Lm77 said

Florida_Owl said

so whats the skinny here?  if they dont average 15k, then what??

because, in all likelihood, they will not this year…

Every school will reach 15k… it's measured in tickets "sold", not attendance. As long as a ticket was bought at at least a certain price it counts as someone in attendance, even if the ticket is never used. If FAU counted actual attendance we would also fall below 15k.

wow…thats pretty lax, because they had like 750 fans at one game in the Orange Bowl judging by thge photos, etc…

Florida_Owl said

Lm77 said

Florida_Owl said

so whats the skinny here?  if they dont average 15k, then what??

because, in all likelihood, they will not this year…

Every school will reach 15k… it's measured in tickets "sold", not attendance. As long as a ticket was bought at at least a certain price it counts as someone in attendance, even if the ticket is never used. If FAU counted actual attendance we would also fall below 15k.

wow…thats pretty lax, because they had like 750 fans at one game in the Orange Bowl judging by thge photos, etc…

The whole requirement is flawed. It's an arbitrary number that has nothing to do with the viability of a team. College football teams are not businesses. They are under no obligation to make money (and most do not). It's no business of the NCAA how many fans a team draws. If a team does not have enough people attending to pay the bills it should be a problem for that institution to deal with.

Think of it this way. A school is averaging less than 15000 fans. To fix this you can call up one of your sponsors (someone who had previously paid for ads), give them the ads for "free" and use the funds previously committed to their ads to buy tickets instead. The amount of revenue stays exactly the same (it goes into the same pot), but the amount of tickets "sold" increases. I have no idea if it's actually possible to conduct business this way, but it doesn't seem too far-fetched to me.

The 15k rule serves only one purpose: humiliate programs that don't draw well. It's absurd that proud institutions should have to resort to accounting tricks.

Lm77 said

Florida_Owl said

Lm77 said

Florida_Owl said

so whats the skinny here?  if they dont average 15k, then what??

because, in all likelihood, they will not this year…

Every school will reach 15k… it's measured in tickets "sold", not attendance. As long as a ticket was bought at at least a certain price it counts as someone in attendance, even if the ticket is never used. If FAU counted actual attendance we would also fall below 15k.

wow…thats pretty lax, because they had like 750 fans at one game in the Orange Bowl judging by thge photos, etc…

The whole requirement is flawed. It's an arbitrary number that has nothing to do with the viability of a team. College football teams are not businesses. They are under no obligation to make money (and most do not). It's no business of the NCAA how many fans a team draws. If a team does not have enough people attending to pay the bills it should be a problem for that institution to deal with.

Think of it this way. A school is averaging less than 15000 fans. To fix this you can call up one of your sponsors (someone who had previously paid for ads), give them the ads for "free" and use the funds previously committed to their ads to buy tickets instead. The amount of revenue stays exactly the same (it goes into the same pot), but the amount of tickets "sold" increases. I have no idea if it's actually possible to conduct business this way, but it doesn't seem too far-fetched to me.

The 15k rule serves only one purpose: humiliate programs that don't draw well. It's absurd that proud institutions should have to resort to accounting tricks.

Exactly, LM77.  It seems FIU this year is not reporting attendance with more "creative" numbers of tickets sold.  This year, it seems more like the actual numbers.  FIU had "officially" just over 15,000 the last two years, while FAU reported average attendance under 15,000 on both years (with under 10k in at least one year, I'm almost sure), I would assume, prior to "adjusting" it with "tickets sold", primarily by sponsors or other way.  I have a feeling FIU will do exactly the same this year…or next year, since the "penalties" would come into fruition only if the average falls under 15,000 on two consecutive years.

I, too, agree with you about the how the 15k or whatever is just an arbitrary number, and that the bottom line is whether a school can afford to stay afloat with a strong budget, regardless of where the money comes from, and what attendance is.  I mean….some people in the SBC board make the point that FAU should not be bowl elegible because of their low historical attendance….Really?  To that I say…what does one thing has to do with how good or bad a team plays on the field?  The rules are the same for every team…So, whether FAU draws 8,000 this year and FIU 5,000 doesn't really matter.  What matters is how both teams can do on the field and budget-wise.

