UMass > MAC for all sports in 2025-2026

[shizzle787]

Agree on St. Bonaventure, but LaSalle is a big city school in a mid-Atlantic state. It should be fine for a while.

The entire reason for many of these MAC school's existence, rapidly growing population in the industrial heartland, is long gone. States have budget problems and university enrollment is dropping rapidly, especially in the Rust Belt. Nostalgia is the only thing keeping some of these schools going now. Several of them should be shut down.

La Salle almost dropped to Division 3 a couple of years ago. Fine is not how I would describe them. Also, the market in Philadelphia is extremely competitive. I think they will survive but it will be ugly.

 

[ZooCougar]

From an institution standpoint they have more research partnerships with MAC schools.

The MAC has football and they get CFP money.

UMass basketball hasn’t been great in over 25 years.

UMass is in a more solid position now. They can’t schedule as an independent well enough. Their SEC schedule this season was more difficult than Texas’s SEC schedule.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

La Salle almost dropped to Division 3 a couple of years ago. Fine is not how I would describe them. Also, the market in Philadelphia is extremely competitive. I think they will survive but it will be ugly.

I think a lot of schools should drop down a division or two. Lasalle may survive as a university, it may not. Time will tell.

Every state in the country is going to rationalize the expenses of their university systems. Several of the MAC schools are going away or turning into satellite campuses. That is a certainty.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The MAC has football and they get CFP money.

UMass basketball hasn’t been great in over 25 years.

UMass is in a more solid position now. They can’t schedule as an independent well enough. Their SEC schedule this season was more difficult than Texas’s SEC schedule.

Ironically, the school may be as highly regarded academically as it has ever been. UMass leveraged its Boston alumni base to become a safety school for northeastern Computer Science majors that didn’t get into Harvard, MIT or other top schools, but wanted to work in the Boston tech industry. Now the school is very well respected in the technology industry and a rising tide has lifted the rest of the programs at UMass.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[ZooCougar]

Dozens will be thrilled and in attendance for those midweek games.

 

[UConnJim]

What is the over/under for attendance for the Tuesday 11/25 home game against Bowling Green?

 

[kibblesnbits]

What is the over/under for attendance for the Tuesday 11/25 home game against Bowling Green?

Two nights before Thanksgiving in Amherst? I’d guess 247 if you count the players, coaches, support guys, ticket taker(s), vendor(s), announcers, etc. That’s 332 if you get to count the Bowling Green traveling party too.

 

[Kolumbo]

Attendance might be pretty good given students can walk to the game right after dinner. Interesting note about McGuirk Alumni Stadium. The walk to the stadium from say Berkshire Dining Commons is 10 minutes. The walk back for late night munchies is 45 minutes. The difference is staggering.

Iowa, Mizzou, and even Temple. That's not too bad for being in a G5 conference.

 

[Patman]

Attendance might be pretty good given students can walk to the game right after dinner. Interesting note about McGuirk Alumni Stadium. The walk to the stadium from say Berkshire Dining Commons is 10 minutes. The walk back for late night munchies is 45 minutes. The difference is staggering.

Iowa, Mizzou, and even Temple. That's not too bad for being in a G5 conference.

before thanksgiving? I think at Lowell we were in school but not on wednesday... that place will be a ghost town

 

[Kolumbo]

before thanksgiving? I think at Lowell we were in school but not on wednesday... that place will be a ghost town

Amateur night. no work or classes the next day. what better way to live it up than at a football game knowing you are feasting on turkey the next day. sure many kids go home, but many students live in Mass. Plus UMass is the only legit football show in state.

 

[Fishy]

Amateur night. no work or classes the next day. what better way to live it up than at a football game knowing you are feasting on turkey the next day. sure many kids go home, but many students live in Mass. Plus UMass is the only legit football show in state.

before thanksgiving? I think at Lowell we were in school but not on wednesday... that place will be a ghost town

Absolutely no one will be there. I almost want to go to see how many no ones are there.

1) It’s a Tuesday. 2) It’s UMass football. 3) Campus will be empty.

I don’t know what they do at UConn, but UMass has a hard close of the residence halls on that Wednesday morning. Kids get fined $150 if they’re not out by 9 or 10 - they will all be gone by Tuesday afternoon.

 

[Bongo Fury]

If not in session, wouldn’t be many students at all. Most will be home in Boston. They haven’t drawn well even when in session. If there is some success then Employees and locals will show like they did for Hockey.

 

[Jetskies]

I almost want to go to see how many no ones are there.

LOLOL how does one count "no ones" ?

 

[Jetskies]

MACtion is such an interesting case study in revenue, to me.
is it worth having a deal for "slow night" TV slots, at the expense of stadium attendance?
the MAC must be confident the answer is "yes" to this.

across the conference, is their average attendance that low anyway, that it doesn't matter if they have a tuesday night game with empty stands?

it just seems like odd logic to me. Even if the money is better than what they'd get for saturday games, i feel like it guarantees your program will never grow. maybe this is why NIU left. There was nowhere left to go/grow, in this conference.

 

[ZooCougar]

MACtion is such an interesting case study in revenue, to me.
is it worth having a deal for "slow night" TV slots, at the expense of stadium attendance?
the MAC must be confident the answer is "yes" to this.

across the conference, is their average attendance that low anyway, that it doesn't matter if they have a tuesday night game with empty stands?

it just seems like odd logic to me. Even if the money is better than what they'd get for saturday games, i feel like it guarantees your program will never grow. maybe this is why NIU left. There was nowhere left to go/grow, in this conference.

As a revenue play it’s not great. What they are looking for is exposure and they definitely get more exposure.

The MAC has done this for quite a while. When Jim Delaney was MAC commish he made a name for himself by getting MAC basketball on ESPN. In order to do that they played games late at night. Students would show up to games in Pajamas as a joke.

 

[ZooCougar]

As a revenue play it’s not great. What they are looking for is exposure and they definitely get more exposure.

The MAC has done this for quite a while. When Jim Delaney was MAC commish he made a name for himself by getting MAC basketball on ESPN. In order to do that they played games late at night. Students would show up to games in Pajamas as a joke.

Edit:

I got my dreary midwest conferences mixed up. It was the OVC and Delany that did that late night basketball games.