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[FB] Game #4: 9/22/18 - 7:00pm - vs St. Francis (PA)


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Not slamming...but fact.  The NE Conference now offers 45 on book scholarships and they offer the full allowable 63 scholarships by allowing grant-in-aids.  This is how they've become counters for FBS schools and why they are now on FBS schedules.  To compete in the NEC, we'd have the same scholarship expenditures.

It would save us ZERO dollars and would actually bring in less revenue when your home slate consists of NEC schools that have nothing in common with Albany, and aren't name schools.

It's probably one of the worst ideas imaginable.

Our issue with the football team isn't finances or facilities (other than the lockerrooms, which are abysmal, and the general athletic department need for a practice facility).  We spend a TON on football (almost $5 million).  Our issue is that Mark Benson made a poor hire for the HC.  Period.  The staff is just not doing their jobs.

 I really don't see the money flowing in on fundraising.  In fact, I've heard VERY strong stories that the Casey gift was not a Benson led operation. I trust those sources without hesitation.

Prime example: My name is on that donor list at Casey Stadium.  Ask me if I've received ONE call from the Athletic Department to donate again since Benson has taken over. (I think you can surmise the answer).

Edited by Dane96
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I've posted this before in attendance threads, and people have disagreed with me, but it goes with the ALL IN comment above.

Capital District sports fans are snobs. We have the disposable income and population to support going all-in and moving up, not down. BUT because of our proximity to NYC, Boston, Montreal, Syracuse, even Buffalo, no one is attending mid level sports. Even $iena basketball attendance is pathetic for what our region has to offer.

While I am 100% against moving down, the school is definitely nearing a crossroads. Either admit that we don't have the resources needed to improve and grow into a bigger program and be happy with what we have, or start making the pushes needed to continue growing to get to FBS in football and a better conference in basketball. Without those things happening we will continue to struggle to fill the stadium and arena.

Time to choose... Chicken or the egg. 

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96, I cannot disagree with your scholarship arguments. I just do not understand how it works, but have been told for years that more scholarships = more cost. But I still question the attendance up tic we get from the caa. Since the move to Casey {call it an 8 out of 10 field} from University Field {what a 0or1 out of 10} coincides with our move to the caa, any attendance growth credited to the caa hard to establish an exact correlation. And even if attendance growth could ALL be attributed to our caa membership the numbers are NOT impressive still; but UA does not draw enough fans and fans = revenue. IMHO I do not think we would suffer greatly @ the gate by going back to the NE; in fact with a more competitive (i.e winning) team attendance might improve. Simple sports truth more winning = more fans. Anyhow, thanks for your input!

Edited by dslyank
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When we were playing well, we had higher attendance.

More importantly, attendance is down at college and pro sports.  It's a generational thing.  I watched FBS teams play in half empty and 3/4 filled stadiums.

I have friends working at MLB who have unequivocally stated the way they report numbers is on sales and not fannies.  The downturn in attendance is an issue everywhere.

Again, we aren't winning and winning with flair due to lack of expenditures; It's coaching.  End of story.  Truly coaching.  As someone who has coached football, I am appalled at what I see.  Let's just go back to a warning sign: When our HC went after the venerable Andy Talley (verbally) for letting a fifth year walk-on SR take a handoff in the endzone during garbage time.  It was a present to the kid from Talley due to his hardwork.  Our "leader" goes up in arms over it...and basically starts a verbal tirade for a week.

Flash to last night.  ODU was up 7 on Va. Tech with 1:35 left, with Tech having NO chance at a comeback if ODU knelt on the ball as Tech was out of timeouts.  The safe play was to kneel.  Instead, the OC calls a run and ODU breaks it for a TD, putting a cherry on the cake for ODU's biggest win, ever!  The camera's went to Va Tech's bench...and not one Coach, including the HC was upset.

It says a lot about our staff.

