NWNDBison
01-02-2012, 02:49 PM
It's nice whenever the national media recognizes NDSU athletics. But I was disappointed when Terence Moore wrote an opinion article for CNN making his point that the BCS Bowl system is just fine and that a playoff system would not be a good idea. I'm not interested in arguing that point, but this is how he referenced NDSU:
"I also know they have a playoff system for the lower levels of college football. The one for the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division 1-AA) began November 26, and it will end with the championship game January 7. ...
... Oh, and home attendance in the playoffs for teams at those lower levels is frequently lower than their regular-season games. Such was the case last season for traditional FCS powers Delaware and Appalachian State, and such is the case this year for North Dakota State, according to its sports information department."
Full story: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/30/opinion/moore-football-playoff/index.html?hpt=op_bn4
I don't know whether he called NDSU Sports Information or not. Actually, he is technically correct. But there are far better examples of playoff attendance drop off than NDSU.
I have never replied to a CNN article before, but this guy needs to be set straight. I registered for a login, confirmed it through e-mail. I can comment on other articles in other sections of CNN, but cannot figure out how to make a comment on this article. Maybe some of you have experience in this area.
Here is the research from go bison.com stat sheets Too much, I suppose for a CNN comment, but this is what I would like to tell Mr. Terence Moore (I suppose we should be flattered he picked NDSU):
North Dakota State University #10 in FCS attendance
9 games total attendance 163284
97.02% of stadium capacity
Ave. Attendance 18143
Sum Stadium capacity 168300
Only 5016 people needed for 9 game sellout including playoffs.
Ave. of 557 seats available per game
Attendance by game: (18700 stadium capacity)
Regular Season: (18272 ave. attendance over 6 games)
Lafayette 17023
St. Francis 18341
Illinois State 18904
Missouri State 18029
Northern Iowa 18886
Youngstown State 18450
Playoffs: (17884 ave. attendance over 3 games)
James Madison 17432
Lehigh 18111
Georgia Southern 18108
Boy, that's a HUGE drop off (yeah, right!) 388/game. Because of playoff frenzy and because the stadium was so close to capacity, there were inexplicable errors made in the distribution of tickets the last two playoff games.
The Georgia Southern game in particular was announced as a sellout days before the game was played. Standing room only tickets were sold out. Hundreds of people gave up on getting tickets and did not go to the game because tickets were not available. Fans are mystified at the low attendance. What happened to the tickets? Hoarding? There was a bit of scalping going on.
There are good examples out there of FCS playoff teams whose attendance slumped during the playoffs, but North Dakota State is NOT a prime example.
Also note that the National Championship Game on Jan. 7 at FC Dallas Stadium (formerly Pizza Hut Stadium) has been sold out since Dec. 21. (Cap. 20086). Both SHSU and NDSU have announced that thousands more tickets could have been sold for each school, but they simply are not available. To be fair, last year's title game in the same stadium drew only 13027, which I suppose is why a larger venue has not been selected--yet.
Source: gobison.com official website of the NDSU Bison. Statistics gleaned from official game stats sheets.
http://www.gobison.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=2400&SPID=695&SPSID=11844
Also, NCAA attendance statistics: http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/2011/Internet/attendance/FCS_AVGATTENDANCE.pdf
"I also know they have a playoff system for the lower levels of college football. The one for the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division 1-AA) began November 26, and it will end with the championship game January 7. ...
... Oh, and home attendance in the playoffs for teams at those lower levels is frequently lower than their regular-season games. Such was the case last season for traditional FCS powers Delaware and Appalachian State, and such is the case this year for North Dakota State, according to its sports information department."
Full story: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/30/opinion/moore-football-playoff/index.html?hpt=op_bn4
I don't know whether he called NDSU Sports Information or not. Actually, he is technically correct. But there are far better examples of playoff attendance drop off than NDSU.
I have never replied to a CNN article before, but this guy needs to be set straight. I registered for a login, confirmed it through e-mail. I can comment on other articles in other sections of CNN, but cannot figure out how to make a comment on this article. Maybe some of you have experience in this area.
Here is the research from go bison.com stat sheets Too much, I suppose for a CNN comment, but this is what I would like to tell Mr. Terence Moore (I suppose we should be flattered he picked NDSU):
North Dakota State University #10 in FCS attendance
9 games total attendance 163284
97.02% of stadium capacity
Ave. Attendance 18143
Sum Stadium capacity 168300
Only 5016 people needed for 9 game sellout including playoffs.
Ave. of 557 seats available per game
Attendance by game: (18700 stadium capacity)
Regular Season: (18272 ave. attendance over 6 games)
Lafayette 17023
St. Francis 18341
Illinois State 18904
Missouri State 18029
Northern Iowa 18886
Youngstown State 18450
Playoffs: (17884 ave. attendance over 3 games)
James Madison 17432
Lehigh 18111
Georgia Southern 18108
Boy, that's a HUGE drop off (yeah, right!) 388/game. Because of playoff frenzy and because the stadium was so close to capacity, there were inexplicable errors made in the distribution of tickets the last two playoff games.
The Georgia Southern game in particular was announced as a sellout days before the game was played. Standing room only tickets were sold out. Hundreds of people gave up on getting tickets and did not go to the game because tickets were not available. Fans are mystified at the low attendance. What happened to the tickets? Hoarding? There was a bit of scalping going on.
There are good examples out there of FCS playoff teams whose attendance slumped during the playoffs, but North Dakota State is NOT a prime example.
Also note that the National Championship Game on Jan. 7 at FC Dallas Stadium (formerly Pizza Hut Stadium) has been sold out since Dec. 21. (Cap. 20086). Both SHSU and NDSU have announced that thousands more tickets could have been sold for each school, but they simply are not available. To be fair, last year's title game in the same stadium drew only 13027, which I suppose is why a larger venue has not been selected--yet.
Source: gobison.com official website of the NDSU Bison. Statistics gleaned from official game stats sheets.
http://www.gobison.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=2400&SPID=695&SPSID=11844
Also, NCAA attendance statistics: http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/2011/Internet/attendance/FCS_AVGATTENDANCE.pdf