9100 Attendance

[ZachTheZip]

Keep in mind... it was about a year ago that the team started to win. The last 12 games, Akron is 8-4. It's going to take more than two good half-seasons to make up for nearly a decade of disappointment and misery.

Not without a true star player to rally around, anyway.

[GP1]

There has been every excuse in the world given on this board for the poor attendance and support - OSU conflicts, Thursday games, bad weather, splintering seats at the RB, Cleveland loser mentality, HS fball conflicts, multiple terrible seasons, iCoach, etc etc. We are 8-3 in our last 11 games, we have a beautiful stadium, we almost beat Michigan at the big house, good showing against Penn State, beat Pitt and the weather has been great. THERE HAS NOT BEEN A SINGLE BOOST IN ATTENDANCE!!!!

Normally I don't care about attendance and on almost every level, I didn't care about the crowd Saturday. However, it was kind of shocking how few people were at the game. Maybe at the end of the day, not that many people really care. Maybe they need to give them something(s) of substance to care about.

Not sure what they are doing to market the games or the other sports for that matter. But, there are things you can do on game day to promote athletics to an interested audience. The one thing I would stop doing is the nonsense in the crowd with the guy with the microphone yelling in a very slow cadence. He's Mickey Mouse and would get his walking papers. Use that time to promote the other sports and not trying to generate fake excitement with a guy who doesn't seem all that excited to be there. At Wake games, TV timeouts have some nonsense associated with them (certainly not a guy yelling into a microphone), but they use a lot of the time to put the other sport's teams on the field and remind them season tickets are available. They run spots on the largest television in NC (their score board) about how their athletics foundation supports athlete-students and what the players of every sport are doing in public service. The time isn't wasted on silliness. Let the alumni and fans of the school know what the school is doing with athletics and build a sense of pride that way. Tradition is built on pride, not fake enthusiasm.

[a-zip]

Location: Akron, Ohio

Stadium: InfoCision Stadium

Attendance: 9104

Weather: Sunny

Temperature: 69

Wind: N 8 MPH

Location: Akron, Ohio

Stadium: InfoCision Stadium

Attendance: 13357

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Temperature: 73

Wind: SSW13

Location: Akron, Ohio

Stadium: InfoCision Stadium

Attendance: 8416

Weather: Mostly Cloudy

Temperature: 45

Wind: W 17 mph

Location: Akron, Ohio

Stadium: InfoCision Stadium

Attendance: 8223

Weather: Mostly Sunny

Temperature: 55

Wind: N 10

Attendance is actually going DOWN!!! I don't get it. The bump in the Marshall game was due to their fans. A comment was made about the coach making people care about the team. What would you suggest? He is out all the time promoting the team (and so is his father)!! Military appreciation day during Miami game apparently didn't help either….

[Balsy]

with a guy who doesn't seem all that excited to be there.

I agree with the point about trying to generate fake excitement. I can't stand the "Now lets hear from you fans on the east side of the stadium...I can't hear you, let's try that again!" If anything, it's embarrassing.

However, don't criticize the guy with the microphone. That's Keith Kennedy (a morning radio guy in the Cleveland/Akron area) and he's a HUGE supporter of the Zips. I have ZERO problem with him being an emcee of our games. He regularly talks about the Zips on his morning show, and mentions how people should go out for game.

[Balsy]

Location: Akron, Ohio

Stadium: InfoCision Stadium

Attendance: 9104

Weather: Sunny

Temperature: 69

Wind: N 8 MPH

Location: Akron, Ohio

Stadium: InfoCision Stadium

Attendance: 13357

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Temperature: 73

Wind: SSW13

Location: Akron, Ohio

Stadium: InfoCision Stadium

Attendance: 8416

Weather: Mostly Cloudy

Temperature: 45

Wind: W 17 mph

Location: Akron, Ohio

Stadium: InfoCision Stadium

Attendance: 8223

Weather: Mostly Sunny

Temperature: 55

Wind: N 10

Attendance is actually going DOWN!!! I don't get it. The bump in the Marshall game was due to their fans. A comment was made about the coach making people care about the team. What would you suggest? He is out all the time promoting the team!! Military appreciation day during Miami game apparently didn't help either….

