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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Oct 22, 2020 18:13:53 GMT -5
I'll make an observation. The number of HC fans @ BC for the recent game was more than sit their fannies at Fitton for any home game. The number of HC fans @ Harvard for a night game was probably the equal or more of HC fans at a game in Worcester. My sense is that driving from Boston to Worcester is just too much hassle for many HC fans who live in the Boston area, and the game day experience offers little.
Even though far more students have cars on campus then was the case in the last century, the students don't / won't do road trips, other than to Boston.
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Oct 22, 2020 18:26:55 GMT -5
^ Agree w/assessments immediately above except for game day experience which has been good for young children past few years.
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Post by bfoley82 on Oct 23, 2020 11:25:20 GMT -5
Even though far more students have cars on campus then was the case in the last century, the students don't / won't do road trips, other than to Boston. Students in general don't care about athletics like they used to 30 plus years ago....
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Post by HC92 on Oct 23, 2020 12:24:00 GMT -5
^ Agree w/assessments immediately above except for game day experience which has been good for young children past few years. What I wouldn’t give for a Fitton game day experience right now. Agree that the game day experience is good, especially for kids.
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Post by trimster on Oct 23, 2020 13:10:21 GMT -5
Not so unthinkable, except for the fact that HC plays in the Patriot League. Here's how. A college football gate is made up of five types of fans: 1. Season Ticket Holders: in the seats, do or die. 2. Students. Maybe not as loyal today as then, but if it's a good opponent and a nice afternoon, they'll come. 3. The Loyal Locals. They didn't go to HC but they're Worcester's team. 4. The Bandwagoners. Alumni or locals who will go when they're winning, not so if they're aren't. 5. Road fans. What did the 1984 schedule have going for it? Distance...no "road" opponent was further than two hours from Worcester and the mean distance was just 72 miles. That means most of these fans could have breakfast, drive to Fitton Field and be back home by dinner. Add that with a healthy interest from casual fans within an hour of Worcester and 15,000 or 16,000 was not unreasonable in that era. The Patriot League is kryptonite to road crowds. No one outside of a meager few cares. The casual fan who would come out to see UConn isn't interested in Lafayette or Lehigh. The bandwagoners can sit at home and watch Penn State or Alabama on TV and see no need to watch a game with no local interest. HC's closest opponent is three hours away (Fordham), where its fans do not go en masse anywhere beyond the Metro-North. Outside of friends and family, no one is driving up from Washington (400 miles) for a game. BC isn't coming back. But If some wealthy HC booster had the wherewithal, a 2 for 1 deal with UConn or UMass might bring one of those teams to Fitton and HC would sell a lot of tickets. Same for Army, although they don't have to travel to New England like they used to. Fitton is large enough a draw that some teams would be willing to come, but it will cost some money to do so. For PL teams, it's going to have to be local and regional support, because the road fans won't be there. Interesting post DFW.....nearly always enjoy your posts here Great breakdown of a school's fanbase (at our level anyway). My admittedly unscientific take per usual....I think #1 and #2 are pretty much a push in 2020 vs 1984. Probably a bit more in both cases for 1984 but probably not appreciably so. I think #3 has dropped off significantly in 2020 vs 1984 for a lot of the reasons we've discussed here: town/gown issues with HC and Woo, demographic change in Woo/CMass that is less supportive for following HC football/hoop as they were for much of the 20th C. HC dropping BC in football probably lost a lot of "subway alumni" for people who wanted to root for Wisstahh's team against big, bad Boston. (Not advocating a return for this game annually, though I do like playing them every few years...just explaining how we "lost" locals here,) #4 has probably dropped off as well....how much is uncertain. I know many still go to Homecoming but how many will go to see HC play Georgetown (or any team really) in November...or in late Summah as well. HC not doing particularly well in football from 1992-to the return of scholarships hasn't helped matters either. I could be off on this but anecdotally I see more people in their 40s and 50s at HC tailgates/games than I do people in their 20s and 30s. I know I could be skewed on this (younger people have more family responsibilities etc) but I think it's also a function of people 50+ or so who remember when HC was very good in football at the FCS-level and/or still remember HC playing BC, Army and Syracuse regularly not Bucknell, Lehigh or Lafayette. #5 Has definitely dropped for many of the reasons stated above here and elsewhere. Personally, I will go to a HC game if it's in New England for the most part but unless it's an event (HC in Yankee Stadium, a golf get together weekend/HC game in Penn., NY or NJ etc) I'm staying in Dartmouth and watching on my lap-top. I think we can make inroads on a lot of these...but I think there's very much a ceiling on most of these in 2020. Lots of very good points here by both posters. To say #3 has dropped off significantly is an understatement. They have flat out disappeared and I mean that literally. The end zone was the section where almost all of the locals sat. (There used to be a chain link fence to prevent the end zone denizens from wandering over to the sideline seats.) To be honest, I don't think many people who sat in the end zone seats had any interest in mingling with the people in the reserved sideline seats. For some time, there has been basically no one sitting in the end zone sets and I mean no one. HC has lost 2 generations of local fans and it is a huge challenge to bring back what it had. I think there is a saying in the business world to the effect it is much harder to find a new customer than to keep an existing one.
