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Post by jsumania on Nov 11, 2022 14:54:01 GMT -6
Some of you are missing the point. Will this damage attendance? Absolutely. Does it matter? No. This is not about butts in the seats. It’s about eyeballs on the TV. This is what we have to do. No need to worry about expanding the stadium though. Let’s save that money. That's what worries me. Our attendance has always been toward the top in the FCS. I'm afraid these weekday games are going to hurt the average person from coming to attend. I know a lot of people that go to a JSU or UAB game just because they want something to do on a Saturday. Will that still be the case? Meanwhile, down in Puke County they are about to sell out their 30K stadium this weekend, and have only had one game on a weekday this year against South Alabama... but it was at least on ESPN2. |
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Post by Whup Em All on Nov 11, 2022 14:59:13 GMT -6
Bama and Auburn start times are set by TV schedules. Night games are great in September when it is in the 90s at 1:00. October-November need to be during the daytime. But now that we are FBS, the networks will tell us when to start. I believe that if the game isn't on CBSSN, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU, then JSU can set whatever start time they want. I'll be honest... once the heat of September ends, the only undesirable kickoff time for me is 11 a.m. I strongly prefer evening/night games, just because the atmosphere is so different under the lights, and it makes tailgating better, since you can literally go all day if you're so inclined. A mid-afternoon game is fine for later in September or after the time change in November. But 11 a.m. kicks are awful and should be outlawed. I've written my Congressman. This should be an issue in which Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and GDIs should stand together as one. Anyone who disagrees is obviously a communist infiltrator. |
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Post by Whup Em All on Nov 11, 2022 16:29:51 GMT -6
Regarding attendance:
1) There are four full weeks in October. There are some extra days available at the very beginning and/or end which could be used, but for simplicity's sake, we'll just call it four weeks. This means on average each CUSA team will have TWO HOME games and TWO AWAY games each October.
2) Since a typical FBS season is 12 games, we'll have 5-7 home games each year. This means at a MINIMUM, Jax State will have THREE Saturday home games each fall. Some years, we may have as many as FIVE.
3) Assuming the worst case scenario... the midweek home games wreck our attendance to FCS Thanksgiving Weekend playoff levels (about 10,000 fans) and we only have three Saturday games which each draw a healthy (but not sellout) 20,000 crowd. That brings the season attendance average to 16,000. Not amazing, but totally in line with our FCS history.
4) If you take that same miserable midweek showing and 20K Saturday average but bump up to five Saturday home games, average attendance increases to 17,143.
5) If we can push our weekday average to a solid 15,000, those season averages would increase to 18K and 18.6K respectively.
To put those season averages in some kind of perspective, here are the 2019 season attendance averages for the G5 conferences:
American - 29,496
Mountain West - 23,232
Conference USA - 18,929
Sun Belt - 18,342
MAC - 15,530
Bottom line: two weeknight home games aren't going to kill our attendance average. If we can get the students and local fans to show up on the weeknights and continue to pull in big crowds on the September and November dates, we'll easily match or beat the CUSA and Belt averages and shatter the pathetic MAC.
(Those MWC and AAC averages will be tough (or impossible) for us to match with our current stadium capacity. Pick your battles...)
One more thing: a 20K Saturday game average should be easy to hit, since one of those games will be Band Day, and one will be the Southerners reunion game, both of which historically draw well. On years when we pick up a nonconference home game against a nearby or well-traveling G5 opponent (UAB, troy state, Ga Southern, Ga State, USA, Southern Miss, App State) that Saturday average could push up to 22K or so. If we win consistently at the FBS level, both our midweek and Saturday averages could climb well past what we're used to seeing in FCS.
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Post by Whup Em All on Nov 11, 2022 16:31:05 GMT -6
One more one more thing, and I promise I'll stop posting here for the rest of the day: Does anyone know what Jax State's plan is for those midweek night games if we have no lights on the north end of the stadium in 2023?
