Top 3 attendance games - Last two seasons
1. Indiana State (Sept. 13, 2014) - 15,860
2. Western Michigan (Oct. 11, 2014) - 11,237
3. VMI (Sept. 4, 2015) - 10, 473
For just the third time in the last two seasons, Scheumann Stadium's attendance reached 10 thousand for a home football game.
Ball State defeated Virginia Military Institute 48-36 in the season opener in front of 10,473 spectators. Athletic Director Mark Sandy said attendance was about where he expected, but it could have been better.
"I thought the crowd from non-students was OK," Sandy said. "I thought the stadium looked great, good fan experience, the fireworks worked fine. Overall, I thought it was about what I expected. It would've been nice if we would've had more."
Sandy praised the student section, also known as the nest, for showing up and filling the bleachers through the hot weather. He said about 4,000 students showed up for the game, many of them dressed in cardinal red for the contest.
There were many students, however, that didn't make the trip across the street to the game following tailgating.
Winning on the field helps boost attendance, Sandy added. But there are other things the athletic department will do throughout the season to keep fans interested.
"Obviously winning helps," he said. "An exciting team people will get behind. We'll have several different promotional things we do during the season to get more people out from the community."
From a student's perspective, Sandy said the athletic department is always listening for suggestions on what they want. The students wanted longer tailgating times this year and will be able to come out four hours before kickoff.
Along with games like Homecoming where a large crowd is expected, Sandy said he expects the tailgating times to really make a difference on Saturday afternoons.
The Thursday night game worked well for Labor Day weekend, because many of the students travel home for the holiday. Sandy said the weeknight game depends on the time of year, but four of the team's five remaining home games will be played on Saturdays.
Ball State's next home game will be its Homecoming matchup with Toledo on Oct. 3.
"We'll see how it goes," Sandy said. "We expect a great crowd then."
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