[Matt Velazquez] Marquette ranks 21st in 2015-'16 men's basketball attendance

[Jay Bee]

I am confused.  I answered yes that MU is #1 and gave the others in an NBA arena, and showed the link of the BE and NBA (Hint: It is an urban league not a northern Wisconsin league).

She said NBA 'town'

You be talkin bout NBA arena

[warriorchick]

She said NBA 'town'

You be talkin bout NBA arena

+1

People seem to be having trouble understanding me lately....

[muwarrior69]

A lot of schools would die for our attendance figures; and we haven't been to the NCAAs the past three seasons. Once we start putting winning (i.e. tournament bound ) teams on the court again, and we will; attendance should go up again.

[mu_hilltopper]

A lot of schools would die for our attendance figures; and we haven't been to the NCAAs the past three seasons. Once we start putting winning (i.e. tournament bound ) teams on the court again, and we will; attendance should go up again.

I think that'll take some cycles.

Real attendance growth doesn't come from walk-up sales, it's from season ticket holders.  -- I mean, sure, if the team is doing well, your walk-up sales for big-name weekend games will go up, but that's maybe 6 games a year, being generous.

So you need to reverse the downward season ticket holder trend (which would be done by winning) .. PLUS get new blood. 

The new blood comes from recent grads, who've experienced a great time as they were students -- but not just one season.   MU just graduated a crop of students who can barely recall their Freshman year E8 experience, followed by 3 years of yuck.

Not to mention .. it's not just winning.  It's the conference and our schedule going forward that doesn't present a favorable mass of games to entice someone to buy a 20 game slate.

[bradley center bat]

SEC fans are pretty serious about all of  their sports. There aren't any pro teams of any kind in Alabama or Mississippi.

They are going ape crap over Vandy baseball in Nashville right now.

Funny thing is the south really doesn't like basketball too much and the media doesn't cover it. That number is made bigger by Kentucky and Tennessee.

[warriorchick]

Funny thing is the south really doesn't like basketball to much and the media doesn't cover it. That number is made big by Kentucky and Tennessee.

Not sure who you are talking about when you say "the media".  What else is going to be on the front of the sports page in Birmingham, Alabama, or Jackson Mississippi in February?  The NHL?

[bradley center bat]

Not sure who you are talking about when you say "the media".  What else is going to be on the front of the sports page in Birmingham, Alabama, or Jackson Mississippi in February?  The NHL?

The media in the south doesn't cover college basketball in the south like it should going back to the Dale Brown days at LSU and Wimp at Alabama. It's college football 24/7. (Which is fine, but...) National Signing Day on the first Wednesday in February is like the Super Bowl in the South.

Mississippi is huge for college baseball.

[brewcity77]

College football and NASCAR seem to dominate those headlines, though just about any state without a baseball team also embraces the Braves as their own.

[jsglow]

The lower bowls are $34 and are 100% sold.  I think that represents 8000 seats.  I suppose 2000 of those are $5 student seats, though.

That leaves 13-8=5000 upper deck seats.  The middle sections sell for $25, corners are $20ish. 

I think $30 is pretty close.  Maybe $27.  Maybe knock off a couple bucks for discounts .. $25.

Thinking about it wrong topper. The lost revenue you describe is at the margin. No $34 tickets weren't sold. Lots of $15 and $20 were. It's the upper deck that matters.

And the point about the Al game the previous year is a good one.

I'll add one more. NMD was a uuuuugggee success this year in part cause Nova was #1.That really skewed the average up.

Don't mean to be Debbie Downer but it's dropping again in '16-'17 although Bucky will certainly help.

[Dr. Blackheart]

+1

People seem to be having trouble understanding me lately....

Obtuse is my middle name. My bad.

[Herman Cain]

The good news is that we only dropped by 349 fans per game last year to 13,308 from 13,657 in 2015.  The bad news in 2015 we dropped by 1,670 fans per game from 15,327 (Creighton territory) in 2014.  Elite Eights matter.

Anyone notice that Creighton almost tripled DePaul's attendance?

I went to a Creighton game around Christmas time when school was out , they played a cream puff , North Texas State, the place was completely full. People brought their entire families. We were in a corporate suite and those were all full .

I think it is a helpful  recruiting tool for Creighton. Their transfer guard specifically pointed out at the time he transferred from BU is that he wanted to play in front of big crowds.

I think for us we need to to put several strong years back to back and be a viable competitor for the Big East title. Buzz put a quality product on the court and that definitely draws crowds. I am in the camp that says we are going to be a better team this year and I think our current players and the prospects on the way will be a group that the fans will enjoy and support.

[GooooMarquette]

I just noticed that Creighton and Nebraska are 10th and11th nationally...and Nebraska sucks at hoops.  Either the fans down there have nothing to do...or maybe it's a local passion that the rest of the country isn't very aware of.