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Post by smith79jordan on Nov 11, 2022 17:18:03 GMT -6
One more one more thing, and I promise I'll stop posting here for the rest of the day: Does anyone know what Jax State's plan is for those midweek night games if we have no lights on the north end of the stadium in 2023? That hasn't been addressed, but from what I remember, night practices were still plenty lit with just home-side lighting. On our worst day, home-side lighting far exceeds what the guys played under in Madison. |
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stevo
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Post by stevo on Nov 11, 2022 17:35:22 GMT -6
Regarding attendance: 1) There are four full weeks in October. There are some extra days available at the very beginning and/or end which could be used, but for simplicity's sake, we'll just call it four weeks. This means on average each CUSA team will have TWO HOME games and TWO AWAY games each October. 2) Since a typical FBS season is 12 games, we'll have 5-7 home games each year. This means at a MINIMUM, Jax State will have THREE Saturday home games each fall. Some years, we may have as many as FIVE. 3) Assuming the worst case scenario... the midweek home games wreck our attendance to FCS Thanksgiving Weekend playoff levels (about 10,000 fans) and we only have three Saturday games which each draw a healthy (but not sellout) 20,000 crowd. That brings the season attendance average to 16,000. Not amazing, but totally in line with our FCS history. 4) If you take that same miserable midweek showing and 20K Saturday average but bump up to five Saturday home games, average attendance increases to 17,143. 5) If we can push our weekday average to a solid 15,000, those season averages would increase to 18K and 18.6K respectively. To put those season averages in some kind of perspective, here are the 2019 season attendance averages for the G5 conferences: American - 29,496 Mountain West - 23,232 Conference USA - 18,929 Sun Belt - 18,342 MAC - 15,530 Bottom line: two weeknight home games aren't going to kill our attendance average. If we can get the students and local fans to show up on the weeknights and continue to pull in big crowds on the September and November dates, we'll easily match or beat the CUSA and Belt averages and shatter the pathetic MAC. (Those MAC and AAC averages will be tough (or impossible) for us to match with our current stadium capacity. Pick your battles...) One more thing: a 20K Saturday game average should be easy to hit, since one of those games will be Band Day, and one will be the Southerners reunion game, both of which historically draw well. On years when we pick up a nonconference home game against a nearby or well-traveling G5 opponent (UAB, troy state, Ga Southern, Ga State, USA, Southern Miss, App State) that Saturday average could push up to 22K or so. If we win consistently at the FBS level, both our midweek and Saturday averages could climb well past what we're used to seeing in FCS. I appreciate your research. (Few people do that here) On average there will be 2 Saturday home games in November. Even if the weather is normal for November the attendance is disappointing. Let's see how the crowd looks tomorrow and use it as a good example. |
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Post by troysux on Nov 11, 2022 18:05:25 GMT -6
Mrs. sux and I will be there.
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Post by toooldtocare on Nov 12, 2022 18:25:03 GMT -6
A. It’s not attendance. It’s tickets sold. Doesn’t matter if many will be in the seats (there won’t).
B. On 7th floor today people were quite upset.
C. I’ll wait and see. Could be useful as a business night for client appreciation. And I’d also bet not every week is scheduled as Tuesday/Wed. There has to be 2 open open weeks to make this happen or there will need to be Thur/Fri games to balance out the recovery.
D. Heard today there may be 7 home games next year. That sounds optimistic to me and it may be tentative at this point.
Lastly. Our OL has really gotten better. Looks like a lot of JUCO focus for next year’s recruiting class.
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stevo
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Post by stevo on Nov 12, 2022 20:42:36 GMT -6
A. It’s not attendance. It’s tickets sold. Doesn’t matter if many will be in the seats (there won’t). True on tickets sold (or given away). Today's announced attendance was 15,875. With November weather and October weekday games and a FCS game, a 21,000 seat stadium is big enough. B. On 7th floor today people were quite upset. Upset about October weekday games or something else?C. I’ll wait and see. Could be useful as a business night for client appreciation. And I’d also bet not every week is scheduled as Tuesday/Wed. There has to be 2 open open weeks to make this happen or there will need to be Thur/Fri games to balance out the recovery. Can't be 2 open weeks unless you play Week 0. Since their are only 9 CUSA schools next year, a CUSA school must have an open date or non-conference game in October. Hopefully ESPN will help with non-conference scheduling since they have a vested interest in the Sun Belt, MAC and AAC. The MAC looks to have their open week the Saturday before their first weekday game. ESPN will also need to schedule CUSA around whatever MLB playoff games they will be showing.D. Heard today there may be 7 home games next year. That sounds optimistic to me and it may be tentative at this point. Lastly. Our OL has really gotten better. Looks like a lot of JUCO focus for next year’s recruiting class. |
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Post by Whup Em All on Nov 14, 2022 10:32:24 GMT -6
