FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[hsbsballcoach7]

[/quote]

Once you start charging students to attend, it really affects the gate. And when you send the students all home for the holiday, it compounds it. I've also been told by Whitewater fans that it's a big deer-hunting weekend, so that probably is the same in Minnesota.

Mount guarantees the same seat, but you do still have to pay for it, when you already paid for your season tickets up front.
[/quote]

I'm pretty sure Mount Union students don't have to pay, regular season or playoffs. I think the school or an alumnus pays for those bc it's been free for quite a while.

[Pat Coleman]

UWW generally has someone who will pay for the student tickets as well. But they still have to get them and show up, and I'm sure you can see that student participation is part of the reason why attendance is lower.

[repete]

The SJU/CSB student government paid for the first 500 student tickets for Round 1 I think, but I  do not know about Round 2. Combine the campus isolation and the holiday exodus with a fan base that might have been looking ahead a bit to UMHB and I'm not all that surprised about the SJU crowd. I believe most of the big Minnesota firearms deer season was over, however.

Had I been back in the area, I would have been there. But I've got to say if you run Blitz on the PC and your game of choice on the big cave, it's a pretty good gameday. Really enjoy and the appreciate the coverage, even if (and I know why) there was so much time spent on the Brockport fail.

[Pat Coleman]

Yeah -- regardless of who was in the control room, we had to spend a bunch of time on that game.

[MUC57]

I seem to have started something when I posted attendance figures for Saturday's games. Great. Gives us something to talk about before the week gets rolling.
I was well aware of the reason for a drop off on Thanksgiving weekend. I forgot about hunting season in The Land of Lakes.
But I'm also curious about what seems to be low turnout during the regular season AND during the playoffs! There are many really good football teams playing really good football every Saturday in Dlll. Where are the crowds? For those who work during the week, it could be a shopping day. Mount fans say, "why go. They're going to win" UMHB fans and fans for other schools may feel the same way. St. John's always has high attendance numbers. But how about the rest of us?
If you look at attendance figures for various schools over some period of time, I think you'll see what I mean.
Maybe I'm all wet. I've been told worse. Just something I've been thinking about.
Of course, WE all support our respective team. Where are the rest of the fans? ❓❓❓❓❓❓❓

[Craft_Beermeister]

91.1 posted on Twitter yesterday the video of Andrew Roesch running down Centre player just before the goal line as he tried to return a blocked extra point attempt for points.  In the video just after Roesch makes the tackle and the celebration starts a person in Mount Union purple coat standing just off the end line can be seen celebrating.  I know the university, OAC, and the NCAA do a great job of keeping fans off the field and behind the fences so this guy had to be there for some official reason.  In the video it is difficult to make out who the guy is but my guess is that it was LK.  Larry does watch a lot of the games from field level just beyond the endzone. 

I wish I could figure out how to post a link of the video, but I'm old I get mixed up on posting video links.  Maybe someone on this board can help.

https://twitter.com/WRMU_sports/status/1066499248915648514

Sure looks like Coach LK.

Yep. When I talked to him at the Denison game it looked like he had the same coat on with the hoodie. In the video he looked fired up.

[OzJohnnie]

More on attendance

I realize Thanksgiving is the biggest reason for low attendance. Students are gone, people are traveling. I was also thinking ahead. I see low attendance figures in lots of the playoff games. I'll wait until this weekends games and, maybe talk more about it. Time for a cold one! Mult noroc. (Ask your Romanian friends)

If SJU and Bethel each survive this weekend and play a semi-final at Clemens then that place will be a rockin'.  Very long shot, though.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Muhlenberg SOS #54, Mount Union #56.

Should be a close game.

[Pat Coleman]

Muhlenberg SOS #54, Mount Union #56.

Should be a close game.

This type of take should be confined to Twitter. 

[formerd3db]

I seem to have started something when I posted attendance figures for Saturday's games. Great. Gives us something to talk about before the week gets rolling.
I was well aware of the reason for a drop off on Thanksgiving weekend. I forgot about hunting season in The Land of Lakes.
But I'm also curious about what seems to be low turnout during the regular season AND during the playoffs! There are many really good football teams playing really good football every Saturday in Dlll. Where are the crowds? For those who work during the week, it could be a shopping day. Mount fans say, "why go. They're going to win" UMHB fans and fans for other schools may feel the same way. St. John's always has high attendance numbers. But how about the rest of us?
If you look at attendance figures for various schools over some period of time, I think you'll see what I mean.
Maybe I'm all wet. I've been told worse. Just something I've been thinking about.
Of course, WE all support our respective team. Where are the rest of the fans? ❓❓❓❓❓❓❓

MUC57:

Appreciate your interest in the attendance issues.  I thought perhaps I was the only one in that regard.   We had this discussion on our MIAA board last month and I also brought this up for discussion here on this board last year.  Our colleagues here, our administrator including Pat, have already discussed the reasons as to the lower attendance. Certainly, the main reasons, particularly for the second round games is the Thanksgiving weekend date as mentioned, although the weather has played a large part in that, especially the last two years, IMO (and not to forget the Mich/Ohio State game as also mentioned-at least for our two respective States).

