Northwest @ Grand Valley

[GVLakerFan24]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

Ya know, I graduated 6 years ago and still go to every football game I can- even when I lived 4 hours away. I had to miss this weekend's game because of a prior commitment, and I was really bummed to have to watch at home. So some of us, I'm sure, had legit excuses but WOW i was also stunned to see so few people there. Students are whatever- let's face it, most of them don't care about d2 football at all. When I was a student, the only time we filled the student section for playoffs was when everyone had a chance to be on ESPN or ESPN2 (ESPN3 has zero appeal as it's not on actual TV). But I could not believe the regular home side was so empty!! MSU is crap, UM wasn't playing anybody good, it was an afternoon game, and it was against freakin Northwest! Where was everybody at?? I would've killed to be there.

On a side note, who cares if "most" Ferris students stay for the whole game up in Big Rapids. They get about 5% the amount of students at the games that GV does...

[GVLakerFan24]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

Students have never shown up for playoff games. I went from 2001 - 2005, the drop-off from regular season to playoffs was always huge. I believe part of it is that "all" (say for last of season) games are at night. Middle of the day Saturday is not a normal time for a Grand Valley football game and the NCAA isn't going to let GV push the game to the evening. I'm currently taking Master's classes at GV and I was shocked that I didn't see a sign or anything on the Grand Rapids campus advertising this game. Maybe I'm blind...

As an alumni (not a mega donor, nor a season ticket holder), I found the retail price of tickets to be flat out ridiculous. I took my oldest 2 kids (ages 9 and 8) and paid $15 per ticket. That's just stupid in my opinion. Obviously ticket prices don't have anything to do with students attending. I've been wondering for 17 years why they don't make a bigger effort to address the drop off from regular season attendance to playoff attendance. There were less than 3,000 people there on Saturday. That is just embarrassing.

Remember a few years ago when they gave away $1000 to one person at the end of the 3rd qtr in order to get students to stay? That worked and yet haven't seen anything like that since. It's sad there were so few ppl in the stands on Saturday. I really think the department needs to do a much better job advertising the event, not just around campus but all around GV. If you don't follow the team on social media or you're not a devoted fan, you probably didn't even know the playoffs started. You have to be able to draw the casual fan somehow

[BillyGV]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

First off douche bag you might want to check yourself before you run your mouth. Irish 1916 is a GV alum and mega donor to GV. Second, the name Irish 1916 has zero to do with Notre Dame. Go back to school and read some history books old timer.

well, its come to name calling for you hater - first sign of a weak mind - second, give me a break on the little Irish 1916 crap - yay for the Irish uprising its not like there isn't any connection with the other Irish on this board - if he/she/it is a mega donor and GV alum that's great - so why don't you shut-up let him/her/it speak for themselves - as for reading, I will wager my library is far superior to anything you have - now child, you have added nothing to this discussion, nothing, so begone - lol

[gvLAKER]

[KleShreen]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

Students have never shown up for playoff games. I went from 2001 - 2005, the drop-off from regular season to playoffs was always huge. I believe part of it is that "all" (say for last of season) games are at night. Middle of the day Saturday is not a normal time for a Grand Valley football game and the NCAA isn't going to let GV push the game to the evening. I'm currently taking Master's classes at GV and I was shocked that I didn't see a sign or anything on the Grand Rapids campus advertising this game. Maybe I'm blind...

As an alumni (not a mega donor, nor a season ticket holder), I found the retail price of tickets to be flat out ridiculous. I took my oldest 2 kids (ages 9 and 8) and paid $15 per ticket. That's just stupid in my opinion. Obviously ticket prices don't have anything to do with students attending. I've been wondering for 17 years why they don't make a bigger effort to address the drop off from regular season attendance to playoff attendance. There were less than 3,000 people there on Saturday. That is just embarrassing.

It is pretty simple why the attendance goes down. One, it isn't on the schedule at the beginning of the year. So nobody plans for it. Two, the temperature. The number of people who would rather spend their Saturday afternoon sitting on a bench in 30-degree, wet weather is very low, compared to the number of people who can watch it for free online. The people who are on this board are the ones who would do that. But this is a very, very, very, VERY small minority of people who show up to the games regularly. If you don't have a deep investment in the team, then why in the world would you show up when it is cold? Or when it is wet? There's no reason to. Same reason why if I'm thinking of going to a Whitecaps sometime soon, I'm going to look at the forecast and see what the weather looks like, pick a game, and then if that day comes and there is a decent chance for rain, I'm probably not going. It isn't worth it.

