(12-10-2018 10:22 AM)BlueRaiderBoy Wrote:  Really Not Going To Happen. Gotta crawl before you walk, walk before you run, and run before you fly. CUSA 2.0 is still crawling. When we can draw 30,000+consistently in our home venues for a CCG; then we can start thinking about a neutral site.

3.0, we're at version 3.0 now.

No need to think about improving CCG attendance. The West will be hosting the next 10 CCG and there won't be an attendance issue.

(12-08-2018 01:11 PM)_sturt_ Wrote:  



Ripped from another thread, for this different conversation...

Quote:But now, indulge me... I'm thinking about a way to build on your idea.

On this neutral site idea... what if we began conducting the CUSA Championship Game in the same city (not the same venue) as the SEC Championship on the Friday night before their game?... essentially, promote it as a value-added event, and perhaps even sell deep discounted tickets at the gate with fans' SEC championship game tickets used as a kind of coupon?

Start with using Georgia State's stadium which holds about 25K... the old Turner Field. If the thing catches on as we'd hope, there's always the option to graduate to using Georgia Tech's stadium which is about double that size.

Yes, no, or maybe?

No. We can't even get people to show up at their own home stadium for the conference championship game, so why would we want to move to a neutral site? If there were any changes, I'd suggest letting the division champion with the best attendance to host. However, that might lead to (more) attendance fudging.

No.

Home venue is our best option. Whatever we're making there is likely as much as we're going to make.

Never work, none of the G5 teams travel well enough to fill a neutral site venue and no P5 wants to attend someone else's conference championship.

Thinking outside the box...

What about a "Championship Saturday"? Let's say CUSA, the Belt, and the MAC all have their CGs in the same place, the same day. Kickoff for the first game at 1PM, then 4:30PM, and then 8:00PM....all carried by ESPN. Fans buy one ticket, good for all three games, and for all the entertainment provided too. Ya know...The Rolling Stones do a 30-minute show between games!! Okay...maybe not the Stones, but you get the idea.

Have lots of charity events mixed in. Celebrities to promote different efforts, and events tied to those that a fan with a ticket (a pass) get into.

Just a thought...

(12-13-2018 08:31 AM)Tech80 Wrote:  Thinking outside the box...

What about a "Championship Saturday"? Let's say CUSA, the Belt, and the MAC all have their CGs in the same place, the same day. Kickoff for the first game at 1PM, then 4:30PM, and then 8:00PM....all carried by ESPN. Fans buy one ticket, good for all three games, and for all the entertainment provided too. Ya know...The Rolling Stones do a 30-minute show between games!! Okay...maybe not the Stones, but you get the idea.

Have lots of charity events mixed in. Celebrities to promote different efforts, and events tied to those that a fan with a ticket (a pass) get into.

Just a thought...

Sturt told us this was a business and what you want would most likely cost the conference money. Again you are paying travel cost for 2 teams instead of one and you are sharing cost of the rental of a stadium with 2 other conferences. You are also sharing any money made with 2 other conferences.....

All six fanbases now have to travel to get to the game and now that $30 ticket only gets you $10 of it. So instead of 16,000 fans you now need to sell 48,000 tickets or 16,000 at $90 each just to get back to where you were....

nope that's not even correct....got to recover that travel cost for the 2nd team and stadium expense. In the end less fans will be at the game because most fans for the next game to be played wont show up till the 3rd or 4th qt...

so in the end you lose money, you have less fans in the stands and playing in a larger stadium it looks worse on TV than 16,000 in a smaller stadium

Forgetting ALL the other G5 conferences, for CUSA the conference championship should go to the division winner with the highest average attendance for the season. This would give all schools incentive to boost attendance AND hopefully insure a good turnout for the championship game.

(12-14-2018 07:52 PM)THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:  Forgetting ALL the other G5 conferences, for CUSA the conference championship should go to the division winner with the highest average attendance for the season. This would give all schools incentive to boost attendance AND hopefully insure a good turnout for the championship game.

