NDSU football attendance

[tony]

NDSU's football attendance was #1 in Division II for the fifth time. Still need more butts in the seats but it was a nice way to leave DII:

Top Five:

1. NDSU 11,567 per game
2. Miles 11,518
3. Tuskegee 10,964
4. Grand Valley State 10,446
5. Pittsburg State 9,741

In DI-AA, it was:

1. Yale 23,578 per game
2. Montana 23,352
3. Florida A&M 21,323
4. Southern University 19,732
5. Delaware 18,895

We have to fill the Dome to crack the top 5.

[JBB]

Thats good news. Heres how we did it:

Tusculum 10,561
Cal Davis 15,548
SDSU 14,108
UNO 14,109
USD 9,100
CSP 7,045

We did well until we hit USD and CSP. The UCD game was our biggest crowd confirming my own belief that they are our largest rival. I expect UNC and SDSU will also continue to draw well. It would be nice to keep UNO around for a couple more years. UMD would probably be in the 7000 range.

[Bisonfan1234]

People weren't sure what to make of us when we played Tusculum.

After we lost to UND the fans felt dejected which explains the drop off against USD.

After we lost to SCSU the fans gave up as they knew we wouldn't make it to the playoffs. Playing a patsy from the NSIC didn't help either.

[JBB]

I agree, the SCSU loss really hurt. In fact I didnt go to the USD game, the second dome game Ive missed all time. As you have speculated, CSP may have drawn better at the begining of the season. The Tusculum crowd, and the rest of the season attendace results tell me that NDSU will draw well, even when less known teams from DI-AA are in town. Considering how well UCD drew and the real potential for large crowds with UNC and SDSU 2004 could be very good. It has a great start. We might even get a Montana school in. The key of course is a winning team.

[JACKGUY]

I believe the 2004 game with the Jacks is in Brookings.

[Herd_Mentality]

Remember that the CSP game was during the opening weekend for Late Season deer hunting in ND. That is always a huge hit. The student section for that game was all but empty.

[JBB]

Yes, your right JackGuy. This year is 2003-2004. We play there. In 2004-2005 season you should be here. Is that right? I think 2004-2005 is going to see us benefiting from the home end of a lot of home/home matchups. We seem to have a lot of away games scheduled this season and only 1 home game so far.

[JACKGUY]

I guess we got to play the 2004 game in Brookings since we were in Fargo in 2003. We also should have a decent home schedule in 2005 with the Montana State's and Georgia Southerns coming to Brookings for their part of the Home and Home contract.

[JBB]

Thats right Im a year off I guess. *Even though we are on the road a lot this year I hope they do some TV broadcasts of the games. *Cal Davis for sure, but all of them if they can. *It would help the BISON.

[Bisonguy]

I have my doubts for the UCD game being televised. Supposedly the cost of a satellite feed around Davis is ridiculous. That's why WDAY did not televise it last year.

[Bisonfan1234]

That's because they don't believe in none of those new-fangled televisions.

[tony]

The press release I was working off of didn't have the complete results. They can be found here: link (http://www.ncaa.org/stats/football/attendance/2003/2003footballattendance.pdf)

I think they are still counting Northern Colorado as an NCC school. The NCC without NDSU, SDSU, UNC and with Duluth still should have decent attendance. I'd be surprised if the per game average drops by much more than a 1,000 - still one of the top 3 conferences in DII.