maybe, but it will certainly hurt recruiting…

no one wants to play in front of less than 1k fans at a home game…

Florida_Owl said

maybe, but it will certainly hurt recruiting…

no one wants to play in front of less than 1k fans at a home game…

I agree about the 1k.  I don't agree with it being the case with FIU as I've been to every game so far.  Don't know to which games you've been, but never that low…bad attendance, but not that bad..trust me.  As for recruiting, yes it should affect, but perhaps not as much as you'd like..but I hear coach Cristobal is assembling already a good number of commits from players that didn't even look our way in years' past (I heard 15-16 commitments so far).  Don't know the overall truth to this as I doubt we would have so many so early, but at least I've confirmed 6 commitments so far this season, which is by far the most ever in our program's history at this stage.  Remember, that a lot of kids are interested in playing early, and there is certainly a lot of "open" slots in our team for prospective recruits.

FIUFanatic said

As for recruiting, yes it should affect, but perhaps not as much as you'd like..

believe it or not, all "loyalty" aside to FAU,  i dont "will" what has happened to your program on anyone…its the way things pan out…and you have run into a huge brick wall with 22 losses…as a result the weak "hearted" fan has left the building for greener pastures to graze upon - winning…

i appreciate you staying positive…that certainly could be a stretch for alot of fans…at least you are true…ill give you that…and that speaks towards your character…

certainly unlike the South Florida Fickle Fan mentality…

Now, take that good word and run…because on Saturday, i Hope we spank you by 50, and swing any "fenceline" recruit over to our side FIRMLY ;)

Go Owls!!!

That was good….but…I  hope you are wrong and we beat you in a surprising way… :o  However, obviously, I just wouldn't bet on it….however, hope is always in me.

I, too, agree with you about the how the 15k or whatever is just an arbitrary number, and that the bottom line is whether a school can afford to stay afloat with a strong budget, regardless of where the money comes from, and what attendance is.  I mean….some people in the SBC board make the point that FAU should not be bowl elegible because of their low historical attendance….Really?  To that I say…what does one thing has to do with how good or bad a team plays on the field?  The rules are the same for every team…So, whether FAU draws 8,000 this year and FIU 5,000 doesn't really matter.  What matters is how both teams can do on the field and budget-wise.

The SBC board argument is ridiculous.  FAU does struggle with attendance….but so does everyone else in the Belt.  The difference is that we have only been at this 7 years compared to multiple decades for the other schools, all of whom play in on-campus stadiums.  We at least have a growing fan base, and nothing grows a fan base more than winning.  Getting a conference title and going to a bowl game will help get more fans in the stands than any amount of marketing will.  Besides, we brought over 2,000 people to Gainsville last Saturday.  We'll likely bring more than that to the OB this weekend.  Owls fans will travel to NO if we get to the bowl game in numbers equal to most other SBC teams.

fauowls44 said

I, too, agree with you about the how the 15k or whatever is just an arbitrary number, and that the bottom line is whether a school can afford to stay afloat with a strong budget, regardless of where the money comes from, and what attendance is.  I mean….some people in the SBC board make the point that FAU should not be bowl elegible because of their low historical attendance….Really?  To that I say…what does one thing has to do with how good or bad a team plays on the field?  The rules are the same for every team…So, whether FAU draws 8,000 this year and FIU 5,000 doesn't really matter.  What matters is how both teams can do on the field and budget-wise.

The SBC board argument is ridiculous.  FAU does struggle with attendance….but so does everyone else in the Belt.  The difference is that we have only been at this 7 years compared to multiple decades for the other schools, all of whom play in on-campus stadiums.  We at least have a growing fan base, and nothing grows a fan base more than winning.  Getting a conference title and going to a bowl game will help get more fans in the stands than any amount of marketing will.  Besides, we brought over 2,000 people to Gainsville last Saturday.  We'll likely bring more than that to the OB this weekend.  Owls fans will travel to NO if we get to the bowl game in numbers equal to most other SBC teams.

My point is, and you seem to agree with me at the beginning…that yes…FIU struggles with attendance…and yes…..FAU struggles also with attendance….but it shouldn't have any bearing in who goes bowling once the rules are set, and it means winning on the field.  That is what matters.  If you bring 1k or 2k or 3k…it's basically the same thing…We need to increase our fan base, but at least FIU and FAU are young programs that DO have potential.  It's up to both institutions to try and take advantage of the potential and convert it into reality…