[GoMarquette.com] MU Concludes 2008-09 Ranked 10th In Attendance

[GoMarquetteSays]

MU Concludes 2008-09 Ranked 10th In Attendance
         

The Marquette University men's basketball program concluded the 2008-09 campaign ranked 10th in the nation in attendance, the program's highest-ever finish, according to information released by the NCAA Thursday morning.
         

http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/marq/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/051409aaa.html
         

[Hards Alumni]

so now lets build our own complex and stop paying to use the BC.

[dwaderoy2004]

and then we can rent it out to the bucks once the bradley center is unfit for use!

[Niv Berkowitz]

The Bucks? They'll be gone in four years or less. Who cares about them. MU will be the only show in town!

[Ari Gold]

The Bucks? They'll be gone in four years or less. Who cares about them. MU will be the only show in town!

Yeah once Herb dies the Bucks will be in Vegas soon enough.

I'd love to see MU build/rebuild a stadium.

[Hards Alumni]

Yeah once Herb dies the Bucks will be in Vegas soon enough.

I'd love to see MU build/rebuild a stadium.

no teams in Vegas.

write it down.

[KonaWarrior]

2008-09 Top-10:
 1. Kentucky (22,239),
2. Syracuse (21, 044),
3. North Carolina (21, 035),
4. Tennessee (20,483),
5. Louisville (19,397),
6. Wisconsin (17,230),
7. Maryland (17,048),
8. Memphis (16,933),
9. Kansas (16,350,
10. Marquette (16,200).

Hmmm...you would think that Syracuse would be at the one spot.  Also interesting that the Badgers hold the #6 spot.

[Hards Alumni]

I'm not sure why that is surprising.

have you been to a game at the Kohl center?

[dsfire]

It's a few years old (SLU has apparently built an on-campus arena with half the capacity of the one listed here), but here's a list of the largest arenas in college basketball: http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0105720.html

Also, for those interested, here's the link to the full breakdown of 2008-2009 attendance, since it's not particularly visible on the ncaa.org website (PDF): http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/resources/file/eb74080350b8dac/2009%20men%27s%20releasex.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&attachment=true

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Where are all of the posters who claim MU was inflating the attendance numbers?

Did that claim just go away this season?

[ChicosBailBonds]

no teams in Vegas.

write it down.

I agree.  I was at the NBA All-Star game in Vegas a few years ago and with the NBA execs.  I don't think it will happen.  To say that weekend was "interesting" does a disservice to the word.  The number of strippers / escorts on my plane alone being flown in for the "entertainment" was crazy. Half the plane and they were coming plane after plane after plane.  That doesn't even begin to get into the thuggery for the three days.  First day I was there we had a dead guy laying in the middle of Las Vegas Blvd. with a sheet over him.

It was quite the site.  A magnet to be sure that I don't think the NBA needs right now.  They have enough image problems and Vegas would be like giving an addict a life supply of blow.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

I was there right after AllStar weekend and everyone was saying NEVER AGAIN. Waitresses at NY NY left the restaurant after people repeatedly left without paying and took tips off other tables as they left. Cabbies went home after constantly being stiffed.
Still a bad taste in their mouths even today

[mu_hilltopper]

Where are all of the posters who claim MU was inflating the attendance numbers?

Did that claim just go away this season?

MU inflates their "attendance number" to the # of tickets sold.  There's no "claiming" about it, they do it.

[77ncaachamps]

In BOLD, the school's ranking among the top 50 largest arenas.

2008-09 Top-10:
 1. Kentucky (22,239), #3
2. Syracuse (21, 044), #1
3. North Carolina (21, 035), #5
4. Tennessee (20,483), #2
5. Louisville (19,397), #14
6. Wisconsin (17,230), #26
7. Maryland (17,048), #21
8. Memphis (16,933), #18
9. Kansas (16,350, #29
10. Marquette (16,200). #15



Hmmm...you would think that Syracuse would be at the one spot.  Also interesting that the Badgers hold the #6 spot.

[chapman]

Nothing really to dig into with this list.  Basically it says we have company with nine fantastic programs.  And from a capacity standpoint, the Bradley Center is far from the worst place to be playing our games.

[Jay Bee]

Awww, shucks.  Wisconsin beat us again.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

MU inflates their "attendance number" to the # of tickets sold.  There's no "claiming" about it, they do it.

I believe that, and I think most schools do that, don't they?

I just remember a lot of criticism of the program regarding attendance #'s in the past.

Now, MU breaks the top 10, and there's hardly a peep about it.

Where's all of the outrage gone?

[bs4173]

for what it's worth, we're one of only 2 private schools on that list, and since most public schools draw upwards of 90% of their students from in-state, they're more likely to have fans closer to their arenas over winter break. if you took all christmas break games out, we'd have a much higher attendance. the fact that fans aren't as willing to drive back to campus from outside of WI/Chicago means our attendance average is lowered significantly. I realize, yes, that most students do come from around WI/IL (although, only 37% are from WI, actually), but it's still worth noting. basically, there are far more kids within a 90-mile radius of Madison that can make it to Badger game during breaks.

Plus, MU has the smallest enrollment of the Top 10 by far. the only ones close are Memphis and Syracuse, with 14K and 16K undergrads, respectively, as compared to our 8K. Regardless of "inflation" claims, it's an impressive stat.

