There might be some funny accounting regarding the announced attendance #. Pretty sure all ticket sales for playoff games are supposed to go back to the NCAA. I wouldn't be shocked if they "miscounted" how many SBU students they let into the game as the athletic department has to pay for those students out of pocket since they admitted to the game for free. Just something to consider.
I was pretty happy with the crowd and thought the fans did a good job getting into the game. In general, I think Stony Brook athletics is really turning a corner. I keep hearing overhearing people around town talking about the teams. It's anecdotal but it seems like the community more engaged than ever.
I was at the game too and the crowd seemed a bit larger than that (usually things work the other way in terms of announced crowds). Lehigh had a good-sized visitor group themselves. Given the Thanksgiving weekend and lack of rivalry with our opponent I can't complain.
The Patriot League was historically weak this year so the 30-point margin is not unexpected. Would have been an even greater margin but Coach P had the team start taking a knee with 2:30 left and about 15 yards from a touchdown. At that point Lehigh was simple unable to tackle us.
I agree with the attendance numbers. There were zero students at the game. My section, 50 yard line, 2nd level, was looking very thin. The new seats under the scoreboard only had a few fans sitting in there. Lehigh visiting side probably had 500 to 750 people, impressive for a visiting team.. Take that away from 4100, and you are looking at around 3500 SB fans.... That is anemic...
Shawn Heilbron, who regularly comes over to our tailgating section before each game, was talking about how small the crowd would be for today's game because of the Thanksgiving break.. We both agreed, the only way to improve the attendance is to win games and go deep into the playoffs and have home field privilege. We also agreed that SB will probably never have a regularly packed student section because SB is considered a charter school and a lot of students go home for the weekend.. That's fine. Lets pack the house with local fans like myself and forget about the student section not being packed.. Older, local fans who live in the area will eventually come if we are constantly in the playoffs..
we talk about this over and over again. i think
even winning wont do it. student disaffection and distractions are simply enough to eclipse football, basketball, baseball, etc. ask yourself, do the students even know how well football is doing? maybe some. but not enough.
even if they do know. do they appear at games? not enough again.
this is fixable. we have a whole thread on this topic. if most of our student body comes from the same area, easy to get home, didnt play sports or watch sports, well then change the composition of the student body.
also consider this- the same reason our attendance is weak is the same reason we lose recruits. shutting this broken record off now. GO SB
Home
Search
Login
Register