attendance minumum

[dfairchild]

Here are two pieces of info regarding football attendance and Miami
University:

No. 1
Even though were heralded the greatest rookie quarterback in the National
Football League since Dan Marino in '83. Even though we gave the college
football scene one of the most prolific offenses last season, and even this
season. Even though last season we finished in ranked in the top 10, and
even in the top 15 of the BCS, yet still settled for a bowl game that was
beneath us. Even though we are home to the emergence of great coaching
careers from the likes of Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, John Pont and Bo
Schembechler. Even though we continuously have placed first or second in our
division since the split of the MAC into East and West. Even though in the
past 2 seasons we've had numerous nationalized televised games, and quite
possibly the most of any mid major conference (10 games covered by the ESPN
networks, 1 by ABC, and 1 by Fox Sports). The previous rule by the NCAA was
you had to meet one of two criteria - average 17,000 paid attendees over a
four year period, or play in a stadium with a capacity of at least 30,000
and average 17,000 in one of the previous four seasons. The NCAA instilled a
new rule this season that requires all I-A schools to average 15,000 fans
per home game. Thanks to 3 of our 5 home games this year being in inclement
weather, we were shortly under par this year, with 13,269 people per game.
The NCAA has been very vague about this new rule, but it?s become understood
that the first offense is probation, which will in turn have a detrimental
affect on recruiting. It is not stated what the consequences for a school
not meeting this requirement for 2 years in a row, but the assumption is
dropping to the I-AA status. Hopefully the NCAA will disregard this new
policy, and allow what is one of the most storied schools in college
football history, whether you were aware of this or not, to continue play in
I-A. If not, then we will have to suck it up and settle for I-AA supremacy
on an annual basis.


No. 2
For all of the Miami successes on the night, there was a large loss. Only
13,940 fans attended, pushing the season's average attendance to just
13,269. That means the RedHawks will be put on probation by the NCAA and if
they average less than 15,000 fans next season their Division I-A status
could be in jeopardy.

There is a discrepancy between the reported game-day numbers released by the
school and the audited numbers.

Because there was a lightning delay in the season-opener against Indiana
State on Aug. 28 and the stadium was cleared, it is unlikely the auditor
will let Miami's attendance figure of 18,022 be used toward the average.

There also was a discrepancy of 6,973 between Miami's announced attendance
of 20,113 for the Sept. 18 game against Ohio and the auditor's number of
13,140.

The released average attendance was 15,742, but the audited attendance
numbers fell short of the needed 15,000.

If the RedHawks average 15,000 or more next season, that would be moot.

"I think we're building "
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