Attendance Trends?

[GGGG]

Not a high horse--I think there are more than a few in your position.  I won't complain about this year's schedule.  I think there is a bit more meat on the early season games than in the past where it was pretty pathetic.  My problem is if we can't use our tickets it is very hard to get someone else we know to take them.  Yeah, I know, we need new friends.  But the draw does seem to be down from years past.

I don't think this is just a Marquette problem.  I have noticed over the past few years, that outside of the real high level events, tickets to most games on the secondary market have become much cheaper.  Then again, I don't know if that is simply anecdotal on my part.

[jsglow]

Here's the way I kind of look at it.

If the total value of this and next week's tickets is $20, ($5, $0, $10, $5; EIU through VT, respectively) and my season ticket costs whatever, then by definition my NMD or Xavier or 'Nova ticket must be super valuable, right?  But $200 valuable? Really?

Again, ZERO complaints from me about buy games.  And MU can't play ranked or Power 6 teams every day.  That's not the issue for me.  It's there has to be a limit on the economic value of the package overall.  At some price point it doesn't make sense.  Sincerely hope MU understands that.

[Mr. Nielsen]

I hope they take the time to understand their brand. That survey was not a good first step. The new arena ticket situation was the talk of Maui.

I would stress it was just a survey by an outside company.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I would stress it was just a survey by an outside company.

And pumped by MUAD on their home landing page...with a note from Bill Scholl to boot.

[4th and State]

Went to the Villanova vs. MU game last year with a friend for $6....about the middle of the center upper-deck.  Best $6 I've ever spent.  Hard to justify buying season tickets (live in Chicago, so unlikely regardless) when you can get tickets to any game very cheaply. 

[i71_dawg]

Went to the Villanova vs. MU game last year with a friend for $6....about the middle of the center upper-deck.  Best $6 I've ever spent.  Hard to justify buying season tickets (live in Chicago, so unlikely regardless) when you can get tickets to any game very cheaply.

I don't post very often and I live hundreds of miles from Milwaukee, so this doesn't really affect me much (I can only go to maybe one game every 2-3 years at best)...

But looking down the road 5-10-15 years from now...don't these kinds of concerns (financial concerns, local market, HD TVs, lack of weekend/prime dates in the arena, etc)  justify MU exploring once again the concept of a 12,000-13,000 seat on-campus (or very near campus) arena?

Certainly I know that the lack of land is a HUGE concern (and there are other major issues), but man am I jealous of a place like Xavier that sells out a 10,250 seat place every single night (buy game or big game).  They have to artificially limit the number of season ticket packages they even sell because they could sell 10,000 season tickets and there would be no single game tickets available. 

I know a lot of people say this will never be a possibility at MU, so no need to tell me I'm an idiot.  I'll be curious to view from afar how this plays out over the next decade (and after the new arena isn't so new anymore yet the prices keep going up and up).

.

[warriorchick]

I don't post very often and I live hundreds of miles from Milwaukee, so this doesn't really affect me much (I can only go to maybe one game every 2-3 years at best)...

But looking down the road 5-10-15 years from now...don't these kinds of concerns (financial concerns, local market, HD TVs, lack of weekend/prime dates in the arena, etc)  justify MU exploring once again the concept of a 12,000-13,000 seat on-campus (or very near campus) arena?

No.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

No.

Just curious...why so adamantly against it?

[jsglow]

Just curious...why so adamantly against it?

We've discussed this ad nauseam but it centers on the inherent economic inefficiency associated with 3 underutilized facilities within a mile and a half of each other.  Friends, you simply can't build a $175MM structure for 19 nights a year. (DePaul's arena 10,387 seats, $173MM price-tag and arguably a more differentiated property relative to the UC given location, etc.)

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

We've discussed this ad nauseam but it centers on the inherent economic inefficiency associated with 3 underutilized facilities within a mile and a half of each other.  Friends, you simply can't build a $175MM structure for 19 nights a year. (DePaul's arena 10,387 seats, $173MM price-tag and arguably a more differentiated property relative to the UC given location, etc.)

