Home attendance

[JackJD]

It's reported elsewhere in other threads that SDSU's home-game average attendance for 2009 was 13,265.

Here's the report from the NCAA official site showing SDSU 19th in FCS teams (126 reported plus reports on the seven current transition teams).

LINK

[22jack]

Re: Home attendance

If Youngstown St would have actually reported the actual attendance when we played them, they would not be that high. I wounder how many other games they have done that?

[jackrabit1]

Re: Home attendance

Not too shabby for a stadium that "officially" holds only 10-thousand or so!

[goon]

Re: Home attendance

Wonder about what the nay sayers think now with the increase in attendence. we only averaged half that when we played the NCC now with better athletes and teams coming in and a confrence that is respected at a level the NCC was at D-2 now fans are starting to notice. I am looking forward to the day when we avg 15k for a game, which in my guessing should not be out of line thinking. a 20k stadium would help i think increase attendence knowing that even for a big game or hobo day there will be room and not just cramped standing room.

Good job fans, but more importantly good job team, giving those fans something extra to cheer for, playoffs are with in our reach, the team controls its own destiny.

[NoVaJack]

Re: Home attendance

Bear with me, I know the following comparisons aren't perfect. But it seems to me the Jacks should be able to easily average over 15,000 if you compare it to say, the University of Wyoming.

SDSU and Wyoming have about the same student population, each just short of 13,000. Laramie, at something short of 90,000, is much larger than Brookings' 20,000 granted. But eastern South Dakota is far more densely populated than eastern Wyoming and if you add Sioux Falls' SMSA of somewhere north of 225,000 into the mix, the potential draw doesn't compare.
The only-big-university-in-the-state tilts toward Wyoming. But remember that USD and SDSU (and the smaller institutions) are in a state whose population is over 800,000 while Wyoming has just topped 530,000.

Wyoming has had five home games this year. It has averaged 17,500 in four of them. Its other game, against Texas, drew a record 31,017. If you add Texas, the 2009 average is 20,205.

Wyoming went on a big BCS thresshold kick in the mid 2000s to ensure that it meets the 15,000 average attendance requirements to stay in the division. No reason why Jacks can't do something like that as a kind of fan imprint on the Division 1 successes so far.

Oh, and Jacks have a better product, at least in the Realtime.rpi rankings. Even with the loss last weekend Jacks are seven slots ahead of the 4-5 Cowboys.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Home attendance

There are not 90,000 people in Laramie, Wyoming. There's a good reason for the confusion. Laramie County does not include Laramie the city. Laramie the city is 25,000 people and is in Albany County. Laramie County includes Cheyenne, the state's largest city. It is Laramie County that is 90,000 people.

With 13,000 students, 25,000 people in the town, and 32,000 in the county (Albany), Laramie is almost exactly the same size as Brookings. My wife, who got her master's in Laramie, tells me that Brookings has a lot more going on.

Cheyenne (in Laramie County) is about the same distance from Laramie (the city) as Sioux Falls is from Brookings. So NoVa's point that there are a lot more people in eastern South Dakota is correct nonetheless.

[NoVaJack]

Re: Home attendance

Laramie, Wyoming is in Albany County. The population of Laramie is 25,000 with a county population of 32,000 (most recent census estimates). That means Laramie is almost exactly the same size as Brookings.

Laramie County, Wyoming includes Cheyenne, the largest city and the county is about 90,000. But Laramie the city is not in Laramie the county. Cheyenne is about the same distance from Laramie as Sioux Falls is from Brookings.

You're right, JJ, stand corrected. This actually strengthens the argument and the comparison.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Home attendance

Bear with me, I know the following comparisons aren't perfect. But it seems to me the Jacks should be able to easily average over 15,000 if you compare it to say, the University of Wyoming.

SDSU and Wyoming have about the same student population, each just short of 13,000. Laramie, at something short of 90,000, is much larger than Brookings' 20,000 granted. But eastern South Dakota is far more densely populated than eastern Wyoming and if you add Sioux Falls' SMSA of somewhere north of 225,000 into the mix, the potential draw doesn't compare.
The only-big-university-in-the-state tilts toward Wyoming. But remember that USD and SDSU (and the smaller institutions) are in a state whose population is over 800,000 while Wyoming has just topped 530,000.

Wyoming has had five home games this year. It has averaged 17,500 in four of them. Its other game, against Texas, drew a record 31,017. If you add Texas, the 2009 average is 20,205.

Wyoming went on a big BCS thresshold kick in the mid 2000s to ensure that it meets the 15,000 average attendance requirements to stay in the division. No reason why Jacks can't do something like that as a kind of fan imprint on the Division 1 successes so far.

Oh, and Jacks have a better product, at least in the Realtime.rpi rankings. Even with the loss last weekend Jacks are seven slots ahead of the 4-5 Cowboys.

