Which best describes your feelings on the MAC scheduling model?

[mrelegazna]

Maybe we can sort of consolidate this eternal debate.  I'm quite curious where the majority stands. 

[exit322]

I'd like to see what the dollars look like if you just go to the Saturday model.  Also wondering if some of these FAST channels and such wouldn't be able to bid for content in that regard.  It seems the MAC is starting to think a little outside the box, so I wonder if there's something to be done there.

 

The dollars WOULD be less, I'm sure.  But how much less?  What would attendance do for the MAC football schools if you didn't have these midweek games?  That's the key part...can that be made up by greater attendance throughout?

Edited 19 hours ago by exit322

[GP1]

5 hours ago, exit322 said:

The dollars WOULD be less, I'm sure.

Maybe, maybe not. I really don't know. I'd like to ask the Sun Belt about this. 

 

What I am confident of is the athletic department should benefit the athletes students alumni fans and general community around Akron. The current TV model does not accomplish this. Taxpayers support UofA and their access to the athletic department isn't as great as it should be, and that goes for all schools. 

[exit322]

22 minutes ago, GP1 said:

Maybe, maybe not. I really don't know. I'd like to ask the Sun Belt about this. 

 

What I am confident of is the athletic department should benefit the athletes students alumni fans and general community around Akron. The current TV model does not accomplish this. Taxpayers support UofA and their access to the athletic department isn't as great as it should be, and that goes for all schools. 

 

The Sun Belt has bigger names than the MAC; they probably don't have to play on Tuesdays to get a decent enough deal.  While attendance itself isn't the perfect metric (and MAC attendance is hurt by the midweek stuff), the MAC had five teams (Buffalo, CMU, Ohio, Toledo, WMU) that averaged at least 15,000 fans (the latter three averaged 20,000) announced.  The Sun Belt had six over 20,000 (App State, GA Southern, JMU, Marshall, Southern Miss, Troy) and one (App State) over 30,000.

 

Your second point, however, is 100% spot on.  The midweek games reduce that access for the fans locally, and that's really the last thing any of the MAC teams need.

[kreed5120]

A couple things. The Sun Belt still plays some midweek games. Not as many as the MAC, but they still get played.

 

Also, the Sun Belt has much less competition, particularly in sports, compared to the Midwest schools in the MAC. The reality is if Richard in Richfield has the option of either going to the Browns game on Sunday or Akron game on Saturday, he's going to the Browns. Most people don't have the ability to commit an entire weekend to make an all day event out of both. Schools like Marshall, Troy, Arkansas State etc don't face those same challenges.

Edited 1 hour ago by kreed5120

[exit322]

11 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

A couple things. The Sun Belt still plays some midweek games. Not as many as the MAC, but they still get played.

 

Also, the Sun Belt has much less competition, particularly in sports, compared to the Midwest schools in the MAC. The reality is if Richard in Richfield has the option of either going to the Browns game on Sunday or Akron game on Saturday, he's going to the Browns. Most people don't have the ability to commit an entire weekend to make an all day event out of both. Schools like Marshall, Troy, Arkansas State etc don't face those same challenges.

 

I stand corrected.  They do have the handful of midweek games, more Thursdays but yes, they do.

 

If those schools don't give the people a reason to come on Saturday, they'll still find something else to do even if they don't have an NFL game on Sunday.  So I don't think that holds much water.

[kreed5120]

4 minutes ago, exit322 said:

 

If those schools don't give the people a reason to come on Saturday, they'll still find something else to do even if they don't have an NFL game on Sunday.  So I don't think that holds much water.

 

What cow tipping?

 

But seriously yes, I agree you still have to put a product on the field that is worth someone committing ~5 hours of their day or more. I just feel that threshold is much less in rural places like WV than it is in places like Cleveland, Buffalo, Detroit etc. 

[exit322]

17 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

What cow tipping?

 

But seriously yes, I agree you still have to put a product on the field that is worth someone committing ~5 hours of their day or more. I just feel that threshold is much less in rural places like WV than it is in places like Cleveland, Buffalo, Detroit etc. 

 

Yard work, shopping, watching TV, etc etc etc.  Any number of things.  If there's not a reason to go to the local college game, there's any number of excuses that can easily be given even if there's no NFL team nearby.

 

Also I'm originally from Knox County.  Cow tipping isn't that far away from Akron...

[kreed5120]

51 minutes ago, exit322 said:

 

Yard work, shopping, watching TV, etc etc etc.  Any number of things.  If there's not a reason to go to the local college game, there's any number of excuses that can easily be given even if there's no NFL team nearby.

 

Even so those things don't fit the fix that sports/concerts does. Much of the things you listed are reasons why I said people are unlikely to make an all day event out of both attending Akron games and then also attending Browns games. Adults have responsibilities so there is only so much time they can carve out for personal entertainment. People in Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo still have to do all those mundane things you mention and the free time they have they have many more options of how to spend it.

 

I grew up in a small city and people went to the high school football game on Fridays because that was the only thing to do. Stadium seated maybe 6k and the population of the city at the time was ~9k-10k. Every home game the stadium was probably 80% full. As I grew up I realized that everyone attending the local high school game wasn't the norm in other cities, particularly the larger ones.

 

You can pretend that Jonesboro, Arkansas has all the alternative entertainment that Cleveland, Detroit, or Buffalo does, but it doesn't. The same way that Cleveland has less competition than a city like LA or NYC. I never said a product still wouldn't be important to attract people. Just that people in Jonesboro are more likely to go watch a 5-7 college football team than someone in Cleveland because frankly there are fewer big events for them to attend.

 

I'm not saying the product doesn't have to be good to get people to show. I'm saying the more competition you have to attract people the higher the threshold is needed to get them. I would think that would be fairly obvious. I'm not sure exactly what you can dispute about that.

Edited 25 minutes ago by kreed5120