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MEGA Miami Fan Attendance -Discussion

Dude, there were maybe a couple hundred students there. You don't think they knew there was a game? You think I was flying down from Virginia to watch Miami beat up on Bethune? I couldn't give my seats away.

You'll have a nice crowd for the Georgia Tech game. Beat North Carolina and the Clemson game will be sold out.

Some of the biggest complainers don't go to games themselves. They complain about the optics on television.
 
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What game/crowd???

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mcnaire2004 said:
Looking at the numbers there was only a few thousand fewer than A&M. A&M just barely got the threshold where parts of the stadium feels like there are people. We call it a "good turnout" when we reach that point. The fact that we can't get to 50k, which really should be considered the minimum is embarrassing.

Also they did reduce the capacity back when we were just barely getting 50k. It didn't help. When CMR was pulling in 70k for FCS teams that 70 was in reduced capacity.
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What in the actual **** are you talking about?

The stadium was renovated in 2015 and 2016. At all times that Richt was coaching, the capacity was 65K (not "70K" as you falsely claim).

2016 - FAMU - 60,703 (weak team, but in-state)
2016 - FAU - 57,123 (weak team, but local)
2016 - FSU - 65,685 - SELLOUT
2016 - UNC - 58,731
2016 - Pitt - 51,796
2016 - Duke - 57,396

2017 - B-C - 50,454 (weak team, but in-state)
2017 - Toledo - 49,361 (weak team)
2017 - GaTech - 55,799
2017 - Syracuse - 56,158
2017 - VaTech - 63,932
2017 - Notre Dame - 65,303 - SELLOUT
2017 - UVa - 63,415

2018 - Savannah State - 60,307 (weak team, but in Georgia)
2018 - FIU - 59,814 (weak team, but local)
2018 - UNC - 60,845 - THURSDAY NIGHT GAME
2018 - FSU - 65,490 - SELLOUT
2018 - Duke - 62,754
2018 - Pitt - 59,606

So in review, for the two crappy OOC games per year, we averaged 59K, 50K, and 60K (excluding the Notre Dame sellout in 2017).

Therefore, for 2023 Miami of Ohio and aTm, the average attendance was 49K. Not great, and we obviously wish we had more in the stands for aTm. And 2023 Bethune-Cookman (Thursday night) is certainly an outlier.

Let's see how the ACC schedule plays out. I expect a sellout for Clemson. GaTech won't be great. UVa should be respectable due to Homecoming. Louisville will depend on our overall success level this season.

Any questions?
 
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I think some people here watch a few games on TV and think every stadium in a country is packed except for Miami. Don't fall for the narrative from Herbie and others outside of Miami. Try paying attention to other programs outside the top 10-15 and see what their stadium looks like on game day, especially against teams like Bethune. Especially teams coming off a poor season.

Sure Nebraska will be nearly full when they are 0-9 but go look at USC when they are 5-4. Look at UCLA or any PAC 12 or ACC team under the same circumstances.

I'm tied of the narrative and people should not be so easily swayed.

Sure, Miami will never be as Ohio St, Neb or Bama is now and if that is where your expectations are you have unrealistic expectations and will never be happy. There are a hundred programs and many with less than full or half empty stadiums week after week yet, Miami seems to be the program Herbie and others criticize for not having a full stadium.

I would like to see full stadiums at every other program week after week before I will accept that Miami has some kind of fan problem.
 
Allabouttheu95 said:
Look we can give the fanbase **** for attendance. I totally get it. Last week was embarassing. But 7:30 on a Thursday night against Bethune cookman warrants no flack that there were 25k in the stands.

Many people work til 5 or 6. If you’re going north to get to the game good luck trying to get to that game on time with traffic. Just asinine scheduling if we’re worried about our image.

Miami should never play home games on a Thursday night
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May not have had a choice.
 
