Attendance 2013

[darell1976]

http://forum.siouxsp...012-attendance/

Through Saturday's game:

#19 total attendance: 46,626

#40 avg attendance: 9325

#41 % capacity: 75.92

Eastern Michigan still averaging 4527 through 4 home games.

This was through 5 home games last season....

This season through 5 home games:

Total attendance: 45,883

Avg Attendance 9177

% Capacity 74.71%

Not good since in 2012 we played a DII team and still averaged more people!!

[mg2009]

also have had 4 marque opponents at home

[Siouxperfan7]

Next two games are both winnable. To bad the place will be half full!!

[darell1976]

Next two games are both winnable. To bad the place will be half full!!

Not sure about that.

[geaux_sioux]

Nice to see Goodman wrap up low and drive the back.

[UND92,96]

6634 was the announced (paid) attendance today. Maybe 6000 actually there.

[darell1976]

2013:

Total Attendance (7 games) 58,501

Avg Attendance 8357

2012:

Total Attendance (6 games) 53,770

Avg Attendance 8,962

Speaks for itself

[forksandspoons]

Especially with the amount of ranked opponents we played at home...

[bincitysioux]

I believe the average was over 10,000 in 2008........

[Vegas_Sioux]

the news had an interesting stat in muss's 34 games at the alerus 4 of the first 6 attendance was 10000 plus, in the final 28 there was 2.

[geaux_sioux]

the news had an interesting stat in muss's 34 games at the alerus 4 of the first 6 attendance was 10000 plus, in the final 28 there was 2.

That says all you need to know about why we are where we are today.

[mg2009]

ticket numbers are probably generous considering the last home game.

[CMSioux]

Do you think that perhaps the fact that we went through a transition, left the NCC, had a schedule that was patchwork at best filled with schools no one ever heard of might have had something to do with attendance going down - geez I blame Muss for the following:

Every rainy or cold day of tailgating in the past six years

The Alerus adding a parking fee to game day

The starter on my tailgating van going out

[Oxbow6]

Do you think that perhaps the fact that we went through a transition, left the NCC, had a schedule that was patchwork at best filled with schools no one ever heard of might have had something to do with attendance going down - geez I blame Muss for the following:

Every rainy or cold day of tailgating in the past six years

The Alerus adding a parking fee to game day

The starter on my tailgating van going out

OK we get it...you are upset that now you have to move out of Muss's basement since his house will be on the market soon but don't worry because in your eyes he probably has a shot at the HC position at Nebraska when that come open at the end of their season.

Faison even said attendance was a factor in letting Muss go...regardless of how many excuses you want to make people would not have stayed away in droves if the product on the field wouldn't have been complete garbage most games. Winning games keeps butts in the seats. Losing to a NAIA school and routinely getting trounced by top BSC team was the issue.

[UND92,96]

Do you think that perhaps the fact that we went through a transition, left the NCC, had a schedule that was patchwork at best filled with schools no one ever heard of might have had something to do with attendance going down - geez I blame Muss for the following:

Every rainy or cold day of tailgating in the past six years

The Alerus adding a parking fee to game day

The starter on my tailgating van going out

Clearly Faison did hold Muss at least somewhat responsible for the dwindling attendance, or he wouldn't have acknowledged that it was a factor in his decision. It all goes back to the Sioux Falls game of 2009. It was going to take some so-called "signature wins" to erase that memory and win casual fans back, and those wins never came.

[Westside]

Do you think that perhaps the fact that we went through a transition, left the NCC, had a schedule that was patchwork at best filled with schools no one ever heard of might have had something to do with attendance going down - geez I blame Muss for the following:

Every rainy or cold day of tailgating in the past six years

The Alerus adding a parking fee to game day

The starter on my tailgating van going out

We've had a Big Sky schedule for 2 seasons. This years home schedule was called one of the best in FCS. And yet, 2013 attendance was still lower than when UND started the transition. 2013 had some of the worst attendance #'s in Alerus history. Why? Not consistently winning or putting a competitive product on the field.

