Learfield Cup

[Brandon]

Re: Learfield Cup

That is interesting considering that Lock Haven's 18th place finish in the D1 NCAA wrestling tournament a couple of weeks ago is arguably the most notable athletic performance of anything in the PSAC in 2018-19.

And if people want to focus on "revenue" sports because of the notoriety associated with those sports I think there is more of that in the D1 wrestling championship than in any D2 sport. Over 100,000 in attendance for the 3 day tournament in Pittsburgh, 625,000 watched the finals on ESPN, about 2.5 million watched some part of the tournament (not sure if that includes internet streaming). LHU again a tournament darling (the David vs. Goliath effect) with 2 AA's who were both crowd favorites. How many people tune into the D2 FB and BB championship games?

I don't think it has anything to do with revenue. It's simply the sports that most people consider most important to them.

It's also not an apples-to-apples comparison to compare a D1 tournament to a D2 single event. It's more relevant to compare attendance/viewership/participation among D2 football, men's basketball, women's basketball, etc.

Side note: Men's D2 basketball championship had 1,012,000 viewers (2019). Football had about 300,000 I believe.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: Learfield Cup

I don't think it has anything to do with revenue. It's simply the sports that most people consider most important to them.

It's also not an apples-to-apples comparison to compare a D1 tournament to a D2 single event. It's more relevant to compare attendance/viewership/participation among D2 football, men's basketball, women's basketball, etc.

Side note: Men's D2 basketball championship had 1,012,000 viewers (2019). Football had about 300,000 I believe.

More than 3 times watched men's basketball over football.

[Brandon]

Re: Learfield Cup

More than 3 times watched men's basketball over football.

Yes. It's because the basketball championship was on CBS and the football championship was on ESPNU. The 2018 FCS championship game was the lowest rated in a long time (slightly more than the D2 number) because it was on ESPN2 instead of ESPN.

[Redwing]

Re: Learfield Cup

Yes. It's because the basketball championship was on CBS and the football championship was on ESPNU. The 2018 FCS championship game was the lowest rated in a long time (slightly more than the D2 number) because it was on ESPN2 instead of ESPN.

I do wonder why the big boys don't put the championships on the more mainstream stations. I don't recall what they were competing against, but my even though I'm biased, I would still think the championship game would outdraw what was playing opposite. Not really a way to prove it, but I'd tune into an NC sport championship over almost any other non- NC activity, unless it was a team I closely followed.

I guess the kingmakers think it doesn't matter... It's out there, so go get it and watch it.

[iupgroundhog]

Re: Learfield Cup

I don't think it has anything to do with revenue. It's simply the sports that most people consider most important to them.

It's also not an apples-to-apples comparison to compare a D1 tournament to a D2 single event. It's more relevant to compare attendance/viewership/participation among D2 football, men's basketball, women's basketball, etc.

Side note: Men's D2 basketball championship had 1,012,000 viewers (2019). Football had about 300,000 I believe.

That's true but I wasn't making a direct comparison. In the context that we have been discussing the Dixon Trophy and the Learfield rankings and all the ways they can be skewed I was making an observation that Lock Haven had the lowest Learfield ranking among the PSAC schools for the winter season but they had a great performance at the D1 Wrestling championships. Just another way to demonstrate that schools have different values for how they want to operate their athletics.

[EastStroud13]

Re: Learfield Cup

The Dixon Cup is scored meaningless too. You sweep the 15 track categories and you have the edge. Let me guess, the same kids compete in each season too. So you only have to recruit a few fast kids and suddenly you are the bestest sports program in the PSAC.

If IUP has won foosball this season in addition to sweeping basketball, it would be no doubt IUP has the best sports program and should have been handed the Dixon.

We already had this discussion; I think all it did was confirm that your biased opinion and hyperbolic examples were as worthless as you claim the Dixon Cup to be.

[IUPNation]

We already had this discussion; I think all it did was confirm that your biased opinion and hyperbolic examples were as worthless as you claim the Dixon Cup to be.

[Brandon]

Re: Learfield Cup

That's true but I wasn't making a direct comparison. In the context that we have been discussing the Dixon Trophy and the Learfield rankings and all the ways they can be skewed I was making an observation that Lock Haven had the lowest Learfield ranking among the PSAC schools for the winter season but they had a great performance at the D1 Wrestling championships. Just another way to demonstrate that schools have different values for how they want to operate their athletics.

Oh no argument there! Schools can decide what's important to them just like fans can decide what's important to them.

[jrshooter]

Re: Learfield Cup

Maybe, but my way is the right way and any others are wrong. :wink: #IUPNation