I actually don't think real attendance is going down, or is any different than the last 4-5 years since Infocision opened. Ticket sales have, but go look at the numbers from every year. After going 1-11 and with iCoach in charge of the program, 2011 ticket sale "attendance" was above that of 2010. 2012, with a new "big name" coach at the helm, attendance went down considerably.

2013 attendance was the best average attendance in the history of Infocision stadium.

[johnnyzip84]

Bingo GP1 - Kennedy's screaming HAS to go. Few things annoy DZ84, but this is one of them.

[Dr Z]

Keith Kennedy (a morning radio guy in the Cleveland/Akron area) and he's a HUGE supporter of the Zips. I have ZERO problem with him being an emcee of our games.

For the circumstance, I think he does a nice job. If he were yelling at 20,000 it would be more tolerable. Ever been to a Cavs game?

How exciting is this home schedule: Howard, EMU, Miami, BG, Umass??? Those cupcakes are hard to sell. I was excited about the Marshall game.

Now with the weather, and the Tuesday night games, it gets even tougher.

[a-zip]

For the circumstance, I think he does a nice job. If he were yelling at 20,000 it would be more tolerable. Ever been to a Cavs game?

How exciting is this home schedule: Howard, EMU, Miami, BG, Umass??? Those cupcakes are hard to sell. I was excited about the Marshall game.

Now with the weather, and the Tuesday night games, it gets even tougher.

I forgot to add cupcake schedule to the list of excuses…..thanks. EMU, Miami, BG and UMass are conference opponents……what would you suggest the school do? Move to a new conference? A new conference will not accept us unless we have a fan base they are interested in. The Marshall game bump in attendance had nothing to do with Akron fans being more interested…….it was the Marshall fans that gave us that whopping 4K boost

[Dr Z]

What would you suggest the school do? Move to a new conference? A new conference will not accept us unless we have a fan base they are interested in. The Marshall game bump in attendance had nothing to do with Akron fans being more interested.

I'm not suggesting a new conference, that's a pipe dream for other Akron fans. I'm just pointing out we are playing the worst teams (other than BG). Replace EMU, Miami and Umass with NIU, Western and Toledo and play on Saturday at 2 pm and I'm perfectly content with our home schedule. Since I'm a fan, I go to most home games and a few big away games each year. I just want to be entertained. I guess if there is a year to play a bunch of cupcakes, this is the year. Next year, we will be a better team, bring on the best!

PS November 4th should be a good one...to bad it's on a Tuesday.

[zippy5]

I forgot to add cupcake schedule to the list of excuses…..thanks. EMU, Miami, BG and UMass are conference opponents……what would you suggest the school do? Move to a new conference? A new conference will not accept us unless we have a fan base they are interested in. The Marshall game bump in attendance had nothing to do with Akron fans being more interested…….it was the Marshall fans that gave us that whopping 4K boost

What's your point with your whole attendance diatribe? We all know it stinks so far, no one is arguing

[taxpayer]

Different sport, same topic eventually shows up. Zips Basketball has been on a nice run for the last 6 years and hardly anyone cares including the UA students. The answer on the basketball board has been it's the bleachers, it's the JAR and it's the opponents who just aren't good enough to make the local sports fan show up. I've been reading this for the last 4 to 5 years and I've come to the conclusion that Akron is one of the most apathetic areas regarding their local teams I've seen. It's too bad that supporting the local teams/players is secondary to a life of couch viewer. Ticket prices are cheap as is parking and the bball team struggles to get 4-5,000 and with footballs recent success and a run of beautiful weather they draw 9,000.

This type of attendance will result in the JAR still being sufficient for another 20 years.

Maybe TB can schedule Tosu and the Crimson Tide to come to Akron and maybe, just maybe Joe Akron will get off the couch.

[Big Zip]

Maybe Akron is just a bad sports town and sports school...plain and simple.

[skip-zip]

Let me share a little story....

I was listening to an AKRON LOCAL radio station a few weeks ago, which happened to be right at the time that the Ken+ vs. OSWho football game was being played. The radio DJ kept coming on every once in awhile gloating about how "our Buckeyes" were trouncing Ken+.

Now...I have no affection for Ken+ State, but one of the teams playing was 10 miles away...the other one was 2 hours away. And who was clearly getting treated like the "home team"?

