Bulldog2323 wrote:I also wish Drake would stop charging for parking. It's easy to get around if you know what you're doing, and people in Des Moines generally hate paying for parking under any circumstances. I feel Drake could easily recover the revenue lost from the gain.
Missouri State doesn't charge for parking, but the quality lots close to the arena are reserved for season ticket holders as a perk. We have a couple parking garages as well that are fairly easy walking distance . We're also doing the early [6 o'clock ] start for WBB and VB.It's a mixed bag; I don't think it helps with attendance much, but it is nice getting out before 830 if you have other things to do or want to rush home to watch the other Valley games on replay .
Attendance at MSU in all major sports is a problem right now, after historically being a strength. Our Administration has done a lot of good things with facility/resource development, fund raising, etc. but the area they have continued to not have any answers for is attendance.Obviously a national problem these days, yet also as obviously, some are finding solutions. We of course rationalize and are told attendance is tied to winning, and that's true to some degree, but clearly not the main issue. We are in the midst of another period[ 4yrs] of high achievement in WBB; 3 NCAA tourneys in a row, with 2 S16, and the 4th yr was our best team but lost post season to covid. Some of the newer members on here might not remember but during the 90's and early 2000's MSU had like 14 straight years averaging above 6,000 for WBB, led the nation 1 year, and both MBB and WBB routinely averaged over 7,000. We had a number of years our WBB attendance would have been top 5 in the Valley for men, while we were still averaging 7000 for mbb. Now we struggle to get above 3,000 a few times a year.
There's a litany of contributing factors across all sports , some might say excuses, but I think are certainly valid as to having impact, but identifying those has done little to alter the negative trend. Not sure where it all ends. It amazes me that for the most part every athletic department outside about 70 P-5's, operate athletics at huge losses in the multi millions yearly . Fans seems to have little insight into this often expecting programs to throw more resources and $$ at sports when they are not winning , yet showing no recognition of how w/o simply incurring more losses and expecting students and sometimes state government to pay. Having always had to live with the reality of the need of a balanced budget whether personal or in my work, I've never quite understood the concept of continuous deficit spending, but obviously it exists and many are quite comfortable with it.
For me, I don't sweat it any more. I luv a full arena; nothing can compare to a packed house with a great band playing . But I luv sports and especially college basketball , so whether there's 10 or 10,000 , I'll go and enjoy watching the game and some exceptionally skilled young athletes.
