Low Attendance?

[Rick83]

Just read an article that showed average attendance for schools last year. We were just over 26k (22% increase). We were above Kansas and Marshall just to name a few. We were only about 300 below Wake. Lots of P5 schools are in the 28-32k range. Someone check my math but don't we have about 24k regular seating? Add in the bleachers and we are at about 27k? Then kick in the grass seating. Doesn't that get us close to 30k? In my mind if we had say, 1k in added premium seating, keep the bleachers at a lower price we could routinely accommodate 30k. Games like Marshall and ECU would certainly get us in the 35k range. People throw out numbers like 45k. Seems like a stretch. I was at the Coastal game years back (might have been Corey Lynch's freshman year as a point of reference). Announced crowd was close to 30k. I recall looking around at a good bit of aluminum thinking that there was no way.

No, we are at about 22K and we get to about 24,050 (published capacity) with the bleachers. The rest is grass seating / standing room.

Personally, I don't think that we need to shoot for 40K or higher. Replacing the temporary bleachers with actual stands would more than triple that section if done correctly and still leave the bank for overflow.

If the 40k reference here is regarding my posts, just a point of clarification, that's referring to attendance not seats. I firmly believe that with regional schools with strong fan support (which excludes UNCC at this point) but games with WFU, UNC, Marshall, ECU (they have rabid fans much like we do), etc. that we could easily top 40k in attendance for those games if we were able to make the upgrades and use the hill for "overflow" of 10 to 15k.

[SpeedkingATL]

As far as alcohol sales, I know that Troy sells beer at their games and that is a source of revenue for a Sunbelt opponent that we don't have. I don't like other schools in our conference having revenue streams that App doesn't have. Not sure where the state university system stands on this; heck when I was a student you could not get an alcoholic beverage anywhere in Boone.

[bcoach]

Just when I thought we couldn't possibly nitpick anymore, we have a poster accusing another of advocating underage drinking.

There is no accusation there.

[hapapp]

Am I forgetting something but aren't the temporary bleachers eventually going to be replaced with premium seating?

[Dmanuhone]

I wonder how much it costs to lease the end zone seating.

[yosef13]

I wonder how much it costs to lease the end zone seating.

Good question. I would assume it's cheaper than buying.

[Dmanuhone]

maybe in the short term.

[NewApp]

maybe in the short term.

Until we can consistently sell the place out, we don't need end zone seating of any kind. Looks funny seeing the stadium with empty seats and still see the band sitting on rented bleachers.
Take em down and bring them back for the Wake game.

[MtnDevil95]

I've been a part of projects that require temporary stadium seating and while they go up and come down relatively fast, the process is not something you would want to do for only one weekend, and adding on is not usually an option given structural design requirements. There are a host of reasons to size those bleachers for the Wake game and deal with empty seats for the other 5 games.

[NewApp]

I've been a part of projects that require temporary stadium seating and while they go up and come down relatively fast, the process is not something you would want to do for only one weekend, and adding on is not usually an option given structural design requirements. There are a host of reasons to size those bleachers for the Wake game and deal with empty seats for the other 5 games.

I can't think of one. Maybe I hate the look of shiny aluminum on national television worse than you. I was embarrassed last week. I hope ESPN3 didn't get much viewership. Also showed up on various sports news clips.
Talk about looking high schoolish.

[EastHallApp]

maybe in the short term.

Until we can consistently sell the place out, we don't need end zone seating of any kind. Looks funny seeing the stadium with empty seats and still see the band sitting on rented bleachers.
Take em down and bring them back for the Wake game.

Take them down for what? Our road game this week?

[hapapp]

maybe in the short term.

Until we can consistently sell the place out, we don't need end zone seating of any kind. Looks funny seeing the stadium with empty seats and still see the band sitting on rented bleachers.
Take em down and bring them back for the Wake game.

Of course, where the band used to sit was not full of empty seats. At game time that area was jammed packed. The "rented" bleachers" didn't create the empty seats elsewhere in the stadium. Most of those folks sitting in the end zone bleachers appeared to be students.

[moonshine]

I was embarrassed last week. I hope ESPN3 didn't get much viewership. Also showed up on various sports news clips.
Talk about looking high schoolish.

Wow...relax! Try to get some perspective here. Duke played Big10 Northwestern last weekend in front of a whopping 20,241. So Duke played another "big time money" program in front of 132 more people than App did against Sav. St.