[rocky_warrior]

if you took all christmas break games out, we'd have a much higher attendance.

I'm not so sure about that.  Remember season ticket holders are always counted as "attendees" whether they go or not.  Also worth noting, I believe students/fanatics are counted as season ticket holders.

So, x-mas break games basically get the full season ticket holder count, plus a few walk up tickets.  That's not much different that most cupcake games.

[mu_hilltopper]

Hmm .. I was about to cosign with Rocky, but .. don't the Student season tickets exclude some games over xmas break? 

.. as for "outrage" on reporting tickets sold versus butts in seats .. I don't think it's outrage so much as people finding it redonkulous when there's *maybe* 6,000 fans in attendance, yet the box score "attendance" shows 12-13k for weeknight cupcake games.

at⋅tend⋅ance
  /əˈtɛndəns/
–noun
1.    the act of attending.
2.    the persons or number of persons present: an attendance of more than 300 veterans.

I'm not complaining .. I like that MU is in the top 10, and has put a solid entertainment product in the building over the past 5-10 years.  Just saying.  Attendance is attendance.  Not Attendance*.


* not really the count of people in the building.

[Brewtown Andy]

Hmm .. I was about to cosign with Rocky, but .. don't the Student season tickets exclude some games over xmas break? 

http://www.gomarquette.com/fanatics/index.html

The Fanatics Package Includes:
- Admission to all 19 home Men's Basketball games

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Hmm .. I was about to cosign with Rocky, but .. don't the Student season tickets exclude some games over xmas break? 

.. as for "outrage" on reporting tickets sold versus butts in seats .. I don't think it's outrage so much as people finding it redonkulous when there's *maybe* 6,000 fans in attendance, yet the box score "attendance" shows 12-13k for weeknight cupcake games.

at⋅tend⋅ance
  /əˈtɛndəns/
–noun
1.    the act of attending.
2.    the persons or number of persons present: an attendance of more than 300 veterans.

I'm not complaining .. I like that MU is in the top 10, and has put a solid entertainment product in the building over the past 5-10 years.  Just saying.  Attendance is attendance.  Not Attendance*.


* not really the count of people in the building.

I agree with you, but isn't this common in all sports? Announce the number of tickets sold? This isn't unique to MU is it?

As far as "outrage", I feel like a lot of the criticism was somewhat pointed at the old MU head coach, that he was always trying to "market MU" and was worried about things like attendance instead of winning games.

A quick search yielded these couple of threads... Not really a smoking gun... but some interesting and frustrating reading if you have 5 min.

http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=11229.75

http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=9173.0


This one is an interesting one speculating 2009 attendance.

http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=9173.0

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

As far as "outrage", I feel like a lot of the criticism was somewhat pointed at the old MU head coach, that he was always trying to "market MU" and was worried about things like attendance instead of winning games.

Maybe somebody will respond to this and you'll accuse them of "hijacking" a thread because they can't let go of our old coach.

Keep trying!

[dsfire]

for what it's worth, we're one of only 2 private schools on that list, and since most public schools draw upwards of 90% of their students from in-state, they're more likely to have fans closer to their arenas over winter break. if you took all christmas break games out, we'd have a much higher attendance. the fact that fans aren't as willing to drive back to campus from outside of WI/Chicago means our attendance average is lowered significantly. I realize, yes, that most students do come from around WI/IL (although, only 37% are from WI, actually), but it's still worth noting. basically, there are far more kids within a 90-mile radius of Madison that can make it to Badger game during breaks.

Plus, MU has the smallest enrollment of the Top 10 by far. the only ones close are Memphis and Syracuse, with 14K and 16K undergrads, respectively, as compared to our 8K. Regardless of "inflation" claims, it's an impressive stat.

The 90% in-state number seems suspect.  Certainly most state universities will draw a higher percentage in-state than private schools, but UW's demographics page lists their incoming freshman class breakdown as 60% WI, 13% MN, 21% other states and 6% international.  Marquette's, by contrast, only mentions that 61% of the incoming freshmen are from out of state, though you'd have to imagine that Illinois may even be a majority of that remainder.

I didn't check any other state schools, though I'd imagine that it would depend upon differences between in-state and out-of-state tuition, whether there are certain programs that are a big draw, and probably a number of other factors like weather.

[Marquette84]

Once again we get the thread about "6000" no-shows for cupcakes and people bent out of shape about our reporting process.

I'd like to compare our attendance to that of Wisconsin--#6 on the attendance list.

They reported a full house for every game--averaged a capacity crowd of 17,230 for the season.  That means they reported sellouts for the likes of SIU Edwardsville, Idaho State and Coppin State. It didn't matter whether it was a November early-season game, or a Christmas Break game--if it was played in Madison, it was a sellout.

BTW, same thing with Louisville--#5 on the list, with 19K+ attendance--even for their cupcake games. For example, they drew 19,493 for Morehead State (about 100 over their season average of 19,397).  Similar attendance for teams like South Alabama, Lamar and Ohio.

This means one of two things:

a) Wisconsin and UL fans are significantly more loyal, showing up even to the cupcakes on the schedule.
b) They also had no-shows for their cupcakes and report attendance (as we do) based on tickets sold.