No one responsible for investing millions of public dollars to upgrade the University of Massachusetts Amherst football program and move the team’s home games to Gillette Stadium saw this coming. When the Minutemen played their first homecoming game in Foxborough — a 24-0 loss in October to Bowling Green — they drew a crowd of only 10,846 to the 68,756-seat stadium.
The sea of empty seats was especially stunning because the Minutemen had been accustomed to nearly packing their campus stadium for homecoming games. Over the previous five years, they had played before average crowds of 13,937 at the 17,000-seat McGuirk Alumni Stadium, on the UMass Amherst campus.
Comments
Which university is higher ranked by US News and World Report, UConn or Umass? When I graduated from UMass-Amherst in 1981, they were considered equals. In the Nineties, UConn made a big push for Big Time Sports and it worked. (See also the Flutie Effect at BC) UConn netted more money from sports and alumni to fund all parts of the school. They gained more applicants and better applicants and created a National Brand. We should give this experiment 5 years and see how it goes. I wish UMass had done this 20 years ago as the field has gotten more crowded. As a casual college football fan, I had not heard of or did not even know where some of this year's opponents were even from, this will improve over time. (BTW, Bowling Green is in Ohio.) Winning a few games will also help. This is a way to become an even better university. And yes, one day UMass will beat UConn.
Then go buy a ticket.
UConn plays it games very close to its own campus, while UMass is playing its games 90 or so miles away from campus. So I'm not sure the two situations are comparable. I live next door to Amherst and was flummoxed when this plan came up. They would have been better off playing their first five years in the "big leagues" on their home field, building on the steady growth in attendance they were seeing there and then trying out Gillette for a couple games a year once they had a team in place that had the potential to draw bigger crowds. Instead, they sought out a venue that was totally inappropriate for the product they had to offer at this stage. (No knock on the players; I'm sure they were trying their best...they just were not nearly ready for prime time and won't be for a couple of years.)
UMass decided to go Big Time Football (BTF), because it was/is led by people who equate becoming a better institution with going Big Time. They do this because they don't come from here, don't care about the opinions of those who do, and know better than we do what we need to be a better place. If they would ask this question more --- How does this (fill in the blank) help us better serve the sons and daughters of Massachusetts? --- they wouldn't make silly and costly decisions like this. Instead they aspire to be UMichigan, and since Michigan is BTF, well, the decision is easy, "we need BTF. Man the torpedoes. Get me one of those!"
As a former Alumni Director, I can assure you that Alumni support for UMass is NOT linked in any meaningful way to BTF. Culturally, UMass alumni were happy playing BC, Harvard and UNH, playing on the Amherst campus where they could hang out at the frat houses and local haunts, and see their old friends in an atmosphere they hold dear. Playing at Gillette is like holding a reunion at Denny's.
At root, the failure of this season, and test of seasons to come, will not occur on the gridiron, but in the mettle of the campus leadership to recognize that here in New England, Amherst-Williams, Harvard-Yale, BC-Holy Cross and UMass-UNH football games were always less important than what happens in the classroom, cut its losses, and figure out achievable ways to improve the opportunity for kids from Massachusetts to get a good college education.
What about the kids attending UMass now? Instead of being able to walk over to the game, they have to be bussed into Foxboro, probably an hour away. What a waste of taxpayers $.
The students on campus would walk over to the inexpensive game. At the NFL stadium they need transport and are the tickets free?
I'm a UMass grad and like the idea of the move to FBS, but dislike the implementation. I would love to go to games, but Foxboro is an hour from Boston in moderate traffic - not much better than Amherst, really.
Why play at Foxboro? It makes no sense. Its huge, feels empty with large crowds, it's only easy to get to for south shore residents and can only be accessed via bus or car from Amherst. Why not find a smaller stadium - or share one with another university - that is closer to Boston or Metro West and on a train line? Then you could create a dedicated "UMass fan train" to each game and make the travel part of the event.
90 miles from campus is not a good idea. There are more people shopping at Patriot Place than in the stadium on game day.
Nothing at Foxboro is cheap. How much are tickets to these games? If under $10 I might go to a game. But I've never seen anything there for less than about $20 (cheap seats for the Rev.)
Wasted taxpayer dollars, student time spent in buses, more traffic and pollution -- not such a smart move for the state's premier state school.
I agree with the comment made by Supreme Allied. There are several reasons why this isn't working.