So is that actual attendance or what each school decides they want it to be? There's a huge huge huge difference between the two

(12-14-2018 08:18 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 07:52 PM)THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:  Forgetting ALL the other G5 conferences, for CUSA the conference championship should go to the division winner with the highest average attendance for the season. This would give all schools incentive to boost attendance AND hopefully insure a good turnout for the championship game.

So is that actual attendance or what each school decides they want it to be? There's a huge difference between the two

Audited tickets sold, unfortunately I don't think there's a way to verify butts in seats. I think CUSA teams use the NASCAR attendance counting methodology count actual butts in seats then multiply by 2.

(12-14-2018 08:43 PM)THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 08:18 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(12-14-2018 07:52 PM)THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:  Forgetting ALL the other G5 conferences, for CUSA the conference championship should go to the division winner with the highest average attendance for the season. This would give all schools incentive to boost attendance AND hopefully insure a good turnout for the championship game.

So is that actual attendance or what each school decides they want it to be? There's a huge difference between the two

Audited tickets sold, unfortunately I don't think there's a way to verify butts in seats. I think CUSA teams use the NASCAR attendance counting methodology count actual butts in seats then multiply by 2.

As I said there's a huge difference in the way schools count attendance
Below is 22,000 in a 48,000 seat stadium


This is 16,000 in a 23,000 seat stadium





The empty section was full..S, Miss band




Here's 15,800 in a 30,000 seat stadium

I wouldn't mind playing La Tech in Tulane's new little stadium in uptown New Orleans. NOT the Superdome. It's less comfortable since they added more seats after Katrina. But playing in the garden district would be nice. We play Tulane there in a few years.

Think smaller stadiums in cool destinations. Vanderbilt's stadium would be a neat place to hold a WKU/MTSU game, but I can't see Vandy wanting to help out.

Another issue with a destination champ game is will either teams fans be able to afford to go to their bowl game after going to a champ game the week or two weeks before? True, a lot of our regular season games are further than our potential bowls.

(12-08-2018 10:34 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  

(12-08-2018 02:56 PM)_sturt_ Wrote:  I get it that the typical reply is going to be simple gut reactions, and almost inherently those gut reactions are going to go something like... "Nah. Another lame idea. Next."

And to be sure, being a whole new angle on the neutral site concept, there's really not much more than gut reaction to go on.

But then, given the alternative which is to keep doing what we're doing as-if that's working (not)... a deeper dig might think through what numbers might merit consideration...

For instance...

Wonder what the attendance was for the SEC Championship Game... what, maybe 30K?

What percentage of those fans do you figure might normally arrive in ATL earlier than Saturday... maybe 5% or so?

What percentage of those folks do you figure might really enjoy football so much they might make a weekend of it, and see two games for not much more than the price of one... maybe 5% or so again?

How far do you think the typical fan in town on Friday night might travel to see another FBS conference's championship if it were marketed right and s/he knew about it... what, a couple of miles at most from Mercedes Benz Stadium?

The attendance was 77k this year for Bama vs Georgia.

Was it really now? That much? Well, there ya go then. *wink*

Thought my ridiculously low numbers might help further the point... if you only get a "smidgen" of that SEC crowd, you've already helped seriously boost your CCG into being a more economically-justified event than it has been.

(12-08-2018 11:00 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  No way 5% of those fans are going to go to a CUSA championship game just because its being played in the same city as Sturt thinks. They sure as hell aren't going to walk 2 miles or pay the $30 to $40 to see it. Hell that's money that can be spent on drinks while on Bourbon St or at the casino.

sturt if you really believe half the **** you post on this topic....you're dumber than a rock. Most fans of our schools are limited in money and will not travel to New Orleans and then another 10 to 15 hour drive or money for a plane ticket to a bowl game...

all with in a 2 or 3 weeks from Christmas

As for the average fan living in the city that host the championship game...if you gave away 10,000 tickets, 8,500 would have something better to do with their time. If the 1500 had to walk the 2 miles or pay $15 to $20 for parking that takes care of another 1250 of the 1500. Stupid ideal any way you look at it and 14 freaking threads about the same subject is not changing how stupid it is

Um. Forgive me if you know better, but it doesn't seem you're one who's been to Atlanta enough to know they have a MARTA system. So, this idea of a two-mile walk isn't actually a thing. In fact, I only cited the distance between the MB stadium and the GSU stadium to highlight that there would be little difference for a given fan in travel from his/her hotel to either one of the stadiums.

