Spring Game Attendance totals
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April 20th, 2015 at 10:42 AM ^
April 20th, 2015 at 11:59 AM ^
April 20th, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^
I don't think that was a factor. All they did was add some rows (and the infamous "halo") and new scoreboards. Obviously, none of that was going on during the game.
The spring game was just never a big deal under Carr.
It was also nice in those days to go on the field afterwards to get the players autographs. But they stopped allowing that around 2004ish. And then they started not keeping score...by then, I was too bored with the spring game to keep going to it during the Carr years.
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Oh yes - going on the field at the end of the spring game was very cool. I wish they'd still allow that.
April 20th, 2015 at 10:58 AM ^
We're talking more people than Cleveland and Cincinatti combined. So they already have a built-in advantage of almost 800,000 people within the city limits. Makes it a bit easier to pack the stadium.
It's the largest city proper, but the Cleveland and Cincy metro areas are larger.
You have to keep in mind that the dynamics in Ohio are very different. There is one major college football program without other major sports (successful ones) in central Ohio. Tickets to regular season games are impossible to get except by secondary market, and are very expensive at that point. Every game is this way, even against the soup cans they schedule every year. I talk to a lot of folks who take their kids to this game because they can't afford to take them to a regular season game. This will be even more exaggerated after a national championship (an undisputed one). No question, the number is impressive, but there are good reasons for it.
That was supposed to be a sarcastic "undisputed one". I think it's amazing that adding 2 teams to the playoffs make a championship undisputed, especially when the 4 seed wins it. So, relax. We good.
April 20th, 2015 at 10:00 AM ^
April 20th, 2015 at 10:29 AM ^
April 20th, 2015 at 10:40 AM ^
I've suggested to a few buckeye friends, that, if the two Big 12 teams had been Oklahoma and Texas instead of Baylor and TCU, I doubt OSU would have jumped both to get in. There was no question that Alabama v. OSU, Saban v. Meyer, was a better storyline and more attractive to sponsors than Alabama v. Bayor or TCU. Unfortunately, it will always be this way. Fortunately, Michigan is a big brand too, and Harbaugh's a big figure in coaching.
April 20th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^
I think if you replace OSU with Michigan, Nebraksa and maybe PSU the same thing happens. But I do think we or any other B1G team would have been headed somewhere else on January 1st if it was UT and OU. Plus I think if it was them, the Big XII would have stuck to their guns about who their champ was.
Other than a hockey team, there is nothing else in the Columbus area except OSU. Ann Arbor's proximity to Detroit, IMO, with professional franchises in every major sport tends to dilute the fan market, to say nothing about MSU, which has a substantial fan base not far down the road.
Having a spring game in early April is a huge problem with A2 weather being generally less than conducive to sitting around watching a controlled scrimmage.
I'd say it has more to do with being in a metropolitan area of around 2 million people + 75 degree weather than anything else.
April 20th, 2015 at 11:00 AM ^
has a lot more people than that. More than double IIRC.
There's just nothing else to do in Columbus. I mean, you can only fuck your cousin so many times in a day.
reading someone defend the godforsaken hellhole known as Columbus, on a Michigan sports blog of all places?
WTF is wrong with you?
And since you mentioned Nebrasksa, if the same % of Michigan's population attended Michigan games as the % of Nebraska's population attends Nebraska games, Michigan Stadium would need to seat over 435,000 people.
Also, lighten up Francis.
April 20th, 2015 at 12:17 PM ^
College football is the greatest sport of all ... and these figures show that fan enthusiasm knows no season. I can't wait for the fall!
April 20th, 2015 at 10:49 AM ^
There are also 22 McDonalds in greater Columbus.
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April 20th, 2015 at 10:18 AM ^
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April 20th, 2015 at 10:32 AM ^
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Lowest during the Saban era. And, like you guys, I believe admission is free. I guess there was a threat of rain.
We were fortunate we had wonderful weather this year.
Who the fuck cares? Jesus, man. It's a spring game. Don't know if you live in Michigan, but April weather is unpredictable. We had a snow flurry last MAY.
April 20th, 2015 at 10:55 AM ^
"Who cares?" about a Michigan sporting event. . . At any rate, spring games are used as big recruiting days now, which make them important for sure.
April 20th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
April 20th, 2015 at 11:11 AM ^
that if Michigan and OSU swapped turnouts that you still wouldn't care.
April 20th, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^
It helps recruiting to have a ton of people in the stands. If PSU, Ohio, and Nebraska are all getting over 60k a year we need to have similar numbers.
Who the fuck cares? Jesus, man. It's a spring game.
April 20th, 2015 at 10:02 AM ^
If we beat OSU on the field, we could have 3 people show up to the spring game for all I care. OSU also had a lot of people show up to the spring game because
a) They just won a title 3 months ago
b) Its Ohio, the state has nothing else to cling on to in the way of sports. Every other team sucks, or completely wets the bed when it makes the playoffs.
April 20th, 2015 at 10:39 AM ^
April 20th, 2015 at 11:08 AM ^
FUCK OHIO STATE
not go, so this is not "calling out" anybody, but I truly thought we would have more than we did. It would seem that the extreme excitement over Harbaugh and the fact that it was an actual game would have gotten a few more people there. This is obviously still an impressive number but not on par with what I expected when we first got Harbaugh.
I think Bama basically sold out their spring game when they brought in Saban and they were coming off the same kind of "relevancy drought" that we are right now.
April 20th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^
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April 20th, 2015 at 10:06 AM ^
April 20th, 2015 at 10:10 AM ^
fans at work told me that their bigger crowds for the spring game meant their fans were more passionate! I just told them there is nothing else to do in Lincoln!
April 20th, 2015 at 10:11 AM ^