Embarrassing crowd

[marqfan22]

Did they shut the lights off in the upper deck of the Bradley Ctr? Usually you can see all the empties, but not tonight.

[Warriors10]

I'm sitting in my season ticket seat homeboy

Well then watch the game and quit complaining...

[avid1010]

i can't stand the jerks who can't get to their seat for the start of the game/2nd half.  don't worry, we'll all get blocked out from watching the game while you take your sweet @ss time, waving to people who really don't care to see you, checking your cell phone, and finally making your way through your isle was everyone has to stand to let you through.  wish they would block people at the entrance until a dead ball. 

[Coleman]

i can't stand the jerks who can't get to their seat for the start of the game/2nd half.  don't worry, we'll all get blocked out from watching the game while you take your sweet @ss time, waving to people who really don't care to see you, checking your cell phone, and finally making your way through your isle was everyone has to stand to let you through.  wish they would block people at the entrance until a dead ball. 

Have you never been to a sporting event?

[MU82]

Zzzzzzzzz.

Wake me when this thread is over.

Zzzzzzzzz.

[mu_hilltopper]

It wasn't an "embarrassing" crowd.  It was a standard crowd for any Wednesday night versus a bottom feeder conference team.

That MU is #10 is going to influence very few non-season ticket holders under those circumstances.

[Tugg Speedman]

Best weekday crowd of the BE conference season.  Exactly on the average of the year.

----

Day   Date   Opponent   Attendence   Average
Friday   11/11/2011   Mount St. Mary    13,834   
Monday   11/14/2011   Norfolk State   12,765   13,300
Monday   11/28/2011   Jacksonville   12,848   13,149
Saturday   12/10/2011   Green Bay   14,208   13,414
Saturday   12/17/2011   Northern Colorado   13,593   13,450
Thursday   12/22/2011   UWM   14,917   13,694
Thursday   12/29/2011   Vanderbilt   15,684   13,978
Sunday   1/1/2012   Villanova   14,550   14,050
Wednesday   1/11/2012   St. Johns   14,484   14,098
Saturday   1/14/2012   Pittsburgh   18,404   14,529
Monday   1/16/2012   Louisville   16,688   14,725
Tuesday   1/24/2012   USF   13,693   14,639
Tuesday   1/31/2012   Steton Hall   13,828   14,577
Saturday   2/11/2012   Cincy   18,815   14,879
Wednesday   2/22/2012   Rutgers   14,807   14,875

[We R Final Four]

I don't know where the numbers come from, but there is NO WAY there were ~15K in attendance tonight.  There must have been 5 large who decided to watch from the concourse.  Should we revisit the door vs. the attendants again?

Also have to question Cincy.  18,815?  That is near record numbers--didn't happen.

GU will be sold out and rockin.........by these numbers I would say maybe close to 22K, maybe 23K. 

BTW--F Steton Hall.

[Warriors 79]

Agree with MU84 on the size of MU's student body and the size of the Bradley Center.  Seriously, stop talking about a small Jesuit University filling a cavernous 18K Hockey Arena for a Wednesday Night game against a nothing opponent.  I live in Seattle and barely watched the game and I am a HUGE fan. The opponent matters, students don't give a crap about games on weekdays, and fans get complacent so easily when a team gets DD wins.

Go Warriors!! 

[Norm]

I think another thing to keep in mind is that MU has had realtively few weekend home Big East games this year. On the flip side, they play a ton of road games on Saturdays.

Here's the breakdown:

Home BE schedule:
Sun - Villanova (no students)
Wed - St. John's
Sat - Pitt
Mon - Louisville
Tues - South Florida
Tues - Seton Hall
Sat - Cincinnati
Wed - Rutgers
Sat - Georgetown

Road BE schedule:
Wed - Georgetown
Sat - Syracuse
Sat - Providence
Sat - Villanova
Sat - Notre Dame
Mon - DePaul
Sat - UConn
Fri - West Virginia
Wed - Cincinnati

So, MU plays 5 home games during the week, and 4 on the weekends (only 3 with the students in school). They go on the road for 6 weekend games and 3 weekday games. I'd also suggest that if you flipped the home and road schedules, the students would have packed the games for Syracuse, Notre Dame and West Virginia, much more so than the games against USF, Seton Hall and Rutgers.

[🏀]

No....I'm not going to STFU assh*le.  Seriously...wtf is that?

I can guaranty you that if this were a highly ranked opponent, the student section would be packed.  Diehard fans can't seem to get this, but the quality of the opponent matters to the casual fan, and most fans are casual fans.

If the students can't fill the lower bowl every game regardless of visiting team, then cut the section down. At least stop calling it the best in the country.

