HEY! Take the stereotyping/racial profiling crap to the spin room!

(09-29-2009 09:58 PM)Shannon Panther Wrote:  

(09-29-2009 09:15 AM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  USF's attendance so far is misleading. They were against 2 1-aa opponents. With UC, WVU, and miami coming up, USF will end up averaging more than 50K, with possibly a couple sellouts of 65K seat RJS. We may end up #2 in attendance, before all is done if things break right.

Pitt should end up with the second best attendance in the league. We are averaging almost 52K and we have a sellout of 65.5K for Notre Dame. We should average at least 50K for each of our BE opponents which would give us an average of 53K+. If we are still in contention for the BE crown, Cinci might also be a sell out, which would boost us over 55K.

You might be right, but it will be close. You are forgetting we have Miami at home which will be a sellout, 65-66K, then the WVU and Cincy games will be about 55K+, depending on how season goes. USF will average over 50K, how much over depends on how the season goes.

(09-30-2009 11:14 AM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  You might be right, but it will be close. You are forgetting we have Miami at home which will be a sellout, 65-66K, then the WVU and Cincy games will be about 55K+, depending on how season goes. USF will average over 50K, how much over depends on how the season goes.

It would be great if we are both right. Having 3-4 members average over 50K would be a major step forward.

It would be even nicer to have the entire conference averaging at least 50K...

I can only speak about the Titans attendance, as I haven't been in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Charlotte, or New Orleans enough to know how their teams draw, but outside of the Nashville metropolitan area, there aren't that many "die-hard" Titans fans.

They do have a pretty good attendance record; however it's true that outside of metropolitan Nashville, they are an afterthought behind the SEC schools. I'm not so sure that the extreme devotion to SEC teams is a product of having "nothing else to do" so to speak. I think it probably has much more to do with a sense of state/regional pride that a lot of southerners grow up with.

I'm certainly not saying that people from other parts of the country don't have an equal sense of pride, but I think southerners take particular joy in seeing their school "fight" for their state. And yes, in my opinion it is definitely related to leftover feelings from the Civil War and Reconstruction. That's probably why SEC fans have a particular disdain for BigTen teams.

Some stereotypes about the south are true, in remote parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, and East Tennessee for sure. There really isn't the same kind of "culture" that you see in large East Coast cities like Boston or New York; but I'd imagine that if you took a look at what people from rural Alabama or Mississippi do in their spare time and compared it to people in rural Pennsylvania or Maryland they wouldn't be as different as you imagine.

Likewise, there are plenty of very fine "cultured" Southern cities that have thriving entertainment and arts communities on par with their Northern counterparts. We may not have the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Memphis, but without our contributions to the arts, the landscape of American music would be drastically different. Likewise with New Orleans.

We'd love for some of you guys to take a trip down and see for yourself. The weather stays a little warmer in the winter, and you might be surprised at what you find. I doubt your IQ will drop too much on your trip--I actually caught a Broadway show downtown last weekend..

...and I hear the food isn't half bad either.

(09-30-2009 03:26 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  It would be even nicer to have the entire conference averaging at least 50K...

It will be at least a decade before we see that. Even with the expansions at Louisville and Rutgers, we still have the Rent at 42K and Nippert at 35K.

I don't think the Rent will stay at 42K for long, especially if the Huskies have another good year or two...

Raymond James Stadium……...65,857
Heinz Field………………………......65,050
Mountaineer Field………………....60,000
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium...56,000 (2010)
Rutgers Stadium………………....…52,454

Carrier Dome……………………......49,262
Rentschler Field………………....…40,000 ($92M 2003)
Nippert Stadium.……………..…...35,000 (Is 45K the maximum or it including clubs seating)

There are three teams that will not get 50K average attendance.

(10-01-2009 12:17 PM)SO#1 Wrote:  Raymond James Stadium……...65,857
Heinz Field………………………......65,050
Mountaineer Field………………....60,000
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium...56,000 (2010)
Rutgers Stadium………………....…52,454

Carrier Dome……………………......49,262
Rentschler Field………………....…40,000 ($92M 2003)
Nippert Stadium.……………..…...35,000 (Is 45K the maximum or it including clubs seating)

There are three teams that will not get 50K average attendance.