Fair enough.  I generally ignore attendance / stadium related banter.

[jsglow]

Fair enough.  I generally ignore attendance / stadium related banter.

It's cool.  This topic got discussed for days this past summer.  I think it finally ended with 'When does basketball season start?'   

[bilsu]

The attendance will continue to decline as long as the home games are on TV.

[GGGG]

The attendance will continue to decline as long as the home games are on TV.

That genie is not being put back into the bottle.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

We've discussed this ad nauseam but it centers on the inherent economic inefficiency associated with 3 underutilized facilities within a mile and a half of each other.  Friends, you simply can't build a $175MM structure for 19 nights a year. (DePaul's arena 10,387 seats, $173MM price-tag and arguably a more differentiated property relative to the UC given location, etc.)

This is true. Would need to find a way to close the BC and Mecca for it to work.

[jsglow]

That genie is not being put back into the bottle.

100% correct and frankly it's TV that pays the bills.

[4th and State]

The attendance will continue to decline as long as the home games are on TV.

The attendance will continue to decline if we don't start winning more, not because of televised home games.

[bradley center bat]

100% correct and frankly it's TV that pays the bills.

$500 million reasons.

As for the attendance is dropping crowd. Marquette finish 19th in the country at 13,715 per game last season.

[source?]

100% correct and frankly it's TV that pays the bills.

I've always been curious why people say this. At MU we supposedly bring in around $30 million/year from basketball. The current tv contract is $4 million/school/year.  Even schools in the B1G where they are making $40 million on tv you are talking about several schools with budgets north of $100 million. I know NCAA units play a role but I can't see it making up more than $10 million/year.

[Galway Eagle]

I've always been curious why people say this. At MU we supposedly bring in around $30 million/year from basketball. The current tv contract is $4 million/school/year.  Even schools in the B1G where they are making $40 million on tv you are talking about several schools with budgets north of $100 million. I know NCAA units play a role but I can't see it making up more than $10 million/year.

Those $70 jerseys and shorts really add up

[Goose]

i71

You might be more right than you think.

[GGGG]

I've always been curious why people say this. At MU we supposedly bring in around $30 million/year from basketball. The current tv contract is $4 million/school/year.  Even schools in the B1G where they are making $40 million on tv you are talking about several schools with budgets north of $100 million. I know NCAA units play a role but I can't see it making up more than $10 million/year.

The fact is though has become that games are on television.  You can't take them off television.  That would generate no buzz and likely would decrease attendance even further in the long-run.

[source?]

The fact is though has become that games are on television.  You can't take them off television.  That would generate no buzz and likely would decrease attendance even further in the long-run.

Yeah, there's no putting the genie back in the bottle. I guess my point is more along the lines of TAMU, that we need to focus on getting people in seats. More tickets, hot dogs, beers (does MU get a portion of concessions?), etc.  Tv is a source of revenue but MU raised more from the Blue and Gold fund last year ($5.1 mil) than we got in tv revenue (side note, how much of that is counted towards bball revenue?).

[Dr. Blackheart]

11,685 versus Chicago State.  EIU is the low water mark. Looks like season tickets/bundles up slightly versus YAG. Let's get 15+ for Saturday. Wojo was pleading post-game for a great turnout, including the students.

[Mr. Nielsen]

11,685 versus Chicago State.  EIU is the low water mark. Looks like season tickets/bundles up slightly versus YAG. Let's get 15+ for Saturday. Wojo was pleading post-game for a great turnout, including the students.

Looking at the map, it looks to be 13,500 ballpark for this Saturday. If people who have a ticket show up, it will be all good.

[MerrittsMustache]

Saturday's attendance should be the highest of the non-conf schedule. The Purdue game drew over 13k on a Tuesday night. Given that this game is a Saturday afternoon and Wisconsin football doesn't play until the evening, I'd expect close to 15k. I don't think the Big 12 or SEC Champ Games are going to keep fans away...aside from UGA fans who I don't think would be out in full force anyway.