Attendance

[The Sultan]

Y'all always want facts. But, when presented with facts, snide irrelevant comments avoiding the real issues is all ya got. Shockin', aina?

I think everyone knows there is crime in Milwaukee.

[4everwarriors]

Damn Bryan that's two threads now that you've attacked me personally.
Signed,
Your Mensa Scoop friend, hey?

[connie]

I think there are just too many reasons NOT to go to a game now(all having been mentioned-except the wojo malaise hangover), driving off all of the fence sitters and dropping attendance.  On the other hand, seeing the 12 people that showed up for DePaul/GTown in DC, 14k a game really isn't that bad. If the team keeps playing this great and putting on such a great show the numbers should bump up, but a Wed night sellout is always going to be rare.

[real chili 83]

Seriously, why would anyone drive a Kia or Hyundai in Milwaukee and be upset/surprised about it being stolen?

Kinda sucks that is the state of affairs today.  Don't wish it on anyone.

[tower912]

There is crime in Milwaukee.    There is crime everywhere.     
There was crime in Milwaukee when I was there in the 80's.    There was crime everywhere.   
I choose to not live in fear.   

All facts.   

[🏀]

Don't no any dudes like dat, hey?

If you don't know, now you know.

[YaBlueIt]

Concession prices, downtown break-ins, and volume of music/entertainment during timeouts may be the last straws to a couple folks who were already on the fence. But acting like these are the main culprits behind less-than-stellar attendance numbers is asinine.

Win a couple games in March, market home games better, and we'd get back to pre-Wojo numbers by next year. Simple.

[Carl Spackler]

Attendance?

A number of things:

1.  They will very rarely if ever sell out a weeknight game. Period

2.  The " marketing " department does in fact suck.  The marketing is almost nonexistent

3.  MU actually draws better than most all college hoops teams in the country

4.  It won't keep most people away, but the food IS awful, and I've almost sworn of beer at the games.  16$ for Bud is enough to make one puke ... and that is before actually drinking that dreck

That said ... NMD should be fun on
Saturday

So the marketing sucks, but we draw better than most teams with many more competing options than most college towns, for a school 1/4 the size of state schools?  Most teams would kill for our fan base and #s.  Milwaukee isnt Omaha or Madison or Bloomington where there arent other options for the casual fan.  We also dont have MU - Whitewater/Oshkosh "fans" to buy up the extra tickets. 

What do you want?  What kind of genius marketing ideas would appeal to you?  Looking forward to your genius marketing ideas.

I have been inundated this year with deals for tickets - free extra tickets for STHs, holiday hat and ticket deals, the be a student deal, the Big Three deal a few weeks ago.  and took advantage of serveral.

Agreed on food and beer.  I never buy food, and if everyone stopped buying full price beer, they would lower the price.  I am sure those a*&holes have run the numbers.

[BLWarrior91]

BrewCity77 nails it. 

They should be utilizing social media, emails, etc. to drive attendance.  That Xavier game needs to have a full house.  It's an early start, so it's better suited to families who won't go to the late games.

I know our attendance is very good overall.  My purpose for starting this thread was to ask why it isn't even better.  Lots of great commentary on the why.

The Bucks, Marquette, and downtown businesses need to demand the Milwaukee PD have more visible patrols on game nights.  When people won't go because of crime, that's a huge problem.  More people downtown should actually make it feel safer.

There's an extra 4000 people out there that can go to the games.  They just don't know it yet! 

[connie]

There is crime in Milwaukee.    There is crime everywhere.     
There was crime in Milwaukee when I was there in the 80's.    There was crime everywhere.   
I choose to not live in fear.   

All facts.

Like much of Milwaukee, crime was far more historically segregated, including in the 80's.  You can choose to ignore it if you want, but that doesn't mean that both property and violent crime rates in Downtown haven't increased since the 80's, including a number of impactful examples.

[🏀]

Ball has never felt unsafe downtown.

[The Sultan]

Like much of Milwaukee, crime was far more historically segregated, including in the 80's.  You can choose to ignore it if you want, but that doesn't mean that both property and violent crime rates in Downtown haven't increased since the 80's, including a number of impactful examples.

Is the bolded actually true?

[Mr. Nielsen]

MU did the flash sale for Villanova and or Xavier. The Xavier flash sale alone sold an extra 600 seats. Just spread the word and do your part as well. 

