The rise of the UMass football program...

[eldonabe]

Steve you know those numbers are cooked..... 12K average - HA. $12K is closer to the average number of EMPTY seats.

The only reason BC has decent attendance (decent may be a generous statement) is because they have some "name" ACC teams come in. If BC were rolling Akron, Georgia Southern, Directional Michigan U, and Hill Billie State in for home games every week - their attendance would be cut in half also.


I am not here to argue whether Umass should have BCS football or not, I have no problem with it and enjoy it for what it is. All I am saying is that delusions of grandeur are just that - delusions.
- We have a shitty stadium being held together by tape and bubble gum
- We don't have a relevant conference affiliation
- We have a pretty bad product on the field
- We exist in a geography that is not looney-crazy about college football
- We have an example 40 minutes South of us all but proving that being relevant in FBS Football is a long shot and even longer still based on the fraction of investment Umass is making compared to what they made

Football is not the same as basketball when it comes to bandwagonning.... Umass running up a 10 win season (which only happens against a bunch of patsies) gets them an invite to some pre-Christmas "sponsor you never heard of" bowl that few if any give a shit about. If the basketball teams wins the relative equivalent of that - at least the get to "The Dance"... that is much easier to get on board with as a bandwagon fan.

[McKinney]

^ I agree with your take on the inherent challenges UMass faces. I also agree with your take on cautioning delusions of grandeur. I don't, however, think that aspiring to be a middle of the pack G5 is all that delusional. Aspirational? Yes. Challenging? Yes. Delusional? I don't know. Arguable.

[Steve81]

There maybe some truth to your post, but you need to put it into context.
Every sport has the died-hard and the fair weather fans.

Football has not had a winning season in over a decade!
Hockey had a huge jump after the NCAA championship run
Basketball saw a huge jump in the 90's, NIT Final-4's, and the 2014 big dance invite.

However, if you like pain, look up basketball attendance for the last few years. Then tell me being in the Northeast or winning is a bigger factor for attendance. (Remember said their was some truth to your post, but my point is a successful program is a way bigger factor.)

eldonabe in your series of post nitpicking at this and that and totally ignore the main point of my post, winning matters more than geography.

Fact, Football out draws basketball even though there are nearly 3 times the number of basketball games. The Northeast is heavily into basketball and yet look at our last two years attendance numbers. I had 6 tickets for our final, rivalry game against URI and no one wanted to go. I did have the other 5 tickets scanned in to rise the attendance. I'm pro all UMass sports.

[eldonabe]

There maybe some truth to your post, but you need to put it into context.
Every sport has the died-hard and the fair weather fans.

Football has not had a winning season in over a decade!
Hockey had a huge jump after the NCAA championship run
Basketball saw a huge jump in the 90's, NIT Final-4's, and the 2014 big dance invite.

However, if you like pain, look up basketball attendance for the last few years. Then tell me being in the Northeast or winning is a bigger factor for attendance. (Remember said their was some truth to your post, but my point is a successful program is a way bigger factor.)

eldonabe in your series of post nitpicking at this and that and totally ignore the main point of my post, winning matters more than geography.

In most ways yes - we agree - no better deodorant than winning. However, winning in "big boy football" is not going to garner the same kind of bandwagon response as basketball because the "prize" kinda sucks.... Its going to be difficult for the masses to get a hard on for the Callahan Auto Parts Bowl in Sanduski Ohio.

Umass will NEVER in our lifetime have a chance at an FBS National Championship in football. The chances of an NY6 bowl game are equally as likely in the same lifetime. Nobody outside of superfan SteveMaz could argue that with a straight face.

We are still light years behind UConn in infrastructure and spending and they can't get a sniff into a P5 conference.... what makes you think Umass will leapfrog them? We had a conference and the "fans" raised their noses at that competition (who thumped us on the field by and large).


To your original point - YES the attendance will improve if/when they win, but there is a ceiling and it is not very high. If Umass Basketball wins, they will do it by beating teams people have heard of and the prize is special and noteworthy.

If Umass football piles up some wins, it will only happen against the bottom 50 of FBS and the "prize" is a poorly attended bowl game bringing a whopping 60K eyeballs to the TV (if it is even televised). Many of the uneducated football fans that get glossy-eyed (code for badnwagon) over a gaudy win total will flock to Alumni Stadium that glorious fall - come December when they are looking to see Umass play "post season football" those same uneducated fans will say - "That's it? That is all we got for this?" A 2/3 empty stadium in a city we didn't even know was in the United States?

That will be when the true reality of this experiment hits home.