Saying you hope the App game didn't get much viewership is counter to being an actual fan of App. We want as much exposure as possible, regardless of aluminum showing. That's a ridiculous statement to make against our program.

What arbitrary attendance number would you consider App not looking "highschoolish"?

[yosef13]

I've been a part of projects that require temporary stadium seating and while they go up and come down relatively fast, the process is not something you would want to do for only one weekend, and adding on is not usually an option given structural design requirements. There are a host of reasons to size those bleachers for the Wake game and deal with empty seats for the other 5 games.

I can't think of one. Maybe I hate the look of shiny aluminum on national television worse than you. I was embarrassed last week. I hope ESPN3 didn't get much viewership. Also showed up on various sports news clips.
Talk about looking high schoolish.

It was SSU. I don't understand why people are getting panicky over attendance for a trash 1AA game. I think SSU might have had 7 fans there, maybe 11.

Over the next eight years we have GWU, Elon, and ETSU as 1AA home games. These are our worst homes games to come, and I don't see any of these with attendance this low. Hell, Elon might bring 3k or 4K in a few years. That game could easily bring over 28k.

On top of that, we have UNCC, So Miss, UNC, and ECU in Boone. We better stop focusing on the attendance against our worst opponents, and getting prepared for attendance against our best.

Also, taking the temporary stands out will only push more people onto the hill, and increase the likelihood that their game experience is worse causing them to leave early.

We have to enhance the experience. That should be the focus. Unfortunately for thousands of our fans the experience is temporary bleachers, porta johns, and a wet hill.

[fjblair]

For the record, my hope is that we can eventually bowl in the north endzone and leave the hill intact (other than bringing it closer to the field). That way you leave lawn seating as an option for those who do enjoy it, plus you add additional true capacity rather than just replacing lawn seats with reserved seats.

That would be perfect. Replace the temporary 3k in the north with permanent 4k, 1k +/- club, and bring the hill right up on the back of the end zone. If you do that we are really only adding 2k to KBS currently with the temp seating. This would enhance the game experience by a ton. That would put us at approx 26k with the potential to still pack 10k on the hill. This is not that big of a jump. If we ever need to expand more you can add as many permanent seat to the hill that you want. The sky's the limit in the south end zone.

My understanding is that is the plan and it makes perfect sense.

[NewApp]

maybe in the short term.

Until we can consistently sell the place out, we don't need end zone seating of any kind. Looks funny seeing the stadium with empty seats and still see the band sitting on rented bleachers.
Take em down and bring them back for the Wake game.

Take them down for what? Our road game this week?

All games except Wake including last week.

[NewApp]

For the record, my hope is that we can eventually bowl in the north endzone and leave the hill intact (other than bringing it closer to the field). That way you leave lawn seating as an option for those who do enjoy it, plus you add additional true capacity rather than just replacing lawn seats with reserved seats.

That would be perfect. Replace the temporary 3k in the north with permanent 4k, 1k +/- club, and bring the hill right up on the back of the end zone. If you do that we are really only adding 2k to KBS currently with the temp seating. This would enhance the game experience by a ton. That would put us at approx 26k with the potential to still pack 10k on the hill. This is not that big of a jump. If we ever need to expand more you can add as many permanent seat to the hill that you want. The sky's the limit in the south end zone.

My understanding is that is the plan and it makes perfect sense.

Adding seats on the hill would decrease the number. Can't beat cheek to cheek with seats.

[NewApp]

I was embarrassed last week. I hope ESPN3 didn't get much viewership. Also showed up on various sports news clips.
Talk about looking high schoolish.

Wow...relax! Try to get some perspective here. Duke played Big10 Northwestern last weekend in front of a whopping 20,241. So Duke played another "big time money" program in front of 132 more people than App did against Sav. St.

Saying you hope the App game didn't get much viewership is counter to being an actual fan of App. We want as much exposure as possible, regardless of aluminum showing. That's a ridiculous statement to make against our program.

What arbitrary attendance number would you consider App not looking "highschoolish"?

Any that doesn't show whole sections of aluminum.

[Rekdiver]

Enhance the experience? Im going to a football game not the county fair.

[bcoach]

Enhance the experience? Im going to a football game not the county fair.

I think you have hit the nail on the head.