Edited by Dane96
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3 minutes ago, dslyank said:

96, I cannot disagree with your scholarship arguments. I just do not understand how it works, but have been told for years that more scholarships = more cost. But I still question the attendance up tic we get from the caa. Since the move to Casey {call it an 8 out of 10 field} from University Field {what a 0or1 out of 10} coincides with our move to the caa, any attendance growth credited to the caa hard to establish an exact correlation. And even if attendance growth could ALL be attributed to our caa membership the numbers are NOT impressive still; but UA does not draw enough fans and fans = revenue. IMHO I do not think we would suffer greatly @ the gate by going back to the NE; in fact with a more competitive (i.e winning) team attendance might improve. Simple sports truth more winning = more fans. Anyhow, thanks for your input!

I don’t disagree with the attendance but this shouldn’t be news to any administrator doing an analysis.  IMO, there was never a valid reason to assume a significant increase in attendance.  The reality is the stadium is a sunk cost and a shift back to the NEC would probably reduce scholarship costs but that would be offset by an increase in other financial aid.  Not sure if there’s much of a benefit there.

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This area couldn't support the AA Yankees with Jeter, Petite, Williams, and Posada on the team. They didn't get attendance because Heritage park sucked balls. When a big name major leaguer played a rehab start there the place sold out and had people sitting in the field going over capacity.

The AHL couldn't get 3k per game at the TUC, but a preseason NHL game sold out. Preseason NBA games at the TUC sold out. With small name concerts, good tickets can be had up until show time. Bring Billy Joel, Metallica, DMB, or the Rolling Stones and they sell out in minutes.

This area is too close to big time events for the gen pop to care about mid or low level events. It's just the way it is. We play against UVM at home last year and didn't sell out SEFCU. We play against North Carolina in LAX and set a NCAA LAX attendance record. 

The people and money are here. The school needs marketing to make sure people know the programs are good (my boss in Syracuse, that is a sports fan, didn't even know the programs were D1), we need to win, and we need big name opponents. If we had that, we could support and fill the arena and Stadium. Without it, we will just waddle around having fans complain about no attendance and no love.

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19 minutes ago, godanesgo99 said:

This area couldn't support the AA Yankees with Jeter, Petite, Williams, and Posada on the team. They didn't get attendance because Heritage park sucked balls. When a big name major leaguer played a rehab start there the place sold out and had people sitting in the field going over capacity.

The AHL couldn't get 3k per game at the TUC, but a preseason NHL game sold out. Preseason NBA games at the TUC sold out. With small name concerts, good tickets can be had up until show time. Bring Billy Joel, Metallica, DMB, or the Rolling Stones and they sell out in minutes.

This area is too close to big time events for the gen pop to care about mid or low level events. It's just the way it is. We play against UVM at home last year and didn't sell out SEFCU. We play against North Carolina in LAX and set a NCAA LAX attendance record. 

The people and money are here. The school needs marketing to make sure people know the programs are good (my boss in Syracuse, that is a sports fan, didn't even know the programs were D1), we need to win, and we need big name opponents. If we had that, we could support and fill the arena and Stadium. Without it, we will just waddle around having fans complain about no attendance and no love.

IMO, it’s not marketing or forcing student to attend- it’s the northeast.  I can’t think of any college football team in the northeast that has good attendance - BC, UMass, Temple, Maryland, Buffalo, Syracuse.  Rutgers is improving but still not good compared to the rest of the country.  Penn State is good but they’re a bit west... even if you just look at the CAA, none of the northern schools have good attendance.

I can t think of any reason to think that Albany would be an exception.  Yes, attendance can improve but it’s not reasonable to expect attendance to fund the football program,.

 

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1 hour ago, Dane96 said:

Not slamming...but fact.  The NE Conference now offers 45 on book scholarships and they offer the full allowable 63 scholarships by allowing grant-in-aids.  This is how they've become counters for FBS schools and why they are now on FBS schedules.  To compete in the NEC, we'd have the same scholarship expenditures.

It would save us ZERO dollars and would actually bring in less revenue when your home slate consists of NEC schools that have nothing in common with Albany, and aren't name schools.

It's probably one of the worst ideas imaginable.

Our issue with the football team isn't finances or facilities (other than the lockerrooms, which are abysmal, and the general athletic department need for a practice facility).  We spend a TON on football (almost $5 million).  Our issue is that Mark Benson made a poor hire for the HC.  Period.  The staff is just not doing their jobs.