Cincinnati has access to Paul Brown Stadium - capacity 65,000 or so. UC will be playing Oklahoma there next year. But UC would need to play the majority of games there and average ~55,000 + whatever they get at Nippert.

(10-01-2009 11:36 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  I don't think the Rent will stay at 42K for long, especially if the Huskies have another good year or two...

UCONN needs to win a BCS game for the bandwagon fans to jump behind the team. It takes a few years to build up a huge fanbase. While UCONN is doing that, expecting that overnight with a fairly new team is unrealistic. A BCS win would really jump start this effort.

I also wish UCONN would open up more tickets for students. Student interest is very high for the Huskies now. UCONN unfortunately still is trying to sell tickets for high prices to the general public. Those future alums will be UCONN fans once they graduate.

(10-01-2009 12:34 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  I also wish UCONN would open up more tickets for students. Student interest is very high for the Huskies now. UCONN unfortunately still is trying to sell tickets for high prices to the general public. Those future alums will be UCONN fans once they graduate.

Interesting. Is UCONN selling out its student season ticket packages and how large of a proportion of the stadium would be considered to be student seats? From a long-term view, any school ought to make sure its students are able to get into games. If alums and donors are getting a lot of seats, then that's certainly justifiable, but simply having general public sales at the expense of student tickets isn't a great idea if you want to build a fan base.

(10-01-2009 03:23 AM)GoTigersJoe87 Wrote:  I can only speak about the Titans attendance, as I haven't been in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Charlotte, or New Orleans enough to know how their teams draw, but outside of the Nashville metropolitan area, there aren't that many "die-hard" Titans fans.

They do have a pretty good attendance record; however it's true that outside of metropolitan Nashville, they are an afterthought behind the SEC schools. I'm not so sure that the extreme devotion to SEC teams is a product of having "nothing else to do" so to speak. I think it probably has much more to do with a sense of state/regional pride that a lot of southerners grow up with.

I'm certainly not saying that people from other parts of the country don't have an equal sense of pride, but I think southerners take particular joy in seeing their school "fight" for their state. And yes, in my opinion it is definitely related to leftover feelings from the Civil War and Reconstruction. That's probably why SEC fans have a particular disdain for BigTen teams.

Some stereotypes about the south are true, in remote parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, and East Tennessee for sure. There really isn't the same kind of "culture" that you see in large East Coast cities like Boston or New York; but I'd imagine that if you took a look at what people from rural Alabama or Mississippi do in their spare time and compared it to people in rural Pennsylvania or Maryland they wouldn't be as different as you imagine.

Likewise, there are plenty of very fine "cultured" Southern cities that have thriving entertainment and arts communities on par with their Northern counterparts. We may not have the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Memphis, but without our contributions to the arts, the landscape of American music would be drastically different. Likewise with New Orleans.

We'd love for some of you guys to take a trip down and see for yourself. The weather stays a little warmer in the winter, and you might be surprised at what you find. I doubt your IQ will drop too much on your trip--I actually caught a Broadway show downtown last weekend..

...and I hear the food isn't half bad either.

Hey Tiger - thanks for the input. I don't know how this discussion turned into stereotyping, but it is just about mentality difference in the East/West vs. the South about football.

While I am an alum of UCONN, I am also alum of Santa Clara Unversity. In addition, I got a ton of friends who went to Cal, Stanford, UCLA and USC here in the West Coast. It seems many people that attend Pac-10 games are usually people who are students or alums of the school. Most of these guys would go if the teams are winning and not pay any attention when they are losing. They just go do something else. I am more passionate about UCONN football than those guys about their PAC-10 teams. In the South, I believe many people are raised to cheer for the team even when they are not alums of the schools they are cheering for. I think that's the key difference. For example, the 49er fanbase is totally different than Cal's. You can tell most Cal fans are college graduates while many 49er/Raider fans certainly are not. This is also why most Pac-10 teams in CA don't have great fan traveling reputation like the SEC.

I think if UConn finally beat the big dog the fans might gain some bandwagon momentum. That's a hill the Huskies have yet to climb...

