Average attendances for top 3 FCS conferences

[TheBisonator]

I recently did a little number searching, and found out that out of all the conferences in the FCS, the Missouri Valley has the most potential out of all its teams to meet FBS attendance standards.

Here's the data, ranked by average attendance in the conferences:

(Red indicates schools already meeting FBS attendance standards)

Missouri Valley

18,837 - North Dakota State
15,817 - Youngstown State
14,023 - Illinois State
13,912 - South Dakota State
13,324- Western Illinois
12,356 - Northern Iowa
12,239 - Southern Illinois
11,690 - Missouri State
4,627 - Indiana State

Colonial Athletic

22,113 - Delaware
16,134 - James Madison
15,767 - Massachusetts
10,469 - William & Mary
8,604 - Villanova
7,215 - New Hampshire
6,769 - Richmond
5,609 - Hofstra
4,807 - Maine
4,589 - Towson
4,449 - Rhode Island
1,137 - Northeastern (Last place in ALL Division I)

Southern

29,585 - Appalachian State
17,681 - Georgia Southern
11,861 - Citadel
10,072 - Furman
9,174 - Elon
7,414 - Western Carolina
7,256 - Samford
6,620 - Chattanooga
5,874 - Wofford

I like the fact that as a fan of a MVFC team, my team will almost never play in front of a crowd of less than 10,000 people, unless it's at Indiana State. While schools like Appalachian and Delaware get huge crowds at home, they have to travel to fellow conference mates to play in front of crowds of less than 5,000 or even worse (Northeastern).

You can say all you want about the toughness of the MVFC compared to the CAA and SoCon, but when it comes down to the bottom line, the MVFC has the most of what it takes to move en masse to FBS.

[ccd494]

Well here's a thread engineered to start a flame war if I've ever seen one.

Why are we talking about conferences moving to FBS en masse? Speaking as a Maine fan, if Delaware, JMU and UMass want to move up, more power to them. But I doubt you'd see the New England hockey schools + URI (minus UMass) ever having any desire to move up. We lose enough money on football as it is, the hockey programs can't produce enough money to pay for an FBS move. They already subsidize the rest of the athletics department.

[TexasTerror]

What's the SWAC attendance like? They are the FCS "Attendance Champions". Are they down this year? They have a few schools I'd think meet the attendance requirement...

[th0m]

You can say all you want about the toughness of the MVFC compared to the CAA and SoCon, but when it comes down to the bottom line, the MVFC has the most of what it takes to move en masse to FBS.

Has MOST of what it takes to make the move en masse? For one, what is most? Just attendance? This is only an arbitrary number set by the FBS ringleaders, and has nothing to do with actual success so again 'most' of what it takes? xconfusedx And second, conferences don't go FBS en masse. But yes, if they would, the Missouri Valley would be the first to take the spot the Sun Belt left behind...

[gophoenix]

Yeah, if you want to be accurate then post the schools in each conference with the number of sports and those meeting FBS requirements in red.

Why not list the $$$ figures on how much schools invest in athletics too.

Or, the number of scholarships offered by each school.

[art vandelay]

is this attendance based on this year only because i know UNH has only had one home game. not that they would reach the minnimalrequirements because their stadium doesnt even hold that many but i hope they can average a little higher than 7000 plus.

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

Number of private schools in the SoCon - 4
Number of private schools in the CAA - 4
Number of private schools in the MVFC - 0

Just because a school doesn't have good attendance numbers does not mean it isn't a quality program. I don't know if that is what you are trying to insinuate, but this is my counterpoint.

And no, I'm not like a lot of GSU and App. fans that think the private schools are bringing the conference down.

[Buffalo Roam]

While this thread is interesting, I am not sure of the relevance of the last statement...therefore I would ignore it.

[JBB]

In the old NCC NDSU would get well over 10,000 almost every week since we moved inside and had more seats. When we went on the road we almost always saw the largest crowd of the season for the home team and it was rarely 10,000. 4 - 6,000 would be more like it. That was always disappointing and made you wonder a bit.

Now, with the MVFC putting up decent crowds every week it is a lot more exciting to go on the road. A lot more fun too.

I doubt the MVFC conference is thinking about moving up, but the point is well taken they have the best overall attendance of the conferences mentioned. I know the GWFC doesnt draw like this.

[McNeese72]

I recently did a little number searching, and found out that out of all the conferences in the FCS, the Missouri Valley has the most potential out of all its teams to meet FBS attendance standards.



