Question about the future of SMU Football

[Smithersâ„¢]

What is this year's average attendance thus far at Ford Stadium? Also, I believe I remember hearing that attencance for D-1A must be at least 15,000 to remain D-1A... if this is true does it mean that if a team averages below 15,000 for a season they are automatically dropped to D-1AA? I don't mean to bring negativity in after such a great win, but I was just wondering about these things because I would hate to see something like that happen to the mustangs.

[PK]

This is what I have found relative to attendance:

20.9.6.3.1 Counting Attendance. For purposes of computing attendance figures, an individual may be counted if any one of the following conditions applies: (Revised: 4/25/02, effective 8/1/04)
(a) Attendees are issued tickets that are collected upon admission to the game and retained; (Revised: 4/25/02, effective 8/1/04)
(b) Attendees enter through and are counted by a turnstile that is monitored by a representative of the department of athletics who verifies in writing the accuracy of the count on a per-game basis; or (Revised: 4/25/02, effective 8/1/04)
(c) Attendees enter through a gate at which a representative of the department of athletics counts them individually with a manual counter, and the representative provides a written statement verifying the accuracy of the count on a per-game basis. (Revised: 4/25/02, effective
8/1/04)

20.9.6.3.3 Certified Audit. In meeting the football-attendance requirements of Division I-A, an institution must undertake an annual certified audit verifying its football attendance. The audit must be conducted by an outside auditing firm. The audited football actual-attendance figures must be received in the NCAA national office not later than the February 15 following the completion of the football season and NCAA national office staff shall verify compliance with all Division I-A attendance requirements. The certified audit and materials (including the
ticket manifest) must be available for inspection for a four-year period. (Adopted: 1/10/92, Revised: 4/25/02, effective 8/1/04)

20.9.6.5 Waivers [I-A]. There shall be no waivers to the Division I-A membership requirements set forth in Bylaws 20.9.6.1 through 20.9.6.4. (Adopted: 4/24/03 effective 8/1/03)

They say what you have to do...but not what happens if you don't.

The only other thing I have been able to find that sheds any light on the subject is below:

20.02.4 Restricted Membership.
Restricted membership is a membership classification status assigned to an institution that fails to comply with the minimum requirements of its division (e.g., sports sponsorship, scheduling). The institution placed in such status loses eligibility for a number of membership privileges and has from one year to three years to comply with the requirement involved. Failure to comply reclassifies the institution to corresponding membership (see Bylaw 20.3.5).

In other word, screwing up one year does not mean instant disassociation.

This would seem to be the bylaw that applies, although the rules seem to be pretty vague as to what actually happens to someone who does not meet the attendance requirements. Most of the bylaws seem to talk about meeting appropriate amounts of scholarships (financial aid) and sponsoring the appropriate number of sports. So for what it is worth, the above is the only bylaw that I can find that seems to address the issue and then only from the position of being on restrictive membership status.

[Smithersâ„¢]

Thanks. I wonder if there are any examples that anyone knows of a team being demoted to D-1AA due to attendance?

[Charleston Pony]

It remains to be seen whether this attendance rule will ever be enforced. Kind of like the death penalty never being used again. It's on the books, but we shall see. I think it was implemented in large part to stem the tide of schools moving up from I-AA to I-A, but actually impementing this rule could put 3 conferences in jeopardy (SunBelt, MAC & WAC). I don't think it will be a problem for SMU. The opening day crowd (Thanks to our former conference mate TTech) pretty much assured SMU of averaging 15k. After that 34,000 opening day crowd, we only needed to draw a litle over 10k per game for the other 4 home games. Despite yesterday's 12,000, we are probably averaging about 17-18k on the season. Even another 8-10k draw for Nevada next week won't pull the season number down below 15k.

[PK]

Thanks. I wonder if there are any examples that anyone knows of a team being demoted to D-1AA due to attendance?

This bylaw concerning attendance requirements just went into affect this year, so there aren't any examples yet of any demotions to 1-AA.

[Sam I Am]

Yep, one good non-conferene home game can fill the stadium enough to average out our poor WAC attendance to keep us eligible for Div. 1-A. In the bad old days, a weak team played big name schools on the road for the sake of a good pay day. Now we have to have them come stomp us at home so we can draw a crowd. Which opponent will save our home schedule in 2005?

[DallasDiehard]

I read somewhere that Rice will average less than the NCAA-mandated 15K this year. What effect that will have, I don't know.

[DiamondM75]

Maybe the NCAA will get to use some other D1 school to test it's new rules, other the SMU.

I can truly see Rice having problems with the 15K attendance rule without scheduling the old SWC now Big 12 schools for attendance.

CUSA needs to start thinking about who will replace Rice should the rule pass the legal test. Maybe Texas State or Baylor can fill the void?

I also see problems with Tulane. I don't think their attendance figures are making the 15K level either.

[PonySnob]

I can truly see Rice having problems with the 15K attendance rule without scheduling the old SWC now Big 12 schools for attendance.

It will be interesting to see how attendance is for our game against Baylor next year. While its nice to get those Big 12 crowds, one of these days, we need to actually win the game so that we can start building our fan base instead of having our attendance average based off of a visiting school filling 70% of the stadium once or twice a year. We also really need a large TCU contingent when the Frogs come visit Amon Carter East.

[Hoofbeat83]

re: baylor. one of the reasons (besides the overly talked about ann richards factor) that baylor was considered by many (not me) at the time the best choice of the remaining SWC schools for the Big 12 was its much better core fan base than rice, UH, tcu.

those people will come out for the game, especially given some of their successes (aTm) this year and the game being early in the year.

[PonySnob]

those people will come out for the game, especially given some of their successes (aTm) this year and the game being early in the year.

I believe that the Baylor game is our third game of the year. Hopefully we are not 0-2 heading into that one.

[Charleston Pony]

Rice has the advantage of a 70,000 seat stadium. One big name oppinent takes caare of their problem. UAB is another CUSA program to watch. They have trouble drawing and they've been fielding pretty competitive teams the last couple of years. When this rule was originally being discussed and drafted, there was talk of "grandfathering schools" or a "safety in numbers" approach where conferences could bail out their weak links. Some schools have good bball program but horrible football programs so they don't draw well in football, but remain a valuable member of the conference because of hoops. I still think the intent of all this was to maintain some separation between I-A and I-AA. I also think we will see the formation of the long talked about "Super Conferences" at some point in my lifetime. My guess is that membership will be determined by a number of factors, with athletic dept budget at the top of the list. Of course, attendance figures tend to mirror those budgets.

[DFW HOYA]

According to this link, there are only four I-A teams below 15K: Kent State, Middle Tennessee, Buffalo, and San Jose State.

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/Internet/att ... NDANCE.pdf