Am I the only fan who thinks we’ve had too many night games this season? It would be interesting to know how much the AD is paid this year for these home ESPN games (U, 2, and 3) and for the CBS-SN games; as well as for the upcoming basketball games- a few have been announced so far, including two road and two home games on ESPN-U (back to back homes against AFA and CSU in Jan). We all hope it’s quite lucrative to give our programs much-needed funds.
We also all know that the reported “paid attendance” at these games (15,240 last night) is a joke when they push the start times back so late for October and November games- many of which are masqueraded as empty-seat no-shows. I know the Boise game (last home game) has been preset for an 8:30 pm start since the season began. But please, Please, PLEASE Ath-Dept- do not succumb to ESPN this time by pushing the byu game to a night start (and preferably not the 11/16 Wyo game either). Yes, hearty Aggie fans know how to dress warmly, even against a cold miserable rain like we had for CSU. It’s more than just a matter of money folks- think about the message you’re sending to season-ticket Aggie fans (particularly those living along the Wasatch Front) when you ask them to make repeated night drives thru Wellsville Canyon (especially when the weather turn sour) in October and November.
Dollars vs. Fans- which will it be?

Dollars.

The athletic department has no say at all in this. The conference that we are a member of has a TV deal that dictates when we play. I can almost guarantee that BYU will be an 8:15 kickoff and wouldn't be surprised if Wyoming was as well. There is nothing we can do except hope the next TV deal is better. Right now the conference is split. Half of the teams want better kickoff times even if it means less money and the other half will play at midnight if that's what it takes to get a paycheck.

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Boise state at one point had a stretch of EVERY single home game for a year or more starting at 8, going years without a 6 pm or earlier kickoff.

I just get a hotel. Me and the boy get some quality time together and I don’t have to get home at 2am.

Haven’t heard this viewpoint before

Thanks for sharing

Broadcasters have slots from 10 am (noon ET) to midnight (11 pm PT). East coast teams play late games (7:30 PM ET) too - and they fill their stadiums. We can’t even fill our stadium no matter the time. If we are a hot team in the MW, we are going to be the last time slot of the day.

If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

Yep last year showed us that the kick times do not matter in terms of getting people to the games. Last year the excuse was all we had family activities or I had other stuff to do during the day now that excuse is all it's too late to get home I get home at 1 or 2 in the morning. Just go to the damn game it's literally six times a year.

I would gladly volunteer the Aggies for four late games per year, provided that they are the first four home games. Once we get to November it would be really swell if we could get some 2:30 or 6:00 kickoffs. Of course, if one of those November games is Boise State the people will show up regardless.

GeoAg wrote:If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

Of course it matters. Don’t be ridiculous. The Colorado State and Nevada games both had horrible weather. One had much better attendance.

I got home at 2:00 am. If I didn’t have season club tickets, I wouldn’t have gone.


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2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 7:51 pm

GeoAg wrote:If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

Of course it matters. Don’t be ridiculous. The Colorado State and Nevada games both had horrible weather. One had much better attendance.

I got home at 2:00 am. If I didn’t have season club tickets, I wouldn’t have gone.


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If all other variables had been held constant, you might have a point. However, there were a lot of other factors going into this Nevada game that affected attendance.

We should be playing the BYU game on Friday at 6:00 PM, but whatever. It'll probably be in that 8:15 MT slot, either on ESPN or ESPN2. It'll be packed regardless. We should also ALWAYS have a bye week before BYU, but that's another discussion entirely.

Dollars.


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YoungBloodAggie wrote:

2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 7:51 pm

GeoAg wrote:If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

Of course it matters. Don’t be ridiculous. The Colorado State and Nevada games both had horrible weather. One had much better attendance.

I got home at 2:00 am. If I didn’t have season club tickets, I wouldn’t have gone.


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If all other variables had been held constant, you might have a point. However, there were a lot of other factors going into this Nevada game that affected attendance.

We should be playing the BYU game on Friday at 6:00 PM, but whatever. It'll probably be in that 8:15 MT slot, either on ESPN or ESPN2. It'll be packed regardless. We should also ALWAYS have a bye week before BYU, but that's another discussion entirely.

So you’re gonna make the claim that start times don’t affect attendance? There is no way the numbers would back that up.


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2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 8:34 pm

YoungBloodAggie wrote:

2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 7:51 pm

GeoAg wrote:If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

Of course it matters. Don’t be ridiculous. The Colorado State and Nevada games both had horrible weather. One had much better attendance.

I got home at 2:00 am. If I didn’t have season club tickets, I wouldn’t have gone.


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If all other variables had been held constant, you might have a point. However, there were a lot of other factors going into this Nevada game that affected attendance.

We should be playing the BYU game on Friday at 6:00 PM, but whatever. It'll probably be in that 8:15 MT slot, either on ESPN or ESPN2. It'll be packed regardless. We should also ALWAYS have a bye week before BYU, but that's another discussion entirely.

So you’re gonna make the claim that start times don’t affect attendance? There is no way the numbers would back that up.


