Weekly Attendance - Week 13

[superman7515]

Grambling St @ Southern - 43,494
Tuskegee (D2) @ Alabama St - 17,882
Robert Morris @ NDSU - 12,202
South Carolina St @ THE GSU - 10,214
Lehigh @ UNI - 5,990
Western Illinois @ Coastal Carolina - 4,556

[Gil Dobie]

Even though not a sellout for NDSU, it was one of the loudest crowds for an entire game that I've seen in a while. All the die-hards showed up.

[JSU02]

If there were only 10,214 people at GSU, then there was no one sitting on the side of the field the camera was on. Even the NCAA play-by-play guy estimated there was around 20,000 fans. Did GSU blatenly lie about the number of people there, or does the NCAA have some crazy method of counting attendance? I heard a rumor about the NCAA only counting a student ticket as a fraction of a regular ticket for attendance purposes. Does anyone know if that is true? How could it benefit the NCAA to under report the people there?

[Gil Dobie]

One thing that hurt attendance was the students being gone. There was a huge gap in the SW corner and endzone of the Fargodome where 3000+ students usually sat.

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

If there were only 10,214 people at GSU, then there was no one sitting on the side of the field the camera was on. Even the NCAA play-by-play guy estimated there was around 20,000 fans. Did GSU blatenly lie about the number of people there, or does the NCAA have some crazy method of counting attendance? I heard a rumor about the NCAA only counting a student ticket as a fraction of a regular ticket for attendance purposes. Does anyone know if that is true? How could it benefit the NCAA to under report the people there?

Unless GSU has been seriously inflating attendance (as in reporting it to be about twice than it usually is) then there's no way there was only 10k there.

[Gil Dobie]

Unless GSU has been seriously inflating attendance (as in reporting it to be about twice than it usually is) then there's no way there was only 10k there.

They are not trying to hide money from the NCAA, are they ;)

[gsu1moretime]

I have been to many games at paulson. and yes the side were the camera's were empty. but I remember the citadel game last year andthe said their was 13k there.. and i know there were more there than the citadel game last year. i was guessing 14 maybe 15k

[Blueandwhitefightfight]

Our stands have seats for 16,000 (actual seats, not the "official capacity" that is listed..). The stands were about 90% full AND people were sitting on the hills.

Absolutely NO way there were only 10K there.

My roommate works for the paper and was photographing the game yesterday. I told him to get shots of the stands so we could make a few panoramas in photoshop.

I looked at them and he has a high-res picture of every section in the stadium and the hills. We are going to go through and count how many people were actually there. I don't have anything better to do as I have already taken all of my finals and am on break until the 11th of Jan. We plan on mapping the stadium out and go section by section and tally it up, then add everything up. I will report back here when we have a number. He is going to do it twice and im going to do it twice just to see if there is a difference in the numbers.

I'm guessing it's going to be around 15,000.

A lot of us are very embarrassed that our school would not be honest about the attendance. Erk taught us to 'Do Right' and this doesn't seem to fit that.

[seantaylor]

At least 18K at GSU. Sammy Baker constantly under reports attendance so he doesn't have to expand the stadium. We have the worst athletic director in the country bar none.

[JMUNJ08]

Grambling St @ Southern - 43,494
Tuskegee (D2) @ Alabama St - 17,882
Robert Morris @ NDSU - 12,202
South Carolina St @ THE GSU - 10,214
Lehigh @ UNI - 5,990
Western Illinois @ Coastal Carolina - 4,556

Only 6K at the UNI Dome???? Students don't account for 95% of the crowd does it????

[gasoutherneagle]

Stands were packed at Paulson... at least 18000. Great crowd and the students came back to fill their section. Best I've seen for a 1st round game.

[VUCats02]

Our stands have seats for 16,000 (actual seats, not the "official capacity" that is listed..). The stands were about 90% full AND people were sitting on the hills.

Absolutely NO way there were only 10K there.

My roommate works for the paper and was photographing the game yesterday. I told him to get shots of the stands so we could make a few panoramas in photoshop.

I looked at them and he has a high-res picture of every section in the stadium and the hills. We are going to go through and count how many people were actually there. I don't have anything better to do as I have already taken all of my finals and am on break until the 11th of Jan. We plan on mapping the stadium out and go section by section and tally it up, then add everything up. I will report back here when we have a number. He is going to do it twice and im going to do it twice just to see if there is a difference in the numbers.

I'm guessing it's going to be around 15,000.

A lot of us are very embarrassed that our school would not be honest about the attendance. Erk taught us to 'Do Right' and this doesn't seem to fit that.

This is one of the funniest things I've ever read on AGS.

