I wanted to try to figure out which team in the conference brings out the most opposing team fans with they come to town. So I looked at the attendance numbers of all the conference home games at each school from 2009. I gathered the attendance numbers for each teams conference away games and added them up. Here are the results.

FAU 71,200

FIU 67,771

MT 66,918

Troy 62,765

WKU 59,904

Ark St. 54,220

Louisiana 53,138

ULM 52,693

NT 52,055

So, it appears that FAU is the hottest ticket in the Sun Belt.* 71,200 people showed up to watch their team play against FAU at home in 2009.

*The hypothesis does not factor in weather circumstance during games, date or time of games throughout season, or record of home team. All these factors definately effect attendance numbers.

Interesting that WKU was middle of the pack even though we were 0-12? Just the novelty I suppose?

And I am surprised to see Troy that low.

One other quick point:

It is not surprising to see some of the teams with the lowest attendance at or near the top. They don't have thier own low attendance averaged in to bring thier average down.

(06-29-2010 04:52 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  One other quick point:

It is not surprising to see some of the teams with the lowest attendance at or near the top. They don't have thier own low attendance averaged in to bring thier average down.

Pretty good point.

Would also like to see a 2-year figure, since, for the most part, teams host the conference member that they travelled to the year before.

(06-29-2010 04:52 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  One other quick point:

It is not surprising to see some of the teams with the lowest attendance at or near the top. They don't have thier own low attendance averaged in to bring thier average down.

That is a good point I forgot to mention.

Good survey MT_Fan. After seeing your efforts, I got curious about our OC and conference home games so I did a breakdown of averages. Interesting that FIVE teams averaged over 20,000 in OC games, while NONE made it to 18,000 in conference games.

OOC GAMES (# of games in parenthesis)

28,894 - ULL (2)
25,943 - Muts (2)
21,182 - Troy (1)
21,056 - Arkansas State (1)
20,161 - UNT (2)
18,932 - WKU (2)
15,744 - FAU (1)
11,047 - FIU (1)
9,330 - ULM (1)

CONFERENCE GAMES (all teams played 4 home conference games)

17,779 - Muts
17,721 - Troy
17,262 - UNT
16,847 - Arkansas State
15,222 - FAU
15,028 - ULM
13,553 - ULL
11,688 - WKU
9,993 - FIU

I'm guessing that most of those OOC games included regional teams....that also brought a nice crowd.

***ASU's opponent was Mississippi Valley State....and they didn't bring anyone. We can draw well in the first month or so. It's those late Oct and Nov games that compete with hunting seasons that kill us.

(06-30-2010 07:15 AM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  I'm guessing that most of those OOC games included regional teams....that also brought a nice crowd.

***ASU's opponent was Mississippi Valley State....and they didn't bring anyone. We can draw well in the first month or so. It's those late Oct and Nov games that compete with hunting seasons that kill us.

ULM's home OOC opponenet was Texas Southern who also didn't bring anyone but we had a monsoon/storm before and during the first half of that game that killed any hopes of a first-home-game crowd. I was surprised to see as many people as there were.

(06-30-2010 07:15 AM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  I'm guessing that most of those OOC games included regional teams....that also brought a nice crowd.

***ASU's opponent was Mississippi Valley State....and they didn't bring anyone. We can draw well in the first month or so. It's those late Oct and Nov games that compete with hunting seasons that kill us.

UNT hosted Ohio (during a monsoon) and Army (always a good draw).

(06-29-2010 06:35 PM)MG61 Wrote:  Interesting that FIVE teams averaged over 20,000 in OC games, while NONE made it to 18,000 in conference games.

Now that is definately weather related I think. Most of our non conference games are early in the season, and it is much colder in late November than it is in late September.

(06-30-2010 05:44 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(06-29-2010 06:35 PM)MG61 Wrote:  Interesting that FIVE teams averaged over 20,000 in OC games, while NONE made it to 18,000 in conference games.

Now that is definately weather related I think. Most of our non conference games are early in the season, and it is much colder in late November than it is in late September.

Coldest game, other than maybe one Titans game, I've ever been to was in Bowling Green a couple of years back. I was very prepared, but I think my toes had frostbite.

It snowed on us whilst tailgating.

(06-30-2010 05:44 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(06-29-2010 06:35 PM)MG61 Wrote:  Interesting that FIVE teams averaged over 20,000 in OC games, while NONE made it to 18,000 in conference games.

Now that is definately weather related I think. Most of our non conference games are early in the season, and it is much colder in late November than it is in late September.

UNT's Army game was NOVEMBER 21st (23,647). Granted, any of the three military academies are always a good draw. We had 26.012 vs Navy on 11/10/07.

(06-30-2010 05:52 PM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  It snowed on us whilst tailgating.

Are you getting ready for the renaissance festival?