Marquette had better student showings against Norfolk State and Jacksonville than Rutgers, that is the problem. But you wouldn't know, you weren't at the game, or the previously mentioned games.

Get off the high horse as*hole.

[MUfan12]

I'm with PTM on this one. If an entertaining Top 10 team, that has won 11 of 12, can't bring out students then nothing will.

It's pathetic. Cut down the section in the upper deck and sell those seats to STH. At least make some more money off of those empty seats.

[DrDestiny911]

Can we rename this thread mountains out of molehills plz?

[🏀]

I'm with PTM on this one. If an entertaining Top 10 team, that has won 11 of 12, can't bring out students then nothing will.

It's pathetic. Cut down the section in the upper deck and sell those seats to STH. At least make some more money off of those empty seats.

At least give the tickets away to groups or MPS or something.

Usually I stay away from these threads, but not having the lower bowl filled for a conference game is entirely unacceptable and is a new low water mark.

[Warrior of Law]

The attendance is solid; it's all about the size of the venue.  If we were in a 12,000 seat arena, we'd be talking about 100+ sellouts in a row.  As a parallel, SLU can't fill up a beautiful new 10,000 seat arena:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/slu/bernie-on-slu-s-attendance-problems/article_b38cbe40-598e-11e1-964b-0019bb30f31a.html

SLU is a different type of program, but the school size and urban location are very comparable.

[Warriors10]

If the students can't fill the lower bowl every game regardless of visiting team, then cut the section down. At least stop calling it the best in the country.

Marquette had better student showings against Norfolk State and Jacksonville than Rutgers, that is the problem. But you wouldn't know, you weren't at the game, or the previously mentioned games.

Get off the high horse as*hole.

Sooooo classy.

Cut down the section?  Really?  Whatcha gonna do for big games then when it is completely sold out?  A Wednesday night game against a crap team...

One last question: You give up common sense for lent?

[🏀]

Sooooo classy.

Cut down the section?  Really?  Whatcha gonna do for big games then when it is completely sold out?  A Wednesday night game against a crap team...

One last question: You give up common sense for lent?

What am I going to do? For starters, make more money off the seats by selling them at higher value than the students pay?

Why does Rutgers draw less than Norfolk or Jacksonville for the students? Where's the common sense there?

[🏀]

The attendance is solid; it's all about the size of the venue.  If we were in a 12,000 seat arena, we'd be talking about 100+ sellouts in a row.  As a parallel, SLU can't fill up a beautiful new 10,000 seat arena:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/slu/bernie-on-slu-s-attendance-problems/article_b38cbe40-598e-11e1-964b-0019bb30f31a.html

SLU is a different type of program, but the school size and urban location are very comparable.

No problems with overall attendance from me. I'm directed solely at the students who couldn't fill the lower bowl. That hasn't been a problem since injured Diener, MJax point center games.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I am confused...as the student section in the lower bowl was near full...latecomers yes, but the only empties were in the band section. 

[Warriors4ever]

No way were there 2,000 students there tonight. The students that were there did a nice job, so want to acknowledge that. They weren't the only ones who didn't show up, though.  At best, the BC looked half-full.  Quite pathetic, frankly, for a top ten team.
So if 15,000 tickets were sold for this game, where was everybody else?  We drive from Chicago, and wouldn't dreamed of missing it, whoever they were playing.

[Chili]

after seeing anonymous eagles pic on the blog tonight of the student section i felt ill. that is sad and repulsive what the students with student tickets did tonight. for unnatural carnal knowledge sake i had the end of the deane and first two rotten dick head years as mine at mu, yeah nit. this team is top ten and these over priveledged hipster unnatural carnal knowledges cant go to a game? unnatural carnal knowledge them. just give them the 2 sections behind the hoop as they obviously have more important crap do like jack off. i mean seriously pretty boys, cant fill the lower bowl?? i gave my season tcket away 2 unnatural carnal knowledgeing weeks ago bc i had 34 customers flying to chicago for training i had to entertain and these spoiled unnatural carnal knowledges couldn't make the game??? unnatural carnal knowledge em...cut the tickets...not like they will notice anyway

[Eye]

wish they would block people at the entrance until a dead ball. 

Pretty sure I wouldn't copy anything DePaul does, except this. If you aren't in the section when the ball is put is thrown in the air at the beginning of the game/put into the play at the beginning of the second half, you should have to wait 'til the 16-minute time out to take your seat. Exception would be a time out/free throw IMHO.

[Tugg Speedman]

If the students can't fill the lower bowl every game regardless of visiting team, then cut the section down. At least stop calling it the best in the country.

Marquette had better student showings against Norfolk State and Jacksonville than Rutgers, that is the problem. But you wouldn't know, you weren't at the game, or the previously mentioned games.