1) Location. I live in Andover. Driving to Foxboro isn't much better than driving to Amherst.
2) Need to win some games: If I am going to be in the car for approx 3 hours, I at least want to see a team that has a good chance of winning.
3) Cost(?)and building interest: You want to get people to go to the games. Do what minor league baseball teams like the Spinners do. Make the tickets VERY cheap. Especially for families.
IMO, UMASS "could" have as big a fan base as BC. But Foxobro isn't necessary the answer.
Very interesting that the Boston Globe has a high visibility story on UMass's first year in the FBS as a real disaster, but where O where is any story on the complete disembowelment of college sports at that bastion of New England sports up on Chestnut Hill??? Hohler, you are a whore. Write about the complete destruction of BC and its sports teams, save for Jerry York and his Eagles on Ice. Football has become a complete embarassment, not even able to beat Army!!! Basketball is getting destroyed by Harvard by double digits (now that is worth a chuckle in the Yard, ehh) and Mr. Hohler finds it his, or his bosses responsibility to go pee all over UMass in their first year of FBS football. I guess that is the trouble with the Globe...too much in the pocket of BC. Or is it BC...too much in the pocket of BG??? As subtle as passing gas in church.
So, I think Hohler has written a pretty balanced article here. The attendance was very disappointing. I have a UMass degree, not an undergraduate one, so I don't identify with the UMass sports teams much, despite being a huge college football fan. When I found out UMass was going D1 I was very happy as I would love a non UConn, non BC, D1 football program. Playing Gillette I see as a huge benefit, in fact, they would not be able to go D1 in the current stadium as it does not meet D1 regulations for capacity. I think that the plan to build out the stadium in Amherst to host a few games a year while still playing some/most in Gillette makes sense. The MAC plays some Tuesday night games for TV so those would be better on campus. The biggest issues with attendance is that the opponents don't produce natural interest. I think the MAC is a decent, if "small time", D1 conference. In a region where college football is not a natural sell, it is hard to turn out casual fans and alums for MAC games. With the current conference re-alignment mess, maybe UMass could work their way into a re-constituted Big East or Big East successor. The tickets are not cheap enough. $25 is too much. Even $20 would sound better to many people. I work with many UMass grads and while all were interested that UMass went D1 in football none of them actually went to a game. I did go to a game this year, against Buffalo. It was a good, competitive game. Going to Gillette was fun. The crowd that day was boosted by "band day" in which hundreds of high school band members joined with the UMass band for a halftime show. That type of promotions are needed to boost up attendance- basically you need to cultivate interest with free or heavily discounted tickets to every Pop Warner team in MA, for example. Granted that is not going to fill Gillette stadium, but it will help on the margin. I am hoping that UMass becomes a decent D1 program. While unknown in NE, the MAC teams are actually very underrated compared to the bigger name conferences, at least they were this year. But in order to attract big time crowds the team needs to be better and they need at least some games against "name" opponents. A decent UMass program hosting a game against BC (which will happen in 2014) will be a fun time at a big time venue like Gillette. As far as the cost overrun, UMass wastes more money on the out-sized administrative staff and patronage jobs, so let's cut that first and have a football team that plays in D1! And remember, this was only year 1.
Another idiotic column by an inept Globe writer attempting to rip Umass. Nice how the front page has a BC story of millions spent on a new academic building. How much did the campus of BC COST the Mass. Taxpayer with all of their subsidies
Remember, the Umass stadium is not big enough to be the home field for D1. That's why they are playing at Gillette.
It was a "bridge too far," in my opinion. Gillette is a nearly impossible 2-hour trip for fans in Western Mass. It's unrealistic to abandon an existing fan-base on speculation that you can possibly develop another one. And Foxboro isn't even convenient for those who live north of Boston, which has the highest population density outside of Boston itself.
I think an hour's drive is about the maximum for most football fans. If there had been a venue available at Worcester, it might have been a less risky move because it would be more readily available to the previous fans.
Nobody saw it coming? Are you kidding? I don't know anyone who thought it was a good move. You don't build student allegiances by busing them two hours off campus. They won't go! You also don't have a large loyal alumni base. Central Michigan just doesn't have the ring of a rivalry.
Build the fan base by upgrading the Amherst facility or don't make the move to D1. This plan was a head scratcher from day one and was made by people who seem to have rose colored glasses regarding alumni loyalty.
Please plan better.