According to twitterland...12,000 paid attendance for Pitt / UCONN-

[690West]

Weeknight FB games suck. FB is not like MLB, NHL, BBall where you show up watch a game and leave. There is a lot more to the FB experience, like tailgating. Expecting 50k to show up for a Wed FB game and comparing it to 15k for the NHL/BBall, or 30k for MLB is silly.

You're right. Comparing NHL/MLB/Bball games that take place 20-40 times per year on weeknights is silly. But we're not doing that are we? There is usually 1 game per year, 2 tops, for a team that will be on a weeknight. So, the weeknight excuse is indeed a joke.

 

[DCCuse]

I am already setting up plans for about 12 of us to head down to the Dec 3rd season finale against Pitt. Probably headed down Friday morning and spending the weekend. Alot of the guys that are going with me say that Pitt is a fun city to party in. I've never been, so I'm looking forward to it.

Anybody else going?

I'm 50/50 right now. My brother lives in Pittsburgh and haven't been there in a few yrs.

 

[Scooch]

I tell ya, for as much as some of us have complained about attendance in the Dome over the years, our place has never, ever looked THAT bad.

Granted, Wednesday night football for a 3-4 team against a lousy opponent in pro town is a recipe for bad attendance. But there are MAC and Sun Belt schools that would have turned out more fans than that.

 

[OttoMets]

I tell ya, for as much as some of us have complained about attendance in the Dome over the years, our place has never, ever looked THAT bad.

For sure. But I bet it would approach that level if we ever moved to an off-campus, open-air stadium.

Thanks heavens for the Dome. Even the URI game had a better atmosphere than last night's game.

 

[Cuseman78]

Weeknight FB games suck. FB is not like MLB, NHL, BBall where you show up watch a game and leave. There is a lot more to the FB experience, like tailgating. Expecting 50k to show up for a Wed FB game and comparing it to 15k for the NHL/BBall, or 30k for MLB is silly.

Those are all excuses. Would a Wednesday night game matter in State College or Eugene or even Manhattan, KS? There is no excuse to have 15k people in the building for a conference match-up with good weather.

 

[Orangello]

Pitt should have replaced their old concrete bowl with a new 45,000 seat on-campus stadium. The old stadium was a dump, but the atmosphere on game day back in the 70s and 80s was what college football is all about. When the countriy's economic situation finally rights itself Pitt needs to think about going hat in hand to Harrisburg to beg for suuport for a new stadium. It would help their cause, however, if they could put more than 20,000 actual fannies in the seats at Heinz in the meantime.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

They decided to use the land for their athletic facility and BB court but could just have easily built a smaller state of the art on campus FB field. Bad decision in hind sight because they are largely landlocked and don't have the on campus space now to do that. Their attendance in the 70's and 80's was always pretty good. Playing at Heinz is like Temple playing at the Vet/New Eagles stadium.

 

[kingottoiii]

Those are all excuses. Would a Wednesday night game matter in State College or Eugene or even Manhattan, KS? There is no excuse to have 15k people in the building for a conference match-up with good weather.

I bet you PSU would have a lot of no shows. Lucky for them they play in a conference that cares about the game and their fans. They don't give a rats ass about ESPN making more money by playing weekdays. Hell they don't even like Sat night games in the B1G.

There is absolutely nothing to gain from a weeknight game for the schools, only for ESPN.

 

[OrangePA]

I am already setting up plans for about 12 of us to head down to the Dec 3rd season finale against Pitt. Probably headed down Friday morning and spending the weekend. Alot of the guys that are going with me say that Pitt is a fun city to party in. I've never been, so I'm looking forward to it.

Anybody else going?

Yes, I'll be there.

 

[im4cuse]

Pitt should have replaced their old concrete bowl with a new 45,000 seat on-campus stadium. The old stadium was a dump, but the atmosphere on game day back in the 70s and 80s was what college football is all about. When the countriy's economic situation finally rights itself Pitt needs to think about going hat in hand to Harrisburg to beg for suuport for a new stadium. It would help their cause, however, if they could put more than 20,000 actual fannies in the seats at Heinz in the meantime.

Well, they replaced it with a spectacular basketball facility. Trade off: they HAD to do something about not playing in Fitzgerald (which is still there) and figured it would help recruiting by playing on the Steelers field. Agree on the game day atmosphere then and now though, as we were at the game 2 years ago. It bites, even on a beautiful day. Graham will be a force to reckon with, once he gets his type of player.

 

[Pyle]

. Graham will be a force to reckon with, once he gets his type of player.

I remember many similar statements about Grob.