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The math of estimating WVU fans

Sean Miller Fan

Lair Hall of Famer
Oct 30, 2001
64,714
20,788
113
Lets assume attendance is 70K

9000 Pitt students
15,000 Pitt sideline donor seats, assume this is 80% Pitt, but probably more like 90%-95% Pitt
5000 WVU alottment

So out of 29,00 seats, we have 21,000 Pitt and 8,000 WVU and this includes 100% of WVU's official alottment.

Now lets review the rest of the stadium.

Lower level WVU side, Upper level Pitt side, Upper level WVU side. Upper level end-zone non WVU allotted seats. For WVU to get 30K like they will no doubt say, they will have to have 22K of the 41K remaining seats. So if you are scoring at home, if you take away the student seats, the Pitt donor seats, and the WVU allotted sections, WVU fans would have to make up 54% of the remaining sections, which is stupidly impossible. They MAY have 15K. They'll be loud, it will seem like more, they'll claim 40K, but it wont be more than 15
 
They’ve been lying about this as long as I’ve followed the Panthers and WV has never had more than 10-12k…. And I’ve been to most brawls at Heinz… 2008 was a particularly weak showing and McCoy ran all over them.
 
Lets assume attendance is 70K

9000 Pitt students
15,000 Pitt sideline donor seats, assume this is 80% Pitt, but probably more like 90%-95% Pitt
5000 WVU alottment

So out of 29,00 seats, we have 21,000 Pitt and 8,000 WVU and this includes 100% of WVU's official alottment.

Now lets review the rest of the stadium.

Lower level WVU side, Upper level Pitt side, Upper level WVU side. Upper level end-zone non WVU allotted seats. For WVU to get 30K like they will no doubt say, they will have to have 22K of the 41K remaining seats. So if you are scoring at home, if you take away the student seats, the Pitt donor seats, and the WVU allotted sections, WVU fans would have to make up 54% of the remaining sections, which is stupidly impossible. They MAY have 15K. They'll be loud, it will seem like more, they'll claim 40K, but it wont be more than 15
If there is 70k that means 20k wvu fans. Pitt doesn’t have more than 50k fans
 
Lets assume attendance is 70K

9000 Pitt students
15,000 Pitt sideline donor seats, assume this is 80% Pitt, but probably more like 90%-95% Pitt
5000 WVU alottment

So out of 29,00 seats, we have 21,000 Pitt and 8,000 WVU and this includes 100% of WVU's official alottment.

Now lets review the rest of the stadium.

Lower level WVU side, Upper level Pitt side, Upper level WVU side. Upper level end-zone non WVU allotted seats. For WVU to get 30K like they will no doubt say, they will have to have 22K of the 41K remaining seats. So if you are scoring at home, if you take away the student seats, the Pitt donor seats, and the WVU allotted sections, WVU fans would have to make up 54% of the remaining sections, which is stupidly impossible. They MAY have 15K. They'll be loud, it will seem like more, they'll claim 40K, but it wont be more than 15
Pitt has sold out season tickets. WVU must be buying them up to get that many fans.
 
We sold out season tickets this year. That means, counting students, that there are around 45-50K tickets accounted for from Pitt season tickets. When individual game tickets were first put on sale, only season ticket holders and Pitt donors were allowed to buy them. Certainly a few people bought them for West Virginia friends, and certainly some number of all those tickets will be scalped to West Virginia fans. But by the time that sale ended there were probably well more than 60K tickets already distributed, and the vast majority of the Hoopie ticket holders would have been the ones that got them from their allotment.

So in short, for them to even get to 15K fans they would have had to have purchased nearly ALL of the tickets put on sale to the general public. And that's just silly.

And by the way, unless there is a different arraignment for this series (which there certainly could be), the typical number of visiting fans tickets is not 5,000, as SMF says. It's 3,000.
 
That’s assuming all the seasons were all bought by Pitt fans and that they all will be in seats and not resold etc. Probably not. I’ll guess at least 15 and most ever by visiting team.
 
This will be the highest WVU fan percentage game ever against Pitt on North Shore (Accri-itch, Heinz, TRS). Labor Day (when this game should’ve always been played) nice weather, haven’t played in a decade, etc.

