What attendance would constitute a good showing on Saturday?

[HCCForever]

Gotta lower the price on the sun side chairbacks if they want to fill them.

Some people like the sun in August and most do later in season.

 

[Waquoit]

When we were in the Big East the rent was getting sell outs and RGIII called it the loudest place he ever played outside maybe Texas and OK.

I don't remember him adding the "outside" qualifier. And the Baylor beat reporter at the game called the student section "Equal to any in the Big 12".

 

[Duncan Idaho]

I don't remember him adding the "outside" qualifier. And the Baylor beat reporter at the game called the student section "Equal to any in the Big 12".

From SBNation; "When we played at UConn my freshman year, that was the loudest place I’ve ever been as a football player,” Griffin continued. “The stands are right next to the field, it was packed, and everyone was yelling. That was probably the coolest place for me to play at aside from Texas, Texas A&M and Nebraska.”

 

[zls44]

While Baseball has been almost annually for a weekday game, few of those games are played in New Britain. Women's Soccer had a nice rivalry that is current on hiatus and MSoccer just met for the first time ever last year. VB and Softball should meet each year and include games at Central.

None of those teams should ever play at Central. Ever.

There’s no benefit. UConn spent a lot of money on facilities. Too much to be throwing away road games against the worst D1 conference, which will shortly lose half of its membership to D2/D3/etc. SFU was just the start.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

None of those teams should ever play at Central. Ever.

There’s no benefit. UConn spent a lot of money on facilities. Too much to be throwing away road games against the worst D1 conference, which will shortly lose half of its membership to D2/D3/etc. SFU was just the start.

Agreed. Central needs to get out of the NEC. That conference is done.

 

[ZooCougar]

From SBNation; "When we played at UConn my freshman year, that was the loudest place I’ve ever been as a football player,” Griffin continued. “The stands are right next to the field, it was packed, and everyone was yelling. That was probably the coolest place for me to play at aside from Texas, Texas A&M and Nebraska.”

I still can’t believe we didn’t get invited to the Big 10 after this comment.

 

[Palatine]

He was very good. If he was not banged up, he would have kept drives going and kept the ball out of UConn's O hands, some...

No. He couldn't have sustained the workload he had in the first quarter. He was working his butt off to get five yards. They were great five yard runs, lots of moves and taking a lot of contact but they were also taking a toll. He was being overused. Probably was a factor in his injury.

Best of luck to him moving forward.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

No. He couldn't have sustained the workload he had in the first quarter. He was working his butt off to get five yards. They were great five yard runs, lots of moves and taking a lot of contact but they were also taking a toll. He was being overused. Probably was a factor in his injury.

Best of luck to him moving forward.

There is an argument to be made there. I thought the calf injury occurred on a pass play.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

No offense to CCSU but they don’t get enough home attendance to cause such a big bump.

True, but they showed very well for this game. I'll wager that Central will have a couple home games with fewer of their fans attending than what showed up Saturday.

 

[freescooter]

Agreed! And to further the point West Virginia had 57K for its opener against Robert Morris of the NEC. Bobby Mo was blown out and that didn't impact attendance.

I know for most UConn fans, it is a chicken-egg theory, but hard to say that Connecticut can ever support football at the ACC or BigXII level. Tough pill to swallow for many here, but objectively not sure you can see it any other way.

Yes, major conference affiliation would improve the attraction of the home schedule and probably would draw a few extra fairweather and bandwagon fans in good seasons. This State has basketball in its blood and football at all levels will be a very distant afterthought. That's not the culture at these other schools (and the Duke, Kansas, and Indiana have been in the club since the beginning).

This is nonsense. We had 30-37,000 plus for Central on Saturday (only Don Amore disagrees and he was mad because he had to cover UConn instead of his beloved Yankees). Are we going to put 50,000 in the building? Be pretty tough since we only seat about 40,000. And unlike the service academies, we out drew all 3, attendance isn’t required. If we had Carolina, BC, Syracuse, Clemson coming to town regularly, and we had a competitive football team, we would see similar numbers most weeks. We keep winning and the numbers will be very good even with our current schedule. I don’t know if you remember the Kevin Ollie basketball years, when we were losing to the likes of Northeastern and Wagner. Tickets were available, let’s just say.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Agreed. Central needs to get out of the NEC. That conference is done.

Central been trying since I was covering the team. Issue is money. The state won't let them spend much on athletics. So, Q-Pec and Sacred Heart jumped them into the MAAC. Hockey had a lot to do with it too.

Now? I feel that New Haven will jump them as well. CCSU needs a better hoops arena. But, that ship has sailed. If the state had money for it, Southern should be D1 as well.

 

[LIUCHusky]

True, but they showed very well for this game. I'll wager that Central will have a couple home games with fewer of their fans attending than what showed up Saturday.

I keep hearing how Central fans showed so well Saturday. From where I sit (101) I had the opposite feeling. I felt it was a disappointing number of Central fans attending.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I keep hearing how Central fans showed so well Saturday. From where I sit (101) I had the opposite feeling. I felt it was a disappointing number of Central fans attending.

There were many scattered in 241 and adjacent sections, quite a few in 139 (spent a bit of the second half there) and a ton walking around between levels. I can't remember ever seeing that many Central tee shirts in my life.

There had to have been a few thousand at the game and it would surprise me if they don’t have some games at home that don't crack a few thousand.

 

[Purple Stein]

Central been trying since I was covering the team. Issue is money. The state won't let them spend much on athletics. So, Q-Pec and Sacred Heart jumped them into the MAAC. Hockey had a lot to do with it too.