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The interesting thing about yesterday is that it was far better weather than the Colorado State game. I think the snow that was coming down 2 hours before kickoff made people think it was going to be awful, but it wasn’t bad at all (if you bundled up).

ususports wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 9:06 pm

The interesting thing about yesterday is that it was far better weather than the Colorado State game. I think the snow that was coming down 2 hours before kickoff made people think it was going to be awful, but it wasn’t bad at all (if you bundled up).

Yeah, some people don't know how to look at weather.com.

ususports wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 9:06 pm

The interesting thing about yesterday is that it was far better weather than the Colorado State game. I think the snow that was coming down 2 hours before kickoff made people think it was going to be awful, but it wasn’t bad at all (if you bundled up).

I know I was getting nervous about it traveling in but I've sat through far worse at Maverik. It really wasn't bad at all. I actually think we had the best weather of the 3 in state games.

ProvoAggie wrote:

2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 8:34 pm

YoungBloodAggie wrote:

2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 7:51 pm

GeoAg wrote:If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

Of course it matters. Don’t be ridiculous. The Colorado State and Nevada games both had horrible weather. One had much better attendance.

I got home at 2:00 am. If I didn’t have season club tickets, I wouldn’t have gone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If all other variables had been held constant, you might have a point. However, there were a lot of other factors going into this Nevada game that affected attendance.

We should be playing the BYU game on Friday at 6:00 PM, but whatever. It'll probably be in that 8:15 MT slot, either on ESPN or ESPN2. It'll be packed regardless. We should also ALWAYS have a bye week before BYU, but that's another discussion entirely.

So you’re gonna make the claim that start times don’t affect attendance? There is no way the numbers would back that up.


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But what about the quality of teams? Meaning Boise and BYU are 8:30 but San Jose state isn’t and Stony Brook aren’t. I have a feeling that it skewing the results.

And post 6:00 is not the same thing as 8:15 either.


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2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 9:09 pm

ProvoAggie wrote:

2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 8:34 pm

YoungBloodAggie wrote:

2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 7:51 pm

GeoAg wrote:If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

Of course it matters. Don’t be ridiculous. The Colorado State and Nevada games both had horrible weather. One had much better attendance.

I got home at 2:00 am. If I didn’t have season club tickets, I wouldn’t have gone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If all other variables had been held constant, you might have a point. However, there were a lot of other factors going into this Nevada game that affected attendance.

We should be playing the BYU game on Friday at 6:00 PM, but whatever. It'll probably be in that 8:15 MT slot, either on ESPN or ESPN2. It'll be packed regardless. We should also ALWAYS have a bye week before BYU, but that's another discussion entirely.

So you’re gonna make the claim that start times don’t affect attendance? There is no way the numbers would back that up.


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But what about the quality of teams? Meaning Boise and BYU are 8:30 but San Jose state isn’t and Stony Brook aren’t. I have a feeling that it skewing the results.

And post 6:00 is not the same thing as 8:15 either.


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How many post 6:00 games do we have that don’t start at 8:15 or 8:30?

And of course it’s skewing the results the quality of the opponent is what I’d guess is the biggest variable affecting attendance not start times or weather

Several factors contribute to attendance, but IMO the single biggest factor in avg attendance is the years we play Boise and BYU at home regardless of start times.

Based on my own observations, the night games seen better attended. The younger crowds live the night games and the older ones like earlier ones.

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GeoAg wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 6:15 pm

If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

I think our fans are awesome. The fact of the matter is, we just don't have enough fans to fill our stadium on even a semi-regular basis.

8 PM really isn't that bad if you live in the Mountain, or Pacific time zones. Several pro games start around 8. Every World Series game has a first pitch shortly after 8 EST (including those played here in DC). So, sorry- 8 something is perfectly fine and fans need to get over it. If it's good enough for Max Scherzer it's good enough for Logan-ites.

What stinks is for those of us watching on the east coast, and games are ending at 2 AM. On one hand, it's hard to get national recognition if games are ending 2 AM. On the other hand if we aren't on TV at all then it's REALLY hard to get exposure. I'm happy enough to watch USU football at all.

bigblue wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 11:52 pm

Based on my own observations, the night games seen better attended. The younger crowds live the night games and the older ones like earlier ones.

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I think you're right. I'm in the way older crowd and to me USU football was typically on a gorgeous Saturday fall afternoon, kickoff 1pm. A nice ascent up the tree lined path of Romney Stadium with leaves of gold shimmering in the afternoon sun. There was, of course, that one game against Idaho in a blizzard but winning 69-0 made it very tolerable.
I never felt football was a night time sport, just as basketball isn't a daytime sport. Any of you remember WHITE footballs?

My kids liked having room to run around in the south end zone this game. I liked that all the people there were actually fanatics and they cheered a lot more than the fair weather people at the higher attended games. i wish we had more fanatics though. BBD can only do so much in his morph suit. He really should jump on the couch with Big Blue during the Best Seats in the House segment one of these times

I don't mind the evening games, but in an ideal world they should be kept to the first two home games of the year. I was at the first night game ever at Maverik/Romney, against Baylor in 1993, and the atmosphere was amazing, very unlike what I had experienced in that stadium before. I was also there for the 58-56 win over BYU in 1993, that was also an amazing atmosphere, but during the day. There are very different atmospheres for night games and day games. But overall I do feel like college football belongs on a Saturday afternoon, so to me, preferably most of the games would be afternoon games. I am still angry at what the Supreme Court decision in 1984 has done to college football, that is the major reason we have the huge split between the haves and have nots, and why MWC schools have to play games at weird times in an effort to pick up some table scraps of funds.