So..........what's the purpose of this post? I didn't realize any of the conferences were planning on going to the FBS en mass.

Doc

[da_bears]

Since the topic has been brought up... In the MVFC, I think Ill State, SIU, and Mo State could handle moving up since they all have over 20,000 students and larger athletic budgets.

If I remember correctly Wichita state has the largest budget in the MVC even without football and Mo state was 2nd with around 12 mil/yr.

[crunifan]

Since the topic has been brought up... In the MVFC, I think Ill State, SIU, and Mo State could handle moving up since they all have over 20,000 students and larger athletic budgets.

If I remember correctly Wichita state has the largest budget in the MVC even without football and Mo state was 2nd with around 12 mil/yr.

I personally think UNI would be the best to move up, but that is because we actually have a steady and successful athletic program. With three recent trips to the NCAA tournament in men's basketball, trips to the playoffs in football, top 25 rankings in volleyball and wrestling, and top 10 rankings in track and field, UNI is doing something right.

Not to take anything away from other MVC institutions, but I don't think UNI is ready to move up, and if we aren't, I really don't think any Valley schools are.

[KiddBrewer]

Number of private schools in the SoCon - 4
Number of private schools in the CAA - 4
Number of private schools in the MVFC - 0

Just because a school doesn't have good attendance numbers does not mean it isn't a quality program. I don't know if that is what you are trying to insinuate, but this is my counterpoint.

And no, I'm not like a lot of GSU and App. fans that think the private schools are bringing the conference down.

i didnt know there was those fans.....but im definately not like them either.....without our private schools, the SOCON would be sub-par no doubt.

[ASUMountaineer]

Guess the FBS discussion is a moot point until 2011 anyways, eh?

[Green26]

Top 3 conference measured by what?

[BearsCountry]

I personally think UNI would be the best to move up, but that is because we actually have a steady and successful athletic program. With three recent trips to the NCAA tournament in men's basketball, trips to the playoffs in football, top 25 rankings in volleyball and wrestling, and top 10 rankings in track and field, UNI is doing something right.

Not to take anything away from other MVC institutions, but I don't think UNI is ready to move up, and if we aren't, I really don't think any Valley schools are.

I disagree. This might look bias but Missouri State is the best shape. Nobody has our facilities, fanbase, status in the state, or tv market out of the football schools. Football is the only downside for us. If we had UNI's football success we would have been gone along time ago.

[SteelCurtain]

I'll tell you what he is trying to do. For some strange reason there are a small group of people in Fargo that want to move up another level even though we have done nothing at this level. also the school wants nothing to do with it and never will. But that won't stop people from keeping this lame subject alive.

We are in the perfect div. for our size of school/facilities.ect....

[terrierbob]

Wofford, a small, non-snooty private school with a good football program, has 14,000 living graduates. To average around 6k is not bad.

[crunifan]

I disagree. This might look bias but Missouri State is the best shape. Nobody has our facilities, fanbase, status in the state, or tv market out of the football schools. Football is the only downside for us. If we had UNI's football success we would have been gone along time ago.

Missouri State has tons of potential. I see where you are coming from. But I don't think it is that easy. UNI has had much more national success than Missouri State in the past 5 years, and we have very little to show for it. What makes Bears fans think differently?

The main upside I see is, you are the second largest state university in your state, which only has one major BCS/Big 12 team. Whereas UNI has to compete in a much smaller populated state with not only a Big 12 team, but also a Big 10 team.

Plaster is a nice stadium, I was there for the game last fall, but it is completely comparable to the UNI-Dome. We both have brand new basketball arenas (although yours is nicer). And while you do have a better TV market, I would say our fan bases are comparable as well. The atmosphere before the football game was atrocious, much much much better atmosphere at UNI.

Like I said, I think Missouri State has tons of potential and I love having them in our conference, but I get tired of feeling that Bears fans look down upon UNI when from an athletic standpoint, our teams prove otherwise.

[appfan2008]

why are we even talking about this and why is it under fcs discussion... sounds like other sports is where this belongs...

if you wanted to post only about attendance that would have been one thing...

[patssle]

Also have to account for...theres nothing to do in Fargo North Dakota except pick corn and go to football games.

[henfan]

You can say all you want about the toughness of the MVFC compared to the CAA and SoCon, but when it comes down to the bottom line, the MVFC has the most of what it takes to move en masse to FBS.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make or how you'd even begin quantifying the "what it takes" remark, but you've clearly got a lot to learn about Division I.xreadx

Just a ridiculous comment on so many levels.

