaker. I'm talking a 9- or 10-win season. The kind that a program like Toledo produces annually. And Northern Illinois seemed to be pretty good at stringing together until last season. 

 

We had 15,000 Zips fans at Ford Field for a Championship game. I remember that one. Next one was...

[K92]

1 hour ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Please list the times the Zips football program has competed for a championship in the past 30 years. And please, include no season when we were 3-4 in the MAC and praying for some bizarre tiebreaker. I'm talking a 9- or 10-win season. The kind that a program like Toledo produces annually. And Northern Illinois seemed to be pretty good at stringing together until last season. 

 

We had 15,000 Zips fans at Ford Field for a Championship game. I remember that one. Next one was...

Northern strung together quite a few.  How's their attendance?

 

Also, it is curious that you would use the 2nd worst attended MAC Championship Game to illustrate your optimism for future Zips attendance.  According Wikipedia, there were 12,051 total fans were there so I guess the entire crowd inside was Zips fans and the other 2,949 made the trip to tailgate only.

Edited June 30, 2017 by K92

[Captain Kangaroo]

40 minutes ago, K92 said:

Northern strung together quite a few.  How's their attendance?

 

Also, it is curious that you would use the 2nd worst attended MAC Championship Game to illustrate your optimism for future Zips attendance.  According Wikipedia, there were 12,051 total fans were there so I guess the entire crowd inside was Zips fans and the other 2,949 made the trip to tailgate only.

I don't care about attendance in DeKalb Illinois. Or Muncie Indiana. That is not relevant to Akron attendance.

 

The 15k that drove, or were bussed to Ford Field was a legit Zips attendance number for the Bowl game. It shows me Akron fans will show up in numbers if the Zips actually do "something."

 

The point is simple - until the Zips string together 9- or 10-win seasons and compete for championships, attendance will be weak. If they do it, it will be respectable (18 - 20 k).That is my opinion and it is irrefutable until such winning one day happens. 

 

If we continue losing, you can pile up all the washed up 90's band pregame concerts, fireworks, "marquee opponents," whatever you want...people won't show up in numbers beyond what we've seen for the past 30 years. That is also irrefutable.

 

Side note: People will show up if tickets are $5.00, regardless of the team's record.  

[Hilltopper]

Todays kids are front runners when it comes to sports. Only the teams that have a chance to win the "big one" are of any interest to them. And when I say "the big one" I'm not talking about the MAC championship or some second tier bowl game. The MAC basketball tournament does OK because the winner does get a chance to compete in "the big one", March Madness. No MAC football program is ever going to compete for a national championship. We need to accept the fact that 15,000 attendance avg is a realistic barometer of what we are capable of achieving at best.

[Zip_ME87]

On 6/22/2017 at 0:00 PM, LZIp said:

I don't buy it that this is a problem exclusive to Akron for one second. Yeah it isn't going to happen at Tennessee or Florida and I know you didn't say that is who they are fans of, but just where they are from. I guarantee it happens at about every other G5 school that has to compete for fans and attendance with an instate P5 school.

 

It's not exclusive to Akron. I had a UAB alum come over to me when I was at UAB for an Akron-UAB soccer match...he asked me if I got tired of folks showing up to our games wearing tOSU stuff. When I asked why he was asking me, he said he hated folks showing up to UAB events wearing Alabama or Auburn stuff. Of course we commiserated on the subject.

[Zip_ME87]

11 hours ago, skip-zip said:

 

Yes, I think the tailgating/party experience COULD be a key.  But the problem is still that the event (Akron Football) that's associated with the party is simply not a place where people want to be.  An Akron Football Event is not the "cool place to be" for Akronites.  People in this city still snicker at us a bit for being "diehard Akron".  That's the barrier 

 

I am also, unfortunately, getting a vibe among some people on this forum, and far away from it, that this could really be a "I'm just not into it anymore" year.  It seems that the drop-off after after 2015's promise wiped out the excitement for some of them.  And the OU and Kent games in November on a Wednesday was a final nail in the coffin.   

 

Good/bad, you can put me on the list. I've only had season tix since 2006, because I lived out of state from graduation in the late 80's - 98 and for other reasons after my return. I was passionate about it for sometime and even thought building Infocision was the thing to do. But, then iCoach and reality set in. I was hopeful for a pick up with TB, but that was a one-season event. I have a season ticket again for the upcoming season, but it is the lowest-priced ticket, and I don't anticipate using it much, if at all, and definitely not in November. Not only does the product stink, but it is not even on a day/time that makes it slightly fun (to me).

[skip-zip]

8 minutes ago, Zip_ME87 said:

 

It's not exclusive to Akron. I had a UAB alum come over to me when I was at UAB for an Akron-UAB soccer match...he asked me if I got tired of folks showing up to our games wearing tOSU stuff. When I asked why he was asking me, he said he hated folks showing up to UAB events wearing Alabama or Auburn stuff. Of course we commiserated on the subject.

 

Go back and read my post again.  It was much more about the fact that an assortment of RANDOM colors are in our crowd at games, rather than a dominance of AKRON colors.  It had nothing to do with the other arguments we've had over the years about some fans from competing schools showing up at our games.  

 

There's Sunbelt teams that have continuity in their audiences.  I've been there.  It would make you sick.  

[Zip_ME87]

.

Edited June 30, 2017 by Zip_ME87

[Captain Kangaroo]

48 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

We need to accept the fact that 15,000 attendance avg is a realistic barometer of what we are capable of achieving at best.

9- or 10-win seasons, and 15k average attendance would make InfoCision a fun place to be. 

[LZIp]

51 minutes ago, Hilltopper said:

Todays kids are front runners when it comes to sports. Only the teams that have a chance to win the "big one" are of any interest to them. And when I say "the big one" I'm not talking about the MAC championship or some second tier bowl game. The MAC basketball tournament does OK because the winner does get a chance to compete in "the big one", March Madness. No MAC football program is ever going to compete for a national championship. We need to accept the fact that 15,000 attendance avg is a realistic barometer of what we are capable of achieving at best.

That is why I am a big proponent of (at least) an 8 team playoff. Give the highest rated G5 team a chance to win it all. It is pretty messed up that over half of the FBS programs have a nearly 0% chance to even play for a national championship before a down is played. I'm willing to bet there isn't a single other NCAA sport set up that way.

 

WMU would have gotten smacked by Alabama....but it would have been cool to watch. Just like its fun to watch the basketball team play Notre Dame or whoever.

Edited June 30, 2017 by LZIp

[skip-zip]

33 minutes ago, LZIp said:

It is pretty messed up that over half of the FBS programs have a nearly 0% chance to even play for a national championship before a down is played. I'm willing to bet there isn't a single other NCAA sport set up that way.

 

Amen.  Give all of the lower level FBS conferences at least a chance to compete for a National Title, and I think that would be something that could impact attendance in a significant way.  

 

We could call it December Madness !!