Topic: MUBlade: Could Attendance be the reason?

[W0lfman]

Could it be that the reason WVU will not play Marshall is for fear of a half-empty stadium?

Evidently not, because that's where they are headed by NOT playing. Some might say that a few Marshall victories would accelerate the exodus out of Morgantown and they may be right. However, Marshall playing at WVU would bring the marketshare BACK to Morgantown. I have to admit that once I crunched these numbers, I don't want to play the game. Period.

Taking a snapshot into time, I reviewed the 2002 attendance and then went back 10 and 15 years.

Apparently, the state has about 80,000 football fans that attend Division 1 games. By adding Marshall and WVU attendance figures, the total has been fairly consistent.

Combined Attendance

1988......78,337
1993......79,777
2002......80,205

What was WVU's marketshare?

1988.....77.4%
1993.....73.8%
2002.....65.3%

Yes, WVU's attendance has been going down while Marshall's has grown. Here are the attendance numbers:

1998
WVU.....60,649
MU......17,688

1993
WVU.....58,929
MU......20,848

2002
WVU.....52,413
MU......27,789

Almost synergistically, in the past 15 years, WVU's attendance has dropped by 8 thousand while Marshall's has increased over 10,000.

And, thanks to WVU fans and Marshall's success, the attendance marketshare is becoming more equitable each year.