MU undergrad is 8,000  Student section of the lower bowl seats 2,000.  Total size of the student section is 3,600.  If the lower bowl is full, that is 25% of the undergrad population.  I wrote this already.  

So, let's compare this to what many think is the best student section in the country.  They have 6,000 undergrads and play in an arena on campus.  They also get to sit between the end lines, not behind the basket.

So yes, MU is the best student section in the country.  Try going to going to weekday night games against bottom feeders at other schools and tell me who is better.

-------------


http://dukechronicle.com/article/low-attendance-forces-duke-athletics-sell-student-seats

Low attendance forces Duke Athletics to sell student seats
January 24, 2012


Once regularly an asylum for 1,200 Crazies, Section 17 at Cameron Indoor Stadium now rarely plays host to a student-only crowd.

Student attendance at men’s basketball games has fallen consistently over the last five years, even dropping after Duke won its fourth national championship in 2010. This season, approximately 650 undergraduates have attended each game, 150 fewer than during the 2008-09 season. As a result, Duke Athletics has begun to sell an increasing number of general admission tickets in the student section on a regular basis.

“It has nothing to do with the revenue. We just want it to be full,” Director of Marketing and Relations Mike Forman said. “If there were 1,200 students every game we would love it.”

This is not the first season in which students have been accompanied by paying customers in Section 17, the 1,200-seat stretch of bleachers that run parallel to the court across from the team benches. Last season, Section 17 tickets were sold for every regular season home game except for Michigan State and North Carolina. Approximately 850 tickets are sold to home games during winter break, reserving 100 spots for local students to attend.

“It does take a lot to go to K-Ville and wait outside, sometimes in the cold and in the rain, and then go into Cameron where you have to stand and jump up and down,” co-head line monitor Ellie Garrett said. “Students need to realize that going to Cameron is... an awesome experience.”

This lack of undergraduate interest has led Duke Athletics to sell about 300 tickets per game this season, priced at $65. The general admission tickets are offered first to Iron Dukes and then to football and women’s basketball season ticket holders. If there were still to be tickets remaining after that opportunity, they would be opened up to the general public, though that situation has yet to arise.

The head line monitors meet with Forman 10 days before each home game to approximate the number of undergraduates who will attend based on a variety of factors, including game time, day of the week and other campus events.

When the Blue Devils played Wake Forest last week, 400 tickets were made available to Iron Dukes because of concerns over the game’s competition with fraternity and sorority rush, along with the Demon Deacons’ struggles. Still, Section 17 was still under capacity at tip-off, leading head coach Mike Krzyzewski to gesticulate across the court during play, encouraging the fans to get louder.

No general admission tickets have been sold for this Saturday’s game against St. John’s, however.

“The enthusiasm hasn’t been there,” Forman said. “[Head coach Mike Krzyzewski] has had to drum up enthusiasm himself, which he shouldn’t have to do. The students should be doing that themselves... whether 500 or 1,200 of them are there.”

One of the biggest causes of the declining attendance is the students’ misconception of the time commitment involved, Garrett said, along with the increasing prevalence and popularity of online streaming on sites like WatchESPN.com.

“The rumor we’ve had to deal with over the past couple years is that it’s hard to get into games, and if you show up half an hour before tipoff you won’t get in,” Garrett said. “We’ve been trying really hard... to really debunk those rumors because they’re simply not true.”

Another part of the problem has been an underwhelming home schedule over the past several years due to a down ACC and marquee nonconference matchups moving to Madison Square Garden. Duke has played just three ranked nonconference teams in Cameron Indoor Stadium over the last four years, and only three ACC teams are currently placed in the Associated Press Top 25.

Diminishing student attendance is a national trend, Forman said, and collegiate sports marketing departments have been combating it in a variety of ways. Many have altered their in-game experiences to become more engaging during stoppages in play, especially timeouts and halftime. Over the last few years, Duke has begun incorporating highlight videos, player introductions and popular music into its pregame festivities, but the marketing department currently has no plans to significantly alter the in-game atmosphere.

“Every other school in the country is playing canned music during timeouts, doing cheesy promotions,” Forman said. “We try to stay away from that.”

During the offseason, the sports marketing staff plans to investigate more of the underlying factors of the undergraduate attendance decline. Until then, though, the few students left will just have to get Crazier.

[4everwarriors]

Maybe the NCAA will move the team to Vegas.

[brewcity77]

I haven't seen the entire student section full this season. Lower, yes, upper, not once. Maybe offer the student seats to recent grads. Between college and finally getting up the money to afford season tickets took a few years, and I imagine quite a few local grads would love the opportunity to get those seats at a discounted rate.