(10-01-2009 12:40 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  

(10-01-2009 03:23 AM)GoTigersJoe87 Wrote:  I can only speak about the Titans attendance, as I haven't been in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Charlotte, or New Orleans enough to know how their teams draw, but outside of the Nashville metropolitan area, there aren't that many "die-hard" Titans fans.

They do have a pretty good attendance record; however it's true that outside of metropolitan Nashville, they are an afterthought behind the SEC schools. I'm not so sure that the extreme devotion to SEC teams is a product of having "nothing else to do" so to speak. I think it probably has much more to do with a sense of state/regional pride that a lot of southerners grow up with.

I'm certainly not saying that people from other parts of the country don't have an equal sense of pride, but I think southerners take particular joy in seeing their school "fight" for their state. And yes, in my opinion it is definitely related to leftover feelings from the Civil War and Reconstruction. That's probably why SEC fans have a particular disdain for BigTen teams.

Some stereotypes about the south are true, in remote parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, and East Tennessee for sure. There really isn't the same kind of "culture" that you see in large East Coast cities like Boston or New York; but I'd imagine that if you took a look at what people from rural Alabama or Mississippi do in their spare time and compared it to people in rural Pennsylvania or Maryland they wouldn't be as different as you imagine.

Likewise, there are plenty of very fine "cultured" Southern cities that have thriving entertainment and arts communities on par with their Northern counterparts. We may not have the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Memphis, but without our contributions to the arts, the landscape of American music would be drastically different. Likewise with New Orleans.

We'd love for some of you guys to take a trip down and see for yourself. The weather stays a little warmer in the winter, and you might be surprised at what you find. I doubt your IQ will drop too much on your trip--I actually caught a Broadway show downtown last weekend..

...and I hear the food isn't half bad either.

Hey Tiger - thanks for the input. I don't know how this discussion turned into stereotyping, but it is just about mentality difference in the East/West vs. the South about football.

While I am an alum of UCONN, I am also alum of Santa Clara Unversity. In addition, I got a ton of friends who went to Cal, Stanford, UCLA and USC here in the West Coast. It seems many people that attend Pac-10 games are usually people who are students or alums of the school. Most of these guys would go if the teams are winning and not pay any attention when they are losing. They just go do something else. I am more passionate about UCONN football than those guys about their PAC-10 teams. In the South, I believe many people are raised to cheer for the team even when they are not alums of the schools they are cheering for. I think that's the key difference. For example, the 49er fanbase is totally different than Cal's. You can tell most Cal fans are college graduates while many 49er/Raider fans certainly are not. This is also why most Pac-10 teams in CA don't have great fan traveling reputation like the SEC.

Yep, you hit the nail on the head. 75% of the Vol fans I know have never even been to Knoxville; but they will go down to Oxford to see the Vols play Ole Miss or infest the Liberty Bowl when they play here.

(10-01-2009 12:38 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(10-01-2009 12:34 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  I also wish UCONN would open up more tickets for students. Student interest is very high for the Huskies now. UCONN unfortunately still is trying to sell tickets for high prices to the general public. Those future alums will be UCONN fans once they graduate.

Interesting. Is UCONN selling out its student season ticket packages and how large of a proportion of the stadium would be considered to be student seats? From a long-term view, any school ought to make sure its students are able to get into games. If alums and donors are getting a lot of seats, then that's certainly justifiable, but simply having general public sales at the expense of student tickets isn't a great idea if you want to build a fan base.

There is high demand for student tickets and students can't seem to find enough tickets for the game. It seems UCONN only allow certain amount of student ticket sales (7k?). I know student season tickets sell out quickly. Outside that, students have to pay full regular price for tickets. If they open it to all the students, the attendance would certainly improve. Right now the stadium is like 1000 short of sell out and students would certainly fill that easily. Many UCONN fans complain about this. I know they are trying to maximizing revenue out of the 40K stadium, but fans like me rather see more students than those older fans that are not as passionate. At least this year they lessen the donation requirement for those blue 50 yard seats. UCONN is good at squeezing revenue out of its athletic programs. This is why UCONN is getting more revenue out of the 40K stadium than many teams with much bigger ones.

