[NU Sports] Saturday's Attendance

[Tom Maycock]

The student turn-out was very poor for the Minny game, and those that did show up were very late in arriving--as were the non-students. The place was practically empty as NU was coming out of the tunnel.

I sure hope more folks arrive in time for the introduction of the seniors this week, but am not optimistic.

Tom
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Hodges <j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu>
Sender: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:54:51 
To: <neonrye at aol.com>
Cc: <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Saturday's Attendance

This will be the first NU home game after Thanksgiving since 1989, but they
have played some later away games (1990 at Illinois, 1998 & 2004 at Hawaii,
last year at Wisconsin).  Last year is when the Big Ten officially extended
its schedule into the weekend after Thanksgiving; previously it was an open
weekend (along with the first weekend in December) and teams were free to
schedule non-conference games then if they wished.  Multiple coaches made
some noise about the Big Ten being "forgotten" nationally in December due
to ending league play so early, hence why it was extended.  Then came
Nebraska and the title game, which also changed the picture.

Obviously Fitz and some others were against it from a student welfare
standpoint but like many of the other recent moves (expansion, conference
title game, 9 game conference schedule starting in 2017), it's all about
the money and it's better to have some more prime time TV slots to bring in
the cash.

I think attendance will suffer due to students not being in town and many
families also traveling.  Also, MSU fans have little incentive to travel
for this one as they've already clinched the division and will likely be
saving up for their trip to Indy and possibly a big bowl game, so NU can't
rely on hordes of opposing fans here (which likely would have been
different if MSU still needed the W to lock it up).  The past 2 games
attendance has been arond 26,000 and I think NU would be lucky to hit that
this week, unfortunately.  This is where drawing from a national pool of
students hurts as there just aren't a ton of locals around who will still
be in town over the holiday weekend (NU has had similar issues over Labor
Day weekend).

Note that NUMB will be there for the game, but I doubt many other students
will be there (student attendance was reportedly not so great for the past
two home dates either, which were both 11AM starts but had relatively good
weather).

--
Jonathan Hodges
Contributor, HailToPurple
Web: http://www.hailtopurple.com/jhodges/
Twitter: @hailtopurple
Email: j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu



On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 10:34 PM, <neonrye at aol.com> wrote:

>
> Anybody have a clue what attendance at Ryan might be like on Saturday
> against the Spartans?   We need home-field advantage, but don't know if we
> will have one.  As far as I know, this weekend is unprecedented in the Big
> 10, with all of the big games, including rivalry games over Thanksgiving
> Break.  Will there be a strong, vocal contingents of students at our game?
>  The Chicagoland and midwestern kids should make it, but what about those
> from the East Coast, West Coast, and points south?  I fear that MSU may
> send a lot of fans, as they usually seem to do at Ryan, but with the Title
> game in Indy next weekend on the horizon, and the game not meaning much for
> them, will they take a pass?
>
> As for Michigan-OSU, my niece, who is a Junior at Ann Arbor, told me this
> evening that Michigan is making arrangements for students to return for the
> game.  Her cousin, who is her classmate there, is flying back tomorrow--she
> is not--so he will be back for the game. I assume that the Big House will
> be packed, as always--in anticipation of a long-awaited win over the hated
> Buckeyes.
>
> And Nebraska will be packed, of course.  I assume Camp Randall will be
> also for that huge game vs. PSU, but will the students get back in time?
> Purdue-Indiana?  Bet it will be especially small crowd this year.  And
> Illinois at Minnesota--can't imagine a sellout there; wonder if many fans
> will travel from Urbana for Zookster's Last Stand?
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Happy Thanksgiving.
>
> Paul Levinson
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