2020 Schedule

[gofurman]

Based on the data above it seems games with SC State would give a bump to attendance and be a good in-state game too... SC State averages 8K attendance in a bad year.. 9K last year - the key there is so does Mercer but I bet SC State would travel a lot better than Mercer as they are closer and have fans that already live here

GF-With all due respect I think you are dreaming of the SCS of 20 years ago. Like most teams their attendance is way down. They no longer travel well and struggle at home with attendance as most do these days. 5 years ago we played them in Orangeburg and attendance was barely 9,600. SCS would not help attendance wise and really who would?

AP =- I am using the data above in the chart. SC State averaged 9K in attendance last year if that chart is from last year? look at post 23372. SC State had 9k in attendance at an average home game last yr

[The Jackal]

Based on the data above it seems games with SC State would give a bump to attendance and be a good in-state game too... SC State averages 8K attendance in a bad year.. 9K last year - the key there is so does Mercer but I bet SC State would travel a lot better than Mercer as they are closer and have fans that already live here

GF-With all due respect I think you are dreaming of the SCS of 20 years ago. Like most teams their attendance is way down. They no longer travel well and struggle at home with attendance as most do these days. 5 years ago we played them in Orangeburg and attendance was barely 9,600. SCS would not help attendance wise and really who would?

AP =- I am using the data above in the chart. SC State averaged 9K in attendance last year if that chart is from last year? look at post 23372. SC State had 9k in attendance at an average home game last yr

Maybe not relevant, but worth noting that attendance numbers can sometimes be a mirage based on how the school opts to count tickets.

[MNORM]

Based on the data above it seems games with SC State would give a bump to attendance and be a good in-state game too... SC State averages 8K attendance in a bad year.. 9K last year - the key there is so does Mercer but I bet SC State would travel a lot better than Mercer as they are closer and have fans that already live here

GF-With all due respect I think you are dreaming of the SCS of 20 years ago. Like most teams their attendance is way down. They no longer travel well and struggle at home with attendance as most do these days. 5 years ago we played them in Orangeburg and attendance was barely 9,600. SCS would not help attendance wise and really who would?

AP =- I am using the data above in the chart. SC State averaged 9K in attendance last year if that chart is from last year? look at post 23372. SC State had 9k in attendance at an average home game last yr

Maybe not relevant, but worth noting that attendance numbers can sometimes be a mirage based on how the school opts to count tickets.

*cough* *cough* Wofford *cough*

[sluggo]

I think you also have to recognize that everyone's attendance was hurt by the departure of App State and GSU. Those were two big fan bases that traveled well (GSU more than App).

When you go back and look at historic numbers, Furman is drawing now roughly what they would draw against non-GSU/App teams 20 years ago. There's a slight dip, but most of the attendance drop off (IMO) is due to losing at least one big home game a year against a team that would bring 1500-2000 fans.

Interestingly, Georgia Southern had 6 home games this year - 3 of them drew fewer than 12k. The drag in attendance is not just a Furman problem.

Speaking of App State, any fan of App State/1AA/FSC/SoCon will love this 30 second part of this video :
Talk about foot in mouth!

cool stuff. however, that isn't even CLOSE to being the biggest upset in college football. NOT CLOSE. I think App was a 27 point underdog? Cam Newton's brother led his team to a win in a much much bigger upset just a year or three ago as a 40+ point underdog in Vegas. Not sure why people call teh App Michigan the biggest upset ever. Vegas had a list and App was about 10th.. Not. Even. CLose.

" Cam Newton's brother leads Howard to biggest upset in college football history
Caylin Newton helped Howard, a 45-point underdog, stun UNLV "

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... l-history/


BIGGEST UPSET in CFB History!
Howard +45 beats UNLV
$100 on outright win pays $55,000!!


What's odd is more people know about App beating Michigan than Howard beating UNLV. People just don't pay attention to what is really going on.. Heck, many people figured the defending FCS Champ could push a Big ten team. Furman lost to the great Michigan State by a whopping 12 points or so a few years back and that was Not a good Furman team.

Not many people think that UNLV is a powerhouse, so beating UNLV is not such a big deal.

[gofurman]

I think you also have to recognize that everyone's attendance was hurt by the departure of App State and GSU. Those were two big fan bases that traveled well (GSU more than App).

When you go back and look at historic numbers, Furman is drawing now roughly what they would draw against non-GSU/App teams 20 years ago. There's a slight dip, but most of the attendance drop off (IMO) is due to losing at least one big home game a year against a team that would bring 1500-2000 fans.

Interestingly, Georgia Southern had 6 home games this year - 3 of them drew fewer than 12k. The drag in attendance is not just a Furman problem.

Speaking of App State, any fan of App State/1AA/FSC/SoCon will love this 30 second part of this video :
Talk about foot in mouth!

cool stuff. however, that isn't even CLOSE to being the biggest upset in college football. NOT CLOSE. I think App was a 27 point underdog? Cam Newton's brother led his team to a win in a much much bigger upset just a year or three ago as a 40+ point underdog in Vegas. Not sure why people call teh App Michigan the biggest upset ever. Vegas had a list and App was about 10th.. Not. Even. CLose.