[connie]

Is the bolded actually true?

Hard to definitively pin down.  According to the cops, absolutely.  Crime figures don't show it but the reporting on that is suspect in many places, including Milwaukee. 

[The Sultan]

Hard to definitively pin down.  According to the cops, absolutely.  Crime figures don't show it but the reporting on that is suspect in many places, including Milwaukee. 

This kinda sounds like a "crime eye test" excuse.

[Hards Alumni]

Damn Bryan that's two threads now that you've attacked me personally.
Signed,
Your Mensa Scoop friend, hey?

Well stop being dumb.

[Viper]

Milwaukee sounds like a sheethole, hey.

[Skatastrophy]

Ball has never felt unsafe downtown.

Everyone always asks, "Do you know ball?"

But nobody every asks, "How is ball doing?"

[Dr. Blackheart]

Everyone always asks, "Do you know ball?"

But nobody every asks, "How is ball doing?"

We don't because we are afraid the answer is "hot and sweaty".

[Its DJOver]

This thread has more replies than the actual post game discussion thread.  This thread has spurred a spin off thread discussing marketing specifics.  We are having to reach pretty deep into the barrel to find things to complain about.

This is a very good thing.

[connie]

This kinda sounds like a "crime eye test" excuse.

Well if we call it an "excuse" then the entire idea must be made up, so feel free to park your Kia or Hyundai on a street around Fiserv at night.  Don't bother calling the police to report theft or damage because they are so overloaded their average response times to a non-violent crime will see you getting home the next day. Or, you could read the City's own disclaimer on the validity of it's crime figures: "Neither the City of Milwaukee nor the Milwaukee Police Department guarantee (either express or implied) the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or correct sequencing of the Crime Data." Since the City and the MPD disclaim their own data maybe someone should pay attention to the "eye test."

[Dickthedribbler]

Concession prices, downtown break-ins, and volume of music/entertainment during timeouts may be the last straws to a couple folks who were already on the fence. But acting like these are the main culprits behind less-than-stellar attendance numbers is asinine.

Win a couple games in March, market home games better, and we'd get back to pre-Wojo numbers by next year. Simple.

My vote for the best answer. Hands down.

Winning lots of games. Being ranked for the entire season. Being part of the national college basketball conversation. Winning games in March. That's what people want to be part of.

[jficke13]

I thought we kinda prided ourselves on being an urban campus. Al thrived in an environment with some rough edges. Some of the best dudes ever to put on our jerseys came from places with those rough edges. Cracked Sidewalks, no?

I don't want to get pulled into a gigantic message board slap fight about the reality of crime, but by and large it has been falling nationwide since the late 70s/early 80s (sometimes markedly so). Without Remorse, the Dirty Harry movies, all of that cultural creation was in conversation with the urban decay that was probably the lived reality of the time on campus for many of the people complaining the loudest about the city now.

[The Sultan]

Well if we call it an "excuse" then the entire idea must be made up, so feel free to park your Kia or Hyundai on a street around Fiserv at night.  Don't bother calling the police to report theft or damage because they are so overloaded their average response times to a non-violent crime will see you getting home the next day. Or, you could read the City's own disclaimer on the validity of it's crime figures: "Neither the City of Milwaukee nor the Milwaukee Police Department guarantee (either express or implied) the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or correct sequencing of the Crime Data." Since the City and the MPD disclaim their own data maybe someone should pay attention to the "eye test."

So "according to the cops," property and violent crime is up downtown since the 1980s. Yet there are no stats to back that up. And I doubt there are many cops around any longer who worked for the department in the 1980s.  So excuse me if I am a little skeptical of the statement.  Not saying its inaccurate. Just you and I have no idea how accurate it actually is.

[The Sultan]

I thought we kinda prided ourselves on being an urban campus. Al thrived in an environment with some rough edges. Some of the best dudes ever to put on our jerseys came from places with those rough edges. Cracked Sidewalks, no?

I don't want to get pulled into a gigantic message board slap fight about the reality of crime, but by and large it has been falling nationwide since the late 70s/early 80s (sometimes markedly so). Without Remorse, the Dirty Harry movies, all of that cultural creation was in conversation with the urban decay that was probably the lived reality of the time on campus for many of the people complaining the loudest about the city now.

We have people here who think Marquette should have moved up to Meqon a la Concordia. So I don't think they really are "all in" on the urban, cracked sidewalks history of the University