This post by Vegas Sioux says all you need to know....

the news had an interesting stat in muss's 34 games at the alerus 4 of the first 6 attendance was 10000 plus, in the final 28 there was 2.

[Siouxperfan7]

We've had a Big Sky schedule for 2 seasons. This years home schedule was called one of the best in FCS. And yet, 2013 attendance was still lower than when UND started the transition. 2013 had some of the worst attendance #'s in Alerus history. Why? Not consistently winning or putting a competitive product on the field.

This post by Vegas Sioux says all you need to know....

I never liked how UND marketed this years schedule as "one of the best." Sure it had some highly ranked teams, but in reality it was one of the toughest if not the toughest in all of FCS football. Only think that would have made it good was to beat 2 or 3 of the 4 ranked teams that we played at home. But given the play on the field, that was not possible. Doesn't matter if we have Montana, MT State, and SDSU at home or Weber St, Robert Morris, and Idaho St. If you aren't winning games,, people are not going to be excited to go to the Alerus to watch the game. Its that simple. Keeping Muss another would have been a disaster in terms of attendance. Getting a new coaching staff in here will generate a little buzz and winning a few games off the bat will bring the casual fan back. Faison made the right decision and took the first step towards rebuilding this program to what it has the potential to be.

[Hawkster]

I never liked how UND marketed this years schedule as "one of the best." Sure it had some highly ranked teams, but in reality it was one of the toughest if not the toughest in all of FCS football. Only think that would have made it good was to beat 2 or 3 of the 4 ranked teams that we played at home. But given the play on the field, that was not possible. Doesn't matter if we have Montana, MT State, and SDSU at home or Weber St, Robert Morris, and Idaho St. If you aren't winning games,, people are not going to be excited to go to the Alerus to watch the game. Its that simple. Keeping Muss another would have been a disaster in terms of attendance. Getting a new coaching staff in here will generate a little buzz and winning a few games off the bat will bring the casual fan back. Faison made the right decision and took the first step towards rebuilding this program to what it has the potential to be.

I thought this year was an average schedule in terms of toughness and having 7 games at home made it even better. Look at next years schedule, I'd say that one will be the real meat grinder. Not only do we have UM, MSU, EWU, and UNA, we've got an FBS team right off the bat, and we don't get to play either ISU or a Valpo.

This is Big Sky football and we may as well get used to it.

[CMSioux]

My opinion - and I'm allowed to have one - is that there are mnay factors that go into attendance. The terrible schedule during the transition certainly contributed to dwindling attendance, the year they went 8-3 attendance wasn't any better because the opponents were no-names. In addition it's just a fact that Grand Forks is a hockey town - UND hockey is the place to be and once you plunk down that chunck of change some people don't see UND football as worth more of their entertainment dollar and that will never change. Could football achieve average attendance of 10,000 every home game - maybe but it's not a given for many reasons. To continue to pile onto Mussman at this point is just mean spirited.

Mrs. Mussman

[Matt]

There is one immutable truth about attendance which holds true no matter who you are or what teams are on the schedule from year to year.

Win games.

Even Moorhead State had full home bleachers when they won games.

[dmksioux]

My opinion - and I'm allowed to have one - is that there are mnay factors that go into attendance. The terrible schedule during the transition certainly contributed to dwindling attendance, the year they went 8-3 attendance wasn't any better because the opponents were no-names. In addition it's just a fact that Grand Forks is a hockey town - UND hockey is the place to be and once you plunk down that chunck of change some people don't see UND football as worth more of their entertainment dollar and that will never change. Could football achieve average attendance of 10,000 every home game - maybe but it's not a given for many reasons. To continue to pile onto Mussman at this point is just mean spirited.