Now? I feel that New Haven will jump them as well. CCSU needs a better hoops arena. But, that ship has sailed. If the state had money for it, Southern should be D1 as well.

Does CCSU have its own athletic foundation/donor base?

 

[businesslawyer]

From SBNation; "When we played at UConn my freshman year, that was the loudest place I’ve ever been as a football player,” Griffin continued. “The stands are right next to the field, it was packed, and everyone was yelling. That was probably the coolest place for me to play at aside from Texas, Texas A&M and Nebraska.”

Baylor always gave us respect when we swept the home and home. I reminder one TX reporter writing something like “People think UConn is a basketball school? Look at the size of the OL and tell me that’s a basketball school.”

 

[CCSU97]

Central been trying since I was covering the team. Issue is money. The state won't let them spend much on athletics. So, Q-Pec and Sacred Heart jumped them into the MAAC. Hockey had a lot to do with it too.

Now? I feel that New Haven will jump them as well. CCSU needs a better hoops arena. But, that ship has sailed. If the state had money for it, Southern should be D1 as well.

As I've posted before, yes it is the lack of funding, but that's because CCSU operates with much less autonomy from the State and has never had the political support to enhance its academic or athletic infrastructure. They are unable to do anything and has been overlooked by State politicians for decades.

 

[CCSU97]

Does CCSU have its own athletic foundation/donor base?

Yes, but it is tiny. A few very supportive donors, but nothing to move the needle.

 

[Stinger92860]

Typically everyone in the facility including players, officials, event staff, etc count (and it's pretty standard that they do), IIRC the 40,000 capacity for the Rent is around 38k seated and the rest counted from staff/players/etc

They count as tickets distributed? I’m having a hard time supporting the naysayers versus the official UConn attendance numbers.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Yes, but it is tiny. A few very supportive donors, but nothing to move the needle.

You need to get Scott Pioli and Richard Greico to step up.

 

[jostar1]

 

[JohnFSilver]

They count as tickets distributed? I’m having a hard time supporting the naysayers versus the official UConn attendance numbers.

This is a thing only in CT. For last 20 years every attendance was looked at as fake. The real number is tickets distributed. Like, if a ticket was printed and given to someone, that is still revenue. Marketing or promotions has a budget to pay for those.

I don't get why other programs give their attendance and that's that. But if the turnstile doesn't match it's a scandal.

Best metric is ask LAZ what the parking take was. I would expect about 7,500 cars x $20 a person. Nice take. Why doesn't UConn get that money again?

 

[Palatine]

This is a thing only in CT. For last 20 years every attendance was looked at as fake. The real number is tickets distributed. Like, if a ticket was printed and given to someone, that is still revenue. Marketing or promotions has a budget to pay for those.

I don't get why other programs give their attendance and that's that. But if the turnstile doesn't match it's a scandal.

Best metric is ask LAZ what the parking take was. I would expect about 7,500 cars x $20 a person. Nice take. Why doesn't UConn get that money again?

As a season ticket holder, I pay UConn for my parking pass. Not sure they just hand that money over to LAZ. Do you know how the parking revenue is distributed? It would seem like that money is split some way.

 

[UConnJim]

Best metric is ask LAZ what the parking take was. I would expect about 7,500 cars x $20 a person. Nice take. Why doesn't UConn get that money again?

Because the stadium is owned by the state and not UConn.

 

[CCSU97]

Central been trying since I was covering the team. Issue is money. The state won't let them spend much on athletics. So, Q-Pec and Sacred Heart jumped them into the MAAC. Hockey had a lot to do with it too.

Now? I feel that New Haven will jump them as well. CCSU needs a better hoops arena. But, that ship has sailed. If the state had money for it, Southern should be D1 as well.

QU and SHU surely have more money, better facilities, and play in a better conference - but neither school has the fan support or history that CCSU has. QU Hockey may be the outlier, but even in a 1960's era gym, Central draws bigger basketball crowds than either school on a regular basis. CCSU is a bigger and has many more alumni, though we are blue collar and don't have deep pockets. Remember when Hartford beat Central by a year jumping to D-I back in 1985. The played the first few years in the Civic Center and thought they would compete with the DePauls and Marquettes of the world. Well now they are D-III.

If Central was given just a little more financial and political support, we would be a top regional mid-major across the board in hoops, football, and baseball.

Finally, by my count, that CCSU game was the highest ever attended UConn game at The Rent for an FCS opponent (but someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[Palatine]

QU and SHU surely have more money, better facilities, and play in a better conference - but neither school has the fan support or history that CCSU has. QU Hockey may be the outlier, but even in a 1960's era gym, Central draws bigger basketball crowds than either school on a regular basis. CCSU is a bigger and has many more alumni, though we are blue collar and don't have deep pockets. Remember when Hartford beat Central by a year jumping to D-I back in 1985. The played the first few years in the Civic Center and thought they would compete with the DePauls and Marquettes of the world. Well now they are D-III.

If Central was given just a little more financial and political support, we would be a top regional mid-major across the board in hoops, football, and baseball.

Finally, by my count, that CCSU game was the highest ever attended UConn game at The Rent for an FCS opponent (but someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

UHartford has 81,000 living alumni. 30,000 of them live in Connecticut. It's a big ask to even fill their field house.

CCSU has over 100,000 living alumni with around 70,000 of them in Connecticut. That local population is a solid base to draw fans.

UConn has just under 300,000 living alumni with just over half residing in Connecticut. UConn's big advantage is they have largely been adopted by the state and many fans are not alum, they just identify with the team.