Eastern Michigan (please come to our home games!)

[jlb1705]

#shitbirdfootball

 

[cincibuck]

Daddy, can we go see an Eastern Michigan game this year? I wanna see a gray football field.

 

[MaxBuck]

Nothing says, "big time college football program" like weird colored turf.

 

[LovelandBuckeye]

Nothing says, "big time college football program" like weird colored turf.

EXCUSE ME!?!?

 

[Zurp]

Nothing says, "big time college football program" like weird colored turf.

EXCUSE ME!?!?

Did he stutter?

 

[Dryden]

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...students-drop-out-division-football/83493156/

EMU faculty, students: Drop out of Division I football
David Jesse, Detroit Free Press
2:01 p.m. EDT April 25, 2016

Eastern Michigan University should drop out of Division I football and find a different league for its other sports, all in order to save students money, a new report issued by the university's faculty and students says.

"Culturally and geographically, EMU football will simply never succeed from an attendance and financial standpoint," faculty member Howard Bunsis, who helped prepare the report, said in a presentation to the Board of Regents on Friday. "It is a losing proposition – always has been, and always will be. We hardly raise any money for football, and our attendance is the lowest in the country. Some of you believe that we are close to succeeding, if we just throw more money at the situation. This proposition is insane.

"This has nothing to do with our performance on the field, or the quality of our coaches. Our coaches are good people and dedicated professionals. They are fighting a losing battle that cannot be won. Each and every one of you needs to reassess why you are here; if you have any sense of what is right for EMU, you will drop EMU from Division I football as soon as possible. How can you sit there and justify throwing millions of dollars away?"

Getting rid of Division I football is a moral imperative – it will save students money and lower student debt, the report said. The report also found that each student paid $917 out of pocket to support athletics at Eastern. "Should the university be saddling students with unnecessary debt for athletics programs that added little to no value to their education?" the report says.

Cont'd ...

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

This has nothing to do with our performance on the field

I would disagree with their assessment. They've won one conference title in 59 years (none since 1987). They have never, ever finished a season ranked in any major poll. They lost to us 73-0 a few years back (it could've been even worse), went winless in 2009, and would be lucky to be a .500 team in a mediocre FCS conference. They area really, really bad...

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Did a little further research. Since 1976 (40 seasons) they are 130-313-7 (.297), with one 10-win season (10-2 in 1987). Since 2006 (10 seasons) they are 23-97 (.192). Just plain bad...

 

[Muck]

Home attendance:
2015 4,897
2014 15,025*
2013 4,051
2012 3,923
2011 4,267
5 year avg 6,433

*Grey turf installed

No other school in FBS averages less than 10K

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Home attendance:
2015 4,897
2014 15,025*
2013 4,051
2012 3,923
2011 4,267
5 year avg 6,433

*Grey turf installed

No other school in FBS averages less than 10K

Take out the 2014 totals due to the "wow factor" of the gray turf, and they average 4,285 a year. I'd bet that many, of not most, FCS schools average more than that...

 

[Muck]

2010 was another anomalous year averaging over 15K. IIRC they sold a large number of tickets to sponsors at a heavily discounted price who then gave them away as a promotion.

Officially the NCAA requires schools to average at least 15K* every other year or every third year (I don't remember which) in order to stay at the FBS level.

*That is tickets sold, not bodies in the stands.

 

[buckeyesin07]

I would disagree with their assessment. They've won one conference title in 59 years (none since 1987). They have never, ever finished a season ranked in any major poll. They lost to us 73-0 a few years back (it could've been even worse), went winless in 2009, and would be lucky to be a .500 team in a mediocre FCS conference. They area really, really bad...

Actually, we beat them 73-20, not 73-0.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

2010 was another anomalous year averaging over 15K. IIRC they sold a large number of tickets to sponsors at a heavily discounted price who then gave them away as a promotion.

Officially the NCAA requires schools to average at least 15K* every other year or every third year (I don't remember which) in order to stay at the FBS level.

*That is tickets sold, not bodies in the stands.

Wasn't it Akron a few years back that had to do something like that to stay above the mandatory attendance/ticket sales requirement?

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Actually, we beat them 73-20, not 73-0.

I may have got that confused with the 76-0 ass-whupping we put on Florida A&M. The game report on that game contains a cool little nugget foreshadowing the then-future: "Fifth-team tailback Ezekiel Elliott ran for 162 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns"...

 

[Muck]

Wasn't it Akron a few years back that had to do something like that to stay above the mandatory attendance/ticket sales requirement?

It wouldn't surprise me. Akron & Ball State were the other two that regularly dipped below 10K.

I went ahead & looked up the attendance for all three going back ten years.

Akron
2015 18,098
2014 9,170
2013 17,850
2012 9,270
2011 15,734
2010 8,947
2009 17,382
2008 14,342
2007 16,355
2006 16,132
2005 10,893

Ball State
2015 7,974
2014 9,389
2013 15,310
2012 12,930
2011 15,064
2010 10,185
2009 10,888
2008 19,201
2007 13,085
2006 15,061
2005 12,953

EMU
2015 4,897
2014 15,025
2013 4,051
2012 3,923
2011 4,267
2010 15,885
2009 5,016
2008 18,951
2007 7,448
2006 14,734
2005 5,219

Nope. No pattern there at all. lol (I wonder what happened in Ypsilanti in 2012.)

Look for EMU & Ball State to have big attendance jumps next year.

Regardless the trend doesn't look good for the bottom of the MAC.

Edit: Found an article regarding EMU's use of the tactic:

More on how EMU is playing the attendance game in 2010

.../snip/...
Remember also that EMU posted an average attendance of 5,016 fans per game in 2009, — lower than 25 Division II schools and one Division III school (St. John’s, in Minnesota) — so the 2010 attendance must average at least 15,000 per game.

Remember also that, at the MAC Football Media Preview, EMU Athletic Director Derrick Gragg said:

“The university has been in compliance because the rule states they can have 15,000 in either actual or paid attendance, and we have been able to do it with paid attendance, so that makes it fine what the NCAA.”​

Actual or paid attendance, got that?

So here’s the solution.

Corporate sponsors, such as (according to the announcment) Pepsi Co., pre-purchased EMU football tickets for the season. The EMU announcement didn’t say, but I’d be willing to guess it was at least 50,000, and maybe the whole 75,000 (15,000 per game average needed times five home games) just to be safe. EMU can count tickets purchased, as long as they were sold for at least one-third of the highest normal price; since the highest normal price is $9, tickets sold for at least $3 count. (Remember the voucher packs? 10 tickets for $30 is $3 per ticket, so they all count, even if only some get used.) Then the corporate sponsors give the tickets away. In this case, 10,000 tickets to the Central Michigan game were given away to local schools. I’d heard about a giveaway from a friend, but I hadn’t realized the scale. Then, to (theoretically) ensure the tickets get used, EMU promises to pay the schools $1 per ticket used. The tickets have special bar codes that, when scanned, give EMU a record of how many tickets were redeemed from each school.
.../snip/...