And. As said earlier, but perhaps avoided attention...

Just a general statement addressed to no one in particular...

Some make extensive use of hyperbole and insult, and some trumpet their own excellence in prognostication, and some both of those, in the effort to persuade.

Some choose to avoid any of that, but instead, focus on analysis of experience/history and other empirical information or what otherwise is termed "substance."

My own inclination is to prefer the latter, both in terms of what I write, and in terms of what opinions I consider to be actually supported and worth consideration.

But I also say... that's just me and how I see it. Everyone is entitled to decide for themselves how to discern what conclusions and rationale they should value and trust.

(12-13-2018 08:31 AM)Tech80 Wrote:  Thinking outside the box...

What about a "Championship Saturday"? Let's say CUSA, the Belt, and the MAC all have their CGs in the same place, the same day. Kickoff for the first game at 1PM, then 4:30PM, and then 8:00PM....all carried by ESPN. Fans buy one ticket, good for all three games, and for all the entertainment provided too. Ya know...The Rolling Stones do a 30-minute show between games!! Okay...maybe not the Stones, but you get the idea.

Have lots of charity events mixed in. Celebrities to promote different efforts, and events tied to those that a fan with a ticket (a pass) get into.

Just a thought...

I'd be up for that.

I just wouldn't want it to be with the Sun Belt.

Mason-Dixon Saturday.... MAC and CUSA Championship Games at one site.

That could be fun, actually.

(12-09-2018 10:11 AM)Tech80 Wrote:  But, the Naysayers have some valid points, in this case. If a neutral site CUSA championship game were part of a double-header, with say, the SEC championship game....well. Problem is the SEC CG is 99% certain to sell out on its own. If there was some premium price bumping a $75 ticket to say, $82, but said ticket was now good to see the CUSA CG at 2pm and the SEC CG at 7pm, SEC fans would still gobble up the available tickets, complaining mildly about the small increase in price, but still buying them anyway, and what...? Would maybe 500 CUSA fans pay $82 just to get access to both games? So, the 2pm CUSA game is on TV with 500+ fans in attendance.

That's a strawman, my friend. It would only be a "valid" point if it were a valid premise. That's notably different in the details from what was outlined above.

(12-09-2018 10:11 AM)Tech80 Wrote:  If the two games are marketed separately, and tickets sold separately, but somehow tied together...come to Atlanta and watch two CGs that day...Well, what possible motivation would the SEC have to cooperate in such a marketing endeavor?

Again, somewhat different premise here than what was stated... I haven't suggested any cooperation.

(12-09-2018 10:11 AM)Tech80 Wrote:  I'm not knocking the thought process, even though it might appear that way. I like the notion of thinking outside of the box! In theory, IF it worked, big IF!, I guarantee the other G5 leagues would immediately express envy and seek to lock up something similar with the ACC, and maybe the Big 12 and/or Big 10 (the MAC). Problem is the practical aspects of the idea.

Please clarify... what is the problem for us if the MAC copy cats this and hosts their CG on the Friday night before the Big Ten CG in Indy or whatever city? Not understanding how that harms us, and to the contrary, I'm remembering something is the sincerest form of flattery.

My first take regarding the rest of your post is that it deserves some more developed thought than I can momentarily afford to give it... but I'll get back to it sometime soon enough.

To summarize, though.... your criticisms would be valid, except what was proposed was slightly but significantly different than what seemingly was intended to be understood.