Some BCS facts for your SEC friends

[billmac91]

Give me a break! 95% of that attendance is more people than Kentucky puts into their OWN stadium. If you take into account the 7500-10,000 visiting fans at Kentucky HOME games, the 'Cats rarely put 60,000 in their House. You expect me to beleive that brought 65,000 out of state to a game? Kentucky football does not have a great following. Never did. Florida St. may not have traveled well because of the Bullshit that happened leading up to the game, but you can't blame that on the SEC. In any normal year, that game would have been at BEST 55/45 in favor of Kentucky.

As an FSU grad I just wanted to point out Kentucky owned 80-85% of that stadium. A Music City Bowl record for attendance was also set. There were lots of seats still available in the upper deck but of those attendees that were there it was easily dominated by UK. I think the support is less b/c of academic suspensions and more because UK fans haven't had a football season like this in so long.

FSU doesn't travel well, and playing Kentucky at a stadium geographically close to Lexington is what created the home atmosphere for Kentucky. Even if the game were in Jacksonville or Orlando it would have been 50/50 FSU/UK fans in the house IMO. A few years ago WVU had more fans than FSU fans at All-tell stadium in Jacksonville.

 

[billmac91]

As someone in the building industry...the design of them specifically...its 95% of the time about "dollars and cents"

But if a stadium is already built, other factors are very relevant. Would Oregon like a 75,000 seat stadium? I would think so, but at this point it's possible they'd rather have a 54,000 seat stadium rather than constructing a new stadium until it's in the budget. It's also not easy to just turn a 40,000 seat stadium into a 75,000 seat stadium, especially if it's a closed end stadium, unlike the horse shoe and Orange Bowl when they could close the endzone in and add thousands of seats.

Also, history obviously plays a large role as well. I was just pointing out that if it were all about dollars and cents Duke would tear down Cameron and rebuild an arena with 15,000 more seats.

 

[DCBuckeye07]

But if a stadium is already built, other factors are very relevant. Would Oregon like a 75,000 seat stadium? I would think so, but at this point it's possible they'd rather have a 54,000 seat stadium rather than constructing a new stadium until it's in the budget. It's also not easy to just turn a 40,000 seat stadium into a 75,000 seat stadium, especially if it's a closed end stadium, unlike the horse shoe and Orange Bowl when they could close the endzone in and add thousands of seats.

Also, history obviously plays a large role as well. I was just pointing out that if it were all about dollars and cents Duke would tear down Cameron and rebuild an arena with 15,000 more seats.

I think you just contradicted yourself, determining whether or not to keep a 54000 seat stadium based on budget, although the desire for a new one is there, is still a budget issue (actually by definition is one). Yes, if its a renovation, other factors emerge. But those factors displace the ones that would otherwise be there in new construction. When it comes to bottom line budgetary issues, they still exist in their own little world, typically not related to whether its a renovation or new construction.

 

[Bleed S & G]

I love my Buckeyes, but I am also a realist.

Oxymoron my friend, oxymoron.

 

[Nutriaitch]

I think the support is less b/c of academic suspensions and more because UK fans haven't had a football season like this in so long.

I'll give in on the game being a home game for UK. But this season is almost a mirror image of last year for them.

a few losses, string of wins, Music City Bowl, 8-5 [mirror]8-5, Music City Bowl, string of wins, a few losses

It's also not easy to just turn a 40,000 seat stadium into a 75,000 seat stadium, especially if it's a closed end stadium, unlike the horse shoe and Orange Bowl when they could close the endzone in and add thousands of seats.

LSU added Upper Decks over the lower Bowl on each Sideline. The newest one upped capacity from 78k to 92k.

 

[DCBuckeye07]

LSU added Upper Decks over the lower Bowl on each Sideline. The newest one upped capacity from 78k to 92k.

Well that sounds easy enough

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

If they felt they could have readliy sold out a 60-65k, that's what they would have gone up to. Instead they felt that 54 was a better number. Supply vs. demand.

Re-read my post where I said: "Maybe the infrastructure of the stadium would only allow so much expansion." Also see the below quote from billmac91's post...

maybe they can't structually support 15,000 more seats without a building a completely new stadium?

By the way, the Ducks have a current streak of 55 straight sellouts at Autzen going back to the 1999 season.

 

[DCBuckeye07]

yeah, definitely the latter...they would, no doubt, maximize the number of seats they can get.

 

[Nutriaitch]

Re-read my post where I said: "Maybe the infrastructure of the stadium would only allow so much expansion." Also see the below quote from billmac91's post...

Maybe, maybe not. I don't know the answer to that. All I know is that they expanded the bowl on only one side of the stadium. I'm not in the building/construction industry, but it seems to me that if it could be done to one side, it could be done to the other. That would serve 2 purposes. It would make the Stadium more symmetrical, and increase the attendance to close to the 70k mark.

