The Trend In Attendance (2012/2013 edition)

[bradley center bat]

College football attendance gets waterdown by schools like Eastern Michigan, FIU & San Jose State.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Could Al have filled the BC? He could have sold out Miller Park for certain games and BC every night. He and MU were bigger than anybody other than the Packers in Milwaukee area. I remember conversations back then on how many tickets could MU sell if they had more room. No question at all that Al sells out BC size arena every game back in the day.

The waiting list was a good size.  People also forget that the student section back then was smaller and split.  Wisconsin basketball was not very good, no competition from in state.  MU was consistently in the top 15 in the rankings.... I also have to believe MU would have been close to averaging a sellout of the BC in Al's day. 

[BCHoopster]

Not today, those days are long gone.  To many buy games in December, week day games in Big East would be a challenge as well, 11,000 is alot different than 19,000.

[MUfan12]

Unrelated to the Al discussion, but MU sent out an email about tickets. There are less than 700 left for Pitt, so we should have an 18k crowd on Saturday.

[Tugg Speedman]

Unrelated to the Al discussion, but MU sent out an email about tickets. There are less than 700 left for Pitt, so we should have an 18k crowd on Saturday.

Crowd listed at 17,308.  That is about 1300 short of a sell-out.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330470269

Last year's home Pitt game was Saturday Jan 14, 2012 and drew 18,404.

What is the difference?  Pitt was perceived as an elite team early last year and then fell to earth.  This year's Pitt team is perceived as falling to earth.  

As noted in the first thread some of the highest attended games for MU's in the BC were against Pitt.  I think it is safe to say it had nothing to do with it being Pitt and everything to do with them having a little number (as in 1 through 5) next to their name.  This year they had a larger number (16) which is not quite the draw.

Next two home games (and final two) are against Syracuse and ND.  I'll bet both draw 18,000 or more.  Syracuse is perceived as an elite team with a little number next to their name.  ND, is ND, in this case it is about the name and not the number.  

[jsglow]

I appreciate your closely tracking this another.  I wonder if a factor might have been the perceived 'big weekend' in the 2011-12 schedule.  As you'll recall, Pitt and 'Ville were part of a big MLK weekend.  I knew several folks who flew into town to catch both games.

So to match last year's average, we need 18,409 (times 2) in the last two games.  Tough but still possible.

[Tugg Speedman]

As noted above, attendance is down 4 straight years.  

Last year's average attendance was 15,138
Last year's average attendance with two games to go was 14,879

This year average attendance with two games to go is 14,671 ... 209 behind last year.

To break the four year slide, we need 36,817 for the next two games ... or 18,409 average.

Syracuse on Big Monday and ND to finish on a Saturday makes this possible.  

What we need to win both games next week and move to around 15.  Need Syracuse to stay in the top 10.  ND winning and staying (or getting) ranked would help too.

[jsglow]

As noted above, attendance is down 4 straight years.  

Last year's average attendance was 15,138
Last year's average attendance with two games to go was 14,879

This year average attendance with two games to go is 14,671 ... 209 behind last year.

To break the four year slide, we need 36,817 for the next two games ... or 18,409 average.

Syracuse on Big Monday and ND to finish on a Saturday makes this possible.  

What we need to win both games next week and move to around 15.  Need Syracuse to stay in the top 10.  ND winning and staying (or getting) ranked would help too.

I'm really hoping that the ND game can draw like last year's season ending GTown game.  That would give us a real shot. If we only duplicate the Wisconsin game, we might be seeing the slide continue.  And that would be too bad as the schedule lined up perfectly this year.

[Tugg Speedman]

I'm really hoping that the ND game can draw like last year's season ending GTown game.  That would give us a real shot. If we only duplicate the Wisconsin game, we might be seeing the slide continue.  And that would be too bad as the schedule lined up perfectly this year.

Especially if we are still in the hunt for the BE regular season title for the ND game.

[Warriors 79]

Keefe,

You sound like my vintage with camp outs for tickets at the Arena in the Al Era and now living in the Seattle area. So agree with you on the Buddhist "less is more, objects clutter," etc.