 I really don't see the money flowing in on fundraising.  In fact, I've heard VERY strong stories that the Casey gift was not a Benson led operation. I trust those sources without hesitation.

Prime example: My name is on that donor list at Casey Stadium.  Ask me if I've received ONE call from the Athletic Department to donate again since Benson has taken over. (I think you can surmise the answer).

These are the kind of terrible ideas you get when you hire a loser as a coach who's run the program into the ground. 

 

He probably just needs more time... 

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Syracuse MSA has 15% lower population.

Syracuse MSA has 25% lower disposable income. 

Syracuse Football attendance: 34,000 per game

Syracuse Basketball attendance: 24,000 per game

 

 

No, being a northeast school we will never have the 50k per game you get in the south, but it's not unreasonable to think the school could get 15k per game with the stadium completed (mirror on the other side and completed "U" on the keybank berm side).

It also not unreasonable to think that a fully renovated SEFCU could draw 8-12k per game.

Both  scenarios above could happen within 10 years if the school wanted to, but would require lots of $$ to make the moves.

Will never happen in the AE and CAA. Because the local snobs won't buy tickets to see UA barely beat St. Francis in football or play Maine in basketball. They would show up to see us host Ohio St in football and Duke in basketball though. 

Edited by godanesgo99
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Fact of the matter is Albany is VERY (extremely) fair weather. It is what it is. It'll be 3-4 decades before we see what we wish to see IMO. Right now, we need to focus on the product on the field which sucks. D96 hit the nail on the head...it won't get better until we clean house.

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Hypothetically, if the defense did a 180 and the team wins the next 6 games, do we sell out the season finale against SBU at 8-2?

I'm not very confident that we do.

If we are 0-10 and the finale is against Syracuse, it's 20 degrees outside, and snowing, I bet it's overcapacity sold out with people not having room to make snow angels in the berm.

Edited by godanesgo99
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18 hours ago, Eli said:

Your annoying. "Period!!"

I'm in agreement on the LBs. How many times did they get burned over the middle of the field? That has ZERO to do with the DL or their push. When our LBs are dropping into coverage, they are not making the adjustments necessary to pass guys off (in zone) or can't keep up with guys (in man to man) causing plays over the middle. Seriously dude...for someone who claims to know a crap ton about football you don't understand defense 101. Did you play on special teams only or something?

Blah ! Blah! Balh! Again.  The LB's were NOt terrible.  If you say they are you just do not know.................. Not going to respond to this BS any more.

 

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18 hours ago, Eli said:

Your annoying. "Period!!"

I'm in agreement on the LBs. How many times did they get burned over the middle of the field? That has ZERO to do with the DL or their push. When our LBs are dropping into coverage, they are not making the adjustments necessary to pass guys off (in zone) or can't keep up with guys (in man to man) causing plays over the middle. Seriously dude...for someone who claims to know a crap ton about football you don't understand defense 101. Did you play on special teams only or something?

WRONG. It does have to do with the D line!!!

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6 hours ago, godanesgo99 said:

I've posted this before in attendance threads, and people have disagreed with me, but it goes with the ALL IN comment above.

Capital District sports fans are snobs. We have the disposable income and population to support going all-in and moving up, not down. BUT because of our proximity to NYC, Boston, Montreal, Syracuse, even Buffalo, no one is attending mid level sports. Even $iena basketball attendance is pathetic for what our region has to offer.

While I am 100% against moving down, the school is definitely nearing a crossroads. Either admit that we don't have the resources needed to improve and grow into a bigger program and be happy with what we have, or start making the pushes needed to continue growing to get to FBS in football and a better conference in basketball. Without those things happening we will continue to struggle to fill the stadium and arena.

Time to choose... Chicken or the egg. 

True.  BUT the Arena FB team averaged over 10,000 a game!!!!!!!!

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1 hour ago, HOF2013 said:

Blah ! Blah! Balh! Again.  The LB's were NOt terrible.  If you say they are you just do not know.................. Not going to respond to this BS any more.

 

 

1 hour ago, HOF2013 said:

WRONG. It does have to do with the D line!!!

Yet you responded. With nothing to prove me wrong or explain where I'm wrong. #hotair #fakeittillyamakeit(as an expert)

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