Patriot League Week 9 Attendance: 12,880

[DFW HOYA]

Not for one game. Three.

Colgate at Lehigh: 6,784 (capacity=16,000)
Lafayette at Bucknell: 3,275 (capacity=13,100)
Georgetown at Fordham: 2,821 (capacity=7,000)

The league has to do better. Everyone.

[Sader87]

Pathetic... D2 and D3 schools draw the same or better.

[ngineer]

Pathetic... D2 and D3 schools draw the same or better.

No question we should do better, but the D2/D3 reference makes no sense. Most D2 and some D3 schools have bigger student bodies than most of the PL. I think almost all of the PSAC schools are bigger than all of the PL, with maybe one or two exceptions.

[Sader87]

No question we should do better, but the D2/D3 reference makes no sense. Most D2 and some D3 schools have bigger student bodies than most of the PL. I think almost all of the PSAC schools are bigger than all of the PL, with maybe one or two exceptions.

False argument...D3 Worcester St's enrollment is much larger than HC's...they should have bigger football crowds than crosstown 1-AA HC?

[Go...gate]

12,880 looks like a conference in a death spiral.

[Sader87]

12,880 looks like a conference in a death spiral.

It really does...I know I've pontificated ad infinitum on this but 12,880 would have been considered a poor to average at best gate for a single Holy Cross game as late as the late 80's/early 90's. The PL simply has been a dismal failure with regards to football....terrible both on and off the field, you really can't make an argument otherwise.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

It really does...I know I've pontificated ad infinitum on this but 12,880 would have been considered a poor to average at best gate for a single Holy Cross game as late as the late 80's/early 90's. The PL simply has been a dismal failure with regards to football....terrible both on and off the field, you really can't make an argument otherwise.

Colgate made the national title game and Lehigh was legitimately one of the top 10 programs in the country from '98-'04. Lehigh also averaged well over 10k people until the mid 2000's. The drop off has been recent.

[RichH2]

mediocrity breeds disinterest. Win and fannies will appear in seats. Heck maybe even some students will stop by.

Altho, I really did think LU would have a much larger crowd, close to 10.000 given the weather and match up.

[LEHIGH61]

Keep in mind the convenience of watching the games on the internet for $7.00. There's nothing like being there, but if you are a long distance away, you can avoid being out on a busy highway, and save on gas, overnight stays, and ticket prices by staying home. And if you lose you don't have the agony of driving home rehashing what went wrong. I live in Connecticut, and I used to have season tickets. I used to make the 400 mile round trip to every home game. I have attended almost all of the playoff games since 1973 (in Bowling Green, KY), but I am now 70 years old with Muscular Dystrophy. Just some of the reasons I wasn't there (except in spirit). But let me tell you, that team looked like the Lehigh of the 70's, the early 80's and the 1998-2004 period. I WILL BE AT HOLY CROSS ON SATURDAY!
As far as students are concerned, I don't know what the problem is. But if Lehigh continues like they did against Colgate, I think the attendance will swell.

[Sader87]

Keep in mind the convenience of watching the games on the internet for $7.00. There's nothing like being there, but if you are a long distance away, you can avoid being out on a busy highway, and save on gas, overnight stays, and ticket prices by staying home. And if you lose you don't have the agony of driving home rehashing what went wrong. I live in Connecticut, and I used to have season tickets. I used to make the 400 mile round trip to every home game. I have attended almost all of the playoff games since 1973 (in Bowling Green, KY), but I am now 70 years old with Muscular Dystrophy. Just some of the reasons I wasn't there (except in spirit). But let me tell you, that team looked like the Lehigh of the 70's, the early 80's and the 1998-2004 period. I WILL BE AT HOLY CROSS ON SATURDAY!
As far as students are concerned, I don't know what the problem is. But if Lehigh continues like they did against Colgate, I think the attendance will swell.

Good points 61...you are roughly in my Dad's generation (HC '50) and as a kid we did much the same i.e. travel afar to see the Purple. Maybe it's simply a generational/times change sort of issue. The thing is though, a majority of PL crowds of 2,000 here and 3,500 there are simply not D1 material...not in the long run anyway.

[ngineer]

False argument...D3 Worcester St's enrollment is much larger than HC's...they should have bigger football crowds than crosstown 1-AA HC?

Under the premise that the students are 'expected' to turn out and support their fellow students...yes.

[Sader87]

Under the premise that the students are 'expected' to turn out and support their fellow students...yes.

You are the one making that premise not me...by that logic UMass-Boston should outdraw BC.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Keep in mind the convenience of watching the games on the internet for $7.00. There's nothing like being there, but if you are a long distance away, you can avoid being out on a busy highway, and save on gas, overnight stays, and ticket prices by staying home. And if you lose you don't have the agony of driving home rehashing what went wrong. I live in Connecticut, and I used to have season tickets. I used to make the 400 mile round trip to every home game. I have attended almost all of the playoff games since 1973 (in Bowling Green, KY), but I am now 70 years old with Muscular Dystrophy. Just some of the reasons I wasn't there (except in spirit). But let me tell you, that team looked like the Lehigh of the 70's, the early 80's and the 1998-2004 period. I WILL BE AT HOLY CROSS ON SATURDAY!
As far as students are concerned, I don't know what the problem is. But if Lehigh continues like they did against Colgate, I think the attendance will swell.

You do make an excellent point. I used to make 2-3 trips back to Lehigh a year just to attend football games with friends (in a related story, I was single at the time), and I used to live pretty far away, too. I still make the trek to Lehigh often since it's pretty close to my house (1 hour), but I can see the hesitation when it's now a matter of an entire day to get there and get back, or stay overnight. And I can't even make every game thanks to family commitments.

People tend to jump on the bandwagons pretty late in the game. If Lehigh brought a good crowd to Holy Cross and even Geogetown if Lehigh keeps winning, I would not be surprised.