(10-01-2009 02:20 PM)KnightChris Wrote:  

(10-01-2009 12:40 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  In the South, I believe many people are raised to cheer for the team even when they are not alums of the schools they are cheering for. I think that's the key difference. For example, the 49er fanbase is totally different than Cal's. You can tell most Cal fans are college graduates while many 49er/Raider fans certainly are not. This is also why most Pac-10 teams in CA don't have great fan traveling reputation like the SEC.

I think this may very well be true, although I'll stop short of saying I believe it to be true. Syracuse certainly has its share of non-alum fans, so it exists everywhere, though whether it's more prevalent in the south is unknown to me. I did live in Central Florida briefly, but how "southern" that is is debatable, and the non-alum UCF fans were in short supply (great student support though, and this was back when they were Indy).

The whole phenomenon of "bandwagon" fandom on the college level, or simply rooting for a school you did not attend fascinates (or rather, perplexes) me. I honestly don't think I could do it, nor do I understand why anyone would. I'd feel like an idiot cheering for someone else's alma mater.

Case in point, I was born in Syracuse and thus had more than a passing interest in its school's sports teams, but never really "cheered" for them until I attended the university. However, I know many Syracuse natives that will cheer for the 'Cuse even when they take on their actual alma mater! IMO, those people should have their fan privileges revoked.

Most people have some lame rationalization for their support. One of my favorites being, "my mom/dad/aunt/uncle" went there. I've always thought that sort of misses the point though. We live and die by our college teams because it reminds us of those wonderful memories at the college bars, the parties, that jerk professor we all had, running thru the quad when you were late for class, cramming into the student section on gameday, etc. It's a very emotional connection to a part of our lives that these "fans" don't have and can't vicariously obtain via their parents' college days.

Wow, long rant that had very little to do with the tangent to the original post topic (attendance). Sorry!

Good post Chris! I have to agree with you that I find it strange when people cheering for a school they never attended. I understand if it is parents of a kid who is attending the school, but other folks like many SEC fans that never went to the school I just don't get. Here in the Bay Area the differences in fans is quite drastic between college and pro football. When I went to a Stanford football game, most fans look like they are Stanford graduates and they are usually not so loud during the game. When I went to a Raiders game, I think I was fearing for my safety.

The emotion connection to your alma mater is quite real. In my case, I get weekly updates from my alma mater about what's going on with the school. Once in a blue moon, they will ask for donation. It is all part of the experience.

We are sort of on topic because all these things affect attendance one way or another.

(10-01-2009 02:33 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  Good post Chris! I have to agree with you that I find it strange when people cheering for a school they never attended. I understand if it is parents of a kid who is attending the school, but other folks like many SEC fans that never went to the school I just don't get. Here in the Bay Area the differences in fans is quite drastic between college and pro football. When I went to a Stanford football game, most fans look like they are Stanford graduates and they are usually not so loud during the game. When I went to a Raiders game, I think I was fearing for my safety.

The emotion connection to your alma mater is quite real. In my case, I get weekly updates from my alma mater about what's going on with the school. Once in a blue moon, they will ask for donation. It is all part of the experience.

We are sort of on topic because all these things affect attendance one way or another.

The one thing we have to remember about SEC country is almost all of the cities in the South didn't have pro teams until relatively recently. This is very different than East Coast, Midwest and West Coast cities, where you have several generations of pro sports fans. So, for a lot of Southerners, the only local teams that they grew up watching happened to be college teams. You're simply going to have a lot more passion cheering for a team that you've been following since you were a little kid than a team that expanded or relocated to your area when you're 30 or 40. As the younger people in the South have been exposed more to pro sports from the very beginning of their lives, you might see a shift from that general fandom for college sports teams to pro teams.

(10-01-2009 12:44 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  I think if UConn finally beat the big dog the fans might gain some bandwagon momentum. That's a hill the Huskies have yet to climb...

I thought the Huskies beat Cincy (the big dog) last year.













I couldn't resist Bit.

Who is the big dog? The only big dog I see is a BCS bowl win.

You've got you blinders on, Husky...

Neil, I've grown to expect such things from you...