[caribbeanhen]

Our stands have seats for 16,000 (actual seats, not the "official capacity" that is listed..). The stands were about 90% full AND people were sitting on the hills.

Absolutely NO way there were only 10K there.

My roommate works for the paper and was photographing the game yesterday. I told him to get shots of the stands so we could make a few panoramas in photoshop.

I looked at them and he has a high-res picture of every section in the stadium and the hills. We are going to go through and count how many people were actually there. I don't have anything better to do as I have already taken all of my finals and am on break until the 11th of Jan. We plan on mapping the stadium out and go section by section and tally it up, then add everything up. I will report back here when we have a number. He is going to do it twice and im going to do it twice just to see if there is a difference in the numbers.

I'm guessing it's going to be around 15,000.

A lot of us are very embarrassed that our school would not be honest about the attendance. Erk taught us to 'Do Right' and this doesn't seem to fit that.

Are your doors locked? You never know when Bubba and Elwood are gonna show up and confiscate any evidence you might have

[TheBisonator]

NDSU was only 12,202 but I can tell you it was a legitimately counted and LOUD 12,202. This was basically the whole local hardcore fan base that attended.

Average attendances of 17-18,000 usually include 5,000 or so fairweathers/sweater knitters/casual fans.

[VUCats02]

I didn't realize that casual sports fans are also known as sweater knitters ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[TheBisonator]

I didn't realize that casual sports fans are also known as sweater knitters ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Go to a Bison game at the Fargodome sometime. There are literally ladies knitting stuff in their seat during the game.

[DFW HOYA]

I think this has been answered before: only PAID tickets are reported to the NCAA. Unless the students are paying customers (and in many places, they're not), they are not included in attendance figures.

[SpiritCymbal]

Playoff attendance numbers at Paulson has always been a mystery...here's a basic breakdown.

Lets say that schools owe NCAA 50% of a full priced ticket ($10 of of a $20 ticket). We sell tickets to students for $5. So GSU is actually losing $5 for every student ticket they sell if you count them as a whole person. If GSU announces that 18,000 people were in attendance ($20 ticket) then the NCAA expects them to write a check for $180k. They don't care that GSU sold some tickets for $5. They want $10 for every person that's reported.

(BTW...I am using generic numbers in my example. I have no idea if the NCAA's cut is actually 50% nor do I recall if a "full priced" playoff ticket is $20).

[Blueandwhitefightfight]

I know it sounds ridiculous but seriously, we have all been wondering wtf is up w/ the attendance numbers for years. So we are finally going to solve this mystery. Grab a case of beer and throw on the stereo and sit there for a bit. Fans from other schools have no idea of some of the political shadiness that goes on here. The attendance is one of the biggest things that drives people nuts. The AD came out and publicly said they misrepresent the stadium capacity a few seasons ago. Almost every game nobody counts what is going on. Sometimes they scan student ID's to count, but a lot of people get in w/o being scanned. Almost everyone thinks the AD is miscounting and announcing lower attendance just so he doesn't have to answer questions about expanding the stadium.

So yea, call it funny or w/e. I think it's a little humorous too. But we are going to find out how many people were at the game and call the school out. We will probably make a drinking game out of this. Every time we count to 100 we might have to drink half a beer. I'll report back in a few days.

[JSU02]

I think this has been answered before: only PAID tickets are reported to the NCAA. Unless the students are paying customers (and in many places, they're not), they are not included in attendance figures.

Since this is a playoff game, every ticket must be "paid" for per NCAA guidelines.

[seantaylor]

I know it sounds ridiculous but seriously, we have all been wondering wtf is up w/ the attendance numbers for years. So we are finally going to solve this mystery. Grab a case of beer and throw on the stereo and sit there for a bit. Fans from other schools have no idea of some of the political shadiness that goes on here. The attendance is one of the biggest things that drives people nuts. The AD came out and publicly said they misrepresent the stadium capacity a few seasons ago. Almost every game nobody counts what is going on. Sometimes they scan student ID's to count, but a lot of people get in w/o being scanned. Almost everyone thinks the AD is miscounting and announcing lower attendance just so he doesn't have to answer questions about expanding the stadium.

So yea, call it funny or w/e. I think it's a little humorous too. But we are going to find out how many people were at the game and call the school out. We will probably make a drinking game out of this. Every time we count to 100 we might have to drink half a beer. I'll report back in a few days.

It's our AD. How people don't realize this is beyond me. He dictates attendance numbers at every game. For big games, he wants to announce a good crowd, but something that doesn't scream expansion. Like Sav State this year. There was at least 23K there. He annnounced 18 or 19. When no one comes, he over estimates. Samford was announced 15K, but there wasn't half as many people at that game than was at the game yesterday. The tail wagging the dog.