Actually, the DJ said he was starting to get calls from listeners about what he was doing.

This is an example of the state of Akron Zips sports. Until we start doing something significant, this will never change. It's not "winning games", as I keep insisting. It's all about accomplishing something that matters on the National level rather than the MAC level.

[Dave in Green]

Akron is a great sports town, just not for the Zips. There's lots of love for the Browns, Cavs, Indians, tOSU, etc.

[zen]

Akron is a great sports town, just not for the Zips. There's lots of love for the Browns, Cavs, Indians, tOSU, etc.

Correct.

The media in this region is HQed and propagated from Cleveland.

Akron has a population almost twice as large as Green Bay (who fills a pro football stadium).

But when it comes to televeision news coverage, it's Cleveland Cleveland Cleveland OSU Cleveland.

Same with radio coverage, unless you pick out a few of the smaller local stations, and as pointed out above, they still feature other city's sports.

I know we blame the media for everything these days, but I still think this is a valid point. Akron's sports teams are removed from the consciouslness of the populous by omission.

[Jrship35]

Just Win Baby !!! .................... Just Win

Not sure of how robust the marketing dept. is at UA ? Since I am from down here in Georgia, could they do better campaigns to attract fans?

Not pointing the finger at marketing, just a question

[zippy5]

Just Win Baby !!! .................... Just Win

I agree. 4-2 isn't much in the grand scheme of things after 1-11, 1-11, 1-11 and 5-7. I do think after a couple winning seasons and bowl games we'll see decent crowds. As to zen's point, I totally agree. But I also think after some winning seasons, the media will pay a little more attention. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but NEO likes their football, and I think they'd get behind a winner.

[K92]

Attendance sucks, no doubt. All we can do as fans is invite a friend to come along but a lot of those friends already got burned when we asked them to attend a game in the Ianello era and now they are not coming back hell or high water. Unfortunate, but true.

The thing that burns me the most is the pathetic student attendance.

Beyond pathetic.

[Buckzip]

4-2 is great for UA, especially compared to recent seasons.

However, the difference is that here at UA, an 8-4 season would be a great and winning season and we would all be very, very happy.

At the major schools that are heavily followed, 8-4 is a terrible season and gets the coach fired.

Until we start putting up consecutive 10-2, 11-1 seasons with some bowl victories scattered in, nothing will change for Akron.

It's all about expectations and real wins. Not just improving, but being a consistent winner at a high level.

To us, 8-4 is great. To a casual fan, 8-4 is mediocre.

[zipsoutsider]

As if attendance wasn't bad enough.... Ebola.... in Akron

[Zip_ME87]

Not sure of how robust the marketing dept. is at UA ? Since I am from down here in Georgia, could they do better campaigns to attract fans?

Not pointing the finger at marketing, just a question

Marketing SUCKS worse than Can't State. At least Can't State exists (for whatever reason the world will never know), but UA athletics marketing became extinct 2 or 3 AD's ago.

[Jrship35]

Marketing SUCKS worse than Can't State. At least Can't State exists (for whatever reason the world will never know), but UA athletics marketing became extinct 2 or 3 AD's ago.

Gotcha, thanks ...................... One of the first cuts always, marketing

[zippy5]

Marketing was very good with Brad Swanson but he left for Illinois. I don't think they have a replacement yet.

[ZachTheZip]

Attendance sucks, no doubt. All we can do as fans is invite a friend to come along but a lot of those friends already got burned when we asked them to attend a game in the Ianello era and now they are not coming back hell or high water. Unfortunate, but true.

The thing that burns me the most is the pathetic student attendance.

Beyond pathetic.

You're bound to get angry at student attendance if you are looking at the wrong sections. Students sit on the left side of the band (looking from across the field). I don't know why they decided to move the band one section over from last season, but it pushed the students over one section as well, and left a void in the sections near the hill. Also doesn't help that the band requires the front three rows of that empty section roped off so they can get onto the field for their halftime lullaby. The students would happily move on that side if they were allowed to sit near the field.

Why do these student attendance problems always trace back to the band forcing students out of their sections? Same thing in basketball.

[K92]

I asked the question at the game if the section pictured was our student section. I was told yes. It never crossed my mind that the student section might have moved, SINCE THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO DO SO. Jeeeeeeezzzzzzz.