EDITORIAL: Black Friday home games a cheap end to a great season
Central Michigan defeated Eastern Michigan in dramatic fashion Friday, mounting a 14-point comeback in the second half.
In what should have been a galvanizing moment to cap off Head Coach John Bonamego’s first season and the last home game for seniors who will never again play at Kelly/Shorts Stadium, the victory was diminished by a meager audience who witnessed it.
The CMU Athletics Department announced an unofficial attendance figure of 8,049 fans, the fewest amount for this season.
Kelly/Shorts Stadium holds up to 30,255 people; it was less than a third full on Friday. The next closest game was CMU’s loss to Toledo two weeks prior, a Tuesday game that brought in 13,490 people.
Students left Mount Pleasant on Tuesday and Wednesday for Thanksgiving Break. Residence halls remained closed until Sunday. Historically, few students return to campus to watch what has become a throwaway game that ends each season with a whimper.
This game has consistently been a loser for CMU football and the rest of the conference.
Three other MAC teams hosted games on Black Friday this year. Two of the three had the fewest-number of attendees compared to the rest of their home games this season. All three teams announced almost twice the amount of fans in attendance than those announced by CMU.
Toledo hosted Western Michigan in front of 16,151 people, Kent State traveled to Akron with 16,391 fans and Buffalo hosted UMass with 15,648 attendees.
CMU’s game didn’t benefit from a large TV audience either. It was broadcast on ESPN3, which is only available through online streaming.
The game is difficult for students and student-athletes. Students working the game, and members of the Chippewa Marching Band and cheerleading squad are forced to stay in Mount Pleasant or drive back after Thanksgiving, and are taken from their families during the holidays.
Sadly, the game also was Senior Day. After sacrificing thousands of hours to training, undergoing extreme stress and gambling with their health, 13 student-athletes celebrated their last home game with empty stands. The team’s senior class deserved a better showing of people.
This game also puts a burden on CMU to stay compliant with NCAA Division I attendance requirements. Each year, the Chippewas must average 15,000 fans at each home game. This becomes more difficult when the final home game of the season is far below that number.
Bonamego said last week that scheduling games the day after Thanksgiving is not practical.
“I think we should make every effort in the future to try and schedule these things before Thanksgiving, before the students leave to go home,” Bonamego said. “I made my feelings known at the league meetings. When we are all kind of struggling for attendance across the board, it just doesn’t make sense to schedule a game when you don’t have anybody.”
Bonamego also proposed hosting future Thanksgiving weekend games at a neutral site with multiple matchups like games in the High School State Playoffs, an interesting solution that several fans agreed with on social media. An event like that might be difficult to organize, but simple alternatives exist.
Moving the game to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Break would create a chance to catch students who have classes that day. Playing on Saturday may bring in students who are returning home early or create a reason to. On Friday, few are willing to drive back after one day of vacation to watch CMU football, especially against a weak opponent like Eastern Michigan.
Even in 2009, when CMU beat Northern Illinois on our way to a conference championship, only 15,113 people were there to watch CMU complete a perfect 8-0 conference record.
It’s clear that this game has no benefit to Chippewa athletics. The MAC should consider the alternatives when making future broadcasting deals with ESPN.
It’s time to cook this Turkey of a game.