Have no idea how many WVU fans will be there but it’ll be more than any other time. Playing Pitt in the 90-10s wasn’t very exciting. It was still the Brawl. Don’t think we really cared too much then because we had good rivalries with VPI, Louisville, Syracuse, and Maryland back then. Now we are unrivaled in XII.

Excited to play our biggest historical rival. And fans will show up from WVU.

Red state football.
 
"Now we are unrivaled in XII."

Did you get the "unrivaled" quote from your buddies at State Penn?
 
This will be the highest WVU fan percentage game ever against Pitt on North Shore (Accri-itch, Heinz, TRS). Labor Day (when this game should’ve always been played) nice weather, haven’t played in a decade, etc.

Have no idea how many WVU fans will be there but it’ll be more than any other time. Playing Pitt in the 90-10s wasn’t very exciting. It was still the Brawl. Don’t think we really cared too much then because we had good rivalries with VPI, Louisville, Syracuse, and Maryland back then. Now we are unrivaled in XII.

Excited to play our biggest historical rival. And fans will show up from WVU.

Red state football.
It will also be the highest percentage of Pitt fans than any other time.

- playing WVU in the 90s and 2000s wasn't very exciting

- Labor Day weekend, good weather

- excitement around the program is at a 40 year high coming off an ACC Championship and first season with less than 2 or fewer regular season losses in 40 years

- season tickets sold out and the overwhelming majority of those tickets would have been bought by Pitt fans, not WVU fans or brokers
 
Lets assume attendance is 70K

9000 Pitt students
15,000 Pitt sideline donor seats, assume this is 80% Pitt, but probably more like 90%-95% Pitt
5000 WVU alottment

So out of 29,00 seats, we have 21,000 Pitt and 8,000 WVU and this includes 100% of WVU's official alottment.

Now lets review the rest of the stadium.

Lower level WVU side, Upper level Pitt side, Upper level WVU side. Upper level end-zone non WVU allotted seats. For WVU to get 30K like they will no doubt say, they will have to have 22K of the 41K remaining seats. So if you are scoring at home, if you take away the student seats, the Pitt donor seats, and the WVU allotted sections, WVU fans would have to make up 54% of the remaining sections, which is stupidly impossible. They MAY have 15K. They'll be loud, it will seem like more, they'll claim 40K, but it wont be more than 15
But espn’s reputable journalism says it will be 75% WVU fans. This is infuriating…but is an example of todays media. They say whatever they want.

 
This will be the highest WVU fan percentage game ever against Pitt on North Shore (Accri-itch, Heinz, TRS). Labor Day (when this game should’ve always been played) nice weather, haven’t played in a decade, etc.

Have no idea how many WVU fans will be there but it’ll be more than any other time. Playing Pitt in the 90-10s wasn’t very exciting. It was still the Brawl. Don’t think we really cared too much then because we had good rivalries with VPI, Louisville, Syracuse, and Maryland back then. Now we are unrivaled in XII.

Excited to play our biggest historical rival. And fans will show up from WVU.

Red state football.
Yeah, what you are discounting is you guys are thinking this is Pitt circa 2011. There is a much heightened interest here now.
 
I will tell you all something that a wiseman once said. It is 6 in one and 2 dozen in the other.

Meaning it does not matter who shows up as long as they all show up.
 
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This will be the highest WVU fan percentage game ever against Pitt on North Shore (Accri-itch, Heinz, TRS). Labor Day (when this game should’ve always been played) nice weather, haven’t played in a decade, etc.

Have no idea how many WVU fans will be there but it’ll be more than any other time. Playing Pitt in the 90-10s wasn’t very exciting. It was still the Brawl. Don’t think we really cared too much then because we had good rivalries with VPI, Louisville, Syracuse, and Maryland back then. Now we are unrivaled in XII.

Excited to play our biggest historical rival. And fans will show up from WVU.

Red state football.
You’re underestimating the fact that you could swap WVU with Pitt in your message and it’d still apply.
 
It will also be the highest percentage of Pitt fans than any other time.

- playing WVU in the 90s and 2000s wasn't very exciting

- Labor Day weekend, good weather

- excitement around the program is at a 40 year high coming off an ACC Championship and first season with less than 2 or fewer regular season losses in 40 years

- season tickets sold out and the overwhelming majority of those tickets would have been bought by Pitt fans, not WVU fans or brokers

i know a lot of out of state Pitt fans who don’t usually go to games that are coming back for this one.
 
