When I covered the men's soccer home opener last year, the Quakers shut down a physical Villanova team in a 2-0 win at Rhodes Field.
Penn (2-0 at the time) outshot its city rival 13-5 (6-1 on goal). Eric Violante and Keith Vereb looked more like forwards than the fullbacks they are, combining for two goals and an assist.
Unfortunately, there was virtually no one there to see it.
The estimated attendance for that game was 135, and that included another Daily Pennsylvanian writer, my parents and me.
To start the season, neither the men nor women's soccer teams' attendance broke 150 in their first three and four games, respectively. The women drew 150 to the North Carolina State game, but only half that number three days later against George Mason. The men didn't do much better, averaging 131 fans per game.
However, that all changed on October 1 when Penn introduced lights on Rhodes field for the Cornell games. When the women hosted the Big Red at 5 p.m. that Saturday, 225 people showed up for the first-ever night game at Rhodes Field. The men's game at 7:30 p.m. drew 583 fans, and according to a spokesman from the athletic department, that number grew to well over 700 by the end of the contest.
At the following night games, the raised attendance kept up. The next week against Dartmouth, the men drew 271 fans for a 5 p.m. game, and 379 spectators witnessed the 7:30 p.m. season finale against Princeton.
The women also gained more exposure, seeing 203 fans at the 7:30 p.m. Dartmouth game and 350 at the 5 p.m. finale against Princeton.
This season, it seems that the athletic department has wisened up to the value of a primetime event. Out of their nine home games this year, the women's team will play four at 7 or 7:30 p.m., and the men host six of their seven home games after 5 p.m.
This shows that the program is catering to the student body. Few college kids are going to get thrilled about a Saturday afternoon game, but primetime soccer is much more appealing.
On the other hand, the football program certainly isn't doing anything for the Saturday schedule of lazy college students.
Unlike last year, when four of six home games started at 3:30 p.m. or later, the 7 p.m. home opener against Villanova is the only 2006 game set to start after 1 p.m.
I can't remember the last time I woke up before 11 a.m. without the help of an alarm.
Coach Al Bagnoli does not control the schedule; that is more in the realm of the athletic department. But as he says, the media schedule dictates when the game times can be.
"Believe it or not, a lot of it is TV," Bagnoli said. "Our games are all over the place - we just react to it. Okay, CN8 wants a night game against Villanova so we're playing them at 7. Somebody else wants us to do a game and we have to play that one at 3:30. Daylight-saving time comes and there's no lights, they want it on TV, so we play it at 12:30."
I can't blame the team for trying to make money in TV deals, but few Penn students even get CN8, let alone watch Penn football on it.
And why couldn't the Quakers manage a few 3:30 games like last year? TV was an even bigger factor last season as Penn saw itself on the YES Network (this is the first time in years the Quakers won't get a game on the New York-based station) and there were three 3:30 start times, as opposed to none this year.
Last season, Penn drew over 8,600 fans to a game against Duquesne, a little-known Pittsburgh school, and more than 9,800 against Yale in the light rain, all at late afternoon starts. However, they only drew 6,900 for the noon kickoff against Cornell on a clear day for the season finale.
And the only night game for the year, the 7 p.m. start against Villanova, drew a whopping 23,257 fans.
Granted, every game can't be at night against a local team, but the program won't attract the average student if it keeps moving up the start times. The casual fan is easily deterred, and needs some incentive to go every week. Whenever I show the 2006 football schedule to a Penn friend, the answer is usually just a groan.
On the other hand, soccer as a sport is extremely popular at Penn - I can't count on one hand the number of Arsenal fans I argue with - and maybe with marketing of some kind and the help of a bunch of primetime games, the Penn teams could tap into this resource of fans.
Football may never lose its stranglehold on the other fall sports, but with the direction each program is going in, at some point it could see its grip loosen quite a bit.
Josh Wheeling is a junior Economics major from Philadelphia and Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. He can be reached at jw4@sas.upenn.edu.
