OT: FCS Coastal Carolina Moving to Sun Belt

[Eli]

 

 

 

I say stay in the CAA for 15-20 years, get REAL good in this league (with top notch facilities). Develop traditions, a rabid fanbase and a level of excellence (where we compete for the playoffs year in year out like we do in BB) and then see what the cards hold.

Hard to build a rabid fan base for football up there. I hate to be a Debbie downer, but I can't see the avg fan getting amped about college football in the northeast. Let alone FCS

 

I hope I'm wrong though.

 

 

Should be no reason not to. I used to not care about college ball (FB or BB) but my brother took me to some games and now I follow UA as much as I do the Jets, Heat. Helps that I go to school here and feel a calling to support my school lol.

 

We are the only D1 FB show within a 2.5hr radius. We have this market cornered so to speak.

 

The Albany metro area (according to Wikipedia) has 1.17 million residents. You're telling me we can't find 10,000 football fans (casual or NFL diehards) and get them into college ball by being successful over the next few years? I do. I think we can find 20,000 actually. I've never been to a Jets game. I'm not okay with paying $120 for one game to sit in the upper bowl (travel included). I'd rather spend $90 and get SEASON tickets at UA. I'm sure we can sell the community on that eventually.

 

We aren't born fans, we develop into them. We will never be Alabama or Auburn, but there is no reason why (if we challenge for the playoffs/championship year in year out 10 years from now) that we can't sell out our stadium every game.

 

 

I agree with the sentiment..but worth pointing out that there are actually 3 FBS teams within a 2hr drive of the campus..Cuse, Army and UMass. And that's ignoring FCS schools like Marist, Colgate, Cornell and Holy Cross that are all within 2.5hrs. No DI football competition in the greater capital region though.

 

 

Depends how you drive I guess lol. I wasn't giving exact figure. Point is, you have to go 100 miles+ in any direction to find another D1 team. That's a large area that is just ours.

[DanesRGood]

Syracuse averages around 40k a year in upstate NY. I'm not saying we are Syracuse or will EVER become Syracuse but it shows that if you build a solid program in upstate NY people will come. If they can get 40k why can't we get 10-15k from Albany and the surrounding areas? Problem with this season is the team may not be good, which will definitely hurt attendance.

[UA_MA_2000]

Syracuse averages around 40k a year in upstate NY. I'm not saying we are Syracuse or will EVER become Syracuse but it shows that if you build a solid program in upstate NY people will come. If they can get 40k why can't we get 10-15k from Albany and the surrounding areas? Problem with this season is the team may not be good, which will definitely hurt attendance.

I concur--and the Albany metropolitan area (Albany to Schenectady to Saratoga Springs to Glens Falls) has at least as many people as the Syracuse area, does it not? We are the team of the 518 and ADK region.

[madDOG]

The Capital District is almost twice the size of the Syracuse MSA

[UA'08]

Syracuse averages around 40k a year in upstate NY. I'm not saying we are Syracuse or will EVER become Syracuse but it shows that if you build a solid program in upstate NY people will come. If they can get 40k why can't we get 10-15k from Albany and the surrounding areas? Problem with this season is the team may not be good, which will definitely hurt attendance.

They draw because they play teams like Miami, Florida St, Clemson in conference. Albany plays Maine, Deleware, Towson. That is the real difference. Stony brook is in the same situation. Only team in the area with Rutgers being the closest FBS team. FBS in my opinion is the way to pick up more interest, but obviously we don't have that luxury.

[UA'08]

Having your school get invited to a FBS Bowl game must be the coolest thing ever even through there are so many of them. I'd take the lowest ranked bowl game invite over an FCS national championship any day.

[DanesRGood]

 

Syracuse averages around 40k a year in upstate NY. I'm not saying we are Syracuse or will EVER become Syracuse but it shows that if you build a solid program in upstate NY people will come. If they can get 40k why can't we get 10-15k from Albany and the surrounding areas? Problem with this season is the team may not be good, which will definitely hurt attendance.

They draw because they play teams like Miami, Florida St, Clemson in conference. Albany plays Maine, Deleware, Towson. That is the real difference. Stony brook is in the same situation. Only team in the area with Rutgers being the closest FBS team. FBS in my opinion is the way to pick up more interest, but obviously we don't have that luxury.

 

 

I bet Cuse had 35-40k when they played Stony Brook and Delaware. And as I said in my post, I'm not saying we should draw like Cuse but we should be able to bring in ONE QUARTER of that playing well in the CAA. It was an example of a team that draws in NY/Northeast area.

[danefan]

Having your school get invited to a FBS Bowl game must be the coolest thing ever even through there are so many of them. I'd take the lowest ranked bowl game invite over an FCS national championship any day.

Really?

[UA'08]

I honestly would. If we are talking about what would expand the Albany brand on a national level, a bowl game does more than an FCS championship. It isn't quite the same, but if it's basketball, I'd rather get to the Div 1 NCAA tournament than win a Div 2 National Championship.

[Dane96]

Bowl viewership is way down, and it will continue to slide as the playoffs become larfer, which they will.

[jimbo]

The facts are that for FCS in NY and New England, only 2 schools broke 10,000 attendance for 2014…..Harvard and Yale. Maybe with Benson and his team in place

the marketing will be such that UA can start pushing the 10,000 per game mark in the future. Heck, there's 2 MAC teams that did not break 10,000 per game. Only 2

FCS conferences average 10,000+ per game…Missouri Valley and the SWAC. With a lot of marketing and a lot of success we should creep up…gotta get the students

out to the games more consistently and they're trying to build that culture.

[danefan]

The facts are that for FCS in NY and New England, only 2 schools broke 10,000 attendance for 2014..Harvard and Yale. Maybe with Benson and his team in place

the marketing will be such that UA can start pushing the 10,000 per game mark in the future. Heck, there's 2 MAC teams that did not break 10,000 per game. Only 2

FCS conferences average 10,000+ per gameMissouri Valley and the SWAC. With a lot of marketing and a lot of success we should creep upgotta get the students

out to the games more consistently and they're trying to build that culture.

And UMass averaged 15,000 in FCS. No reason we shouldn't sell out every game if we're winning.