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Conference Realignment


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19 minutes ago, clodney said:

We're bringing in like 12k fans per game coming off a top-25 season...there's nothing attractive about that. The success of the Bills is the death of the Bulls.

I don't know why the fans cant support both.  They never play at the same time

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2 hours ago, Gxtrex said:

I don't know why the fans cant support both.  They never play at the same time

Me either. I hate that narrative. Buffalo is a city that is starving for winners. A city tired of being a lovable loser. I don’t see why we don’t get more support. It’s a good product. I understand when there’s a schedule conflict. Example: when basketball goes up directly against the Sabres. Which happens too often for my liking. But in general we should be getting more support from the community and student population.

Edited by DooleyBull06
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28 minutes ago, Tee4three said:

I don't understand the lack of support for the basketball team or why people in buffalo continue to put the sabres over ub basketball. 

Ub basketball since Hurley has been a good product. Fun entertaining and winning

Not to mention cheaper too

 

 

I generally agree. Especially since the Sabres have been bad recently. Not counting this season’s start. But generally in Buffalo it’s Bills and Sabres. Which is why I thought we could come in and piggy back off that and be a draw. Too all my peeps in the Buffalo area…is Bonaventure getting more hype than UB in the Buffalo area?

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Morning rain kept students away last week, otherwise we were doing ok with 16K-17K the earlier games. Still much Covid worry out there and some unwilling to wear masks, so they stay away. Unlike the Bills who sell seats no matter what, our fans really want to see big UB stars and big wins, as we saw with 2013 and 2018. We just can't have mediocre play and losing streaks, like this season.

And it's not like schools such as Charlotte, FAU, Rice, got into the AAC due to their attendance. 

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21 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

I generally agree. Especially since the Sabres have been bad recently. Not counting this season’s start. But generally in Buffalo it’s Bills and Sabres. Which is why I thought we could come in and piggy back off that and be a draw. Too all my peeps in the Buffalo area…is Bonaventure getting more hype than UB in the Buffalo area?

Hard to compare ticket sales between NHL and CBB, since only a handful of teams draw over 12k. But UB local ratings for nationally televised games beat the local Sabres ratings. Sabres don't have the Bills clout, just a lot more games for WGR to talk endlessly about. UB has our Northtowns niche, with better coverage than ever. My how times change as now NU and CC fans say UB steals all the oxygen from BN and tv coverage. Bona hype is mostly in Olean at this point.

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1 hour ago, RecoveringHillbilly said:

Morning rain kept students away last week, otherwise we were doing ok with 16K-17K the earlier games. Still much Covid worry out there and some unwilling to wear masks, so they stay away. Unlike the Bills who sell seats no matter what, our fans really want to see big UB stars and big wins, as we saw with 2013 and 2018. We just can't have mediocre play and losing streaks, like this season.

And it's not like schools such as Charlotte, FAU, Rice, got into the AAC due to their attendance. 

Because of the Vaccine mandate that is now in place, masks are no longer required in the seats for football.  They still "ask" that they be worn in enclosed areas in the stadium.   I don't understand the Covid worry any more.  Get vaccinated and the threat goes way down.  If there's a breakthrough case, it's usually quite mild.

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2 hours ago, Tee4three said:

I don't understand the lack of support for the basketball team or why people in buffalo continue to put the sabres over ub basketball. 

Ub basketball since Hurley has been a good product. Fun entertaining and winning

Not to mention cheaper too

 

 

Problem is, for so long, UB was just mediocre in basketball. The Lack of a good product for so long creates a void. Yeah we’ve been a good program for probably 8 years now. It’s going to take time and constant consistent success for basketball, and even football to become popular. All of us here commenting are responsible too.
 

We and every UB alumni has got to attend games and show our support, I make it a priority to attend games in person as much as possible every year. If you’re able to go, then go. Buy merchandise that supports athletics. Become a donor. So many options that we as individuals can do to get the program to grow. It’s gonna take some time though. As long as the athletics is good, then little by little the programs should grow. 
 

As far as non alumni fans go? Constant success is the only way to attract fans for basketball. Then when you create a fan out of someone they want the team to be successful and to be a great product and you have to maintain maintain maintain a good product. We as fans too have to maintain standards that we are better than pre Hurley era and we should expect MAC championship games yearly and should get back to the tournament.

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Sick of the bills and sabers excuse. I call bullshit on that. The reason we don’t draw is cause the school lacks culture and tradition. Alumni hardly stay connected with the school. Most the out of town alum leave and never come back. The commuters hardly ever were on campus to begin with. We need to invest heavily in creating a student culture that sticks. Create real pride in the school, it’s programs and the athletics. All of it. Very hard to do, but that is what needs to be worked on. Otherwise we will be having the same discussion 50 years from now. 

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8 hours ago, DooleyBull06 said:

I generally agree. Especially since the Sabres have been bad recently. Not counting this season’s start. But generally in Buffalo it’s Bills and Sabres. Which is why I thought we could come in and piggy back off that and be a draw. Too all my peeps in the Buffalo area…is Bonaventure getting more hype than UB in the Buffalo area?

I keep saying it, you have to play some games in the pro venues for the locals to take UB seriously.