Additionally, I don't know what the numbers are, but I'm guessing there's not very many Allendale residents showing up for games just for the fun of it. I'm fairly certain the vast majority of people at the games have a connection. Whether it is family of players, GV alumni, family of GV alumni, etc. The residents don't view it as an entertainment option. Hell, based on the Allendale facebook pages, the majority of Allendale residents wish the school would go away entirely. They hate the school being in their "quaint, quiet village" of Allendale and infesting the town with college students who cause too much traffic, make too much noise, and drink too much. So you're not going to get many walk-ins who are just going to up and decide that day to go to a game. Outside of Allendale residents, I doubt there's very many non-affiliated people who are showing up to games, regardless of where they're from. And they certainly aren't committed enough to show up in bad weather to a not-previously-scheduled game.

The same thing happens to the West Michigan Whitecaps. They will get 4,500 fans at their final home game of the season, and then three days later when they host a playoff game, there will be 1,000 people there. It wasn't on the schedule, nobody plans for it, there's not enough time to get corporate groups together, etc.

[Ian Carlson]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

Students have never shown up for playoff games. I went from 2001 - 2005, the drop-off from regular season to playoffs was always huge. I believe part of it is that "all" (say for last of season) games are at night. Middle of the day Saturday is not a normal time for a Grand Valley football game and the NCAA isn't going to let GV push the game to the evening. I'm currently taking Master's classes at GV and I was shocked that I didn't see a sign or anything on the Grand Rapids campus advertising this game. Maybe I'm blind...

As an alumni (not a mega donor, nor a season ticket holder), I found the retail price of tickets to be flat out ridiculous. I took my oldest 2 kids (ages 9 and 8) and paid $15 per ticket. That's just stupid in my opinion. Obviously ticket prices don't have anything to do with students attending. I've been wondering for 17 years why they don't make a bigger effort to address the drop off from regular season attendance to playoff attendance. There were less than 3,000 people there on Saturday. That is just embarrassing.

[GVLakerFan24]

[GVLakerFan24]

[libertybearcat]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

Don't the students have to pay for tickets in the playoffs? At NW boosters will buy several hundred tickets for the students to try and attract more attendance.

Doesn't the NCAA dictate ticket prices for playoff games? That may be why they're priced the way they are.

[champgymusa]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

Don't the students have to pay for tickets in the playoffs? At NW boosters will buy several hundred tickets for the students to try and attract more attendance.

Doesn't the NCAA dictate ticket prices for playoff games? That may be why they're priced the way they are.

The NCAA does set the prices and GVSU had tickets for any student that wanted to for free...

[blakeadkins]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

The NCAA does set the prices and GVSU had tickets for any student that wanted to for free...

They may dictate student prices, but I find it hard to believe that any other program had tickets set for $30 per yesterday.

[Redwing]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

where they just dominated weaker opponents. Our most recent deep playoff runs have seemed almost surprising, as our seasons usually start out strong and then we struggle to beat even lesser quality teams down the stretch. This season was a perfect example, but even during the undefeated season a few years ago (2016?) we barely got by a weak Saginaw team in overtime and struggled against Wayne state late in the year. Now, credit to MM for rallying that team and pushing them as far as they went that season, but is the pattern of starting strong and finishing the season on a bit of a grind just natural for football (injuries take their toll, opponents find weaknesses in your schemes, etc) or is that an indictment of MM and his staff?

I think that's a valid observation, but honestly I can't remember the last time we went into the late season or PO without a ton of walking wounded. I recall Shep we were banged up huge. The Ashland loss.. last year.. big injuries. This year. Not as bad, but even then a starting WR is out and a few on D, etc. I guess all teams have injuries, but it seams that GV gets more than their share for some reason. For awhile it was an epidemic of knees, now it's still knees, but other areas. Again, I don't know how bad other schools have it, but it does explain some drop off in performance.

[Brandon]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

Probably. Couldn't go get plastered in mom and dad's basement haha. A bit different once they're off at college.

Of course.

My point was that being D2 is not the reason. If level of competition was the reason, people would only go to NFL games.

[Cat N Mav]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

I was shocked at how empty it was. For years I've heard about how electric the atmosphere was. It's a great facility on a nice campus with a big enrollment. I got some pics of the mostly empty stadium and video of fans leaving before the game was over. I don't think they were going to a party. We let people on the field and tear down our own goalposts to encourage people to stay. Maybe you guys should try that.

Plenty of signs saying "Football game this week." Great marketing video about the rivalry. I don't know what advice to give to boost attendance. Maybe get more support from the locals, but I didn't see much of a town around there. I'd get it if the school was closed for Thanksgiving. We've reopened on Sat. after Thanksgiving in the past to get students back, but again, that wasn't the issue. There couldn't have been that many people hunting.

[Brandon]

Re: Northwest @ Grand Valley

Grand Valley is a great program. One of the best. But there is nothing that they could show Northwest that they're "missing." Both have great crowds. Both have great fans. Both have great facilities. Sure, GV can have some great crowds, but Northwest has played in front of large crowds as well. Northwest had already played at a nicer stadium this year.

When you're comparing programs like Grand Valley, Northwest, Pitt State, etc., you're talking about programs so similar there really aren't that many differences to compare, especially compared to Division II as a whole.