What is wrong with MAC fans?

[GP1]

if the 21,000 was just ticket sells, then the attendance had to be above 23,000. Students don't count in the ticket sells factor because we walk in showing a student ID.Blame the UA for those empty seats on the home side. They sat families with the student section. Who was the genius that wanted to put general admission with the Student Section??

My understanding (not 100% sure) is when a student goes to the game, it counts as a sold ticket. It has something to do with the sharing of the money from your activity fee or whatever they call it these days.There are fewer people on the home side because those are largely reserved seats. Family Pack tickets move a lot of tickets in the GA section so the visitors section is more full. Can't fans were probably over there also so they filled up the stands.Maybe I'm not the one who should be saying this, but Akron really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really needs people to bring their children to the games. Family Packs are critical to ticket sales. The student section doing profanity laced chants does not give parents with children between the ages of 5 and 12 a good feeling. Let's not drive them away. You're all in college and should be smarter than that. The next time someone tries to start one, please do your school, and everyone at the game a favor, and blast that person in the face. It's not funny, it's not cute, it's not even the least bit creative. Please don't be stupid because it degrades my degrees.

[bobbyake]

There is no need for profanity but you're dealing with over 2000 students here. That is why putting general admission with students was a bad idea. Students like to stand for the entire game. We made a lot of general admissions people upset doing so. We asked to switch seats with them and they refused. They complain to the cop and the cop took our side. He said' "I can't force them to sit." Students don't want to sit during the games because it's easier to be loud standing up. Mixing general admission with students is a horrible idea.

[zip81]

ALL of the seats on the home side are reserved.Putting all the GA on the opposite side is stupid.I brought my kids last year, gave up my reserved seat to do so, and had to sit with a bunch of Bowling Green fans.....great.A couple of years ago, I brought two of my boys and purchased reserved seats so they could sit with me....$7 a pop...why not come up with a kid price?The U really doesn't make it easy on fans, in many respects.

[skip-zip]

GP1...you are right about students entering with a student ID counting as paid admission. It counts the same as a sold ticket in determining the annouced attendance number. Actual attendance is always going to be lower than ticket sales because of no-shows. I've never seen a case where the number of bodies in the seats would exceed actual ticket sales. The number annouced at the game (21,000) would have been ticket sales, so you can assume that the actual "butts in the seats" count is lower.

[Buckzip]

"What is wrong with MAC fans?"Whether you had good intentions creating this or not. You should either justify why you created this thread with that name or apologize about it as a mistake.There are a lot of people that are going to pass judgement on you because of this. Remember that we were at the game too.

Bobby, I don't understand that post. It wasn't a case of good or bad intentions. It was a simple question.It was about the MAC conference. Not UA. I don't need to justify it. This entire thread justifies it. People are ecstatic over 22,000 fans that were divided between 2 close schools.Some people make it sound like I was being critical of the people that were there.No, I was being critical of all of those people that weren't there. From both Akron and Can't.Please take off the blue and gold shades and think of this objectively instead of as an Akron fan only.BTW, I apologized before you even put this post up. I knew some people took it the wrong way. If you reread the first post, you will see I changed it.Sometimes I forget where I am when I try to give personal opinions.Again, my apologies.

[zip81]

People are ecstatic over 22,000 fans that were divided between 2 close schools.

ecstatic:1. of, pertaining to, or characterized by ecstasy. I don't think that's an accurate description. At least, not for me.Satisfied...yeah, that's it. I'm satisfied with yesterday's crowd.Just though I would clarify my position at the risk of you putting words in my mouth.You know our historical problems with attendance that have been discussed over and over, Buck. If you were there, I believe you would have a different opinion.I just can't understand this hair you have across your a$$ about yesterday's crowd.

[johnnyzip84]

In my opinion, the atmosphere at this game was much better than a lot of the 35,000 and 37,000 Acme-Zips games.

You hit the nail right on the head, Zip81! It may have been "only" 22,000, but the atmosphere was outstanding. As much as I dislike Can't, I hope the football rivalry just continues to grow. I've been to VERY FEW games at the bowl where there was as much excitement and acknowledgment from the fans (on both sides, especially YOU, you A-K-Rowdies!!!) throughout the game. It was a wonderful day indeed!