Laramie is more like 28,000 population similiar to Brookings. The county is over 87,000.

[Nidaros]

Re: Home attendance

There are not 90,000 people in Laramie, Wyoming. There's a good reason for the confusion. Laramie County does not include Laramie the city. Laramie the city is 25,000 people and is in Albany County. Laramie County includes Cheyenne, the state's largest city. It is Laramie County that is 90,000 people.

With 13,000 students, 25,000 people in the town, and 32,000 in the county (Albany), Laramie is almost exactly the same size as Brookings. My wife, who got her master's in Laramie, tells me that Brookings has a lot more going on.

Cheyenne (in Laramie County) is about the same distance from Laramie (the city) as Sioux Falls is from Brookings. So NoVa's point that there are a lot more people in eastern South Dakota is correct nonetheless.

If Uncle Sam were to close Francis Warren AFB, Laramie County would have even less. JJ is correct and it makes for good trivia questions as its tricky. I do know that the No 2 on the license plate represents Laramie County and generally Cheyene residents. I could not tell you what number represents Albany County. OKC Poke will surely tell us. Wyo licenses are like SD and Nebraska, the county are assigned a number to give you and idea where everyone is from.

I think the staduim at Laramie is interesting also since it was not built in one piece. Several rows were subsequently added and maybe more than once. I stopped and looked at when I drove to Missoula in 1993, and had wondered why the same could not be done at CAS, but apparently the Wyoming structure does not have the faults that CAS apparently has.

[zooropa]

Re: Home attendance

Wyoming.... So many Laramies.....

Laramie Mountains
Mt. Laramie
Laramie
Laramie County
Ft. Laramie
Laramie River
Little Laramie River
North Laramie River
Laramie Valley

All named after Jaques LaRamie----thus demonstrating that the butchering of French names is not exclusive to South Dakota & Michigan.

[Mike Vicks Dead PitBulls]

Re: Home attendance

U of Wyoming is the only college in the state that has a football program. It's also the only 4 year school. I can think of around 7 colleges in SD off the top of my head that have football, and 8 for ND. So really Wyoming doesn't have to do a whole lot to build team loyalty, the market is theirs alone. Wyoming also has absolutely no competition for cash, or rival in state schools screwing them over. They don't have to deal with the UND/NDSU and USD/SDSU dynamic that ND and SD have to deal with. They have zero in-state competition.

In fact the more I think of it, the more I realize that Wyoming has a cake set up, but have been completely inept in taking advantage of this. They really should have been able to capitalize on this much better. Is there another state in the country with only one 4 year university, with that university being D1?

[NoVaJack]

Re: Home attendance

U of Wyoming is the only college in the state that has a football program. It's also the only 4 year school. I can think of around 7 colleges in SD off the top of my head that have football, and 8 for ND. So really Wyoming doesn't have to do a whole lot to build team loyalty, the market is theirs alone. Wyoming also has absolutely no competition for cash, or rival in state schools screwing them over. They don't have to deal with the UND/NDSU and USD/SDSU dynamic that ND and SD have to deal with. They have zero in-state competition.

In fact the more I think of it, the more I realize that Wyoming has a cake set up, but have been completely inept in taking advantage of this. They really should have been able to capitalize on this much better. Is there another state in the country with only one 4 year university, with that university being D1?

On your last point, Hawaii probably fits that bill.... To the merits of my argument, however, I think if they can average 20,000 with a simiilarily sized school but arguably smaller fan base within 60 miles why can't the Jacks routinely average 15,000... Build the new stadium and they will come.

[Kemo]

Re: Home attendance

On your last point, Hawaii probably fits that bill.... To the merits of my argument, however, I think if they can average 20,000 with a simiilarily sized school but arguably smaller fan base within 60 miles why can't the Jacks routinely average 15,000... Build the new stadium and they will come.

A new stadium would definitely help, but it also has to do with fan education in concern with the Division I landscape. Wyoming has been Division I for quite some time so the average fan is familiar with which teams they play regularly and even the teams outside their region (hence why the Texas game had such a large crowd, though I think we could draw that against Texas if we had the stadium to hold that many ).

[22jack]

Re: Home attendance

From Terry's blog:

One of the reasons that SDSU shattered its home average attendance for football: student turnout. The Northern Iowa game drew about 3,100 students. That's more than 25 percent of the student population. Other games this season were in the 2,600 range. Jacks athletic director Justin Sell, coach John Stiegelmeier and other staffers made trips to dorms and the student union to drum up support.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Home attendance

Laramie is more like 28,000 population similiar to Brookings. The county is over 87,000.

Laramie is not in Laramie county. Cheyenne is in Laramie county. Laramie is in Albany County which has a population of 35,000, almost exactly the same as Brookings County.

This is starting to feel like an Abbott & Costello routine.