FIUFanatic Wrote:This is the way I see it this season. Hopefully, I'm just being too conservative, but this is as optimistic as I see it now considering our history.....
Jacksonville 8,000
WKU 7,500
ULL 8,000
McNeese 6,500
GSU 10,000
FAMU 35,000
Average Attendance: 12,500 Still short of the 15,000 but an improvement of around 44% over last year.
FIU Fanatic,
I have to disagree with you regarding the FAMU game (aka The Orange Blossom Classic). The fact is that South Florida is a "big event town". This
event will attract many more than just 35,000 in my opinion.
If you look at the weekend of the game, FIU/FAMU could not have picked a better day
The Miami Dolphins are away on the westcoast for the two weekends surrounding the date:
11/21 @ Seattle Seahawks
11/28 @ San Francisco 49ers
The Miami Hurricanes DO NOT have a game that weekend:
11/20 vs Wake Forest
12/4 vs Virginia Tech
FAU will be playing against NAIA Edward Waters @ 4:00pm at Lockhart (Hard to imagine anyone aside from die-hard FAU fans will be at the game due to the Orange Blossom Classic)
The Florida Marlins' season will be over by then.
The ONLY event that may draw any fans away from our event will be a Miami Heat game (i.e. Shaq) and at the time of my typing this very line, the schedule has not come out yet to verify a date.
Unless, you are a fan of Disney's Beauty and the Beast and can possibly fit 35,000+ fans into the Actors Playhouse in Coral Gables
, you will not draw away from this event.
Now to my next point:
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) know how to throw big time events, especially "Classics". This will attract just about every high school (i.e. Northwestern, Edison, Carol City, etc.) in the area because they have already planned a "Battle of the Bands". This includes the bands and the football players only. Not to mention the hugh amount of FAMU alumni in the So. Fla. area. The event will be broadcast, without a doubt, all over the radio stations. This will, hands down, be the event of the weekend. So I guarantee (and you can call me on it if I'm wrong) that more than 35,000 will be at the event. This is the main reason why FIU has scheduled them as a home game. This will, without fail, push our average over the 15,000 NCAA minimum.
I GUARANTEE IT!!!