You dont say!!!!

To be fair, you’re talking two much different worlds. MAC football is almost by definition much smaller. The infrastructure and the $ the MAC schools allocate ito football is infinitely smaller, and that’s not a bad thing. The MAC in football has never ever been what I consider major league (i.e. schools with stadiums larger than the entire population of Athens County) and never will be. And that’s OK.

Edit: And I agree; the atmosphere, the tailgating, the games at P5 schools are a lot of fun!

Unless you use recorded fan noise, you're not going to get the same "feel" from a 25,000 seat stadium as you will from a 70K-100K seat stadium. But then recorded crowd noise would have the same feel as studio wrestling.

I don't think the administration wants the same tailgating atmosphere at Ohio as exists at bigger schools. They want a family atmosphere at Ohio rather than the all-night cocktail party you find at the bigger schools. That's a way to encourage future generations of Ohio fans rather than relying so much on big corporate sponsors and wealthy alumni to fill the seats in the future.

I went to the St. Eds vs Olentangy Liberty last evening.

Crappy old stadium, had to walk through mud to get from the parking lot. No video screens to hypnotize.

Guess what? I was entertained by the hitting the catching the blocking and the scoring all for $10 bucks.

Agree with you bshot again. The midweek games ruin the fan experience.

I get what you're saying but I hope you're not implying you can get this superior experience with around double the cost. Where your seats are in Peden vs WVU stadium, I'd wager is more than 2x the cost. The endzone area in Peden vs WVU where we hung out yesterday, I'd wager is more than 2x the cost. Probably way more on both. It's really not too expensive to get the best seats in Athens. And with the option of $150 family season tickets there are certain expectations that should probably come with it. It's not an apples to apples comparison IMO, other than maybe the record of the two teams this year.

Not saying the atmosphere shouldn't be better - it can and should be better.

But I shudder to think what it would cost in Columbus or WVU to get what I get in Athens. I'd guess it's more like 20X for what I get in @tOSU, and like I said I have no guess about WVU without research, but with a 9 figure athletics budget I'm sure they're not letting anyone play for free :)

Totally up to you on what you spend your $$ on though.

That game was a beat down, not sure how entertained anyone was. Game was never in doubt.

+1

In general I agree with this comment. I will only add that if the students would get more involved they could greatly improve the game-day atmosphere in the stadium itself. Staying for the whole game and cheering more loudly would make Peden A real rocking place that could be the envy of the rest the MAC. This kind of atmosphere would also, IMHO, really help improve recruiting. In this century, I think I’ve seem only maybe a total of five games with great student intensity from beginning to end. If this were a more regular thing I think it would feed on itself and we could develop a truly unique Athens product. It’s not the size of the stadium, or the age of same, it’s the intensity created by those IN the stadium. In this regard we are sometimes our own worst enemies.

That's my point exactly. I can think of 3 or 4 games in the past 28 seasons that would be classified as an electric, exciting atmosphere (Pitt, a few Marshall games). Our fans only stand up to cheer for anything when the 2nd quarter clock hits 0:00.

To Ben's point about cost, here is my math: I have 9 tickets this year (down from 14 for the past 10+ seasons). I have 5 in Sec 105 (40 yd line), 4 GA and the total is around $850. I donate another $2,000 to the OBC. My all-in cost is a little less than $3,000/year. For that, I receive my tickets, 1 Green Lot and 1 Blue Lot parking pass, and unlimited access to the Sook Center porch where I can buy $3.50 bottles of water.

To switch my football budget to WVU, I can get 4 tickets on the 30 yard line and a parking pass to the paved tailgate lot 100 yards from the stadium for $3,150. Those tickets get me 6 games next season on Saturdays and include Texas, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Texas Tech and two non-conference games. If I do not use them, they have incredible resale value or I can give them to clients. I have not used more than 5 of my 9 tickets for any game in Peden in the past 3 seasons. My extras are always offered for free and I can't give them away.

I understand the budget differences, but I am comparing the value as a consumer. I am tired of low budget football. I am driving to a football stadium on a Wednesday night and watching a boring product with no engaged fans. We have no traditions, very little passion, and no true success (8-4 and T-2nd in MAC East doesn't count as success). At least Ohio basketball has given us some of those things in the past.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

See ya.