Reasonable Average Attendance

[bigham78]

Once the stadium is on campus, the whole "commuter issue" is null and void.The new stadium will be "THE Place to Be" in Akron for years. No student is going to miss the party.Will they show up to watch terrible football? More so than they did during the Rubber Bowl years, that's for certain. But if the team wins, there will be no problems averaging 80+% of capacity.If the team doesn't win...some heads will roll. You can't build a 60million dollar stadium, combine it with a state-of-the-art training facility, and finish sub .500. Failure is not an option.

I agree Even during bad years teams like Ohio U and Bowling Green draw well for home games because of the on-campus experience you get for MAC games and rivarly games. During the competitive years you'll get sellouts. The Bowling Green-NIU ESPN Saturday game of just a few short years ago more then drives home what a home game on your campus can do for you even in the MAC. I have no doubts UofA can rise to and above that level in the coming years once the stadium opens on campus.

can't really compare Athens and Bowling Green Ohio to Akron...smaller towns and the schools are THE item...not much else to do not so here...never has been that connection with U of A and the community that there should have been..at least not yet..

Toledo is the same way on college football weekends as Athens and Bowling Green and Toledo is much bigger city then Akron.

[bigham78]

One of the things people are forgetting in all of this discussion. This campus looks like a nuclear fallout zone on the weekends. Even the students who do live on campus go home for the weekends. Now maybe that is gonna change some with the stadium and tailgating and the like on campus, but we aren't gonna become a residential school with thousands of students on campus all weekend overnight.

Many college campuses are dead on non sports weekends as many kids go home. Many major schools when kids are out tend to have some empty seats for an otherwise sold out game, because students are not there do to breaks. UofA does not have the corner on being dead onthe weekends.

[bigham78]

I don't know what attendance will be, but I can predict with 100% certainty that the Athletic Department will continue the fine tradition of over reporting crowd size.

They're no where near as bad as back in the 1970's and They claimed attendance was 45k to 49K for the old Acme Zip Games. I know bowl was full for those games and people were even sitting on the hill atop the Bowl. But, you can't get 45k to 49K into a stadium who's official capacity is 35,000.

Stadium capacity was listed at 31,000 not 35,000. I do not recall anyone ever claiming that attendance for an Acme Zip game was 45 to 49K but I was there when they had over 40,000 and it was fun.

The original official capacity of the Rubber Bowl 35,202 before they closed part of the seats in the endzone and built the A-men club under the pressbox. UofA had person who happened to have graduated from my HS who worked in AD who was always grossly over estimating crowds back in the early late 1960's and early 1970's Yes, he sure did estimate several of the Acme-Zip crowds at 45k to 49k back then. His Nickname was Red. I don't recall his real name at this time and only recall his nickname and firery but, great attitude (But, I'm going to get it and post it here) The ABJ said it was closer to 40K all of those times.Here's one of the many places that will confirm the original capacityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_BowlLocation Akron, Ohio Broke ground 1939 Opened 1940 Capacity 35,202

You're probably thinking of Red Cochrane, former player and coach, and longtime supporter of athletics. (I was going to say athletics supporter but thought better of it.)

That's him. He was the one always over estimating crowds at the Rubber Bowl and even would say there close to 5,000 for some the big gams played in Memorial Hall back then.

[Quickzips]

One of the things people are forgetting in all of this discussion. This campus looks like a nuclear fallout zone on the weekends. Even the students who do live on campus go home for the weekends. Now maybe that is gonna change some with the stadium and tailgating and the like on campus, but we aren't gonna become a residential school with thousands of students on campus all weekend overnight.

Many college campuses are dead on non sports weekends as many kids go home. Many major schools when kids are out tend to have some empty seats for an otherwise sold out game, because students are not there do to breaks. UofA does not have the corner on being dead onthe weekends.

They might not, but you have to remember, kids aren't used to having the stadium on campus either. How long is it gonna take for them to figure it out and stay on campus on football weekends? If Basketball is any indication it might take quite a while. Ofcourse basketball usually doesn't come with tailgating either so who knows. All I'm saying is those on here that think that the stadium is immediatly going to draw 10,000 students each and every home game may want to curb their enthusiasm just a bit.

[bigham78]

One of the things people are forgetting in all of this discussion. This campus looks like a nuclear fallout zone on the weekends. Even the students who do live on campus go home for the weekends. Now maybe that is gonna change some with the stadium and tailgating and the like on campus, but we aren't gonna become a residential school with thousands of students on campus all weekend overnight.

Many college campuses are dead on non sports weekends as many kids go home. Many major schools when kids are out tend to have some empty seats for an otherwise sold out game, because students are not there do to breaks. UofA does not have the corner on being dead onthe weekends.

