Michigan and Potential NCAA Attendance records
Was curious about NCAA attendance records for all sports so I did a little digging and found this from the NCAA official website-
| Sport | Teams | Date | Attendance | Venue | Location |
| Football | Michigan vs Notre Dame | 9/10/2011 | 114,804 | Michigan Stadium | Ann Arbor, MI |
| (M) Basketball | Kentucky vs Michigan State | 12/13/2003 | 78,129 | Ford Field | Detroit, MI |
| (W) Basketball | UConn vs Oklahoma | 3/29/2002 | 29,619 | Alamodome | San Antonio, TX |
| Hockey | Michigan vs Michigan State | 12/11/2010 | 113,411 | Michigan Stadium | Ann Arbor, MI |
| Baseball | San Diego State vs Houston | 3/11/2004 | 40,106 | PETCO Park | San Diego, CA |
| Softball | Fresno State vs Arizona | 3/14/2000 | 5,724 | Bulldog Diamond | Fresno, CA |
| (M) Lacrosse | Syracuse vs Johns Hopkins | 5/26/2008 | 48,970 | Gillette Stadium | Foxborough, MA |
| (W) Lacrosse | Maryland vs Northwestern | 5/30/2010 | 9,782 | Unitas Stadium | Towson, MD |
| (M) Soccer | St. Louis vs SIU-Edwardsville | 10/30/1980 | 22,512(!) | Busch Stadium | St. Louis, MO |
| (W) Soccer | North Carolina vs Notre Dame | 12/5/1999 | 14,410(!?) | Spartan Stadium | San Jose, CA |
| Field Hockey | Maryland vs North Carolina | 11/21/2010 | 2,381 | Byrd Stadium | College Park, MD |
| (W) Volleyball | Stanford vs Texas | 12/18/2008 | 17,430(!?) | CenturyLink Cen. | Omaha, NE |
Underline indicates game at pro/neutral site venue off campus
Italics indicate game was an NCAA Tournament event
Michigan owns two NCAA attendance records that most likely will never be touched by anyone other than Michigan in Football and Hockey. I would like to see more and I believe that they can get more. They can smash some of these records in fact.-
Men's and Women's Basketball- Option 1: Host an outdoor doubleheader of Michigan Basketball at Michigan Stadium. Has to be against a big time opponent or rival like ohio or state. Must have a doubleheader to break the women's record.
Option 2: Have an indoor showdown with both Men's and Women's teams of Michigan and state at Ford Field. Will most likely shatter the records and is a safer bet in terms of weather.
Baseball & Softball- There isn't any way ol' Fish is gonna even sniff that record. Can't have it at The Big House, no way in hell. Huge risks of a home run smashing the luxury box windows. Have a doubleheader of Baseball and Softball at Comerica Park. Softball is a huge stretch and most likely wouldn't happen since the dimensions of fields are way different. Have the game feature the heated Michigan vs state baseball rivalry. state's program is at a high it hasn't seen in years and Coach Bakich will have this Michigan program up and running pretty soon and back to splittin' heads.
Men's and Women's Lacrosse- Four things must happen for these records to even come close to being broken. 1) The weather has to cooperate 2) Michigan must sell tickets to keep count of the attendance. 3) MUST MUST MUST be held after or before the Football Spring Game or there is no chance of this. 4) Big-name schools and rivals must be the opponents. Men's team should play either their Creators Trophy rivals in ohio or penn state. And of course the traditional rival of notre dame who is a powerhouse nationally. The Women's program isn't officially starting varsity competition until the 2013-14 athletic season so it will take awhile for them to get the program off the ground. They are having success as of late at the club level. I would say bring in national powerhouse and dynasty that is well-documented, northwestern.
Men's and Women's Soccer- This one is a no-brainer where to have it (Michigan Stadium). But this one could really tough to break since Soccer is near the bottom of the totem poll here in the US. However, Michigan Soccer has their own student section and is really getting support. The Men's program had a magical run in 2010 to the College Cup but took a step back last year while the Women's program is looking to have a historic season this year with players returning who are currently in the U-20 World Cup in Japan. I would say these games would have to be doubleheader, held before a 3:30 football game. Maybe even have a triple header against state. Men's soccer plays them for the Big Bear Trophy, Women's team just mops the floor with them every year and then at 3:30 you would have the Football game.
