hktribefan
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Zable attendance
Over the weekend I was looking at past seasons of Tribe football. Since I'm a nerd I thought I'd look at how attendance has changed over the past 10 years. Average attendance broke 10,000 in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011. In 2012 and 2013 it was 9884 and 9724 respectively. For this coming year, I was looking at the ticket website (which is now back up and running) to see how many seats are left. Clearly I did this because I'm a WM nerd and take time to look at this stuff. Based on how many seats are left for each game right now, every game will have at least 9,570 in attendance. Obviously there are things that will change this number between now and each game date. More tickets will be purchased and unused tickets allotted to the visiting team will be returned. That figure is based on a full student section as well, but when attendance is reported I get the sense a full student section is assumed. I have no sense of where ticket sales stood at this point in past years, but it looks like this year we will have a season average well over 10,000.
Tangentially, this may help the case for keeping the endzone bleachers if/when a second deck is added to one side of Zable. I remember reading somewhere (can't remember if someone said it or cited a data) that when you break 75% of capacity you start to have a need for increased seating. Every season since 2006 has been well over 75%, and this season looks to be the same.
A couple of things I noticed for games this year from looking at the seating charts: there is a big block of tickets that have been sold in Section B (the section next to the visitors section) for the Norfolk State game. I hope this means they are bringing their band. I remember when their band came up for the game in 2008, it was great to have them. Second, right now the Elon game has the most tickets sold. Never would have guessed that one.
Sorry if this is of no interest to anyone, the true WM nerd inside me thought it was interesting and worth throwing up on the board as we wait for the depth chart for this week's game to be released.
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08-25-2014 10:05 AM |
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wanm65
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RE: Zable attendance
Thanks for the info. Good to know!
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08-25-2014 10:11 AM |
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TribeNiner
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08-25-2014 12:35 PM |
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Tribal
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RE: Zable attendance
And, every team ahead of us in attendance has more students -- some of them quadruple our student body. I always fall back on one question when people mention our football attendance numbers (GA State ilk used to mock us on that)...how many FCS programs sell more football tickets than they have undergraduate students? We have roughly 6,300 undergrads yet sell 9,700 tickets on average. JMU is about even.
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08-25-2014 02:11 PM |
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Sitting bull
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RE: Zable attendance
We have three likely sellouts this year:
Lafayette FW
Villanova HC
Richmond
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08-25-2014 02:19 PM |
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Tribal
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RE: Zable attendance
It should also be noted that FCS attendance averages were down by 450 seats in 2013 so our slight decrease isn't because of poor QB play (Rocco) but probably because of ObamaCare (62Indian). ;-)
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08-25-2014 02:36 PM |
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Tribe Fan
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RE: Zable attendance
The College has reduced the seating of the south end zone by removing a number of rows of seats of the two sections closest to the west side and erecting two more boxes like what is in the north end zone.
When the boxes were put up in the north twelve rows of seats were removed and it looks about the same reduction to the south.
This to me looks like a move to have more premier seating now so when the renovations are complete it will be easier to sell the new upgraded seats . Plus, there will be less GA seats to buy the next couple and some of the fans who sat in south will be forced to purchase more expensive sideline seats if they choose to come to a game.
(This post was last modified: 08-25-2014 03:34 PM by Tribe Fan.)
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08-25-2014 03:04 PM |
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hktribefan
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RE: Zable attendance
I honestly think that because we don't accurately count how many students actually attend, the formula for attendance each week is:
12,259 - (however many tickets left unsold) = attendance for that week
I'm guessing 12,259 will remain the official capacity even with the reduced seating for boxes.
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08-25-2014 03:11 PM |
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TDenverFan
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RE: Zable attendance
Aren't there rumors that we'll expand the stadium by about 3000?
(This post was last modified: 08-25-2014 03:50 PM by TDenverFan.)
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08-25-2014 03:50 PM |
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hktribefan
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RE: Zable attendance
(08-25-2014 03:50 PM)TDenverFan Wrote: Aren't there rumors that we'll expand the stadium by about 3000?
The addition of boxes behind the west side and a second deck of seating on top of those boxes would add around 3,000. Theoretically the addition would replace the temporary endzone bleachers if they opted not to construct those after the expansion is complete. If attendance numbers stay up and people continue to email the athletic department (if someone wants, they can provide the specific name and address to send those to, I forget exactly who it was) the bleachers should stay. I sent an email in and got a response within a few hours that they appreciated any feedback from people on the issue.
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08-25-2014 03:57 PM |
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wanm65
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RE: Zable attendance
I sent an email in and got a response within a few hours that they appreciated any feedback from people on the issue.
[/quote]
So did I.
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08-25-2014 05:15 PM |
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62Indian
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RE: Zable attendance
(08-25-2014 03:50 PM)TDenverFan Wrote: Aren't there rumors that we'll expand the stadium by about 3000?
There were such rumors but they are not true. For a number of reasons, the Stadium expansion/upgrade will result in the same, or slightly fewer, available seats.
There is an extensive thread on this subject "Stadium Expansion" from a few months ago.
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08-25-2014 09:51 PM |
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TDenverFan
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RE: Zable attendance
(08-25-2014 09:51 PM)62Indian Wrote: (08-25-2014 03:50 PM)TDenverFan Wrote: Aren't there rumors that we'll expand the stadium by about 3000?
There were such rumors but they are not true. For a number of reasons, the Stadium expansion/upgrade will result in the same, or slightly fewer, available seats.
There is an extensive thread on this subject "Stadium Expansion" from a few months ago.
Ah, my bad. I'll look for that thread
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08-26-2014 06:06 AM |
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hktribefan
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RE: Zable attendance
Anyone have any idea what this is all about?
https://twitter.com/TribeAthletics/statu...33/photo/1
If the stadium is on schedule, this could be an announcement about that. But based off of what people who attended the info sessions last month said, it is still a year or so off.
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08-26-2014 10:26 AM |
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hktribefan
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RE: Zable attendance
(This post was last modified: 08-26-2014 11:30 AM by hktribefan.)
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08-26-2014 11:25 AM |
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mrjoolius
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Re: Zable attendance
Very nice
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08-26-2014 11:46 AM |
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A Quest Called Tribe
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RE: Zable attendance
This is exciting. What is the realistic expectation as far as saving the endzone seating?
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08-26-2014 11:48 AM |
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hktribefan
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RE: Zable attendance
(08-26-2014 11:48 AM)A Quest Called Tribe Wrote: This is exciting. What is the realistic expectation as far as saving the endzone seating?
Email the powers that be and express your opinion about how it adds to crowd atmosphere. They want to hear fan feedback. Since there are two full seasons between now and when the new stadium would be finished I think a lot will depend on the numbers. If attendance stays up over 80% with a couple sellouts (hopefully more) per year I think they have to keep it. That's just my two cents though, I have no idea what goes in to making that decision.
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08-26-2014 11:53 AM |
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hktribefan
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RE: Zable attendance
Here's the tribeathletics.com piece on the renovation:
http://www.tribeathletics.com/ViewArticl...M_ID=25100
On the Q&A it addresses endzone seating and says the plan is for that to still be available, thought it also says that total capacity would only be a slight increase, if at all. Based on the artist rendering and the plans that surfaced awhile ago I don't see how there isn't a growth of 2,500-3,000 in total capacity. I guess in some circles that is only a slight increase, but a little over a 20% increase for Zable seems considerable to me.
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08-26-2014 12:03 PM |
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JMU2004
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RE: Zable attendance
looks great guys
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08-26-2014 12:23 PM |
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