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Post by Crucis#1 on Oct 23, 2020 14:21:24 GMT -5
I disliked the old chain link fence. Presented a very bad image, and certainly not fan friendly. Glad it was eliminated.
Speaking about keeping people out of a section. Going to the Yale Bowl with it’s 60,000 + seats, and the guards place a rope down the seating sections to keep people from moving from section to section to see friends. Also not being able to enter a portal that is different from your ticket. Besides not winning on our visits to the Bowl, Yale presents a hostile atmosphere to visiting fans.
Maybe I will call the Yale AD and the Assistant AD for fan engagement before our next visit to complain in advance. 😡
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Post by thecrossisback on Oct 23, 2020 15:11:19 GMT -5
We added 4 people to the end zone seats last year for all the home games. But I have to be honest it is really difficult to get people to go. I like the end zone because you can yell at the officials up close. The only down side is the first down markers. But we have fun. Holy Cross 7-4 at home in last 11 games. The end zone was perfect for the championship game because at the end a bunch of HC students came down to the first row and a few minutes later they were on the field celebrating.
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 23, 2020 15:15:45 GMT -5
Wasn't always like that, Crucis. It certainly was the last game and maybe the game before that but in days gone by ("back in my day" as Seth Meyers might say ), it was pretty free to roam and sit wherever. Even the last game, at some point the "guards" disappeared and able to move around.
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Post by bfoley82 on Oct 23, 2020 22:22:10 GMT -5
We added 4 people to the end zone seats last year for all the home games. But I have to be honest it is really difficult to get people to go. I like the end zone because you can yell at the officials up close. The only down side is the first down markers. But we have fun. Holy Cross 7-4 at home in last 11 games. The end zone was perfect for the championship game because at the end a bunch of HC students came down to the first row and a few minutes later they were on the field celebrating. And harassing me!
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Post by thecrossisback on Oct 24, 2020 14:38:56 GMT -5
We added 4 people to the end zone seats last year for all the home games. But I have to be honest it is really difficult to get people to go. I like the end zone because you can yell at the officials up close. The only down side is the first down markers. But we have fun. Holy Cross 7-4 at home in last 11 games. The end zone was perfect for the championship game because at the end a bunch of HC students came down to the first row and a few minutes later they were on the field celebrating. And harassing me! Haha that was the only fun thing that happened that game. Also because you were rooting for Colgate. By the way how did they do again?
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Post by bfoley82 on Oct 24, 2020 21:52:41 GMT -5
Haha that was the only fun thing that happened that game. Also because you were rooting for Colgate. By the way how did they do again? I don't root for teams, if they are paying the check, I need them to do well for pics!
