Kolek planning to go pro
Again, there is no way it would be a one off game. Scheduling a series to play one game when UWM is relevant for a minute and then sacrificing scheduling spots later on is dumb. And no, there would be no buzz post PBJ. They haven’t averaged more than 2500 fans in 5+ years. There isn’t buzz around Louisville when UL plays Bellarmine. There isn’t buzz when Georgia Tech plays Kennesaw St. This idea that a UWM-MU series is lacking or desired by more than 2-3000 people is silly. If Marquette beat a bad UWM team by 30 when PBJ scores 25, the anticipation for next years matchup when he’s in the NBA would be no different than IUPUI
The fear of playing UWM from Marquette alum and fans is bewildering
Stupid comment. 41-0. Enough said. And it’s financially stupid.
Milwaukee Business Journal reporting a big demand in increase for UWM season tickets. They might hit triple digits.Seriously though:• The phone started ringing about 10 seconds after Patrick Baldwin Jr. announced his commitment to play basketball at UW-Milwaukee next year.• Within 24 hours of the news, UW-Milwaukee’s athletic department sold more than 200 new season ticket memberships, generating more than $40,000 in revenue, said Martinez. At one point, he thought the ticket website had crashed because of the sudden influx of online traffic. As of Monday morning, new season memberships totaled 350 and $63,000 in revenue.• Based on initial interest, UW-Milwaukee anticipates a 70% increase in 2021-22 season ticket sales compared to the 2019-20 season, which saw a total of 485 members, according to Adam Schemm, senior associate athletic director for external relations.
41-0, yet a lot of excuses not to play them. I agree a home and home is ridiculous.
My opinion on playing UWM is the same today as it always has been. If the Marquette AD thinks it makes financial sense to play the game AND the Marquette coach sees no competitive disadvantage to playing the game, then play. If either has a legitimate reason for not playing, then don't.If MU has averaged 5 "buy games" a season, that means in the last 40+ years, I've seen well over 200 of these dogs. They all look alike.And it kind of begs the question. If UWM can't draw more than 900 of its own "fans" to the Arena for a Saturday night Horizon League game, why would anyone expect Marquette to put 17,000 people in Fiserv Forumn to watch that same UWM team???
I'm not sure why people are so upset that some MU fans would want to see one of our buy games be against a team with a potential lottery pick. Will it sell out? No... Maybe draw a few thousand extra fans? Yeah, probably. That's better than University of Random Small Town that one usually plays as a buy game. No one is saying do a home and home. So what's the down side? Potentially losing? That's a piss poor reason.
Didn't the Horizon have a rule in place for OOC games with high majors where it had to be a 2 for 1?
For as long as I can remember MU has been touting the 16 game home model. In that time we've joined the Big East and gotten a much bigger share ESPN deal, then we joined the NBE and got an even bigger NBE deal, then we moved to the Fiserv where home games are not as lucrative bc of the higher rent.My point is there is more than one way to balance a budget. Playing UWM at the MECCA every 3rd year should not upend our financial situation. Here's an idea:Play UWM at the Mecca...Send me my season ticket package. Allow me to check a box for tickets at UWM for $30 /per. Give UWM $20 per ticket (their best regular ticket cost $21). I would guess a good percentage of MU STHers would do this and it would be a win-win for MU & UWM.
Based on how UWM handled tickets the last time, I’m not sure they would give MU a sweet way to build it into their season ticket package.While home games may not be as lucrative, I have to imagine the finances still promote that. With the added road game in the BE season, it seems like we are reserving road games for marquee matchups or neutral court events. Not saying it can’t happen, but I don’t know that a road game with UWM is really in the cards.
I get the idea of playing UWM this year. But why would we want to play them every year?
UWGB, during that 3 and 1 stretch, had decent teams and a notable former MU player as a coach. UWM has neither. I’m baffled as to where this idea that a team that doesn’t draw more than 1500 fans to a game would draw 5000 additional fans to the Fiserv that wouldn’t come if MU was playing North Dakota or Jackson St. Marquette fans come to see Marquette, I doubt the appetite for UWM from the MU contingent is that strong and there is no evidence that the casual MKE basketball fan has interest in UWM games, PBJ aside
The notion of doing 3 for 1 etc was a good one economically. I went to UWGB MU game in 2011 and there were 15,000 people there. The upper's in the BC had a lot of fans and the lower bowl was completely full. So we definitely get the bang for the buck on the 3 home games. However, that theory got blown out the window when we lost to UWGB on the road. The NET gives benefit for road wins. Doesn't matter if it is across the street. So there is some risk compensation in that case.