So disagree with the whole pillorying of Mrs. Clinton for Americans wanting to own a home.  You sat in Belle Square, Kemper Freeman's ode to White Republican "I got mine, go get yours" Eastside Greed and rip on Hillary for what you see at Nordstrom?  (There is no such place as Nordstrom's, BTW, it has and always will be Nordstrom.)

Oh, we privileged white people just so know what is best for everyone, don't we? Your Buddhist teacher I am sure confirmed for you that the Clintons are the reason for the fall and decline of Western Civilization. Along with the Starbucks in Renton I am sitting in right now.

Be still, simplify as you learned first hand, and keep working to help the world by improving the one person you can control in this life, YOU, not Mrs. Clinton. BTW, she has helped the world, in ways we will never know.

[Golden Avalanche]

Crowd listed at 17,308.  That is about 1300 short of a sell-out.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330470269

Last year's home Pitt game was Saturday Jan 14, 2012 and drew 18,404.

What is the difference?  Pitt was perceived as an elite team early last year and then fell to earth.  This year's Pitt team is perceived as falling to earth.  

As noted in the first thread some of the highest attended games for MU's in the BC were against Pitt.  I think it is safe to say it had nothing to do with it being Pitt and everything to do with them having a little number (as in 1 through 5) next to their name.  This year they had a larger number (16) which is not quite the draw.

Next two home games (and final two) are against Syracuse and ND.  I'll bet both draw 18,000 or more.  Syracuse is perceived as an elite team with a little number next to their name.  ND, is ND, in this case it is about the name and not the number.  

And, oh my, if only there were 17,308 actual asses in the seats what a crowd it would have been.

[MUfan12]

Not a lot of tickets available for the Syracuse game, judging by the Ticketmaster map.

I have to figure they'll draw over 18k for the last two. Either way, MU should stay over the 15k average. Still pretty impressive.

[We R Final Four]

Especially if we are still in the hunt for the BE regular season title for the ND game.

It is tickets sold, right?

Ticketmaster has been sold out for ND for months and MU only has some upper singles remaining.  Based upon this, I don't know what bearing our position in the BE will have on tickets that have already been sold?

[Tugg Speedman]

It is tickets sold, right?

Ticketmaster has been sold out for ND for months and MU only has some upper singles remaining.  Based upon this, I don't know what bearing our position in the BE will have on tickets that have already been sold?

Did not know that game was sold out.  That said, is it really sold out?  Above is a post that said less than 400 tickets were left for the Pitt game a week before and they were still selling tickets.  In the end the game was 1300 away from a sellout.

[The Equalizer]

Crowd listed at 17,308.  That is about 1300 short of a sell-out.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330470269

Last year's home Pitt game was Saturday Jan 14, 2012 and drew 18,404.

What is the difference?  Pitt was perceived as an elite team early last year and then fell to earth.  This year's Pitt team is perceived as falling to earth.  

Leading up to last year's MU game, unranked Pitt was on a five game losing streak which included a road loss to DEPAUL and home!! losses to WAGNER and RUTGERS!  I'm not sure there's any way you can credibly claim they were still "perceived as an elite team" when we actually played them.

THIS year, leading up to the MU game, Pitt had wins over Syracuse, Cincinnati, and a monster blowout over Georgetown.  They were #16 in the rankings, and they already had 20 wins--and we played them to an overtime game just a few weeks earlier. And you claim they were peceived as "falling to earth"?  

To break the four year slide, we need 36,817 for the next two games ... or 18,409 average.

Syracuse on Big Monday and ND to finish on a Saturday makes this possible.  

What we need to win both games next week and move to around 15.  Need Syracuse to stay in the top 10.  ND winning and staying (or getting) ranked would help too.

As you point out, we need to average 18,409 (a near sellout) just to equal last year's total.  

But let's look at best case--let's assume we draw back-to-back record crowds of 19,144 for ND and Syr.  If that happens, we'll exceed last year's attendance by 1470 total fans.

That's a maximum increase of about 92/game over 2012, and that's only IF we have record attendance in the next two games.    

In past posts, you said our big problem last year was that we didn't have either ND or Wisconsin at home, plus we didn't have many weekend games.

This year we have BOTH Wisconsin and Notre Dame at home, PLUS we increased the number of weekend games to 10 of 16 home games.  Despite taking those actions, at best we'll see an increased attendance of 92/game--still about 1,000 short of where we were in 2009.

