Valley Attendance

[Wufan]

What's the cost of for the cheap seats at JQH?

Tickets in the upper bowl are much much cheaper. No seat assessment (in certain sections) for a block of 4 they can be had for as little as $100 per seat (for the season). Pretty good seats and a. good deal. That's what I do currently while we still have one in college (at MSU).

It does seem like there isn't much middle ground in the JQH pricing structure. There have definitely been some complaints about that and a lot of discussion.

Those should be selling!

[BradleyBrave]

A traditional attendance power, Bradley's attendance has been in a downward spiral pretty much for the last 5 years. It's no secret that attendance is tied to performance, and the product has been below average during that time span. Add the socioeconomic factors that are at play in 2013, and it's even worse.

I will say though that the BU number is skewed because of the 2 regular season games at the on-campus women's arena that BU continues to try and spin off as a Carver Arena alternative. Paid attendance for both of those games was in the 3,000's, which is 3/4 full for that 4,200 seat morgue. The author of the article I am sure didn't know that, since he only mentioned the 11,000 seat downtown arena. If you take away those 2 games, BU is averaging over 6K downtown at Carver, which is good for 2nd in the league, but a far, far cry from what attendance used to be. The only cure is winning, and unfortunately 2 slip-ups against Division 1 bottom-feeders isn't going to inspire anyone to come downtown to see the Braves. Attendance always spikes during league play, so hopefully BU can right the ship and actually be a factor this year and get some folks interested again.

There are many season ticket holders who aren't pleased with the venue change since they get cut out of a couple games, unless you are a high-roller season ticket holder. BU administration is between a rock and a hard place though. They are trying to balance pleasing their long-term fan-base with attracting new fans by bringing it on-campus to the students. I can understand that the administration is trying to bring basketball to the students on-campus rather than having them make the 2 mile trek to the Civic Center, but it's anyone's guess whether this strategy will actually create more fans or just alienate the current fan-base.

The 'students' argument for games in the women's gym is a total fallacy. There weren't 100 students attending those games before the bad losses. Students will turn out in droves downtown to support a winner. We haven't had a consistent winner since the 90's.

[C0|db|00ded]

I'm predicting exactly 9 Valley blackouts/whiteouts/sellouts, etc. this year courtesy of the conference's only Major team. You are welcome and enjoy the show!


T


...

[bleach]

What's the cost of for the cheap seats at JQH?

Tickets in the upper bowl are much much cheaper. No seat assessment (in certain sections) for a block of 4 they can be had for as little as $100 per seat (for the season). Pretty good seats and a. good deal. That's what I do currently while we still have one in college (at MSU).

It does seem like there isn't much middle ground in the JQH pricing structure. There have definitely been some complaints about that and a lot of discussion.

Those should be selling!

Those do sell well but add little to the environment of an intimidating place.
When you have 5000 empty seats between the good high priced seats and the worst low priced seats, it's hardly a "we're all in this together" atmosphere.
A full lower bowl mid court group and a full upper level on the ends arena just screams out silly.

[MSUDuo]

Yes. Obviously more people in the seats will help with concessions and merchandise revenue too. And more people being there and seeing a good product will make it more likely that they come back again. At this point MSU is just needlessly turning off potential customers.

Couple weeks ago went to see St. Louis at Valparaiso. $10 each for two tickets to sit near midcourt, about 10 rows behind the Valpo bench. Not the most modern arena (seats on this side were bleacher not chairback), but a decent size, about 6,000 capacity, and place was about 2/3 full. Great seats, very good atmosphere, good ball game, enjoyable experience, would go back in a second. At $75 each for the same scenario, there's no chance. The product better match that price, and unless you're a top 20-level program, it doesn't.

Absolutely. $75 is only going to attract die-hard fans. You can't build a fanbase with that.

I wouldn't even go that far. There is a loop hole to getting lower bowl tickets for a much cheaper price if you know someone who has lower bowl season tickets. Besides, the die-hards are already there watching Cameron and Grambling!!!

[Rambler63]

The point of posting the A-10 attendance was in part that attendance has little to do with won/loss record, RPI, or NCAA bids. It DOES have something to do with NIT bids, but not much else. If attendance was the most important thing, Dayton would have an NCAA Championship and San Francisico would have zero. Attendance happens AFTER success, not before.