[UAalum72]

1,137 - Northeastern (Last place in ALL Division I)

Actually Albany's average this year is still at 0 :( , but even with classes shut down for Yom Kippur we hope to raise that this week.

[andy7171]

Not to makes excuses, but this past weekend was the first fair weather weekend Towson has had. The first home game, a tropical storm was rolling through Baltimore and the second was a GD'ed monsoon.

We had our best attendance last year at right around 7K.

[BisonBacker]

Geez folks he just made his opinion and only his opinion known for discussion. Nobody has said we are going anywhere and we are not going anywhere for a long time if at all.

[BirdieJack]

I don't want to get anything else started here other than discussion, since it looks like this is a touchy subject for some. Reminds me of the tone when SDSU/NDSU decided to move up to FCS from D-II to be quite honest.

But anyway...just for discussion sake, let's say the FBS came out and said that FCS games no longer count towards Bowl Elligibility anymore and they're going back to an 11 game schedule. Then let's assume the "Pay-Game" opportunity goes away(or at least dry's up) for FCS schools. What impact would this have for FCS teams moving up in masses after 2011??

Again, just wondering...me and a couple of tailgating partners were having this discussion on Saturday.

Go Jacks!!

[ElonPride]

Wofford, a small, non-snooty private school with a good football program, has 14,000 living graduates. To average around 6k is not bad.

As Elon only has 27,000 living graduates, with a good concentration up north. To average 9,000+ is really good, with 2 of our home games so far over 10,000. I'm not sure what happened this past weekend with Furman, that game generally draws much interest from our fan base.

[Ronin]

Some schools are unable to have greater attendance unless they build a new stadium.

While I would like to see UNI with a new dome and more room... the budget just isn't there. The alumni are typically teachers and accountants and being the smallest of the state schools they are often missing a few zeros when the checks are written.

[Millwoch]

I recently did a little number searching, and found out that out of all the conferences in the FCS, the Missouri Valley has the most potential out of all its teams to meet FBS attendance standards.

Here's the data, ranked by average attendance in the conferences:

(Red indicates schools already meeting FBS attendance standards)

Missouri Valley

18,837 - North Dakota State
15,817 - Youngstown State
14,023 - Illinois State
13,912 - South Dakota State
13,324- Western Illinois
12,356 - Northern Iowa
12,239 - Southern Illinois
11,690 - Missouri State
4,627 - Indiana State

Colonial Athletic

22,113 - Delaware
16,134 - James Madison
15,767 - Massachusetts
10,469 - William & Mary
8,604 - Villanova
7,215 - New Hampshire
6,769 - Richmond
5,609 - Hofstra
4,807 - Maine
4,589 - Towson
4,449 - Rhode Island
1,137 - Northeastern (Last place in ALL Division I)

Southern

29,585 - Appalachian State
17,681 - Georgia Southern
11,861 - Citadel
10,072 - Furman
9,174 - Elon
7,414 - Western Carolina
7,256 - Samford
6,620 - Chattanooga
5,874 - Wofford

I like the fact that as a fan of a MVFC team, my team will almost never play in front of a crowd of less than 10,000 people, unless it's at Indiana State. While schools like Appalachian and Delaware get huge crowds at home, they have to travel to fellow conference mates to play in front of crowds of less than 5,000 or even worse (Northeastern).

You can say all you want about the toughness of the MVFC compared to the CAA and SoCon, but when it comes down to the bottom line, the MVFC has the most of what it takes to move en masse to FBS.

App st. never plays in front of a crowd of less than 5000...the App fans would probably bring at least 2-3 thousand if not more to a Wofford or FU game. I bet that game is the highest attended game at every away conference game they play. Wofford only has 1500 students...what do you want their attendence to be. If every single living alumnus of Wofford showed up that would be less than what Appy had last week for homecoming...

[Jackman]

is this attendance based on this year only because i know UNH has only had one home game. not that they would reach the minnimalrequirements because their stadium doesnt even hold that many but i hope they can average a little higher than 7000 plus.
UNH claims a football stadium capacity of only 8000 (and in some places I've seen 6500), so I don't think they'll be improving on that much.

Northeastern's average will be going up this weekend. Our band alone will improve it by 30%.

Not going to say anything about FBS fantasies, except that out on the east coast we can combine forces if we ever get serious. Plus Temple and Army are always honorary members of these fictional conferences, if not Navy.