UNC-Charlotte Spring Game Draws 14,000

[MountainMan]

Who knows how things will look as next season unfolds, but UNC-Charlotte did a pretty good job of getting things rolling with a crowd of 14,000 for their spring game today.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/0 ... -game.html

[YesAppCan]

I congratulate them on that but it is still weighted quite heavily by the "novelty" of the new football team. Excitement is high right now for them, as it should be.

[mtnjax]

team 1st team offense and defense together? that sounds fair

[JCline0429]

Some of the MMB'ers on here can spin it anyway they choose, but UNC-Cee will be a major threat to us in the long run. I wish it wasn't the case, though.

[asumike83]

Much like us, their long-term FBS viability will be tied heavily to W-L record over the next 2-5 years. Strong support to start, good sign for them. It could grow from there or it could dwindle, all depends what happens when they take the field.

[appmaj]

Do not care

[AppAttack]

Sure they will take a few recruits from us here and there when they get established, but we're in different conferences. They won't schedule us for a long time. They shouldn't really matter to us that much.

[Gonzo]

A football program debut is not comparable to any other teams' spring game. Any less than a full house would have been a colossal embarasment.

[hapapp]

Let's stop rationalizing about UNCC and recognize that they have the potential to do to well. The constant need to put them points to our insecurity.

[WER4ASU]

Wasn't able to be at our game. Wonder how many we had?

[asu1978]

I don't know how many showed up(no ticket sales) but the App side was fairly full,the State side had (some) of the band,& hardly anyone else.

[Rekdiver]

Of course it' s new and exciting. Good for them. They are excited enough to point out they drew 13500 while we drew 3500 for a Spring game. Alwayscsaidcthecpotential there was almost limitless. But their enthusiasm will be interesting to watch especially on a cold rainy day.
it's a crime we are not playing them. But that's Judy Rose for you !

[JCline0429]

Of course it' s new and exciting. Good for them. They are excited enough to point out they drew 13500 while we drew 3500 for a Spring game. Alwayscsaidcthecpotential there was almost limitless. But their enthusiasm will be interesting to watch especially on a cold rainy day.
it's a crime we are not playing them. But that's Judy Rose for you !

Judy Rose is not the only one in the administration who doesn't want to play us by far. You can bet that when they do eventually play us, the first game will be at their place.

[moonshine]

So long as their stadium is expanded enough to accommodate all the fans, I don't care where the first game is played. Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere...with a $500k buyout clause!

[Michael Martin]

I agree with those on here who said that sustaining the momentum will be the key. Living in Atlanta, I have watched with great interest as Georgia State started their program. Everyone talking about the population in Charlotte making high attendance more likely, remember how much bigger Atlanta is than Charlotte. Attendance numbers from the first Georgia State season below:

Georgia State 2010 Home Attendance
September 2 Shorter 30,237

September 11 Lambuth 12,647

September 18 Jacksonville State 16,128

October 2 Morehead State 15,264

October 9 Savannah State 14,908

October 16 North Carolina Central 13,378

November 6 Lamar 14,689

Their largest crowd for the 2012 season was for SC State and that crowd was about 40% SCSU fans. A couple of games dipped below 10,000.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I agree with those on here who said that sustaining the momentum will be the key. Living in Atlanta, I have watched with great interest as Georgia State started their program. Everyone talking about the population in Charlotte making high attendance more likely, remember how much bigger Atlanta is than Charlotte. Attendance numbers from the first Georgia State season below:

Georgia State 2010 Home Attendance
September 2 Shorter 30,237

September 11 Lambuth 12,647

September 18 Jacksonville State 16,128

October 2 Morehead State 15,264

October 9 Savannah State 14,908

October 16 North Carolina Central 13,378

November 6 Lamar 14,689

Their largest crowd for the 2012 season was for SC State and that crowd was about 40% SCSU fans. A couple of games dipped below 10,000.

One difference is that Atlanta already has GaTech for NCAA DI football.

JC Smith is DII and Davidson is not technically in Charlotte and DI football in name only. (That raises a question. Which is better, a DII team such as JC Smith with a few schollys or a non-scholly DI team such as Davidson of the Pioneer League, or at least the top teams in the Pioneer?

[Michael Martin]

. . .and Georgia Tech plays 2nd fiddle to Georgia in Atlanta even though Athens is 90 miles away. I think "casual fans" are going to be attracted to more successful programs. If App continues to have success on the field, we will be fine in terms of attendance and support. If we have some sustained periods of mediocrity as we move up and UNCC is consistently successful, it could be problematic for us.

Speaking of the GT/UGA thing, I think one of the factors in ASU's recent successin drawing those casual fans is the fact that the FBS schools in the state have not had great success. I'm much, MUCH more concerned about Fedora turning UNC into a consistent success than I am about anything UNCC does as it relates to the size of our fanbase. I think those "casual fans" will almost always pick a successful Chapel Hill team over a successful Appalachian State team in terms of where to spend their entertainment dollars.

I'm a high school coach down here in Atlanta and I've met Fedora and I've listened to him talk about football and program building. I think he is the real deal and I think his possible success at Chapel Hill could be a big problem for App in terms of drawing casual fans. He runs an exciting offense that is similar to ours, he's a great motivator, and he's a good interview, so the press will fall in love with him if they haven't already.

[Double A]

Regarding UNC - it will be a challenge to build them into a consistent winner and top 20 caliber team. maybe Fedora can pull it off, and succeed where others have failed. UNC will always be a "basketball first" school. any top tier coach with any ego will get tired off playing second fiddle to hoops

[Gonzo]

Of course it' s new and exciting. Good for them. They are excited enough to point out they drew 13500 while we drew 3500 for a Spring game. Alwayscsaidcthecpotential there was almost limitless. But their enthusiasm will be interesting to watch especially on a cold rainy day.
it's a crime we are not playing them. But that's Judy Rose for you !

Judy Rose is not the only one in the administration who doesn't want to play us by far. You can bet that when they do eventually play us, the first game will be at their place.

Can you explain why a program with a venue < half the size of ours would have the leverage to demand the first home game?

That would be like App demanding that ECU play in Boone before Vice Versa.

[Gonzo]

The UNCc board is alive with chest beating and attendence comparisons to our spring game -- The long-awaited first time debut of their program compared to a normal team's spring game. Lets be sure to compare our 30k average this season to their 13-14k average in an equally moot comparison....

Do they really think they have more fans than us? The Georgia State attendence numbers posted earlier are a glimpse into the future of Harrisburg Community College.