 TOLEDOROCKETS.NETYour source for information on Rocket Football! |
TOLEDOROCKETS.NETYour source for information on Rocket Football! |
|
By Brian Nowicki The Toledo Rockets football team looks to be in the midst of another great season. The Rockets are 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the MAC as they have outscored their opponents 118-37 so far this year. Senior QB Bruce Gradkowski is the only quarterback in Division I-A history to have a completion percentage over 70% in two consecutive seasons. He is on the Davey O'Brien Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year Award watch lists and he has a website promoting him as a Heisman Award Candidate. The Rockets have won two MAC Championships in the last four years and six MAC West Division Titles in the last eight years. Toledo is gunning for their 12th straight winning season. Yet the Rockets are averaging just 19,502 fans per game after their first two home games of the season. Those numbers are very disappointing for a Division I-A University in a city the size of Toledo. What has happened to the fans? Just a few years back, in 2001, the Rockets averaged 32,012 fans per game. Toledo broke the record for single game attendance by a MAC school, when 36,852 fans packed the Glass Bowl for a game against Navy in 2001. I know you are going to say that Toledo opened the season against a Division I-AA opponent, Western Illinois. Well, in 2000 Toledo hosted Division I-AA Weber State and had 32,781 in attendance for the game. What is the difference between Western Illinois and Weber State? Western Illinois actually has a better tradition in I-AA football than Weber State does. The Rockets hosted another I-AA school in 2000, Eastern Illinois. Attendance for that game was 27,318. Those two examples take away the excuse of this year's season opener being against a I-AA school. Next you're going to say that attendance for the Western Michigan game was hurt because of the Toledo Mud Hens playing a home playoff game and Ohio State hosting Texas at 8pm in a nationally televised game. Well sure that did affect attendance, but it should not have affected it so much that only 18,912 fans were in attendance to watch the Rockets win their conference opener against a team that played a very good and close game at a ranked Virginia team the week before. So what is done is done. We can't do anything about the attendance at those two games, but we do have three more home games left this season and it is time to get to the bottom of this attendance funk. The University of Toledo has been marketing the home games very nicely. Every time I turn on the TV I see a commercial about UT football. There are five different commercials promoting QB Bruce Gradkowski and the Rocket football team. There are also commercials promoting individual home games. Finally, there are the Rocket Insider commercials where they talk about what has happened the previous week and what is coming up in the future. There are billboards and a promotional slogan of "See You at the Game!" The UT marketing department is doing their job. I don't know what the answer is to getting more people to the games. For the last few years I have wondered how a city the size of Toledo could not support the Rockets any better than they have. It's not like the games are boring. The Rockets are averaging 59 points per game so far this season. Toledo has led 41-0 and 35-6 at halftime of both of their games. The fans that have been at the games have been very energetic and loud. They show up hours before kickoff and tailgate in the parking lots. Then they move into the Glass Bowl and cheer on the Rockets with an excitement that gets the team even more pumped. You can see the players feed off the crowd with every 3rd down stop by the Rocket defense. The fans that have showed up to the games have helped the team in winning 15 consecutive home games and 32 of their last 33 home games. Yet a city that is the 4th largest in the state of Ohio, a population of over 300,000 in the city and over 600,000 in the metropolitan area, cannot support the Rockets any better? With a city this size Toledo should be averaging over 30,000 fans per game, every season. The Rockets play Division I-A football and they are very successful. Some of their players go on to play professionally in the NFL, AFL, AFL2, and CFL. Just this season, former UT QB Brian Jones led the Memphis Xplorers to the Arena Cup Championship in the AFL2. Former LT Nick Kaczur, who played at Toledo from 2001-2004, is playing for the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and played quite a bit in their season opener last week. Former running back Chester Taylor, who played for Toledo from 1998-2001, plays for the Baltimore Ravens. He led the NFL in rushing yards during the preseason. And there are many of former Rockets that I have not mentioned. There is definitly professional talent on these Rocket teams. For the season opener against Western Illinois, there were scouts from 10 different NFL teams at the game. And the best part is the value for the price. The cost of tickets for Rocket football games is very affordable. Individual tickets for most Rocket home games are just $24 for a reserved seat and $19 for a general admission seat. A couple can go to a game and eat and drink at the game for $50. How many things can you do in Toledo for 3-4 hours worth of entertainment at that price? I hear people all the time say that there is nothing to do in Toledo. Then what is everyone doing? They could go watch an exciting Division I-A football game and cheer on the local team. Yet only about 20,000 people have done this so far. If there is nothing else to do in Toledo, than what are the other 280,000 people doing? How many are watching Division I-A football games on a 19-inch television in their homes instead of being at one in person? If you have never been to a UT football game, or have not been to one in the last couple of years, then I challenge you to go to one game this season. Give it a try. You will be pleasantly surprised with the fun you will have. The Rockets next home game is on Saturday, Ocotber 8th at 7:00pm. The Rockets will be hosting Eastern Michigan, and it will be Toledo's homecoming game. Come out to the Glass Bowl and support the Rockets in that game. I want to see over 30,000 fans at the game. I know you will have a good time. Have a question or comment for Brian? Email |