Can we now conclude that the five-year decline is NOT the lack of Notre Dame, Wisconsin or weekend games?

I don't know what the issue is--but given that we're not going to be able to rely on big draws like ND, Pitt, Cincy, Syracuse, UL or Notre Dame in the future, its probably worth a discussion, rather than attempt to pretend that there is no problem that can't be explained away.

[We R Final Four]

Did not know that game was sold out.  That said, is it really sold out?  Above is a post that said less than 400 tickets were left for the Pitt game a week before and they were still selling tickets.  In the end the game was 1300 away from a sellout.

I received that same email last week.  So, is the ticket office BSing?  Why did they say 400 tickets remain when actually 1300 remained?...to stir up demand for a limited # of tickets when in actuality wasn't all that limited?

[We R Final Four]

but given that we're not going to be able to rely on big draws like ND, Pitt, Cincy, Syracuse, UL or Notre Dame in the future, its probably worth a discussion, rather than attempt to pretend that there is no problem that can't be explained away.

I am betting we will still play some the above mentioned schools in the future--including both ND and Notre Dame.

[Pakuni]

Maybe, rather than look for things Marquette must be doing wrong, we ought to just accept the fact that what's happening in Milwaukee reflects the national trend in college basketball attendance.

[Lennys Tap]

Maybe, rather than look for things Marquette must be doing wrong, we ought to just accept the fact that what's happening in Milwaukee reflects the national trend in college basketball attendance.

When pushing an agenda/narrative giving context to raw data can be counterproductive.

[MUfan12]

I received that same email last week.  So, is the ticket office BSing?  Why did they say 400 tickets remain when actually 1300 remained?...to stir up demand for a limited # of tickets when in actuality wasn't all that limited?

Might be part of it. I think Pitt probably returned some of their allotment, as a lot of empty seats were up in that area.

[Tugg Speedman]

Maybe, rather than look for things Marquette must be doing wrong, we ought to just accept the fact that what's happening in Milwaukee reflects the national trend in college basketball attendance.

+ 1,000,000

In 2009 we drew 16,200 and were 14th in the nation.  Last year we drew 15,100 and were 11th in the nation.  By the bolded metric, marketing directors across the country and studying what we are doing RIGHT so they can emulate it.

[Pakuni]

+ 1,000,000

In 2009 we drew 16,200 and were 14th in the nation.  Last year we drew 15,100 and were 11th in the nation.  By the bolded metric, marketing directors across the country and studying what we are doing RIGHT so they can emulate it.

Some more numbers:

In 2008, 28.1 million people attended D-I college basketball games, of 5,524 per game.
In 2011, those figures were 27.6 million and 5,237.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/story/2012-03-08/college-basketball-concerns-attendance-drop/53424996/1

Tournament attendance also is falling.
In 2008, attendance for tourney games averaged 21,817. In 2011, it was 19,186.

http://thesportdigest.com/2012/03/college-basketball-attendance-under-attack/

And MU's decline is relatively small compared with many. One in 5 programs saw a 20 percent or more attendance decline between 2009 and 2012. On the flip side, only seven programs saw their attendance grow 20 percent or more.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/players/big-basketball-attendance-swings-among-division-i-programs/29814

[bradley center bat]

Not a lot of tickets available for the Syracuse game, judging by the Ticketmaster map.

I have to figure they'll draw over 18k for the last two. Either way, MU should stay over the 15k average. Still pretty impressive.

Don't judge by that map. Ticketmaster doesn't put out all the tickets on the site. Ticket office told me that.


On the Pitt game, does Disney on Ice at the Cell having three sold-out shows on Saturday, cost MU a sell-out? Who knows.

[warriorchick]

Don't judge by that map. Ticketmaster doesn't put out all the tickets on the site. Ticket office told me that.


On the Pitt game, does Disney on Ice at the Cell having three sold-out shows on Saturday, cost MU a sell-out? Who knows.

The Venn Diagram of Disney on Ice fan and MUBB fan looks something like this:

OO

[Markusquette]

Damn it, I was hoping that this article was about Lawrence Blackledge being at the game.

Same here.  It's always a treat when he graces the fans with his presence.