[zip81]

In my opinion, the atmosphere at this game was much better than a lot of the 35,000 and 37,000 Acme-Zips games.

You hit the nail right on the head, Zip81! It may have been "only" 22,000, but the atmosphere was outstanding. As much as I dislike Can't, I hope the football rivalry just continues to grow. I've been to VERY FEW games at the bowl where there was as much excitement and acknowledgment from the fans (on both sides, especially YOU, you A-K-Rowdies!!!) throughout the game. It was a wonderful day indeed!

I haven't felt that kind of college experience at the Bowl since our card section back in the late 70's.

[ZachTheZip]

Honestly, I couldn't care less about overall attendance numbers. UA could sell a block of 15,000 season tickets to a company on the west coast knowing that nobody would show up, but signaficantly boost our numbers and revenue.There are only two numbers I care about: How many students were actually there, and how many alumni were actually there?Those two groups comprise the majority of most school's fan bases, with a few exceptions generated from sustained success or being adopted by the community.The Student attendance is growing yearly at a tremendous rate. They comprised about 15% or more of the total butts in (or standing on) seats. That's a pretty good ratio for most schools. Another 60% should be alumni, and that is usually the case, but the numbers were always skewed by low student numbers causing a higher ratio of alumni-to-students than what it should have been. The rest should be visiting fans or community support. We should forget about community support for the next two years until the stadium is completed and it becomes a symbol to rally the city around. Visiting fans are completely beyond our influence. That just leaves alumni and students, where the AK-Rowdies and AK-Oldies are just starting to organize the key components of our fanbase into something that should have happened long ago, and been started by the university, not as a product of the fans trying to fill the void.It's up to us. Get people involved in their university. The students are, for the most part, apathetic. The Alumni are disconnected from their roots. We have to bring them back. Yesterday's game was a good showing, but it should be just the beginning.

[Buckzip]

It's up to us. Get people involved in their university. The students are, for the most part, apathetic. The Alumni are disconnected from their roots. We have to bring them back. Yesterday's game was a good showing, but it should be just the beginning.

Thank you. You said what I was trying to say. Only you said it much better.The only thing different is that I feel the entire MAC is this way. not just UA.

[zipsbandman]

If you were not at the game and are just looking at attendance figures then you will not get it. Akron football games rarely have that collegiate feel, but this one did from tailgate to the end of the game. Seeing students standing the whole game and waving thundersticks, zippy crowdsurfing, the beach balls, the signs, the chants etc. It was a good time, and I woulds rather have a stadium of 20k rowdy fans than 35k of fans who sit on their hands. I will say that the Can't contingent was pretty small. For a team that beat a bcs school and expecting to win the east, I was expecting more. I remember 2003 when the entire away side was Can't state. As bad as our fan support can be, they have it even worse.

[K-Roo]

Blame the UA for those empty seats on the home side. They sat families with the student section. Who was the genius that wanted to put general admission with the Student Section??

The U wanted more butts on the away side of the Bowl (GA Seating) too look better on TV.... that's why.... I was at game and Tivo'd.. looked good live and even better on TV...Am I missing something here?Can't got 29k last year (half of them UA fans). We get 22k with maybe 500 Can't fans including the band. Guys, I see this a huge positive -- the Akron area is hungry for a winner. Just wait until we get the program on a roll!!! If UA can put it together, they will come.

[Z.I.P.]

I didn't think I'd put in my 2c about attendance again -- especially since I haven't been at the Bowl since 1983 BUT here goes anyway.Like I said more than once, I was at the Browns-Giants game about 1972 when the announced attendance was 43,000+, and there were open sections in the end zone bigger than the open areas in the upper left in the photo. And I've been to games where the attendance was given as much smaller, (30-35k) that seemed more packed than the Browns game.Would the UA athletic athletic department give an attendance figure smaller than the actual crowd? Nothing about the department's incompetence any longer surprises me. For example, they have signed up a proxy organization called the Akron Oldies to do the job that the UA Alumni Department is payed to do but doesn't (thanks, Oldies!).An aside: At the University of Hawai'i, the attendance includes every body that enters Aloha Stadium -- spectators, players, officials, press, bands, ushers and the Caveman-looking mascot who can't wear Zippy's jock strap.