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But espn’s reputable journalism says it will be 75% WVU fans. This is infuriating…but is an example of todays media. They say whatever they want.


if WVU fans only bought 75% of what was available on Stub Hub, Vivid etc… there will actually be less WV fans than I originally thought.

I’m gonna say 10-12k wv fans the rest Pitt.
 
It's hard to believe that anyone can be so stupid. There really are idiots that think 75% WVU fans?!?! Simple math here. 75 % of 70K is 52.5k. take 10k off the top for students. That leaves 60k. Out of that 60k, 52.5 is gonna be WVU fans?!?! Lol. Are they really this dumb? Holy crap! 15 k tops. Just like Penn state
 
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i know a lot of out of state Pitt fans who don’t usually go to games that are coming back for this one.
I know a lot of Pitt fans that don't go to many games that are going to this one. They will have 10,000 and hope by the start of the fourth quarter they'll be nice and quiet.
 
Have no idea how many WVU fans will be there but it’ll be more than any other time. Playing Pitt in the 90-10s wasn’t very exciting. It was still the Brawl. Don’t think we really cared too much then because we had good rivalries with VPI, Louisville, Syracuse, and Maryland back then. Now we are unrivaled in XII.
It was still your biggest rivalry game. Maryland? Louisville? Games that made some geographic sense but no way you got as fired up for them. Virginia Tech might have been close but your fans blew it through violent behavior at games.
 
They’ve been lying about this as long as I’ve followed the Panthers and WV has never had more than 10-12k…. And I’ve been to most brawls at Heinz… 2008 was a particularly weak showing and McCoy ran all over them.
Well, obviously the Hatfields weren't there.
 
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ESPN is just going along with this because the national narrative is that Pitt’s fan base is garbage. Doesn’t mean it’s the truth. It’s just the narrative. Kinda like WVU and number of teeth.
 
ESPN is just going along with this because the national narrative is that Pitt’s fan base is garbage. Doesn’t mean it’s the truth. It’s just the narrative. Kinda like WVU and number of teeth.
There is no national narrative of Pitt's fan base. The nation doesn't care about or understand Pitt football attendance. I'll give you that that there is a regional narrative.
 
WVU fans have a proven formula to determine their fan attendance at away games.

Stadium capacity divided by 2 plus 5,000 equals WV fans present.
This simple formula explains why the 'eers manage to take over every stadium they visit.
 
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WVU fans have a proven formula to determine their fan attendance at away games.

Stadium capacity divided by 2 plus 5,000 equals WV fans present.
This simple formula explains why the 'eers manage to take over every stadium they visit.
Right after they take over the TV market.
 
WVU fans have a proven formula to determine their fan attendance at away games.

Stadium capacity divided by 2 plus 5,000 equals WV fans present.
This simple formula explains why the 'eers manage to take over every stadium they visit.
Morgantown Math
 
There is no national narrative of Pitt's fan base. The nation doesn't care about or understand Pitt football attendance. I'll give you that that there is a regional narrative.
Nah. They don’t know much about it or care much about it. You’re correct.

However, they know it because ESPN hates Pitt and other metro schools like y’all. No passion.

They made a point to litter the airwaves with yellow seats during that one game when Rudolph and Washington were blowing past your defenders.

You’re a city school. Your fans and school passion were never meant to be taken seriously.
 
Nah. They don’t know much about it or care much about it. You’re correct.

However, they know it because ESPN hates Pitt and other metro schools like y’all. No passion.

They made a point to litter the airwaves with yellow seats during that one game when Rudolph and Washington were blowing past your defenders.

You’re a city school. Your fans and school passion were never meant to be taken seriously.
Again PITT enthusiasm isn’t where it was last time this game was played… with left lane Todd Graham… it’s not the same program. Anyone thinking WVU has more than 10-15k in a sold out SRO game tomorrow is flat out delusional or a WV troll or both
 
WVU fans have a proven formula to determine their fan attendance at away games.

Stadium capacity divided by 2 plus 5,000 equals WV fans present.
This simple formula explains why the 'eers manage to take over every stadium they visit.


Wait, you think that the average West Virginian could do math that difficult?
 
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