[warriorchick]

I just noticed that Creighton and Nebraska are 10th and11th nationally...and Nebraska sucks at hoops.  Either the fans down there have nothing to do...or maybe it's a local passion that the rest of the country isn't very aware of.

It's Omaha. There are no major league pro sports.  If you want to take a client to a sporting event a couple of times a year, what other choices do you have?  Creighton is getting business that in Milwaukee would go to the Bucks, Admirals, or even Brewers.

[Mr. Nielsen]

I just noticed that Creighton and Nebraska are 10th and11th nationally...and Nebraska sucks at hoops.  Either the fans down there have nothing to do...or maybe it's a local passion that the rest of the country isn't very aware of.

That new arena has done wonders for Nebraska. Fan base loves Tim Miles.

[mu_hilltopper]

Thinking about it wrong topper. The lost revenue you describe is at the margin. No $34 tickets weren't sold. Lots of $15 and $20 were. It's the upper deck that matters.

Indeed, I stand corrected.  The lost ticket revenue is almost entirely the upper deck.  Good analysis.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I just noticed that Creighton and Nebraska are 10th and11th nationally...and Nebraska sucks at hoops.  Either the fans down there have nothing to do...or maybe it's a local passion that the rest of the country isn't very aware of.

Nebraska just opened a new arena as well

[BrewCity83]

In 2018 when we get the new arena I expect MU will get an attendance bump, unless of course the ticket prices increase to a prohibitive level.

[Golden Avalanche]

It's Omaha. There are no major league pro sports.  If you want to take a client to a sporting event a couple of times a year, what other choices do you have?  Creighton is getting business that in Milwaukee would go to the Bucks, Admirals, or even Brewers.

You take them an hour down the road to Lincoln for a football game. This is well known if you have a scintilla of knowledge about corporate life in Omaha.   

[mu_hilltopper]

In 2018 when we get the new arena I expect MU will get an attendance bump, unless of course the ticket prices increase to a prohibitive level.

You know, that is indeed conventional wisdom.  New stadium, new excitement.   I can imagine an amount of people thinking a MU bball game is the "cheap" way to see the new stadium versus paying some stupid amount to see the Bucks' play.

But .. I can't imagine that generating many new MU season ticket holders.   Maybe upstairs BC people see an opportunity to move downstairs (and pay more).  Just not sure that a significant chunk of people are right on the edge of buying a season and that new stadium is pushing them over.    Time will tell.

[naginiF]

You take them an hour down the road to Lincoln for a football game. This is well known if you have a scintilla of knowledge about corporate life in Omaha.

I'm assuming the tealest of teal otherwise you'd be talking up the scenery along that drive???

[bradley center bat]

You know, that is indeed conventional wisdom.  New stadium, new excitement.   I can imagine an amount of people thinking a MU bball game is the "cheap" way to see the new stadium versus paying some stupid amount to see the Bucks' play.

But .. I can't imagine that generating many new MU season ticket holders.   Maybe upstairs BC people see an opportunity to move downstairs (and pay more).  Just not sure that a significant chunk of people are right on the edge of buying a season and that new stadium is pushing them over.    Time will tell.

No one can answer that now, but it will help in single game sales as many won't sit in the upper deck as half the seats are too far away or so high up.

[Dawson Rental]

While we're on the subject of attendance, I recall that a few posters in threads concerning scheduling reported a fair amount of griping amoung their season ticket holding friends regarding not renewing.  Does anyone care to hazard a guess about what will happen with next year's attendance?  Was there a "Henry Ellenson effect" last year where people kept their tickets or came on board for a year to see MU's first one and done?

[Brewtown Andy]

While we're on the subject of attendance, I recall that a few posters in threads concerning scheduling reported a fair amount of griping amoung their season ticket holding friends regarding not renewing.  Does anyone care to hazard a guess about what will happen with next year's attendance?  Was there a "Henry Ellenson effect" last year where people kept their tickets or came on board for a year to see MU's first one and done?

I know that when I picked my season tickets a year ago, I was shocked at how much was still available in the lower bowl for me to pick from, or at the very least, it seemed like I had a much wider variety of options without suddenly donating $10K to MU.  Didn't seem that way this year, for whatever that's worth.

[mu_hilltopper]

I was ready to drop tickets, but my wife is a better fan and was not, and found another ticket holder to split games with .. we each bought 1, between us, we dropped from 4 to 2 seats and will go to half the games.

[Jay Bee]

I was ready to drop tickets, but my wife is a better fan and was not, and found another ticket holder to split games with .. we each bought 1, between us, we dropped from 4 to 2 seats and will go to half the games.

Cripes, what's next? You gonna switch out that license plate?

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re: Attendance, I do think people overlook some of the important details outside of opponent and win-loss record... timing of game (Tuesday 6pm vs. Saturday 1pm) year vs. year is important; weather can be important... to get a good understanding of comp's, I think you have to go through these details to some degree, or you're going to reach faulty conclusions.