[NU Sports] Attendance

Sun Nov 18 13:57:21 CST 2007

What qualifies as a "night game" for the Evanston ordinance? Is it 
defined by kickoff beyond a certain time, regardless of the time of year 
and amount of available natural light or is it based on whether we need 
to put up the temporary artificial lights?

-Michael

Mark Ament wrote:
>
> Our game was allowed because it was on the ESPN family of networks, of 
> which ABC is only a small player these days. There are certain weeks 
> in which BTN has second choice, I believe it's twice a year, but it 
> won't be on the last week of the year. It may have been last week as 
> the tOSU-Wisky game was forced on the BTN.
>
> The BTN games I believe are exempt from the no conflict rule and can 
> be opposite both ESPN and ABC games so shouldn't interfere with time 
> changes, should NU decide to adopt a different start time for some 
> games next year. Keep in mind however, that NU is bound by the 
> Evanston ordinance that permits only one night game per season and has 
> shown no inclination to ask for that to be changed.
>
> Mark
>
> SportsBiz – The Business of Sports Illuminated 
> <http://thesportsbizblog.blogspot.com/>
>
> When it comes to sports, you know it's all about
>
> the money.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] 
> On Behalf Of Michael Vance
> Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 12:51 AM
> To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Attendance
>
> Are the rules regarding the scheduling of games opposite ABC published
>
> somewhere? Because today there were two Big Ten games at 12:00 EST
>
> (Mich-OSU on ABC and NU-Ill on EPSN) and four at 3:30 (MSU-PSU on
>
> ABC/ESPN regional coverage, and the rest on BTN. Was our game allowed
>
> opposite Mich-OSU because it was on another ABC network?
>
> Also, didn't I read something about BTN getting second pick some weeks?
>
> I agree that more late starts would help attendance a lot for NU and
>
> other Central time teams.
>
> -Michael
>
> Jonathan Hodges wrote:
>
> > Some good ideas - obviously some new and fresh ideas are needed to 
> address
>
> > this issue, because outside of winning a lot of games year in and 
> year out,
>
> > the old stuff isn't working. I would like to address some the things that
>
> > you brought up, though:
>
> >
>
> > - Starting times: it's all in the hands of the networks, and the 
> agreement
>
> > with ESPN says that no BTN games can be opposite the "marquee" ABC 
> matchup
>
> > of the day (typically the 2:30 slot, but in the case of the OSU/Michigan
>
> > game it's noon). ESPN/ABC gets their pick(s) first, and the BTN has to
>
> > schedule their games around those games, giving the Big Ten and 
> specifically
>
> > Northwestern little control in regards to time of games.
>
> >
>
> > - Northern Illinois: NIU is now insisting on home-and-home series 
> games (NU
>
> > has never played NIU away from home), which I don't think NU is 
> willing to
>
> > do. Maybe if it was 2 for one or better, NU may go for it, but Murphy
>
> > insists on having 7 home games (something I don't disagree with) and
>
> > home-and-home series against MAC level competition won't let NU get 
> there.
>
> >
>
> > - "Home" game away from Ryan Field: a bad idea and won't do anything for
>
> > numbers outside of on paper, especially since renting a facility and 
> dealing
>
> > with travel, etc. won't really make NU any money. And I completely 
> disagree
>
> > with the idea of selling out by moving a home game closer to an 
> opponent as
>
> > an attempt to get more fans - in that case don't even try to get home 
> games.
>
> >
>
> > - Day of Game discounts: GREAT idea. This is a college (amateur level)
>
> > sport. A $50 tag drives away almost every casual fan family who can't
>
> > afford that steep price - oh, and once they get to the game there's 
> no money
>
> > left for the pricey concessions. Especially for nonconference games, NU
>
> > needs to play with the prices (bring them down A LOT) to attract 
> people to
>
> > the game. The fact is that it can't hurt, NU saw TWO games this year 
> under
>
> > 20,000 in attendance with another THREE just over 20,000.
>
> >
>
> > Anyways, not trying to shoot down any idea, the fact is NU needs a new
>
> > well-thought-out strategy regarding attendance and filling the seats. I
>
> > would hope that this discussion is starting in the athletic department
>
> > shortly, and IMHO it would be advisable to include NU fans in the 
> discussion
>
> > (maybe a town hall type format or an internet exchange).
>
> >
>
> > Jonathan
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > On Nov 16, 2007 8:49 PM, <WildElk2 at aol.com> wrote:
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >> Master of the Obvious Dept.: The 12 game schedule has made it more
>
> >> difficult
>
> >> to get decent crowds, although Mark Murphy is on record that he will 
> take
>
> >> a
>
> >> win at home in front of 15,000, as he feels that more wins will
>
> >> eventually
>
> >> equal more people.
>
> >> With the BTN, there may be more flexibility of starting times. Maybe
>
> >> we
>
> >> can ask the BTN for more 2:30 PM games (as well as an occasional night
>
> >> game)? 11:00 AM kick-offs have to keep at least a few people away. The
>
> >> Duke
>
> >> game is perfect example, as it produced 6,7,000 more than the
>
> >> Northeastern/Nevada games.
>
> >> Get a series with Northern Ill.. A five year series with 3 games in
>
> >> Evanston. This would help both programs , who struggle with early season
>
> >>
>
> >> attendance issues.
>
> >> Schedule a "home" game outside of Dyche Stadium. This is not a paycheck
>
> >> game like the one we disgustingly played vs. Ohio St. at Cleveland
>
> >> Municipal
>
> >> Stadium in the early Nineties. There are plenty of small stadiums
>
> >> across the
>
> >> country that hold 20,000-25,000. An example would be Hershey Park
>
> >> Stadium
>
> >> in Hershey, Pa., which holds 20,000. In 2009 we play Towson; a perfect
>
> >> game
>
> >> to make it easy for east coast alums and fans. Notre Dame is playing
>
> >> "home"
>
> >> games in San Antonio and Jacksonville in the near future.
>
> >> On the day of the game, if we have a 20,000-25,000 ish crowd, sell the
>
> >> end zone and goal-line seats for $5, and advertise the hell out of it
>
> >> via
>
> >> newspapers, radio, TV. Just get people here; they'll buy hot dogs,
>
> >> programs,
>
> >> and once in a while, they'll get a junkie hooked like me, who paid 
> $4 for
>
> >> end
>
> >> zone seats circa. 1980. In the same vein, bring back Band Day and sell
>
> >> all
>
> >> those crappy seats for a $1 for each band member.
>
> >> Crowds(?) of 16,000, 17,000, and 20,000 for a conference game is
>
> >> unacceptable. Time to take steps to change.
>
> >> As far as the Illinois game, I anticipate a hard-hitting nail-biter,
>
> >> but
>
> >> I'm picking Illinois to win, as after 4 straight wins, it's Illinois's
>
> >> turn.
>
> >> They will not take us lightly, and after 4 straight losses and so 
> much on
>
> >> the line, I see no let-down. We need to stop the run, period. With that
>
> >> said,
>
> >> I see a 31-27 Illinois win. If we can stop the run , we'll give
>
> >> ourselves
>
> >> a chance to win.
>
> >>
>
> >> GO CATS!!! Eric
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
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>
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>
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>
> >>
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
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