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supacane said:
Went to the game last night. Lets say i was highly disappointed in the turn out. I dont too care for what the media and rival fans say but i want the players to feel the love every game, V FSU or v Bethune.

If you live out of state or way up central and north FL, this is not about u. The money out of state fans have to spend to get to 1 game, dwarfs what local fans need to spend on season tickets.

Miami fans game attendance comes down to culture and mindset. Miami Dade population is 2.6 mill as of 2021, Broward is 1.9 mill and palm beach county is 1.5 mill. Roughly 6 million people live within 1 hour of Hard Rock stadium. Miami is a national program. Not getting 55-60k every week is culture and mindset.

I do put alot of it on the University. They do a really poor job of marketing the program. Why dont they bomb local gas stations and corner stores with canes gear and memorabilia, billboards, radio spots.

So FL has a higher median income than most small college towns. We can claim that other university have more alums than Miami, thats true. But Miami also attracts more fans that have no affiliation with the university because of brand recognition. The University is not maximizing the brand recognition.

In addition to the marketing i spoke of, i would reduce the capacity of Hard Rock and make the tickets more scarce.

This is gonna be the last negative fodder rivals and media use against us. We need to change it and stop making excuses.

Not because its been one way doesnt mean it always has to be that way. It only remain that way if we do the same thing. Winning alone wont bring fans. I seen clips of 2001 and there were 40k v Syracuse

Btw when i say market the team. Play on the hometown all american. There should be a billboard all over SO FL of Kam, James. They are not doing enough.
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I read a lot of complaining about things that are just well, Miami. However, the bolded part is completely valid. It's like the University is tone deaf to their fanbase. Raising ticket prices after a 5-7 season is not a good look. I think Frenk sucks in general and I think a lot of this reflects on his asleep at the wheel tenure as president. There are plenty of others worthy of a slice of the blame pie, but the buck should stop with Frenk. Someone within the University needs to improve the marketing. It is not only important, but vital. I grew up in the Midwest as the user name would imply, and I went to Miami in large part because the football program was awesome and on tv every week back in the 80's. I would not have even applied if not for the little 30 second bits featuring the actual academic side of the university that I saw while watching those football games. While my case is certainly not the norm for every incoming freshman, it is for some. Maybe most.
 
L A M P said:
Obviously we can't get data on some of these questions. Alumni isn't specific per say. Alumni-web: Spouse, parent, sibling, child, grandparent (even friend/neighbor).. all can influence a persons fandom.

(I became a Miami fan in gator country early on bc my neighbor played for the Canes & they'd take me to games.)

And yes, I'd say this web is high % at TAMU.
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In college towns, there is a high percentage of fans (and, yes, actual ticket-buyers) who are not TRUE alums. They may be university employees or just people who live in that particular town, but Miami probably has a smaller fraction of "townies" who just become UM fans because there is nothing better to do in a small college town.
 
hoops156 said:
absolutely not on the tuition front. its a private school. not a public school. the school offers a ton of aid (at least used to) and are generous (or at least were) with their scholarship money. if you are a smart student, you can pretty easily get a UM ride at least some what partial along with financial aid grants. a lot of kids i went with were there bc of the ship money and turned down duke and others. UM isnt hurting for students either so they have no need to start subsidizing local tuition rates. it also opens up a can of worms especially as more and more people moved in and moved the actual locals out. next thing you got a trust fund kid going to UM on a free ride when he or she may not deserve it academically.

like it or not the city of miami and the area isnt what it used to be. it has changed. you actually will find more of what it was going further north in SFL than in miami now due to the shift in the population.
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My son, who is a recent alum, told me Miami had 49K applications for this freshmen class with a 16% acceptance rate. This validates your point Miami can be very selective and it should.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
What in the actual **** are you talking about?

The stadium was renovated in 2015 and 2016. At all times that Richt was coaching, the capacity is 65K (not "70K" as you falsely claim).