They might not, but you have to remember, kids aren't used to having the stadium on campus either. How long is it gonna take for them to figure it out and stay on campus on football weekends? If Basketball is any indication it might take quite a while. Ofcourse basketball usually doesn't come with tailgating either so who knows. All I'm saying is those on here that think that the stadium is immediatly going to draw 10,000 students each and every home game may want to curb their enthusiasm just a bit.

No one here has said 10K students. You're first to mention student number. It's not just students. You something to build a fansbase on and playing at 60 plus year old falling down Rubber Bowl six miles from campus would never fill even with the team winning the MAC year in and out. IMO, attendance will greatly improved and one need only look to 2004 and 2005 imagine what attendance might have been like had the stadium been on campus and not 60 years old ancient stadium 6 miles off campus. UofA brought 18,000 tickets for the Motor City Bowl and that bowl had better attendance 45,801 then several of the bowls played that season. There several of the major schools turned tickets back in.I'm counting on the new stadium with on campus experience will not just pull UofA students. But, also give Alums a reason to come back and attend as well.If, double AA baseball team can play in downtown Akron and draw 8,000 nightly for games. Surely a winning UofA football team with an on campus stadium can pull 20K plus for 5 or 6 home gamesFriday Night November 4th 2004. UofA played Marshall in front of 29,000 at the Rubber Bowl on National TV. Now imagine UofA playing the same type of game on campus in new facility on National TV in front of 30,000. The difference is that experience will bring those fans back. It will be something to build on for bringing others including to the campus who want to be part of the gameday experience. The students will now want to hang around campus on football weekendsThe problem with 2004 game was UofA had nothing to build on from a gameday experience. I expect attendance to improve. Indiana will bring fans to go along with the other excitment and I expect that game to be SRO. I don't know what the student number will be. But, IMO with an on-campus stadium and a competitive football team like 2004-2005 and the place will be light years better then playing at the Rubber Bowl.

[Zipsrifle]

Another dynamic that may come into play here is that ICS is going to be quite a bit smaller than the RB. The capacity is listed at 30,000, but I think that includes the grass seating in both endzones and standing along the fence, so lets say that actual seats will be in the neighborhood of 25000. That means you won't have the luxury of walking into the stadium and being virturally guaranteed a seat for every game. This could hit in two ways. First, it could cause people to purchase their tickets earlier so that they are assured a good seat...on the other hand it could also be a deterrent.

[Blue & Gold]

Another dynamic that may come into play here is that ICS is going to be quite a bit smaller than the RB. The capacity is listed at 30,000, but I think that includes the grass seating in both endzones and standing along the fence, so lets say that actual seats will be in the neighborhood of 25000. That means you won't have the luxury of walking into the stadium and being virturally guaranteed a seat for every game. This could hit in two ways. First, it could cause people to purchase their tickets earlier so that they are assured a good seat...on the other hand it could also be a deterrent.

You raise an interesting point. I think the slightly smaller size of The Info as compared w/ The Rubber Bowl will enhance attendance. I'm showing my age, but I remember when Jacob's Field (Progressive Field, whatever) first opened. One of the add campaigns during the winter before the 1st year at The Jake showed a big bowl filled with ping pong balls. Then a man would pour the bowl of ping pong balls into a smaller bowl only holding about 1/2 the capacity of the first bowl. The bowl quickly filled w/ balls and then the rest of the balls went rolling all over the table. Then the man simply said something to the effect, "Better get your season tickets early!"NEO fans are fickle though. I remember going to old Municiple Stadium in Cleveland w/ my dad. There'd be maybe 3000 of us at the Indians' game. The first year at The Jake you could still walk up to the gate on gameday and get good seats. I remember my first game at The Jake during that first season - it was cold, drizzly, and the Indians lost something like 14-0 to the Texas Rangers. Then the Indians really started to win - and that's when they started selling The Jake out. So I think The Info will be extremely important for attendance sake and the advancement of the program - it'll attract the hordes of fair weather fans - but JD's still gotta win to keep butts in the seats.

[bigham78]

So I think The Info will be extremely important for attendance sake and the advancement of the program - it'll attract the hordes of fair weather fans - but JD's still gotta win to keep butts in the seats.

That's the bottom line along with a Stadium on campus. I'm old enough to remember the Zips attendance during the 1970's and late 1960's. The years they had good teams they drew well with far less dorms then they have now and playing at same falling down Rubber Bowl six miles off campus. I remember one of the years the Acme-Zip night drew 35,000 plus. Youngstown St game drew 18,000 and Can't St drew 21,000. The other two home games drew 10K plus. That was one of UofA best attendance years. Once again Imagine had those three and the other two games had been on-campus in a better facility.The facility is supposed to hold 30,000 and SRO or not. I refuse to look at any negatives and continue to be excited. I expect improved attendance.