2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 7:51 pm

GeoAg wrote:If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

Of course it matters. Don’t be ridiculous. The Colorado State and Nevada games both had horrible weather. One had much better attendance.

I got home at 2:00 am. If I didn’t have season club tickets, I wouldn’t have gone.


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I disagree. See our attendance last year with a nationally ranked team, great start times, and great weather.

At the end of the day, we fans need to love our team so much that we are there to support them. That is all we can do individually. Aggie football isn't a priority for enough people to fill that stadium. Let's face it, we love our team, but we are small in numbers. The community needs to wrap its arms around the university and embrace these teams.

Couple of comments here. I hit Logan about 5:30 (17:30 hrs) when the wind picked up and then it snowed very hard. This had to have a negative effect on border line fans. Also, I understand the MWC gets half of the T V revenue and the balance is distributed evenly throughout the league. Not a lot of money for any particular school...(Boise excepted with their inside T V revenue deal). The T V deal is marginal, and I believe broadcasting the game before a very poorly attended game does Utah State little good.

On another note I got back to Sandy around 2:00 am Sunday morning. Still, I enjoyed the game, sat with some friends and folks I enjoyed, even with the mediocre passing offense our AGGIES presented. Still waiting for the breakout passing game, waiting, waiting, waiting.

I believe we make more money from the TV deal than we do selling tickets. Until that changes, we are going to be slaves to the TV deal. Actually, because the TV deal is a conference thing, it won't matter even if we pack the place every game. We will still be slaves to the conference TV deal.

In the end, who cares, we should be there because we love our team and want them to come out of the locker room seeing a big crowd. They will play better when we do.

The fact is we get around $1.3 million per year in T.V. revenue, we get around $2 million from all tickets sold for all sports,, so despite having smaller T.V. money it a a decent part of the budget, and of course the exposure. It is rumored that we will receive about $2-3 million in the next contract.

The fans that show up are great we had 15,000 plus show up or buy season tickets which count as attendance. We just do not have enough local people or alums that care enough to spend money. The ewe had 46,000 attend Ybu had 58,000 attend or buy tickets I wish we had at least 20-25,000 fans or locals that actually care. I believe over the last seven years we have won more game than what the southern swine have done, so that concern's me as to if we will ever get the support needed.

GeoAg wrote:

2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 7:51 pm

GeoAg wrote:If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

Of course it matters. Don’t be ridiculous. The Colorado State and Nevada games both had horrible weather. One had much better attendance.

I got home at 2:00 am. If I didn’t have season club tickets, I wouldn’t have gone.


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I disagree. See our attendance last year with a nationally ranked team, great start times, and great weather.

Just Imagine how much worse it would have been last year without great start times and great weather.


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GeoAg wrote: ↑

October 21st, 2019, 9:28 am

I disagree. See our attendance last year with a nationally ranked team, great start times, and great weather.

Tennessee Tech and New Mexico State were headlining our non-conference, and we had a less than stellar conference home schedule. If you can't figure out why our attendance was low last year with great start times and great weather, you need to think things through a little more. I get it, fans should support a nationally ranked team (and even a non-nationally ranked team) no matter who the opponent is, but that isn't reality. To compare last year's schedule to years that we play Boise State, BYU, Colorado State, and Wyoming all at home in the same year, and to expect the same attendance with those teams that have stronger fan appeal, makes me hope you are never the head of marketing at our ticket office.

ProvoAggie wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 9:04 pm

2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 8:34 pm

YoungBloodAggie wrote:

2004AG wrote: ↑

October 20th, 2019, 7:51 pm

GeoAg wrote:If we had more people show up last year when our start times were great, I would have more sympathy about this. It just doesn't matter. Our fans suck early or late

Of course it matters. Don’t be ridiculous. The Colorado State and Nevada games both had horrible weather. One had much better attendance.

I got home at 2:00 am. If I didn’t have season club tickets, I wouldn’t have gone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If all other variables had been held constant, you might have a point. However, there were a lot of other factors going into this Nevada game that affected attendance.

We should be playing the BYU game on Friday at 6:00 PM, but whatever. It'll probably be in that 8:15 MT slot, either on ESPN or ESPN2. It'll be packed regardless. We should also ALWAYS have a bye week before BYU, but that's another discussion entirely.

So you’re gonna make the claim that start times don’t affect attendance? There is no way the numbers would back that up.


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The post 6 p.m. numbers are a little misleading. There is a big difference between a 7 p.m. kickoff and one at 8:15 (or more likely 8:40 or 8:45). A 7 p.m. kick-off gets you out of the stadium by 10:30 or 11 p.m. An 8:15 p.m. kick-ff won't get you out of the stadium until 11:45 at the earliest, and more likely midnight. When you live outside of Logan that is a big deal.