2016 - FAMU - 60,703 (weak team, but in-state)
2016 - FAU - 57,123 (weak team, but local)
2016 - FSU - 65,685 - SELLOUT
2016 - UNC - 58,731
2016 - Pitt - 51,796
2016 - Duke - 57,396

2017 - B-C - 50,454 (weak team, but in-state)
2017 - Toledo - 49,361 (weak team)
2017 - GaTech - 55,799
2017 - Syracuse - 56,158
2017 - VaTech - 63,932
2017 - Notre Dame - 65,303 - SELLOUT
2017 - UVa - 63,415

2018 - Savannah State - 60,307 (weak team, but in Georgia) - SATURDAY
2018 - FIU - 59,814 (weak team, but local)
2018 - UNC - 60,845 - THURSDAY NIGHT GAME
2018 - FSU - 65,490 - SELLOUT
2018 - Duke - 62,754
2018 - Pitt - 59,606

So in review, for the two crappy OOC games per year, we averaged 59K, 50K, and 60K (excluding the Notre Dame sellout in 2017).

Therefore, for 2023 Miami of Ohio and aTm, the average attendance was 49K. Not great, and we obviously wish we had more in the stands for aTm. And 2023 Bethune-Cookman (Thursday night) is certainly an outlier.

Let's see how the ACC schedule plays out. I expect a sellout for Clemson. GaTech won't be great. UVa should be respectable due to Homecoming. Louisville will depend on our overall success level this season.

Any questions?
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So the only thing I was incorrect about was the FAMU attendance in 2016 that was still 20k more than yesterday and near FSU. Cool.
 
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supacane said:
Alot of those fans from those places travel further to get to games than most canes fan need to. And also spend more. I dont Miami to be like them, i want it to be better than it is now. I want them to do more from the admin. Simple.
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Do what? Even when the program was ELITE, winning every home game for years on end, people did not care to watch us beat on crap. No amount of marketing will change that. Compared to our peers, our ticket prices are extremely cheap. The school makes it easy to attend games and our fans actively look for reasons not to. We’re better off taking that marketing money and pouring it into the program itself because chasing our cheap fanbase is a waste of time as decades of experience has borne that out.

We have seen this through multiple sports. Ask Coach L about attendance outside of big games, it’s iffy as ****. If you buy a men’s basketball season ticket package, they GIVE you a women’s package for FREE and you can still shoot off a cannon in that building during their games and not hurt a soul. Both basketball products are usually solid and people still only care when name opponents show up or Miami is really, really good.
 
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NJshoreCane said:
Earlier this week I talked to a client about this who's son goes to Miami.
There I was with my hoarse voice telling him how great the game was then asked him if his son had a good time.
His response...
"oh, most of the students go to tailgate, but don't actually go in to the game".
smmfh
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That is very true. Some only tailgate. The A&M student turnout was very good. Most were there through most of the 4th quarter. The issue is the buses back to campus are a pain in the *** so kids leave early to avoid the traffic. My son would drive to games and use our season tickets.
 
305_separatist said:
The school needs to do a way better job of marketing, the now finally improving, on field product. All the community outreach, marketing, and other ideas listed in this thread should all be on the table within the program. The school needs a serious initiative on this, headed by a single capable person, who’s exclusive job it is is to try different things to improve attendance, and they should have carte blanche institutional support. Moping that the fans should just be better is incredibly disconnected from the reality of a small school that has sucked for 20 years in a major metro area.
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I don't think its marketing. Like me, for example, I grew up in the 80s and 90s and saw UM at its fullest potential. I was lucky to be in school from 2000-2002. The passion for the university is ingrained in me. But consider folks who were born in 2000. What would draw someone in the last 2 decades to feel the way I do? Nothing really. To some extent, Mario is building a program and a community from scratch. If we can consistently win, kids like mine (who is 9) will feel the same way that I did about Hurricane football the next 20 years. Some little ads here and there aren't going to drum up interest that this program hasn't been able to do on the field since the early 2000s.
 