Field Hockey- This one is more difficult for me to think about because I'm all that sure about the field requirements for Field Hockey. If it has to be astroturf-like which they have a Ocker Field, than I have no clue what they could do. IF that isn't an issue, probably have it at The Big House and invite every former player and their family and they can and have it against rival ohio. While I'm not sure the requirements, I know that this record is beatable because of the large support this program has in the city, with former players and alumni.
Women's Volleyball- This one, IMO could be the most difficult of all. Crisler isn't big enough at 12,721. I would say make the proposed Basketball games at Ford Field I mentioned above a triple header with state and have a Volleyball game before it.
August 23rd, 2012 at 12:41 PM ^
jesus man, at first glance of your thread title it appears like you were writing about potential NCAA violations.
I'm way too scared of the NCAA when seeing "potential" and "NCAA" in the same sentence automatically make me think of violations and punishments
August 23rd, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^
August 23rd, 2012 at 12:47 PM ^
Ok so I wasnt the only one who scanned the title and thought the same thing.......
I agree. The words "potential" and "NCAA" somewhere in the same sentence are sort of like seeing "desease" and "malignant" coupled together. They have such negative undertones your eyes dont really register anything else!
August 23rd, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^
for most visits to MGOBLOG in a 24 hour period?
August 23rd, 2012 at 12:57 PM ^
I have at times clicked to MgoBlog and then closed the window, and seconds later clicked back to it, having forgotten that I had already checked it. I imagine I am not the only one that has done this.
August 23rd, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^
My F5 key now says I
It's pretty bad, especally when I am buckled up...
August 23rd, 2012 at 12:52 PM ^
Michigan owns two NCAA attendance records that most likely will never be touched by anyone other than Michigan in Football and Hockey.
I'm not sure this is such a sure thing. Texas A&M has been considering expansion of Kyle Field for almost 10 years. If they did, the new seating capacity of 115k would exceed the current single-game attendance record. Obviously, the expansion may never happen and they'd still need to fill the seats in football-mad Texas. But other schools are in much closer striking distance of the record than Texas A&M. With a well-timed expansion, it could happen.
One school I won't worry about for a while is...oh, wait, I've hear Bolivia isn't that nice. Nevermind.
August 23rd, 2012 at 1:06 PM ^
Know people who work at Michigan Stadium. In their annual staff meeting with DB last year, he said plans are being drawn up to expand the stadium to 120,001 which would include an upper deck in the South endzone.
I believe it since the same friend of mine told me about the luxury boxes coming years before it was announced.
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:12 PM ^
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:23 PM ^
August 23rd, 2012 at 1:23 PM ^
August 23rd, 2012 at 2:59 PM ^
A&M is very "holier than thou" in everything they do. From the way they ran off to the SEC at the drop of a hat to their relentless efforts to bulk up Kyle Field, they're kind of like the fat girl that thinks they're god's gift to humanity because they have hot friends.
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:51 PM ^
In 20 years of living in Texas, this will be the first time I ever stick up for A&M, HOWEVA, A&M did not just run to the SEC at the drop of a hat. 20 some years ago U of Texas killed the SWC by being too greedy and not playing nice with their friends. When the Big 12 got started, U of Texas started off playing nice because they were just coming out of a decade of suck. Since Mack Brown has been there the arrogance has returned as well as the not playing nice with others. Don't forget, Nebraska and Colorado had already left the conference the year before. A&M did the right thing. Just like Nebraska, Colorado, and Missouri, they went to a conference which shares profit and treats it's members equally...no matter how crappy of a team they have.
August 23rd, 2012 at 2:18 PM ^
I think Memorial Stadium in Texas will eventually become the biggest stadium in college football. The capacity is already at 100k with one endzone basically open. They definitely have the following and resources to do it.
August 23rd, 2012 at 2:42 PM ^
I don't know about that. Michigan closing in the South endzone is going to make Michigan Stadium the 2nd largest in the world.
August 23rd, 2012 at 2:47 PM ^
I don't know about that either. They have a building and godzillatron right behind that endzone, but that might not matter.
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:03 PM ^
Yeah, I'm not sure what that building is used for. They stil might be able to add 20k by filling in the corners. I'm not sure UM can keep expanding out and up. I think it would it have to be a second deck that overhangs. But what do you do with scoreboards?
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:15 PM ^
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:24 PM ^
Wait, another way to blame Dave Brandon? Rabble, rabble, rabble!!!!