 

[Bill Lucas]

As an FSU grad I just wanted to point out Kentucky owned 80-85% of that stadium. A Music City Bowl record for attendance was also set. There were lots of seats still available in the upper deck but of those attendees that were there it was easily dominated by UK. I think the support is less b/c of academic suspensions and more because UK fans haven't had a football season like this in so long.

FSU doesn't travel well, and playing Kentucky at a stadium geographically close to Lexington is what created the home atmosphere for Kentucky. Even if the game were in Jacksonville or Orlando it would have been 50/50 FSU/UK fans in the house IMO. A few years ago WVU had more fans than FSU fans at All-tell stadium in Jacksonville.

Sorry, but iI have to. No they don't travel well. This year they even left about 1/2 of their team behind.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Maybe, maybe not. I don't know the answer to that. All I know is that they expanded the bowl on only one side of the stadium. I'm not in the building/construction industry, but it seems to me that if it could be done to one side, it could be done to the other. That would serve 2 purposes. It would make the Stadium more symmetrical, and increase the attendance to close to the 70k mark.

Well, seeing as they've a string of 55 straight sellouts and are always pushing 110% capacity, don't be surprised if they don't expand further in the future. But the bottom line is that your insinuation that Oregon doesn't support their program fan-wise like we (OSU) or you all (LSU) do is wrong.

 

[Nutriaitch]

But the bottom line is that your insinuation that Oregon doesn't support their program fan-wise like we (OSU) or you all (LSU) do is wrong.

I apologize for it sounding like that's what I was doing. What I mean is that they don't have the BIG numbers of fans. The fans they do have are as loyal as any other. Oregon is not an especially big state, and those people are split between 2 (major) schools. If there was only 1, you could probably add the numbers for OU and OSU and get a HUGE following. Which is what LSU enjoys. I'm not bashing Oregon for a lack of support, I'm just pointing out a numbers issue.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I apologize for it sounding like that's what I was doing. What I mean is that they don't have the BIG numbers of fans. The fans they do have are as loyal as any other. Oregon is not an especially big state, and those people are split between 2 (major) schools. If there was only 1, you could probably add the numbers for OU and OSU and get a HUGE following. Which is what LSU enjoys. I'm not bashing Oregon for a lack of support, I'm just pointing out a numbers issue.

All's cool. But I think the number of fans that UO has, while maybe not what we or you all have, would surprise you...

 

[muffler dragon]

All's cool. But I think the number of fans that UO has, while maybe not what we or you all have, would surprise you...

And living in the state shows just how dedicated the fans of both teams are. For a state of ~3 million (2 in Portland alone), there's a lot of school support.

 

[JohnLSU]

I found this quote on [Oregon's] website, and thought it was interesting:

"Autzen's 59,000 strong make the Big House [Michigan] sound like a pathetic whimper. It's louder that 'The Swamp' at Florida, 'The Shoe' in Columbus and 'Death Valley' at Louisiana State. Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die."

- Michigan Daily, September 2003​

That's awesome:

Even newspapers in Big Ten territory use Tiger Stadium and the Swamp as examples of stadiums legendary for their crowd noise. No newspaper in SEC territory would use Ohio Stadium as an example of a stadium legendary for crowd noise.

Also, just because a Michigan publication thinks that Autzen has an awesome crowd, doesn't mean a whole lot. I'm sure any university can find some small publication somewhere in the country that says something great about their home crowd.

As for LSU, here are some of the testimonials that our Athletic Department uses to brag about Tiger Stadium:

?I?ve been here as a player in the early ?60s. I?ve been here as a coach in the ?80s. When the crowd is with it, there is no place like this (Tiger Stadium) in all of college football. I might add there is no place like it in the NFL. These people (LSU fans) make a difference with their squad. It?s tough to play them when they get like this.? - Bill Curry, ESPN Color Analyst

After a victory before a national television audience on ESPN in 2001, ESPN sideline reporter Adrian Karsten said, "Death Valley in Baton Rouge is the loudest stadium I've ever been in. There are very few stadiums in America worth a touchdown, but the Bayou Bengals certainly have that advantage in Tiger Stadium"

In 2002, after a 33-10 non-conference win over Miami (Ohio), Miami coach Terry Hoeppner said of Tiger Stadium, "that's as exciting an environment as you can have. I thought the crowd was a factor for us because we had communication problems we haven't had at Michigan and Ohio State."

However, check this out. This is ESPN's most recent list of "the scariest places to play" (2007)

#1 Tiger Stadium
#3 The Swamp
#5 Penn State
#9 Ohio State

ESPN - Death Valley tops list of scary venues for opposing teams - College Football

I'm surprised that Ohio State even made the list. That's pretty impressive! You Buckeye people should remind SEC fans of that more often.