However, aside from the usual schools that have high attendance regularly and/or at least for the "big" games as you and others have mentioned i.e. St. Johns, the Monon Bell game, the annual Ithaca/Cortland game, St. Johns/St. Thomas and/or Bethel, Amherst/Williams, and occasionally UWW, to mention a few, it appears (at least to me) that there has been an overall decline in DIII football attendance the past 2-3 years or so (and possibly overall in NCAA at all divisions-obviously, we will have to check the annual NCAA Records Book that comes out each year after the conclusion of the season to compare all the divisions this year and last.  In our MIAA, with the exception of Trine which has had 4,000-6,000+ for games this year (and last) and occasionally (surprisingly) Olivet for a big game at times-they had over 7,000 for their Homecoming game last year-attendance has been declining in our league.

For Hope, despite having now had 3 consecutive winning seasons (7-3, 8-2, 8-2) with the coaching change in early 2016, our home attendance has been disappointing.  Back in my day, we always had 4,000+ for Homecoming games and often into the 5,000+ for the games which determined the championship (nearly 9,000 for Alma/Albion championship game in the late 90s).  We only managed 3,100 for the Annual Community Day this year in 2018, the first home game of each year in which Hope hosts for the City of Holland as a thank you for the huge support of the city and community to the College-that date used to usually get 4,000+.  Heck, Kalamazoo had their best season in many years this season (7-3) and they could only get a paltry attendance in the 700s for their home games, which is sad. Granted, they are not a football factory and have had a difficult road in regenerating their program back to a respective level in recent years, which has been done this year.

The consensus opinion of many at Hope is that football just doesn't have the interest of the student body there anymore like it did years ago; a somewhat different student enrollment that has interests other than football, with the exception of basketball.  Of course, Hope has led the nation in basketball attendance for several years this past decade (and Hope/Calvin hold the national record for attendance to a DIII basketball game back in 2000 with nearly 12, 000 in attendance). All that said, in looking at the MIAA football attendance figures the past 2-3 years and, again, overall in DIII, IMO, this has been on a declining course and I also believe it can be seen at the DI level for many of the schools overall (not including the huge FBS schools we all know).  While I also believe the extremely poor weather the past two seasons (2017 and this year) with regard to record consecutive rain weeks and weekends has contributed to the lower attendance, it seems that the general football interest is just not what it used to be.  The exception is that there will always be the diehards like you, me and the many of our posting colleagues on these boards, and, of course, our top man, Pat and his staff for maintaining the interest in DIII football for us.

One last comment...I think the Stagg Bowl attendance has been good/decent the past several years (actually not bad and steady).  However, I would expect and hope that would increase when it moves to Canton, OH in a couple of years.  Otherwise, that will be most disappointing.  Anyway, thanks for bringing up the discussion here and thanks to all of you who shared your opinions regarding this topic as well. 

[Edit: for spelling errors, typos ]         

[AndOne]

More on attendance

I realize Thanksgiving is the biggest reason for low attendance. Students are gone, people are traveling. I was also thinking ahead. I see low attendance figures in lots of the playoff games. I'll wait until this weekends games and, maybe talk more about it. Time for a cold one! Mult noroc. (Ask your Romanian friends)

57 Buddy,
The kids are gone is one big reason but I wonder how the NCAA controls the gate and what kind of seats season ticket holders can get etc. etc?
Just gave myself a headache

The other 57

Mount guarantees season ticket holders the same seats for the playoff. Any extra seats they ask for may not be near them, depending on availability. Don't think the NCAA "controls" the gate.
For your headache - take 2 aspirins or, my personal choice, drink a lot. I wish the Johnnies the very best this weekend! Go Johnnies! 😃 🍺 ❗️

If you take the 2 aspirins before drinking a lot, it won't hurt as much afterwards.  💊 🥃 🍺 😊

[MUC57]

AndOne

Thanks. I did not know that. Damn, I love this board. 🍺🍺🍺🍺

[MUC57]

formerd3db

Excellent post on the subject of attendance. I thought perhaps I was the only one who detected the fact that attendance seems low. You have obviously looked at this much closer than I. I have talked to fans from other teams over the last 5-10 years and posed the question, "Why don't more people come to our games?". No one had an answer. Everyone seemed as puzzled as I.
Turned out to be kind of a fun topic. Don't know if we got any answers, for long term low attendance, but I bet we raised awareness, for whatever that's worth.
Thanks again for your long, well thought out "report" on this board. I hope others will read it.
Go Flying Dutchmen! Hey, there's next year! 😃

[edward de vere]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/browns-likely-to-reach-out-to-iowa-states-matt-campbell-whos-very-much-on-nfl-teams-radar/

Thanks for the post.  But I don't care HOW good a coach Matt Campbell is - I just don't see how he can coach Iowa State AND Ohio State AND the Cleveland Browns all at the same time.

[mr_mom]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/browns-likely-to-reach-out-to-iowa-states-matt-campbell-whos-very-much-on-nfl-teams-radar/

Thanks for the post.  But I don't care HOW good a coach Matt Campbell is - I just don't see how he can coach Iowa State AND Ohio State AND the Cleveland Browns all at the same time.

Maybe 2 of 3?  <G>