I lived in Richmond, VA in the 1970s, and VCU was nothing--- less than Virginia, Virginia Tech, and most ACC teams. I lived in DC in the early 80s, and worked at the radio station that broadcast the Georgetown team, and they didn't capture the imagination of the city until they were well into the NCAA tournament.

Attendance helps sustain a program, but it doesn't make it. If it did, Dayton would be a perennial NCAA team, and Bradley would always challenge for the MVC crown. Butler didn't have great attendance until it made the NCAA Final after a decade of NCAA appearances. This obsession with attendance is really misplaced.

One of the highest rising conferences is the West Coast, and if Loyola was added to the West Coast, they'd be 7th in attendance out of 11 teams. Santa Clara is currently averaging 850 fans per game at home. St. Mary's has a smaller arena than anyone in the MVC, including Loyola, and they're 9th in RPI. The West Coast Conference has an average attendance of 3500 per game, roughly 32% lower than the MVC, and the only reason it's that high is because BYU was added to the conference and they're averaging 15000 per game. Yet their Conference RPI is 8th, compared to the MVC's 11th. Maybe we should all become Mormons.

[ihsi]

Andy Katz discussed Creighton buying Big East tourney tickets in droves. I'm curious to see how sales in STL go this year. I've loved attending the tourney for years and think we'll still make the trip from time to time in the future for old times sake, but unless the Shox bring everyone, that building could look pretty empty.

[shocktheheart]

Andy Katz discussed Creighton buying Big East tourney tickets in droves. I'm curious to see how sales in STL go this year. I've loved attending the tourney for years and think we'll still make the trip from time to time in the future for old times sake, but unless the Shox bring everyone, that building could look pretty empty.

I wonder what the WSU attendance will be as well. I wonder if some WSU fans will save their money that weekend and go the first weekend of the NCAA tourney as they could be in St. Louis. That is the closest regional location to WSU.

[saluki762]

Over 7,000 in Carbondale last night. Apparently people love BH's rant.

[Veritas]

The point of posting the A-10 attendance was in part that attendance has little to do with won/loss record, RPI, or NCAA bids. It DOES have something to do with NIT bids, but not much else. If attendance was the most important thing, Dayton would have an NCAA Championship and San Francisico would have zero. Attendance happens AFTER success, not before.

I lived in Richmond, VA in the 1970s, and VCU was nothing--- less than Virginia, Virginia Tech, and most ACC teams. I lived in DC in the early 80s, and worked at the radio station that broadcast the Georgetown team, and they didn't capture the imagination of the city until they were well into the NCAA tournament.

Attendance helps sustain a program, but it doesn't make it. If it did, Dayton would be a perennial NCAA team, and Bradley would always challenge for the MVC crown. Butler didn't have great attendance until it made the NCAA Final after a decade of NCAA appearances. This obsession with attendance is really misplaced.

One of the highest rising conferences is the West Coast, and if Loyola was added to the West Coast, they'd be 7th in attendance out of 11 teams. Santa Clara is currently averaging 850 fans per game at home. St. Mary's has a smaller arena than anyone in the MVC, including Loyola, and they're 9th in RPI. The West Coast Conference has an average attendance of 3500 per game, roughly 32% lower than the MVC, and the only reason it's that high is because BYU was added to the conference and they're averaging 15000 per game. Yet their Conference RPI is 8th, compared to the MVC's 11th. Maybe we should all become Mormons.

Rambler, there should be no reason that a small gym like LuCs shouldn't sell out at least 50% of the home MVC games. IlSU, BU, SIU, WSU and perhaps one other should sell out easily. Otherwise it is indicative of a HORRIBLE program, lack of a brand (as KWCH endeavored to point out), or woeful apathy.

I realize LuC is new to the league and might not have any historical rivals, but it almost reads as if you are indeed recognizing the terrible attendance figures thus far for LuC and preparing everyone for a drag on the league.

You seem like a great fan for Loyola of Chicagoland and its 9 million inhabitants. Tell your school's Admin to buck up the marketing and get after it.

Expect to see at least 4-5 MVC games sell out in Chicago.