[GP1]

Would the UA athletic athletic department give an attendance figure smaller than the actual crowd? Nothing about the department's incompetence any longer surprises me. For example, they have signed up a proxy organization called the Akron Oldies to do the job that the UA Alumni Department is payed to do but doesn't (thanks, Oldies!).

Excellent point. We should all remember that the University has an Alumni Department, separate from the Athletic Department that is in charge of alumni relations. They also have an Athletic Development Department that is charged with raising money for Athletics....not alumni relations. The two departments do different things by design and my understanding is the University wants it that way. There is no coordination of alumni events by the Alumni Department for anything that goes on outside of a sporting event.To put it another way....I go watch the Zips at a local bar where I live now. That same bar is the home of the local, College From Central Ohio Alumni Chapter (I had no idea it was their home, I just wanted the best sports bar around and that was it). Two years straight they have won the Outstanding Alumni Chapter Award from CFCO (they bring the awards with them to the games) and they probably get a minimum 100 alumni per game. They only deal with the Alumni Department at CFCO and not the Athletic Department. The local president of the CFCO alumni chapter runs a 50/50 raffle at each game that makes hundreds of dollars for CFCO Foundation. He's a real nice NE Ohio guy. Ten dollars to get in the raffle and everyone does it, even the non CFCO alumns, because they want to try to win some money.....and we hear complaining about $5.00 parking. Yikes....Here's the question. If anyone wanted to do this for UofA, does anyone have a clue as to how to get it done? There is almost no communication between the Alumni Department and the Alumni beyond the Akron magazine I get monthly. I'd do it, I could put some of the time I waste on this board and put it into that effort. Even if I did do something, would any alumni support it or would it be a waste of time (as if my time on this board isn't a waste of time).

[blueandgold]

I have two points to make. First, I was unable to come to the game when they changed the time to noon. My whole family was looking forward to coming to the game, but my son plays youth football, so that was a major conflict. Second, after his football game we drove by the Rubber Bowl to see the crowd as the game let out. I have to say I can't remember a game where I saw so many students coming out. It was great to see!!!

[zip81]

For example, they have signed up a proxy organization called the Akron Oldies to do the job that the UA Alumni Department is payed to do but doesn't (thanks, Oldies!).

Z.I.P.By "Akron Oldies" did you mean "AK-OLDIES?"If so, no one signed us up. We went to them.We approached them as a courtesy to inform them of what we were up to.The idea being, coordination and cooperation and at the same time, maintaining our autonomy.The only one we are beholding to is Zippy!thanks

[K-Roo]

https://www.t-mobilepictures.com/29737246/A...g=1190660643694As you can see from Pic #2.... even that section filled in by the third qtr.... My guess is we reported tickets sold... and I saw an ad in the BJ for 4 tickets at $25.00. To count against the 17k rule the tickets must be sold at 50% of face value.. maybe that affected the reported number vs actual butts in seats????

[RACER]

i know everyone is excited about the new stadium.this is not to start a flame.my onlyconcern is that while we may pick up more attendance to start the 2009 season ticket holders are going to bear some of the cost.if do not think ticket prices are going to go up then you are crazy.i think the attendance of 22k is ok.i just hope the admin does not price themselves out,and drive the loyal fan away in 2009.sometimes this a.d dept gets carried away,and i am not going to go into that thread of sticking it to the core fan base.

[Zipsrifle]

This thread almost has every topic we talk about on this board.People whine about attendance.Buckzip starts bickering with someone.People complaining about OSUAll we need now is talk about us jumping to a bigger confrence!

[ZachTheZip]

I really think the new stadium would allow us to join the Big East. It's the main thing holding us back in terms of recruiting, attendance, and campus spirit.