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:27 PM ^
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:25 PM ^
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:28 PM ^
August 23rd, 2012 at 4:06 PM ^
In response to Schembo - The Joe Jamail center (the building behind Godzillatron) is where the locker rooms are located. It is also a small practice facility to go with their full practice facility. On game days it is also where Longhorn club members go to eat food, watch other games on TV, watch the UT cheerleaders and generally get out of the Texas sun.
Regarding filling out that end of the stadium. Those plans are very real. I can't remember the exact number it would bring the final capacity too but it was something between 115,000 - 125,000. They are already at 100,119. There is plenty of real-estate to fill in the corners three tiers high on either side as seen from this picture:
August 23rd, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^
Where is the no-brainer location for Men's and Women's soccer?
August 23rd, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^
I'm assuming he means the Big House, but that's scraping the minimum dimensions for an NCAA soccer field, which is 65 yards. The stadium floor can't be much wider than that, given that the field is 53 yards wide. Even if the stadium floor is wide enough, there would be almost no room between the touchlines and the brick wall, which would create a dangerous situation for tackles near the boundary, almost no room for corners, and the assistant referrees need about 2 yards of space anyway, so the actual field size would have to be smaller than regulation . Michigan could probably get a waver, but it seems like a lot just to get a gimmicky attendance record when the ADs invested in a nice facility for the soccer teams.
August 23rd, 2012 at 2:50 PM ^
This was also a point of discussion when people were theorizing over the possibility of Michigan Stadium hosting a World Cup game or international friendly. I believe the concensus was that it wouldn't be possible without moving the walls or raising the field. Neither option seems particularly viable.
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:34 PM ^
IIRC, the concept (I don't think this proceded far enough to be labeled a "proposal") was to place the field on a platform erected atop the lower 10 rows or so of seats, thus allowing the proper width. There were other problems, though, that would have prevented Michigan Stadium's use for World Cup games, mainly FIFA's insistence on "all seater" stadiums, rather then benches, because of security concerns arising from the terrace problems in European soccer in the '80s.
Michigan Stadium was on the prospective World Cup list as a way to show FIFA "we've got a lot of big stadiums." Which was, of course, the wrong strategy. What the US world cup committee should have been doing is bribing everyone in sight.
August 23rd, 2012 at 7:56 PM ^
The "all-seater" requirement is fulfilled at Michigan Stadium and everywhere else in the United States. The terrace problems dealt with terraces that had no seats at all, just space to stand--Michigan does not have that issue. Note that the Rose Bowl hosted the final, and many of its seats are bleachers--bleachers are seats by the FIFA definition.
The strategy the US used was fine, they got the World Cup in '94 when Michigan Stadium was under discussion. The games wound up at the Silverdome. Michigan Stadium was not considered in the recent World Cup bid and did not need to be; just in the NFL, more than half of the teams have upgraded to new, Soccer-compatible stadiums since 1994. There are more usable stadiums in the US than you can shake a stick at--with a minimum capacity of 40,000, you could play World Cup soccer games at 30-40 stadiums in the US RIGHT NOW without any modification. And Michigan is not one of those.
August 23rd, 2012 at 7:58 PM ^
Correction: Many of those stadiums have field-turf and would need grass installed, so my statement is inaccurate.
August 23rd, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
Ed; Fixed it
Michigan Stadium
August 23rd, 2012 at 1:36 PM ^
I wonder if they have an attendance record for a track and field meet. Its much tougher since most meets are invitationals, but you have to figure places like Oregon have huge crowds at some of them.
August 23rd, 2012 at 1:41 PM ^
Kind of strange the NCAA doesn't keep records for that. Same with Wrestling. They packed 115,000 people in the 1999 Final to watch Brock Lesnar from minnesota wrestle a guy from iowa for the heavyweight title. Brock Lesnar could probably kill people with a shot to the head if he wanted to. Google him if you don't know.
August 23rd, 2012 at 4:20 PM ^
Not kidding about Brock Lesner as a traditional wrestler (not the WWE stuff) in college. Here's a link to one of his matches. Before you think the guy he is wrestling sucks, here's his bio:
"While competing at Iowa (1997-2000), Hand posted a 102-32 career mark at heavyweight. He placed second at the 2000 NCAA and Big Ten Championships. He also placed eighth at the 1998 NCAA meet."
He just handles this guy.
August 23rd, 2012 at 3:24 PM ^
blessed to grow up in Ann Arbor with such a storied and legendary team and stadium less than a mile from my house. Most wins, and most attendance. It doesn't get any better