" Cam Newton's brother leads Howard to biggest upset in college football history
Caylin Newton helped Howard, a 45-point underdog, stun UNLV "

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footb ... l-history/


BIGGEST UPSET in CFB History!
Howard +45 beats UNLV
$100 on outright win pays $55,000!!


What's odd is more people know about App beating Michigan than Howard beating UNLV. People just don't pay attention to what is really going on.. Heck, many people figured the defending FCS Champ could push a Big ten team. Furman lost to the great Michigan State by a whopping 12 points or so a few years back and that was Not a good Furman team.

Not many people think that UNLV is a powerhouse, so beating UNLV is not such a big deal.

I agree but the Vegas spread always takes into account all factors as for public perception, - As a matter of fact, the Vegas spread is, by definition, whatever gets the money evenly split on either side.. thus the Spread IS the public's perception. Which is what you are alluding to. Money talks. App State wasn't near the underdog of several other upsets that have occurred before and since. That said, I agree upsetting Michigan carries more "cache'" than upsetting UNLV. It's just that UNLV was playing a HORRIBLE Howard team (thus the 40+ point Spread) while App State was like NDSU.. is that really even an upset when NDSU wins over an FBS any more??

[Jasper]

Vegas spreads not withstanding, when football fans got the news that Saturday that App State, a 1AA school had beaten the mighty Michigan Wolverines in their own House, it was universally considered to be the biggest upset in college football history. Everyone was talking about that game. I have never heard anyone speak about the Howard-UNLV game. The "biggest upset" is really a matter of public perception and there is no right or wrong.

[AstroDin]

Agree, upsets or what is perceived as a gigantic upset all comes down to media attention, does it earn interest from a sports fan, and is there a viral moment to it.

Furman felt that charm last basketball season, after the two upset wins and the early undefeated run. The DIns became a Cinderella darling, media folks sang our team praises and social media was a buzz of highlights.

App went up to Ann Arbor and played toe to toe - we might not have felt like it was that shocking but to the rest of the sports world it was. It also created some new heroes… like Armanti Edwards - people love to pull for the underdog - that game was the perfect storm to IMO take the APP program to the next level.

[AstroDin]

Concerning crowd size and the current Paladin Stadium.

There are a lot of battling factors that have led to Furman's current attendance situation. An extended period of ho-hum football. Very few fans cared and the product on the field was inconsistent. At the same time other SoCon programs invested in their programs. Then the ability to broadcast games digitally was an earthquake, you can watch every home Paladin game from the comfort of your couch. All of this has led to apathy and we're seeing an overall football attendance decline outside of the perennial winners.

Fast forward to today… Furman has a vastly better product to sell. Paladin Stadium, for the most part, is a very good facility. The issue now is the stadium was built for a different era.

I think it would be worth it for Furman to do an architectural study of Paladin Stadium and how to make it more intimate and give the Dins a better home-field advantage in all aspects including improving the experience for fans.

I'd remove section 1/6 entirely and the matching section 5 on the right side. This would create a compact seating area, improve site lines, and IMO create a more vocal environment.

Next, demolish the visitor's stands. I would love to see shorter in height stands that start from the twenty-yard line and curves up to the mountain-side endzone. You could do the same on the home side replaced the old section 6 with a shorter stand section that corners into the grass bank area bookending the visitor stands. I'd put the students in this section.

I doubt this will ever happen, but I'd love to see Paladin Stadium sized down and somehow get fans and students closer to the action.

.

[apaladin]

Astro, First, I have had season tickets in section 5 for many years and love sitting there and the view is great, so no don't mess with my section. All this talk of reducing the size is like you said not going to happen as I hope FU is not going to spend millions just to make it "intimate". As far as being close, fans are already close to the action. In fact PS seating is closer to the field than any other stadium I have been in. I have a better idea. Make all visitors side tickests $10. Open up the home side parking to non-Paladin Club members. Have a ticket booth at PS. Move the scoreboard to the field house which would be much closer to fans than the current location. BTW I am proud of PS and don't want it destroyed.

[Davemeister]

Let's say we downsize to create a more intimate game experience . . . and it works! People flock to the new boutique surroundings!
Next thing you know, we will have to expand PS to handle the overflow.

[tim]

Folks, lets not start tearing the stadium down...…… ok?

[cavedweller2]

Ticket booths positioned at one gate on each side is a no brainer. I dont get the current game day strategery.

[sluggo]

Yeah, lets do all that intimate stuff and play PC at home.



DaFuhgg?

[palafan]

W's put butts in seats. Period.

[AstroDin]

Astro, First, I have had season tickets in section 5 for many years and love sitting there and the view is great, so no don't mess with my section. All this talk of reducing the size is like you said not going to happen as I hope FU is not going to spend millions just to make it "intimate". As far as being close, fans are already close to the action. In fact PS seating is closer to the field than any other stadium I have been in. I have a better idea. Make all visitors side tickests $10. Open up the home side parking to non-Paladin Club members. Have a ticket booth at PS. Move the scoreboard to the field house which would be much closer to fans than the current location. BTW I am proud of PS and don't want it destroyed.

I doubt any changes would ever be considered -as mentioned it would be costly. As far as being close to the action - it's all about individual taste and the angle of the stands. My dream would be a little steeper angle.