Perhaps Wheeling Island Stadium - then nobodies feelings get hurt - LOL




(The OHSAA did actually make Dover play in a playoff game at that out of state stadium once, go figure)

Saturday Attendance:
Div. IV: 6,659
Div. VI: 5,850
Div. I: not on box score yet

Seeing how Columbus is the worst of the big three metro areas at supporting high school sports, including football, in the state I doubt attendance would improve much.

Having it live on TV is going to keep a lot of people away. Also the economy is bad and the weather is pretty cold.

GoChiefs wrote: Why Cleveland? It's 40 minutes north of Canton/Massillon. That would be stupid IMO.

Try 60 minutes.

zhon44622 wrote: Perhaps Wheeling Island Stadium - then nobodies feelings get hurt - LOL




(The OHSAA did actually make Dover play in a playoff game at that out of state stadium once, go figure)

I remember that. I also remember that the governor had a shit fit over the fact that Ohio dollars were going to West Virginia.

FairwoodKing wrote: I remember that. I also remember that the governor had a shit fit over the fact that Ohio dollars were going to West Virginia.

Ohio money can only go to WV for gambling purposes, because it is evil and results in drugs and hookers... just ask pretty much every Governor this state has ever had :dodgy:

Still no attendance announced for D1... hmmm...

Want your attendence numbers to go up????? Lower the cost of a ticket.

Go_Fast_Sports wrote: Try 60 minutes.

Not from my house. Of course..I live right beside the highway in Massillon..and I got a little lead foot..so maybe that's why. LOL

bman618 wrote: Seeing how Columbus is the worst of the big three metro areas at supporting high school sports, including football, in the state I doubt attendance would improve much.

Having it live on TV is going to keep a lot of people away. Also the economy is bad and the weather is pretty cold.

True, but you would get more people from Western and Southwestern Ohio to attend the game. I have a feeling more would come to see if they only had to drive less than two hours instead of four.

In addition, a good portion of Columbus are transplants from other parts of Ohio. There are a lot of people from the Ohio Valley, SW Ohio, NW Ohio, etc living here. I am sure they would come.

Finally, given the attendance numbers this year, could they have been any worse?

I'm not going to base anything on the attendance numbers this year. Attendance is down in EVERYTHING..not just the High School State Championships. The economy is bad..many people aren't going to pony up that amount of money to watch a team that isn't even theirs. Especially when they can just sit at home and watch them on live TV. IMO..it doesn't matter where they were held at this year..the attendance would have been down.

If the games were moved back to Thanskgiving weekend, the attendance would improve from 3,000 more per game to doubling - period!

I think they should do that!

It's not about location...

Hobgoblin wrote: If the games were moved back to Thanskgiving weekend, the attendance would improve from 3,000 more per game to doubling - period!

I think they should do that!

It's not about location...

So do you advocate starting two a days in July?

D1 was just shy of 10,000 according the box score I saw in the paper today.

Glenville's home side look darn near full.

GoChiefs wrote: I'm not going to base anything on the attendance numbers this year. Attendance is down in EVERYTHING..not just the High School State Championships. The economy is bad..many people aren't going to pony up that amount of money to watch a team that isn't even theirs. Especially when they can just sit at home and watch them on live TV. IMO..it doesn't matter where they were held at this year..the attendance would have been down.

Found this article earlier about how the PIAA just got destroyed on ticket revenue last fiscal year because of the economy.

http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2009/10/piaa_missed_its_mark_on_ticket.html

Columbus is the worst at supporting their high schools?

You obviously didn't pay attention to the amount of Hilliard people there last night; I can attest, I was there in person.

the D2 game was a little sparse, and let's be honest, it was 2 city league teams for the most part, and the D3 game was on a Friday morning when many people are still working. But I thought the other 4 games were well attended; It doesn't matter how many people there all the time that determine how you remember it; all of the crowds were loud and into the game for pretty much all of it and created an exciting experience for a first timer seeing the title games in person.

darbypitcher22 wrote: Columbus is the worst at supporting their high schools?

You have a few exceptions..but for the most part..I'd say that's a pretty accurate statement. That's solely based on my experiences though.

If you're talking about the City League then yeah, i'd say tahts a pretty accurate statement. But for most of the OCC and Mid State and CCL schools, they have really strong followings that show up anywhere to watch their teams.

City league was really the only ones I had a chance to see this year. So that's pretty much what I was basing it upon.

Sonofanump wrote:

Hobgoblin wrote: If the games were moved back to Thanskgiving weekend, the attendance would improve from 3,000 more per game to doubling - period!

I think they should do that!

It's not about location...

So do you advocate starting two a days in July?

Just get rid of the first round of the playoffs - 4 teams start.

i was at the D-6 game..if they say just 5,000+ was at that game, then there were alot of free passes sitting in the stands because it was more then half filled..and isnt that 18,000 or better stadium ?!?!?! those numbers are not correct

I think the games need to be moved to Saturday and Sunday. The games on Friday are doomed for the most part. How many people can and will take off work to watch the 11am and 3pm games on Friday? The only reason I would do it is if my kid was playing in the game. It really makes it hard for the casual fan to catch the action.

Look, Massillon seats 16,600 according to their info with just the three stands. People were greatly spread out. I was in Section 5 about halfway up and had open seats all around me. The DSJ side was crowded, but nowhere close to 100% full in any section. The endzone was extremely sparse.

Honestly, the DSJ-NSP game had just slightly more people than the D2 game, which was the least attended games of the weekend in my view. I know a lot of people at Ursuline/Coldwater were trying to pawn their tickets off for the MH-CWW game because it wasn't an attractive matchup.

Attendance is down in every sport. Throw in being able to watch at home from free instead of devoting your day to one or more games and it's easy to see.

I'd love to know how much revenue OHSAA gets from the live TV broadcasts and what the revenue projections would be if they were tape-delayed instead. And what type of additional ticket revenue could be expected if they were tape-delayed and if those two sums equaled the additional revenue from the live broadcasts.

Sykotyk

zhon44622 wrote:

Sonofanump wrote:

Hobgoblin wrote: If the games were moved back to Thanskgiving weekend, the attendance would improve from 3,000 more per game to doubling - period!

I think they should do that!

It's not about location...

So do you advocate starting two a days in July?

Just get rid of the first round of the playoffs - 4 teams start.

Not gonna happen.

Sykotyk,

I think I was in Section 3 and there seemed to be some empty seats the higher up you went. When the schools sold their blocks they were all lower which made things seem fuller.

You won't see a return to a 4 team playoff either.

Been going to finals for about 20 years, hate Thanksgiving week end games. Stark county is a great place for these games but I wish they were 10, 3, & 8 start times give more time to grab a meal and warm back up...........
We noticed this week end that alot of people we've met through the years were not there this week end... Economy has to be the reason