The record for attendance for an NMU football game held in the Superior Dome was broken last Thursday as a crowd of 8,672 spectators watched Northern lose 47-21 to the Michigan Tech Huskies.
The previous record of 8,432 was set on Oct. 5, 1991 in a game against GLIAC foe Ferris State. The two games mark the only times when the official attendance of a game at the Superior Dome has surpassed the mark of 8,000 people.
The new record pales in comparison to the all-time record for an NMU home football game, which was 15,844 for a game against Central Michigan University in 1976. The largest crowd ever to watch a live NMU football game came in 1966 when 40,166 people watched the Wildcats play Akron in Ohio.
Despite the larger than normal crowd, NMU Public Safety reported no difficulty in controlling the crowd. With the exception of a simple assault, no other incidents were reported.
According to Public Safety Investigator Victor LaDuke, the incident started when a male fan asked another male fan who was standing in front of him to sit down. The fan who had been asked to sit turned and slapped the other fan across the face. When the sitting fan confronted the standing fan who had hit him, he was slapped once again.
The fan then summoned a Public Safety official at the game who responded to the incident. No serious injuries were incurred in the assault. No charges have been filed and the case is still open.
-Carson LeMahieu and
Cassandra Sturos