A. It’s not attendance. It’s tickets sold. Doesn’t matter if many will be in the seats (there won’t). Students will be there. How many will depend on the University's ability to market the game to them. Many local fans and alumni (those within an hour of campus) will be there. Again, it depends on the University's ability to market the game. Fans with young children (especially elementary age) will likely either skip the game or leave at halftime. Fans with preteen and young teen children may be pulled away to school functions (including JV football). The University can counteract this somewhat by creating a new "Students Night" through the local schools, essentially making one of the midweek games a second Family/Preview Day. On some years, we may get lucky enough to have fall break on the same week as a home midweek game. That won't help with families who vacation that week, and it certainly doesn't help with people who have to get up early for work the next morning, but it at least helps some families who won't have to worry about going to a game on a school night. I'm not denying actual butts-in-seats attendance (and possibly season ticket sales) won't take a dip on midweek games. You're losing most out-of-town fans, and a sizeable number of local ones, but there are ways to make this work. It just takes some out-of-the-box creative thinking. JSU can't simply maintain status quo on a Tuesday night and expect 20,000 attendance. Did I mention out-of-the-box creative thinking? This can be the OTHER midweek game. So one for local students, one for local businesses. Get on it, JSU! We've done the planning for you.  The official release said "most" games on Tuesday/Wednesday, with "some" on Thursday/Friday. I hope recovery has been factored in. A Saturday-Tuesday or Saturday-Wednesday turnaround would be ill-advised, and a Thursday-Saturday or Friday-Saturday turnaround would be all but impossible, so some amount of planning has to have been done to take recovery into account. As you said, they'll probably use a combination of open weeks and Thursday/Friday games to achieve this. Either way, I'm glad it's only for one month of the season. |
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Post by pubdaze on Nov 14, 2022 13:05:38 GMT -6
I believe that if the game isn't on CBSSN, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU, then JSU can set whatever start time they want. I'll be honest... once the heat of September ends, the only undesirable kickoff time for me is 11 a.m. I strongly prefer evening/night games, just because the atmosphere is so different under the lights, and it makes tailgating better, since you can literally go all day if you're so inclined. A mid-afternoon game is fine for later in September or after the time change in November. But 11 a.m. kicks are awful and should be outlawed. I've written my Congressman. This should be an issue in which Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and GDIs should stand together as one. Anyone who disagrees is obviously a communist infiltrator. "I've written my Congressman" Don't you mean "Congressperson"? |
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Post by pubdaze on Nov 14, 2022 13:08:02 GMT -6
A. It’s not attendance. It’s tickets sold. Doesn’t matter if many will be in the seats (there won’t). B. On 7th floor today people were quite upset. C. I’ll wait and see. Could be useful as a business night for client appreciation. And I’d also bet not every week is scheduled as Tuesday/Wed. There has to be 2 open open weeks to make this happen or there will need to be Thur/Fri games to balance out the recovery. D. Heard today there may be 7 home games next year. That sounds optimistic to me and it may be tentative at this point. Lastly. Our OL has really gotten better. Looks like a lot of JUCO focus for next year’s recruiting class. B. - What's that about? |
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Post by Cleburneslim on Nov 14, 2022 14:52:37 GMT -6
So have we settled on, just how many Jax State games on average will be televised on ESPN and or CBS sports network and how many on say ESPN+ or paramount+
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Post by Whup Em All on Nov 15, 2022 9:05:10 GMT -6
So have we settled on, just how many Jax State games on average will be televised on ESPN and or CBS sports network and how many on say ESPN+ or paramount+ From what I've heard, during the month of October, ALL CUSA games will be on linear networks. This means stations available on cable/satellite TV, such as CBSSN, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU. (ESPN3 and ESPN+ aren't linear -- they're streaming only -- and no games will be carried on streaming networks during this month.) This is the entire reason CUSA agreed to take a little less money and play midweek games. That linear exposure is huge for a G5 league. We could've agreed to another $100K or so and had all games put on streaming channels, but we'd almost never get linear exposure if that had happened. It would've been a glorified FCS deal. CBSSN has first rights to games the rest of the season (September and November), but most will probably end up on ESPN+. That said, ESPN reserves the right to bump any of its games up from ESPN+ to the big networks if they choose. We won't know any specifics until after the 2023 schedule is released. |
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stevo
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Post by stevo on Nov 15, 2022 9:57:59 GMT -6
Well said.
To add on to that. The first 3 weeks of the season will be set somewhere around early August. The November Saturday game times aren't set until 12 days (sometimes 6) before game day.
So for CUSA schools game times will go something like this:
WK 1, 2 and 3 will be set sometime during August/July
WK 4 - 12 days before that Saturday
WK 5 Saturday will likely be open
WK 6 7 8 9 - The date (Tues-Fri) will be set during the summer but the time will remain flexible
WK 10 11 12 and 13 - game time will usually be set 12 days in advance.
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