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19 minutes ago, UBminicre said:

Sick of the bills and sabers excuse. I call bullshit on that. The reason we don’t draw is cause the school lacks culture and tradition. Alumni hardly stay connected with the school. Most the out of town alum leave and never come back. The commuters hardly ever were on campus to begin with. We need to invest heavily in creating a student culture that sticks. Create real pride in the school, it’s programs and the athletics. All of it. Very hard to do, but that is what needs to be worked on. Otherwise we will be having the same discussion 50 years from now. 

I think the biggest impact of the pro teams is the sponsorship $: Bills get top $, Sabres second, UB gets bits here and there. For years on WWKB, the game broadcasts had the same commercials. Once all three big sports started rolling new sponsors jumped on board. But we still need more work with Learfield for corporate ties, and the facilities..I've been waiting for UB Stadium to get ANY corporate re-naming for decades.

Where UB isn't behind is general alumni and corporate giving. Boldly Buffalo just passed $800 Million raised. The UB brand is top 3 in WNY and people support proudly. But for athletics we have to wait for the Murchie Family to help major projects. There has to be continued winning and connecting that to Athletics giving.

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5 hours ago, RecoveringHillbilly said:

I think the biggest impact of the pro teams is the sponsorship $: Bills get top $, Sabres second, UB gets bits here and there. For years on WWKB, the game broadcasts had the same commercials. Once all three big sports started rolling new sponsors jumped on board. But we still need more work with Learfield for corporate ties, and the facilities..I've been waiting for UB Stadium to get ANY corporate re-naming for decades.

Where UB isn't behind is general alumni and corporate giving. Boldly Buffalo just passed $800 Million raised. The UB brand is top 3 in WNY and people support proudly. But for athletics we have to wait for the Murchie Family to help major projects. There has to be continued winning and connecting that to Athletics giving.

Don’t disagree with that strategy to go in right direction. Need money. Def won’t get it from govt. It’s sort of like a circular reference. Need money to get students and locals to care. Won’t get money until students and locals care. Winning helps, but the consistency is tough to keep up - we have done about as good as a job as you possibly can in this department, but still not seeing a huge downstream Impact to sticky support and money (outside of maybe what you mentioned with boldly Buffalo - but how does that compare to other major state school giving?) 

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12 hours ago, Gxtrex said:

But then we lose students if games aren't on campus 

The school should invest in buses and make it an event, trip to Orchard Park, huge UB sponsored tailgate all for a reasonable price to students. Students from other schools seem to be able to travel.

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2 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

The school should invest in buses and make it an event, trip to Orchard Park, huge UB sponsored tailgate all for a reasonable price to students. Students from other schools seem to be able to travel.

The SA did this when I was in school for trips to the MAC tournament. And that was to Cleveland. It can be done. Was already done. Oh and it was free! No tailgate just a bus ride. 

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On 10/22/2021 at 9:33 PM, UBminicre said:

Sick of the bills and sabers excuse. I call bullshit on that. The reason we don’t draw is cause the school lacks culture and tradition. Alumni hardly stay connected with the school. Most the out of town alum leave and never come back. The commuters hardly ever were on campus to begin with. We need to invest heavily in creating a student culture that sticks. Create real pride in the school, it’s programs and the athletics. All of it. Very hard to do, but that is what needs to be worked on. Otherwise we will be having the same discussion 50 years from now. 

I hope so, because it will mean I made it to 112.

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On 10/19/2021 at 3:26 PM, promotherobot said:

What really was a cold shot was how Buffalo was never even mentioned, not even as an outsider, to join the AAC. For cripes sake. Hillbilly schools like App State, Liberty and Georgia Southern get mentioned. Why is that? What do those schools have that we don't? Buffalo is in media market #57. We have an alumni base that stretches into metro NYC. Our teams have been ranked recently. Why are we ignored?

We knew we weren't going to be considered from day one.

The American Conference set a strategic vision a few years ago and made the decision that they will be a southern based conference.  The believe that football is the driving force that matters and that demographic shifts will make the south even bigger moving forward.  They look at Syracuse, BC, and other northern schools and don't see the interest in football. 

It was known that they would only be considering Southern schools.  Temple isn't going to get any regional partner.

And the reality is that App State is delivering.  Look at their Wednesday night win against Coastal.  They sold out the stadium and had a huge crowd on a Wednesday night.  Their fans are engaged.

Yes, Buffalo is a bigger media market than Boone but media markets don't matter anymore.  Streaming and national broadcasts have changed the game.  If it is a national broadcast then the media market size doesn't matter.  It's more about general interest.  And if you're not on national TV then it is about streaming viewership and App State has some very energetic and loyal fans.

Rice seems like an odd ball but that serves their Southern Strategy.  It gives them a presence in Houston where teams want to be able to recruit and it continues some Texas rivalries.

I have said it before and I will say it again.  UB should be in a conference with Temple and UMass.  Those should be the peer schools we should be with.  But even they don't have a good fit.  It's unfortunate but if we are going to be in a conference then the MAC is our only option.

The American isn't what it use to be.  Travel would have killed the budget and other than a few schools there wouldn't be been a step up in games.  

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