[McKinney]

In most ways yes - we agree - no better deodorant than winning. However, winning in "big boy football" is not going to garner the same kind of bandwagon response as basketball because the "prize" kinda sucks.... Its going to be difficult for the masses to get a hard on for the Callahan Auto Parts Bowl in Sanduski Ohio.

Umass will NEVER in our lifetime have a chance at an FBS National Championship in football. The chances of an NY6 bowl game are equally as likely in the same lifetime. Nobody outside of superfan SteveMaz could argue that with a straight face.

For a lot of college football fans I've come to know, the real draw is in the regular season. The post-season is the cherry on top.

Not say the regular season isn't important in other sports, but there is a very heavy emphasis on the post-season.

[Upstate10]

At the end of the day I think it all comes to down to being in a conference. It gives you something to play for and fans something to root for every season. Not to mention the increased resources and recruiting benefits. Hopefully the opportunity comes without being forced to leave the A10 for hoops as a result.

[KahunaK]

A winning program and culture are everything. I attended bball games in the mid 70's and you had to wait in long lines to get in. When I was in grad school during the Gurlafson era there was under 1,000 people at games. Same school but a lousy team.

Look at the 1989 lacrosse game against Syracuse at Alumni Stadium which featured the Gait brothers of Syracuse (lacrosse legends). It was a huge game for both teams. Though UMASS lost 10-9 there was a great crowd there. Any guesses????? 12,143 and they stayed until the end. When was the last time the football team had that attendance?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOIEftfD1ts

Watching UMASS lose consistently (or more recently embarrassed) is not fun- especially when you have to drive 90 minutes to get there. Until they start winning consistently, the stadium will not make a difference.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Though UMASS lost 10-9 there was a great crowd there. Any guesses????? 12,143 and they stayed until the end. When was the last time the football team had that attendance?

10/26/2019

[Quann]

In most ways yes - we agree - no better deodorant than winning. However, winning in "big boy football" is not going to garner the same kind of bandwagon response as basketball because the "prize" kinda sucks.... Its going to be difficult for the masses to get a hard on for the Callahan Auto Parts Bowl in Sanduski Ohio.

Umass will NEVER in our lifetime have a chance at an FBS National Championship in football. The chances of an NY6 bowl game are equally as likely in the same lifetime. Nobody outside of superfan SteveMaz could argue that with a straight face.

For a lot of college football fans I've come to know, the real draw is in the regular season. The post-season is the cherry on top.

Not say the regular season isn't important in other sports, but there is a very heavy emphasis on the post-season.

That's been the beauty of college football compared to every other sport, every week you have 3-5 gigantic matchups that can make or break a season. That is why I want them to keep the playoff limited to to 6-8 teams at most if they ever expand beyond 4. Watering down the regular season of college football would hurt the sport more than any other.

[e_parade]

At the end of the day I think it all comes to down to being in a conference. It gives you something to play for and fans something to root for every season. Not to mention the increased resources and recruiting benefits. Hopefully the opportunity comes without being forced to leave the A10 for hoops as a result.

Can't just be any conference though, it needs to have meaningful teams to play in there. The only team from the MAC I'd definitely keep in a conference of my own design would be Buffalo.

[eldonabe]

Can't just be any conference though, it needs to have meaningful teams to play in there. The only team from the MAC I'd definitely keep in a conference of my own design would be Buffalo.

And therein lies the problem..... Umass is not getting into any conference with "meaningful teams" to play at the FBS/P5 level. The only conference that truly fits that description is the ACC. It will be a very cold day in a very hot place before that happens.

ACC - east coast and north east presence - but they will never take Umass before UConn and the ACC won't give UConn the time of day
Big East - No football
SEC - south - No way
B1G - rust belt (despite Rutgers and MD) - pipe dream and not regional rivals available
AAC - who is "meaningful" besides Temple?
MAC - "MAC-TION" - enough said
CUSA - no geography whatsoever to get behind a meaningful rivalry

[eldonabe]

And just a follow up on above - The AAC was pretty ecstatic to drop UConn's football anchor. They aren't about to add a bigger dead weight with Umass. They still have aspirations of being the P6 - Umass doesn't help that narrative.

[photoman]

When the move up was made in 2012 I was pretty excited about the possibiliites. No one's excited now. It's likely that the BEST that can ever happen is winning 6 games. Not something we're going to see.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

No one's excited now.

Please don't speak for everyone.

[eldonabe]

No one's excited now.

Please don't speak for everyone.

That is a very fair statement. There are still many supporters. Despite my previous posts pointing to the contrary - I still support this. My expectations however are very low....

I also think that many of the originally "very excited" are no longer that excited or even give a shit anymore as Umass muddles along in this endeavor )(in typical Umass fashion).