Best D3 Conferences

[jknezek]

Completely agree. Living down here in Birmingham I can tell you that the world revolves around Tuscaloosa and, to a slightly lesser degree, Auburn. Even the people that go to UAB, Troy, Samford and the other AL schools are all partial to the Crimson Tide or the War Eagles, let alone B-SC. And the hicks in the sticks around here are the most passionate (crazy?) of them all even though many have never had a family member go to either. See the poisoning of Toomer's corner!

As for D3, I agree that the people that go enjoy it. However, even the alumni don't always stick around. We had a W&L event down here this weekend that had a bunch of alumni at it. They were all talking about the Alabama game Saturday night. I brought up W&L's being in the midst of a great two season run and do you know how many of the 20 alumni knew we won the ODAC, went to the playoffs, and were riding our longest ever conference win streak? None...

D3 is something only a comparative few people get deeply into and stay with. I don't think that's really going to change and I'm not sure it needs to. Sure I'd love to see "new" Wilson Stadium packed to the gills on a regular basis and screaming hordes in blue and white face paint cheering on the Generals in shirt and tie and khaki shorts, but I just don't really see it happening. Schools like UMU that sell season tickets at the D3 level just amaze me. I'm pretty sure W&L is still walk in and thank you for coming for every game unless it is a D3 playoff where they are required to charge.

[K-Mack]

Well I agree with you in that it doesn't necessarily need to change -- the get-to-know-you and thanks-for-being-here aspects are part of the charm, as are the humbleness of the players and the fact you can usually get a good vantage point at a game -- I still think there is more that programs could do to maximize their interest within what will likely always be a niche.

Mount Union doesn't draw ridiculous numbers. I could be wrong, but I always saw the season ticket sales there as more of a way to have assigned seating on the coveted covered side of the field there.

Trine is a good example of maximizing. Sometimes we teams think since there's a game people should just come. Well we're interested in pro sports because we know the teams' histories and their players -- although through television and media coverage. We care about them. The reason I watch boxing but not MMA isn't because one is better, it's because I'm familiar with the players in boxing. They promote well.

Trine did some community outreach when Land first got there. I think shaking hands, visiting retirement homes or community events would probably help attendance. Show people you care about them, and give them an opportunity to know who you are, and they might do the same.

Still, we're probably talking about miniscule attendance numbers by comparison to any big school with a big alumni base and a TV deal.

But there are some D3 schools (Wabash is another) whose alumni manage to stay engaged and who have been able to grow attendance. Trine is now 13th overall behind a pretty dern good school, if I do say so myself. Wabash is top 10.

Here are the 17 D-III schools who average 3,500+ per game (and I think we'd agree that's not a great number, that high schools can draw that ... but again, they're not selective and have a wider alumni base):

7,000+
St. John's (MN)
Wis.-Whitewater
Hampden-Sydney

5,300-4,100:
St. Thomas (MN)
Chris. Newport
Emory & Henry
Concordia-M'head
Wartburg
Wabash
Mount Union
Wis.-Eau Claire
Randolph-Macon

3,500-3,999:
Trine
Baldwin-Wallace
Bethel (MN)
Mississippi Col.
Adrian
Grove City
Castleton St.
McDaniel

I wonder if there's any possible way to get this thread back on topic 

[Ralph Turner]

...
I wonder if there's any possible way to get this thread back on topic 

Back on topic?

There was no activity on this thread from Dec 2007 to Nov 2010!   

Finally, 02 Warhawk revived it, two weeks ago, back on Page 6 to announce his blog. 

I think that we are doing okay!

Thanks for the attendance stats, Keith!  I will bet that most of the loyal Mississippi College attendance base goes back to the D2 days (and their vacated national championship in the early 1990's).

I know for the sake of the ASC, I wish that we had 2-3 other nearby conferences against whom our "bottom half" could gobble some wins.

[frank uible]

K-Mack: In most (if not all) years Williams and Trinity (CT) and in some years Amherst would be included in those average attendance numbers. It is presumed that they have been omitted because of their conference.

[AUPepBand]

TV exposure most certainly would help, for all the reasons it helps big schools, but also just to open people's eyes to the idea that there's good football (and bad) being played in small, academically-focused atmospheres, and the options for a HS athlete are not D1 or bust. If it were done in moderation -- and with 239 schools, it would be hard to overdo it -- you could still throw someone the occasional bone without making them a slave to TV money, or making them look at football as a business and not an extension of the classroom.

Pep has been pleased with the increased attendance at Merrill Field this season, no doubt aided by Alfred's 2010 success. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the Alfred SID doubled as the Hornell paper's sports editor. He always had insightful, interesting columns and Alfred had a good following from Hornell and Wellsville, plus local players. We still get local players and it seems we're getting more of a following from area towns again.

In five games this season, AU has drawn an average of 3000. With one more game Nov. 12, with anticipated crummy weather, that stat will likely drop. But still good enough for 34th in the nation...out of 239 schools.

Of course, Pep believes the fine performances of the AU Pep Band has also been a reason for the increased interest! 

[AUPepBand]

K-Mack: In most (if not all) years Williams and Trinity (CT) and in some years Amherst would be included in those average attendance numbers. It is presumed that they have been omitted because of their conference.

Pep found them listed in the NCAA stats but suggests maybe an error in reporting? Trinity looks right but Pep questions the totals for Williams and Amherst.

Williams....1591 for two games for avg. of 796
Trinity (CT)...8800 for three games for avg. of 2933
Amherst...1900 for three games for avg. of 633

As for getting back to topic....best attendance may have something to do with the best D3 Conferences. AU always draws larger crowds for games with Fisher or Ithaca (E8 contests) or maybe long-time opponents such as St. Lawrence, Hobart, Rochester...but when AU plays an unknown, there's less interest.

On Saxon Warriors!

[frank uible]

Amherst and Williams pile up high attendance numbers at the end of each seaon (which figures presumably are not included in the above). The Amherst-Williams game (the last game of the season for each of them) annually attracts in excess of 10,000 fans - sometimes around 12,000..  For years in which that game is played away and consequently the attendance numbers of which are not included in the away team's home numbers for that year, the away team plays Wesleyan late in the season at the away team's home - a game which also records high attendance but not quite as high as the Amherst-Williams game. Amherst and Williams each play four home games annually - 10,000 in attendance for the Amherst-Williams game (or in alternate years for the game against Wesleyan) plus 1000 for each of the other three home games makes an average home attendance number per game in excess of 4000.

[K-Mack]

K-Mack: In most (if not all) years Williams and Trinity (CT) and in some years Amherst would be included in those average attendance numbers. It is presumed that they have been omitted because of their conference.

Never presume, you make a pre out of u and ... wait, forget it.

Those numbers were from the NCAA stats package and sorted by average attendance. Trinity and Wesleyan were in the top 50, just below 3,000 a game, so I think it wasn't so much that the NESCAC is omitted, it is (as you mention in a later post) their big numbers come later in the season. With only four home dates a piece, Amherst or Williams's average will shoot up when the 10,000 is factored in.