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Post by steve81 on Nov 6, 2020 15:53:13 GMT -5
Ok, been busy and will say a few things. First of all FBS required separate replay room and other things, so we could not play during renovations of demo and replacing a new free standing Press and Skybox. Touch the original stadium would require it to be brought up to to code. We did get a waiver to have hand railings installed last year in the four center sections on one side. The reason it was four years at Gillette was because the Kraft group forced us into a four year agreement.
We are at fcs level in scholarships and have very few upperclassmen. Our coaching staff is not as good as Holy Cross. Hopefully we will play some day. However the AD can not risk losing his job if we lost to you. No insult intended and hence while would like to see a game, don't think it's in the near future. Believe Army is in the Patriot league so it is an exception and not the rule of a FBS team playing away to a lower division.
Item #4, we'd bring fans if we played at Fitton and assume the same for McGuirk.
Finally the youth in players and coaching staff, we need experience. Playing 2 top 25 games and all four games on the road is far from ideal. We like to see the defense do decent job and the offensive line improve and score.
You have a great coaching staff and take care.
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Post by Tom on Nov 6, 2020 16:08:23 GMT -5
Believe Army is in the Patriot league so it is an exception and not the rule of a FBS team playing away to a lower division. . Minor point - Army and Navy do not play Patriot League football. In fact they are not FCS football at all. They are FBS. They might seem light years apart, but Army and Navy are not in a lower division than Alabama or any other FBS school. There are absolutely haves and have nots, but everyone in FBS is in the same division
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Post by purplehaze on Nov 6, 2020 17:30:57 GMT -5
Good luck tmro at Marshall where the 'Herd' is a 44 point favorite. and I did notice that you picked up a 3rd game on Nov 27th at Liberty (another ranked opponent) - I hope this 3 game fall schedule and the experience your players get is a good thing in the end.
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Post by steve81 on Nov 6, 2020 22:05:39 GMT -5
Thanks, FAU is Nov 20 on CBSSN, so four games. We'll take our lumps now and hope it means an improved squad as this is a free* season. *Does not burn a year of eligibility.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Nov 7, 2020 10:19:12 GMT -5
Good luck UMass today in Huntington.
UMass is not playing a game in Fitton as an FBS team. However, I hope we play a game or series in Amherst sooner rather than later. We would undoubtedly show up in numbers.
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Post by timholycross on Nov 7, 2020 17:34:15 GMT -5
Army is FBS independent, Navy is in a FBS football conference, The American, which actually would be the 6th or 7th strongest (I figure the league closest to them in strength is the MWC).
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Post by purplehaze on Nov 7, 2020 17:55:28 GMT -5
UMass went down 51-10 today so their offense got on the board for the first time today
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Post by hcpride on Nov 7, 2020 18:04:55 GMT -5
TBH UMass is gaining a lot more on offense than us this year. But we are undefeated. And unscored upon. The only problem is that we may remain that way for quite a while.
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Post by timholycross on Nov 21, 2020 19:52:21 GMT -5
Thanks, FAU is Nov 20 on CBSSN, so four games. We'll take our lumps now and hope it means an improved squad as this is a free* season. *Does not burn a year of eligibility. At least last night, the defense was respectable, especially given how feeble Umass' offense was. How bad was the offense? Punted 10 times. Longest drive, 25 yards. 8 first downs. Outmanned at every position, seemingly.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Nov 21, 2020 21:29:32 GMT -5
CAA doesn’t look so bad now, huh?
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Nov 22, 2020 7:46:04 GMT -5
For UMass, a 24-2 loss against any Top 150 Division I team is a win. Surprised they didn't tear the goalposts down in Amherst.
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Post by hcpride on Nov 22, 2020 9:10:26 GMT -5
/\ /\ For some schools playing a football game at all this fall is a win.
Heck, even a belated and short Spring season might pass for a win this year.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Nov 22, 2020 13:23:20 GMT -5
Spring season of any kind would a a huge W for our seniors.
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Post by bfoley82 on Nov 23, 2020 3:03:51 GMT -5
For UMass, a 24-2 loss against any Top 150 Division I team is a win. Surprised they didn't tear the goalposts down in Amherst. Well being on National TV isn’t a negative...
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