Mrs. Mussman

To some degree you may be right. But I believe the product on the field had much more to do with it. It wasn't that we were losing games, but how we were losing them. At times, our play was downright laughable and comparable to HS or even Jr. High football. How can you expect people to shell out money for what we were putting on the field? Hockey, even though they haven't won a championship in 10+ years, is at least competitive and puts out a good product. Even so, there are now games, such as last weekend, that weren't sold out.

[CMSioux]

Agreed, but the year they went 8-3 attendance was no better and last year they had one of the most entertaining offensives in UND history and started out with a winning record before fading and home attendance was no better - perhaps we are destined to be in the top 50 for attendance and the best way to enjoy it is to stop comparing the program to others who have the luxury of being the only game in town.

[UND92,96]

Agreed, but the year they went 8-3 attendance was no better and last year they had one of the most entertaining offensives in UND history and started out with a winning record before fading and home attendance was no better - perhaps we are destined to be in the top 50 for attendance and the best way to enjoy it is to stop comparing the program to others who have the luxury of being the only game in town.

I'd be happy to just compare attendance to 2008--terrible schedule, but good attendance (over 10,000 per game average). People were excited about the move to FCS, and didn't particularly care that the opponents were mostly sub-par. Something drastically changed in 2009, and we all know what caused it.

[UND-FB-FAN]

Agreed, but the year they went 8-3 attendance was no better and last year they had one of the most entertaining offensives in UND history and started out with a winning record before fading and home attendance was no better - perhaps we are destined to be in the top 50 for attendance and the best way to enjoy it is to stop comparing the program to others who have the luxury of being the only game in town.

When you first look at the surface of the attendance problems in 2011 - 13, it may seem that winning isn't the issue, but when you dig a little deeper, it becomes more obvious that in fact winning is the issue.

In 2011, the team played several non-D1 opponents, but they still had an opportunity to sweep FCS opponents. The biggest game of the year was a game against Cal Poly. The crowd was into it and somewhere around that 10,000 showed. Bradley played horrible, UND lost, and then the season's attendance was never the same after.

In 2012, Cal Poly also put a dagger into attendance. Big crowd for a 3-1 UND team taking on a 3-0 Poly team during an evening contest. UND lost that game and then got blown out against Eastern Washington the next week in Cheney. Once again - attendance never recovered.

This season, the attendance was great for early games against SDSU and Montana, and had UND won one of those games, particularly the Montana game, the crowd probably would have grew. Instead, UND got embarrassed at home and the attendance dropped like a rock.

If UND wins big home games when given the opportunity, Grand Forks WILL produce 10,000 + crowds.

[Oxbow6]

My opinion - and I'm allowed to have one - is that there are mnay factors that go into attendance. The terrible schedule during the transition certainly contributed to dwindling attendance, the year they went 8-3 attendance wasn't any better because the opponents were no-names. In addition it's just a fact that Grand Forks is a hockey town - UND hockey is the place to be and once you plunk down that chunck of change some people don't see UND football as worth more of their entertainment dollar and that will never change. Could football achieve average attendance of 10,000 every home game - maybe but it's not a given for many reasons. To continue to pile onto Mussman at this point is just mean spirited.

Mrs. Mussman

Mean spirited?? Are you serious? The year they went 8-3 they "pasted" NAIA Sioux Falls 15-13 and that was after getting whacked by them the 2 years before. You can be an apologist and an enabler all you want be this is ridiculous. Muss is gone because of many, many factors...the most important in the grand scheme of things is he lost, and got blown out, way too often and people were sick of it, myself included, and decided not to sit thru and watch that garbage anymore. FB attendance pays the bills in the AD in a big way, but to try and spin the blame towards hockey...pathetic.

IF UND FB puts a BSC winning team and a legit playoff team on the field people will show up...not complicated. Getting rid of Muss is a small step in getting fans back to the Alerus.

You can have an opinion but you just don't need to fluff it up with bogus excuses and apologies that aren't on point with the true facts.