zipboy Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 So I am bored and did some research on final attendance figures for the MAC. Listed below are avg attendance numbers for MAC games only. I think the league games are a better barometer - students are generally in school, there are no holidays, everyone has the same number of games against the same teams. Here are the 07 figures1. Toledo 63242. Ohio 52083. Ball 42364. AKRON 42325. Can't 39126. WMU 32327. Miami 30428. Buffalo 25489. CMU 243210. NIU 165911. BG 149812. EMU 978Average attedance for league games was 3275 vs 3413 last year. Akron was 6th last year at 3793. So we made a huge jump up this year! And if the OU game had good weather, we would have averaged 4300+ for the MAC games.Overall, we averaged 3593 this year. 3470 last year. This includes the non conference games as well. A few other thoughts 1. This years attendance of 3593 is the 5th highest in school history. I am assuming that Memorial was not higher.2. In the history of being a Div 1 team, we have only been below 2200 once, Crawford's last year. For as much as BSU is a bball school, NIU is a football school. Given the new arenas at NIU and EMU, you would think they could at least draw 2000.3. I compared these numbers on a national level. The NCAA has last years numbers posted but I doubt there is much difference. Last year, the overall average attendance for every team was 5198. Both CUSA and A-10 averaged just over 5000 per game. That is a lot lower that I thought. The MAC ranked 13th in attendance last year (both OOC and league games). The Colonial was 12th only about 100 fans more than the MAC. 4. There are 336 Div 1 teams. The 100th ranked team attendance was 5369 (VCU).5. For as much as we complain about fan support, the league is in worse shape than us. Another reason to get better and jump ship.I expect a big jump up next year. We have only cracked 4000 once in school history, the 1st year of the JAR. I think we have a shot to break that next year. In 3 more years we could be averaging mid 4000s. And while attendance is going up, the excitement in the building is at an all time high. The Rowdies have done an amazing job keeping the arena loud and the intensity up all year long. I remember where this program was just 3 years ago and the strides that have been taken. The 1 good thing coming out of this NIT fiasco is for the 1st time so many people are now thinking of Akron as their team. I guess getting spit on and disrespected reasonates with Northeast Ohio well. Anyway, just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akronad Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 Thanks and nice job with the research.You are right about Memorial Hall. It was great place for the time the Zips needed such a place, but to average that many people, you would needed a shoehorn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zip81 Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 Thanks and nice job with the research.You are right about Memorial Hall. It was great place for the time the Zips needed such a place, but to average that many people, you would needed a shoehorn. I forget Memorial Hall's capacity, but I think it was in the vacinity of 3,500.After graduating, I went to Indiana where the high school gyms seated 10,000.I went to a game in New Castle. Steve Alford was a senior. His Dad was coach. They have an 11,000 seat field house!I don't think it would be possible for us to average what we did this year in Memorial Hall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 zipboy...thanks for the numbers. I just hope the growth continues despite the exit of two of the most popular players in Zips history.Do you know if these numbers are for ticket sales, or are actual gate receipts?I'm asking because you state that the snow-storm game against Ohio could have helped our average. But, that game was nearly a sellout ahead of time, so if they were counting ticket sales, that actually was a game that already helped our average. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipboy Posted March 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 Thanks, these should be ticket sales. I took the official attendance numbers posted in the box scores. The OU game had sold just under 4200 tickets presale. My guess is that we would have gotten about 5000 for the game with decent weather but that is just a guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyake Posted March 25, 2007 Report Share Posted March 25, 2007 Not sure if attendance will see much improvement next year with the loss of Romeo and Dru. We'll see I guess. The hardest part about going to the games is knowing you'll be sitting or standing on a hard wood bleacher. If they're not thinking about building a new Arena, they could at least finish the top off with seats on every side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipsbandman Posted March 25, 2007 Report Share Posted March 25, 2007 Not sure if attendance will see much improvement next year with the loss of Romeo and Dru. We'll see I guess. The hardest part about going to the games is knowing you'll be sitting or standing on a hard wood bleacher. If they're not thinking about building a new Arena, they could at least finish the top off with seats on every side. They won't do that because then they cannot charge as much for chairbacks. Gotta bring in some $$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.