Agree. Our attendance issues predate MACtion. Maybe a weekday night takes it from worse to worser…. 
I would be curious to see if moving the stadium site back in early 80s started the attendance slide. Or when more games started getting televised or if it was the performance slide that started in 1987
Here’s how to fix MAC attendance:
Option 1: make the stadiums have a federal office or state one on site where by showing up for say, jury duty, you can wait in the stands until you get a text. Bundle other services there as well as stadium shops. Need a haircut? Go to the game. Gotta pay your property tax? Go to the game. Essentially, the stadium becomes a mall of services.
Option 2: build the stadiums attached to those mega churches that attract 20k. The kind you see on Sunday mornings. Instant audience! There’s likely money in the coffers in some of those churches to build the venue.
Can I get an amen?!
Remember Miami fields capacity was around 16,000
There is a 1973 schedule i saw one time and even then they werent all filled to capacity
So on wikipedia there are 3 home games with attendance listed in 1973
dayton 7,200
Marshall 10,200
Cincinnati 13,058
I think Miami Field might have officially been 14,900 capacity.
Correct
When it was filled, it was fun. Jammed many times in '74 & '75. Old guy yelling at clouds. Was easier to get to, easier to fill and create atmosphere and last but not least…teams were on a roll and much better.
Thinking that leaving Yager and returning to Miami Field is an upgrade because it’s easier to get to is an age-induced hallucination.
Trying to increase attendance to the point where stadiums don’t look empty is futile. National media loves Maction and sees it as “quaint”. Why not build on that and go big on the retro aspect? Play the games in local high school stadiums. The novelty and nostalgia would fill those stands. Bus students to the game from campus. Get retro outfits for the cheerleaders.
Stage fights in the parking lot after the game.
Whatever. Either do something drastic or keep being embarrassed by the empty stadiums.
This is the pertinent part imo
Everybody playing midweek TV games has an issue with sparsely attended games - even the P5 teams. We are not alone. It’s just a byproduct of made-for-TV midweek late fall football.
Thoughts on Miami playing a weeknight game at welcome stadium or some place similar? While we’re playing in hypotheticals.
Interesting idea, but imo we don’t have enough alums in Dayton (or Cincy) to make it work. If the new Chicago dome is built in Naperville or somewhere near there, I could see NIU using it for MACtion in a similar vein since a huge percentage of their alumni/fan base lives in the west burbs.
November night games are generally cold and the games are broadcast. I’d rather sit home with a preferred glass of wine or Powerade Zero depending on my mood in my comfy warm chair. Also my friend who holds the season tickets with me will turn into a pumpkin if she has to doesn’t get home until 11pm. We probably would attend Saturday afternoon games but I don’t know if that would appeal to students.
I have a friend who has season tickets for Penn State and I just don’t see us ever becoming a fan base that would spit or throw things at opposing fans (barring a certain WV school) instead of suggesting local restaurants to try.
I don’t like the idea of playing off campus but there are tens of thousands of Miami alumni in the Dayton area. Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland are huge repositories of Miamians. The alumni office has the figures. We have nearly a quarter of a million living Alumni.
If they did not go to games when they were in school, why would they go now? It is usually cold at those games.
Aside from parents and die-hard you aren’t going to get to anyone outside of Dayton to come in for a game there. And unlike a school like NIU that has the large majority of their alumni living within two hours of their campus, ours are spread out across the Midwest, Northeast, and elsewhere. Dayton and Cincinnati are hubs, but not big enough to justify moving off campus for MACtion.
I think you’re a little severe with your discounting of the number of alumni in the arc between the Ohio River and Pickerington - including Cincinnati, Hamilton, Middletown, Franklin, Dayton, Springfield, and Columbus.
We probably have 40-50k alumns in that area and another 10-15 k in Northeast Ohio. The overwhelming majority of our alums are from Ohio high schools and in all probability about 50% stay in Ohio after they graduate.
Our problem is that we can’t get 15-20k of them to drive between 45 minutes and two hours to watch a Miami football game in Oxford.
I wouldn’t want to play an off campus game anywhere but Cincinnati…
About 14,000 or so alums in Columbus area…2 hour drive thru the corn and bean fields except 15 minutes or so thru Dayton.
Sometimes it’s hard to find them!