They should be playing their games on Campus in Amherst, not in Foxboro. Amherst is in the Berkshire mountains, and would be a great fall destination. Foxboro, is probably and hour and half away from campus at least.
I agree completely about playing in Amherst. There is no charm to playing in front of 12,000 in an NFL stadium, as was the case both at the Link as well as at the Razor this fall, aside from the obvious creature comforts of an NFL stadium. And playing in an NFL venue certainly boosts the program's ability to recruit, and UMASS is playing in the Razor for essentially nothing thanks to the kindness of Robert Kraft an his desire to boost foot traffic at his adjacent mall.
We had 250 OHIOans at the Bobcat Bash last season, and I venture to guess that we would not have drawn quite as well were we playing in a 17,000 seat venue two hours outside of Boston. But living in Boston, I would much prefer the experience of attending a game ON CAMPUS, and in a town that mirrors Athens in many ways. We had a very high number of out of market attendees for that game, and would venture to guess proximity to Boston/playing at the Razor had a lot to do with that. In theory, the move to play at Gillette seemed genius, as I believe that an insanely high number of UMASS living alumni live within an hour of Boston. (something like 80%) And few of those people went to Amherst to support football.
UMASS will garner more support for the move to FBS from Faculty and Staff, not to mention students, if games were on campus instead of two hours from campus, where the game day experience is readily accessible to those above, and the long time local supporters. UMASS did a great job of busing students to the games, but the only significant support they received for the trips was their game against Indiana. And on a sympathetic note, many of the UMASS chronics have lamented on their message board that at on campus games, students would show up to pre-game tailgate, but often would not even enter the game to watch the first half! (we thought we had it bad with students leaving after half time)
Many of their posters are very Temple-esque, lamenting for the next move up before they have beaten a winning team in the MAC, and with their rationale really being tied to wanting to be in a stronger hoops conference regardless of whether or not their football team has accomplished anything.
Ultimately, I think UMASS needs to do a better job of marketing the success of the MAC and the challenge of winning in the MAC to their fan base in order to garner more support from their alumni. Until they do that, I think attendance will struggle regardless of where the games are played.
Last Edited: 1/16/2013 4:20:33 PM by D.A.