Pitt already has its Game Notes for Louisville (PDF). The depth chart is of questionable value, when it’s a week in advance.
Something else to read. This story on the struggles of Cinci to get people to care about their football team. And if you think Pitt’s basketball season ticket policy pissed people off, imagine this one.
Roger Hamilton of Greenhills has had University of Cincinnati football season tickets since the early ’90s. He hasn’t been to a game at Nippert Stadium since 1985.
Hamilton buys his tickets through UC’s UCATS program so he can buy basketball season tickets. Hamilton gives his four football tickets to people in his office or his neighbors. Hamilton is a UC basketball fan, not a football fan, so he doesn’t go to the football games.
He’s not alone – there are a lot of people in Cincinnati not coming to Bearcat football games.
With its entrance into the Big East, UC claims to be in the “Big Time” now, and technically it is as a member of a Bowl Championship Series conference. You couldn’t tell it by looking around last Saturday at Nippert Stadium.
With a classic rival in town on a beautiful day, just 21,086 people showed up to watch the Bearcats play Louisville.
Among BCS conference schools, UC is next-to-last in average attendance, averaging just 21,555 fans per home game. That’s 87th in Division I-A. Only Duke, of the Atlantic Coast Conference, has a lower average attendance among BCS schools with 17,914 per game at Wallace Wade Stadium.
I remember reading a story a number of years ago about the day before and of Cinci’s first appearance on ESPN for a Thursday night game. The AD was literally out on the campus giving tickets away just to make the school look good and like people actually cared about the team.
Actually, for schools in Ohio not named Ohio State, attendance is a problem.
Ohio State is averaging 105,028 fans per game at Ohio Stadium. Of the other seven Division I-A schools in the state, none has had more than 105,028 fans combined at their home games this season. The combined average of the other seven schools in the state is just 116,581.
It’s not just a UC problem. Miami University is 100th in Division I-A in attendance, averaging 16,810 fans per game, which is an increase over last season.
This isn’t a surprise, but of the top-25 schools in attendance, none are located in a city with a NFL franchise.
