OT: UMass may be rethinking jump

[cuseguy]

http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/...nce-problem/g7gKSRY6HhclPTsOgc9tpM/story.html

 

[Chip]

Let's see..

Budget Deficit? Check
Near a big city? Check
Team color is red? Check

They passed the Big 10 expansion test. They should be invited by the weekend.

 

[KaiserUEO]

rethinking the jump??

jiminy crickets, gillette is 100miles from amherst.

thats not a jump, thats a plane ride.

what the F were they thinking??

build it up at home, then move games to gillette. not the other way around.

:bat:

 

[Orangello]

rethinking the jump??

jiminy crickets, gillette is 100miles from amherst.

thats not a jump, thats a plane ride.

what the F were they thinking??

build it up at home, then move games to gillette. not the other way around.

:bat:

Sounds like they had to move their home games since FBS DI requires average attendance of at least 15K over a rolling two year cycle and their home stadium only hold 13K peeps. Wouldn't it have been easier/cheaper just to add 4-5K seats to the existing on campus stadium ?

 

[Scooch]

I was stunned that they approved the move to 1-A to begin with. So this is absolutely no surprise.

No one in Mass gives a rip about UMass football, nor is there a shred of alumni pride that's going to get as little as 25K people to show up to see them play MAC schools in Foxboro.

UMass is not like UConn in any way, shape, or form... but the administration there sold it as if they were.

What a disaster.

 

[MaxwellCuse]

Sounds like they had to move their home games since FBS DI requires average attendance of at least 15K over a rolling two year cycle and their home stadium only hold 13K peeps. Wouldn't it have been easier/cheaper just to add 4-5K seats to the existing on campus stadium ?

McGuirk Stadium is bigger than 13K. I think it holds at least 17,000. I am pretty certain the AD expected some bigger crowds this year than McGuirk could hold, hence the move to Gillette (the decision to move was made easier by the offer from the Pats not to charge a rental fee). McGuirk is a pretty basic stadium, however, far inferior to Fisher Field at Lafayette College, for example. If UMASS wants to play FBS football long-term I think they need to get back to campus, at least for most of their games, and that won't be feasable unless they are willing to invest in their on-campus stadium (which does have 1 plus -- a nice set-up for tailgating).

 

[JeremyCuse]

I was stunned that they approved the move to 1-A to begin with. So this is absolutely no surprise.

No one in Mass gives a rip about UMass football, nor is there a shred of alumni pride that's going to get as little as 25K people to show up to see them play MAC schools in Foxboro.

UMass is not like UConn in any way, shape, or form... but the administration there sold it as if they were.

What a disaster.

Of all the time that school has had to make a jump I am not sure they could have picked a worst time. This is beyond a disaster, its a nightmare for anyone associated with that school.

 

[Orangello]

Sounds like there are plans to upgrade the on campus stadium in time for the 2014 season. Not sure where this stands.

http://www.masslive.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/04/umass_football_could_play_on_c.html

 

[Scooch]

McGuirk Stadium is bigger than 13K. I think it holds at least 17,000. I am pretty certain the AD expected some bigger crowds this year than McGuirk could hold, hence the move to Gillette (the decision to move was made easier by the offer from the Pats not to charge a rental fee). McGuirk is a pretty basic stadium, however, far inferior to Fisher Field at Lafayette College, for example. If UMASS wants to play FBS football long-term I think they need to get back to campus, at least for most of their games, and that won't be feasable unless they are willing to invest in their on-campus stadium (which does have 1 plus -- a nice set-up for tailgating).

The problem with playing in Amherst is that its Amherst.

I grew up in eastern Mass and there was a saying that Bostonians believed that if they traveled past Route 128 they'd fall off the edge of the world. That now extends out a few more miles to I-495, but no one is driving 2 hours to see UMass play Bowling Green in Amherst. Hell, the split-second the UMass hoops team fell out of the top 10 years ago their on campus arena became half empty.

UMass needs to immediately become a top 15 FBS team that is in the Big Ten and plays Ohio State at home every weekend for it to be remotely successful. And that's barely hyperbole.

 

[MaxwellCuse]

The problem with playing in Amherst is that its Amherst.

I grew up in eastern Mass and there was a saying that Bostonians believed that if they traveled past Route 128 they'd fall off the edge of the world. That now extends out a few more miles to I-495, but no one is driving 2 hours to see UMass play Bowling Green in Amherst. Hell, the split-second the UMass hoops team fell out of the top 10 years ago their on campus arena became half empty.

UMass needs to immediately become a top 15 FBS team that is in the Big Ten and plays Ohio State at home every weekend for it to be remotely successful. And that's barely hyperbole.

Yeah, I'm familiar with that saying. My father-in-law moved from Boston to Los Angeles and travelled the world for Carrier Corporation but his brother, sisters, nieces and nephews never moved more than a few miles from the town they were born in. I think UMASS can theoretically pull a decent crowd at McGuirk from the Springfield and Worcester areas, but getting Bostonians out to Amherst may be a fool's errand. Of course, by theoretically I mean if UMASS had a high national ranking and a high quality matchup with, say, Michigan on a balmy, blue-sky fall afternoon. In other words, nah...ain't gonna happen.