9/13 WIU Vs Drake

[ST_Lawson]

ST, how tough would it be to get a full 360 panorama for Homecoming?

I can try, although I can't promise anything. I'll be dealing with alumni band stuff for much of the game, but I'll see what I can do.
Also, my phone can really only do ~180 degrees. Anything too much more and it stops...so I can't really do a full 360, at least not without doing multiple ones and stitching them together or something.

I'm also going to see if there's a way that I can attach my phone to my trombone so you all can see what playing "Georgia on my Mind" looks like from the band's perspective.

I think I will bring my good camera (which I hardly ever use) and try to get something from the West side. Maybe we can pull off a coordinated effort and then stitch the two separate pieces together. I don't have an iphone so there might be compatibity issues. Also, I would hope the AD is planning on doing this the right way just in case we don't pull it off cleanly. The opportunity for a jam-packed Hanson Field does not come along too often.

Yea, just shoot what you can, and we'll see about getting them together later. Ideally, the athletics department would get the Visual Production Center to head over there with their good cameras and do something from the center of the field, maybe between the 1st and 2nd quarters or something.

[BobLovely]

...here's the full panoramic that I shot, late in the 1st quarter:


You can click here to open up the full res version.

Crowd - Official attendance is listed at 9,445, which I'd say is about right. Not what it has been at times, but could be a lot worse.

Great photo Scott! Now, just imagine just over another 9,000 in attendance on 10/18/73 versus Central Michigan. I was there [in the west stands] and it was packed everywhere inside the stadium facility. There was not a seat or hillside spot to be had...

Bob

[WIU0812]

I still am kinda surprised they did not announce any facility updates during half time I fully expected to hear something. Also noticed they did not even attempt to place the stands at the north endzone, I know we talked about this before and supposedly they are condemned well if that is so they need to destroy them and remove them from the parking lot as that was kind of an eye sore on Friday when I was there.

[wiu712]

I remember that 2012 Homecoming game with Illinois State. It was on September 22, 2012--making it one of the earliest Homecomings in Western history. Illinois State led 16-0 at halftime and won the game 23-3.

There was a big crowd at that game. People were sitting on the west and south hillsides. Large crowds in both endzones and along the fence on both sides of the field.

Here's some observations from Saturday's game with Drake:

I was sitting in Section F. There were a lot of families/parents in that section. One of the dads sitting next to me was shocked with the sad condition of the stands. He wondered how the stadium can pass a Life Safety Code evaluation with the poor condition of the wooden bleachers and the dangerous steps. On a more positive note, he enjoyed the comedy show on Friday night, the Rick Springfield show on Saturday afternoon, and the pre-game lunch that was available at the big tent north of Hanson Field.

The newly remodeled University Union Food Court was getting rave reviews.

It was a beautiful afternoon: sunny and low 60's. The game ended shortly after 6PM. Every eating place in Macomb was busy that night.

"Sights and Sounds" from Saturday's game by Andrew Bacon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxBYL7w- ... Hi&index=1

[ST_Lawson]

I put together a quick chart of attendance (left y-axis) vs win/loss record (right y-axis) so you can kinda compare over time (back to '96). Click on the image of the chart below to view the interactive chart. Not surprisingly, as the team does well, in general attendance improves. It looks like the drop from the winning season of '03 to the losing season of '04 precipitated a roughly 2k drop in average home attendance. Also, the connection is fairly direct for 2010-2012...as the team does better, attendance increases that year. Hard to see how this year is going to pan out, but so far with 2 home games, we're up from last year average-wise. I'd imagine that if this continues, we'll see an overall increase for the season. We'll see a really good sized crowd for Homecoming vs NDSU, the Illinois State game should bring in a lot of fans (closest thing to a "rivalry" that we have, I think), and if Northern Iowa is doing well and/or if we've snuck in a few wins amongst those tough teams, we should get a good crowd there. The last home game, Thanksgiving weekend, will most likely bring down our average, but I think overall we'll be up from last year.