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Pentagon Cane said:
May not have had a choice.
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Yes. This is a function of getting in bed with ESPN/ACCN, they really want to show more mid-week games.

When I posted attendance numbers for 2016-2018, I realized that ONLY the 2018 UNC game was on a Thursday night. So for 3 years, to the extent that we played on any day but Saturday, it may have occurred for AWAY games.

But for our purposes, over 3 years, we only had one Thursday night game in Hard Rock, and it was for a pretty good team (UNC).
 
NJshoreCane said:
I had a "discussion" on here with a UM student a few years back.
He was going on about there being other ways in so fla to maximize his "entertainment dollar" :mad:
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Most northeastern & latin American students don’t care about college sports diehard’s are the locals, and the ones that major in things like media and sports admin. Most law students too
 
SouthernM said:
I'm disappointed in the turn out also for very different reasons. I'm going to give a bit of backstory on my experience as a fan of the U and maybe this resonates for with some of the other fans here and why the school has pushed us away from giving not only our time but our money and support to attend these games.

We've been season ticket holders for over 50 years, my grandfather was one of the original Orange Bowl committee members and I remember growing up going to every game when I was as young as 3 years old. We had 8 tickets right on the 50 yard line in the old ****** orange bowl we all loved. When the Canes moved to the dolphins stadium we were told our seats of 40+ years were no longer available, no explanation. While upsetting we understood - new stadium, things happen. They told us they'd take care of us.

Our definitions of being taken care of must have been very different. Moved us to the 20 yard line and acted as if they did us a huge favor while increasing our ticket cost. Again, not the end of the world and at the end of it all we were here to support the team.

As the years have gone by the fan experience has steadily gotten worse. Spending $7K on tickets a year at the very least should guarantee halfway decent away game tickets. Instead, I get calls saying I need to donate another few hundred to even have the privilege to potentially get tickets (no guarantee on section). I'm sure others can chime in on their awful experiences getting away tickets. At this point it's becoming clear the school does not care about the fan experience. It's "how can I squeeze them for every dollar." As if we should be thanking the school for donating our time on the weekends and spending our thousands of dollars on a product the school clearly wasn't invested in for years.

Last year for the first time in over 50 years was the first time our family did not renew our season tickets. We received a call saying our parking passes we're no longer available but again don't worry they were able to get us 2 yellow lot passes instead, again no explanation. I'll watch the games from home where I don't have to drive an hour+ each way, drinks aren't $15+, ****** meal cost $20+, and where I can actually watch the replays. I'm not even sure what the 4 giant screens at the stadium are for at this point.

I'm disappointed that the school demands everything from their fans but treats us with the "what have you done for me lately" mentality. Fandom goes both ways. They want fans in the seats then treat us as if they actually want us to be there.
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That's some sad **** right there.

Just more confirmation that those at UM in a position to address these problems are some combination of lazy, clueless and anti-football.

There's literally no other explanation
 
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NJshoreCane said:
Earlier this week I talked to a client about this who's son goes to Miami.
There I was with my hoarse voice telling him how great the game was then asked him if his son had a good time.
His response...
"oh, most of the students go to tailgate, but don't actually go in to the game".
smmfh
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That is how it is at UCF, but more for stadium-capacity reasons.
 
canesstevealum08 said:
Most northeastern & latin American students don’t care about college sports diehard’s are the locals, and the ones that major in things like media and sports admin. Most law students too
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To be fair, a lot of med/law students went to a DIFFERENT undergrad school. Had a lot of friends in law school who, if they went to games, were rooting AGAINST Miami.

The reason it's relevant is because Miami has a relatively small undergraduate population (it was less than 9K full-time undergrads when I was a student), but a HUUUUUGE law school (it was the 7th largest law school in the country when I was at UM Law).

Things have changed a bit since. Undergrad population has grown a bit. And the law school size has gone down a bit, as more law schools have been established in Florida.
 
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