NCAA release 2014 attendance data

[SDHornet]

And there is NO WAY we had that many fans in the seats. Even with all of the thousands of free tickets given to every group imaginable, we might have averaged about 12K in the seats.

Same with Portland State. Photo evidence shows that many games had less than 1,000 people...not sure how they got their average above 4,000.

Didn’t PSU get booted from that venue? Where will the Vikes play their games from here on out?

[Brock Landers]

Jump ship PSU so we can have divisions!

Actually who cares. Do whatever.

[Grizalltheway]

Well, MSU was the only show in town when they were only drawing 2,000 per game. Same with UM and the Dornblaser days. So obviously something has changed.

[SACCAT]

You don't count the MSU game as a "price of admission" game? And you wonder why MSU or UM are on TV every week, and you guys get one game (normally against one of the Montana schools).

No I don’t, MSU doesn’t garner interest in Sac like UM does. And spare me the Root Sports talk, last I checked CA residents need the sports package add on from DirectTV to even get that channel.

PS. The rest of the Big Sky better figure there **** out quick.

The Root deal doesn’t serve the entire geographic area of the BSC. Besides, our rivalry game is already on regional TV.

PPS. I remember back in the 90's when the Cats would get about 2K to a home game, so I don't want to hear any "Poor us" crap...Get some marketing people, and some direction, and get to work.

Oh you are comparing sports entertainment draw between rural Montana and NorCal. Sure helps being the only show in town…err in the Montana’s case: nearest 500 miles.

I am not smart enough to break the quotes out like you did, so I will just number them in order

1)Every game no matter who we play "Garners interest". There is the underlying problem with the Non-Montana schools in general. We sell out against Fort Lewis.

2) No I shouldn't have brought up the Root sports thing (by bad, realized after I read it again that it has nothing to do with this conversation). When I said "The rest of the Big Sky needs to step up, I meant getting fans to the game.

3) MSU and UM MAKE and I mean MAKE it an event not to miss. There are plenty of other things to do when it comes to sports (most of these aren't played on a field) yet people will drive 5+ hours to make every game. Why can't a city the size of Sacramento (almost 1M metro area) get more than 9K at a game, yet a STATE with only 1M get over 30K every time the Cats and griz play at home the same week.

[Grizalltheway]

Over 40K on average, actually, or 4% of the state's population.

[SACCAT]

Over 40K on average, actually, or 4% of the state's population.

I know, but I thought I would give him a break since they can't draw dick.

[SDHornet]

I am not smart

I stopped reading there.

1) Again, with plenty of other entertainment options on the table it's got to be a good matchup, or a be a great team. Having lived in NorCal and SoCal, the fair weather fan sentiment is the dominant mind set across all sports at every level. I wish it was different but it is what it is.

2) No arguments here. I'd like to see it packed for every game, just not gonna happen. And this is the case everywhere in CA at every level. If you aren't winning, people find other things to do.

3) See #2.

[Get'em_Griz]

I am not smart

I stopped reading there.

1) Again, with plenty of other entertainment options on the table it's got to be a good matchup, or a be a great team. Having lived in NorCal and SoCal, the fair weather fan sentiment is the dominant mind set across all sports at every level. I wish it was different but it is what it is.

2) No arguments here. I'd like to see it packed for every game, just not gonna happen. And this is the case everywhere in CA at every level. If you aren't winning, people find other things to do.

3) See #2.

I think this sentence pretty much includes every team at every level anywhere in the country.

[biobengal]

PS. The rest of the Big Sky better figure there **** out quick.

Or what? You will join the Sun Belt?

UM and MSU gone from the Big Sky... oh well... take EWOO with you and ISU might win a few championships, might.

[BDKJMU]

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_ ... e/2014.pdf
Rank School G Attendance Average
1. Montana 7 166,440 23,777
2. James Madison 6 118,893 19,816
3. North Dakota St. 9 167,136 18,571
4. Montana St. 8 136,446 17,056
5. Liberty 6 102,098 17,016
6. Delaware 7 109,772 15,682
7. Jacksonville St. 6 93,439 15,573
8. Southern U. 6 92,493 15,416
9. Yale 6 91,159 15,193
10. Harvard 5 75,088 15,018

JMU avg 21,170 avg during the regular season. The 13,040 home playoff game dropped JMU down....

On the other hand, butts in seats was probably more like 15-17k avg. The 1 game that was legit attendance was that 13+k playoff game (probably undercounted)..looked like more than some of the 20k+ games...

[SuperHornet]

PS. The rest of the Big Sky better figure there **** out quick.

Or what? You will join the Sun Belt?

UM and MSU gone from the Big Sky... oh well... take EWOO with you and ISU might win a few championships, might.

Eliminate EWU and the Montanas, and the next two schools are Sac and Cow Poly, with NAU not all that far behind....