Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: Attendance
Page: 1 of 3
mail
person
Panda
2/17/2016 1:57 PM
I just cannot believe reasons for the lack of attendance at some of the leading games last night. NIU 1148(10,000)their best season in 25 years;
Kent 3035(6237)always at the top of conference; and Akron 3069(5500) at the top of conference last 10 years.
Other games CMU 2139(5300) fighting for the division lead; and Miami 1706(9200) at the bottom for at least 5 years.

Our EMU game OHIO 6212(13,000) one knows our record for the last 5 years.
mail
person
Alan Swank
2/17/2016 2:10 PM
With our family packs we have lots of season tickets. For some reason though, these Tuesday night games have been sparsely attended this year in the Convo. Not sure why but there seems to be far fewer butts in seats this year than in past years for weeknight games.
mail
person
Jeff McKinney
2/17/2016 2:22 PM
This is why BGSU built a new arena w capacity 4800. It's the mid major wave of the future. People are watching web streamings and tv broadcasts. Gonzaga's new arena is capacity 6200.

Would love to see us carve abt 2000 seats out of the Convo.
mail
person
FanInTheStands
2/17/2016 2:23 PM
I can't help but think that the move from Wednesday night games to Tuesday has had an impact on the number of people able to attend games at The Convo.
mail
OU_Country
2/17/2016 2:47 PM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
This is why BGSU built a new arena w capacity 4800. It's the mid major wave of the future. People are watching web streamings and tv broadcasts. Gonzaga's new arena is capacity 6200.

Would love to see us carve abt 2000 seats out of the Convo. [/QUOTE]
I totally agree Jeff. There's no need for more than 10k or so in there anymore, unless for some reason Commencement ceremonies require it. I was hoping that when they put in new seats that perhaps this would have been addressed. One change I like is that the dark seats don't show the empty seats up high on TV nearly as easy. This same idea is why I've thought it would just be easier to put the 'new' scoreboards everyone asks for up high - to eliminate seldom sat in seats high up behind the baskets.


An important thing to note when it comes to mid-week attendance: It's like this at a large number of D1 schools. For example, I watched UNLV-Air force last night for 10-15 minutes. The game was at Air Force, and the crowd looked very sparse. If I were guessing it was less than 2000 in a building that looked like 9-10k.




[QUOTE=FanInTheStands] I can't help but think that the move from Wednesday night games to Tuesday has had an impact on the number of people able to attend games at The Convo.

Based on what we've been told in several threads on here about High School basketball also being on Tuesdays, I'd say you're right.
mail
person
GoCats105
2/17/2016 2:51 PM
It's definitely because of Commencement. At least it was when I was in school. My parents said they had a hard time finding seat during mine.
mail
person
stub
2/17/2016 4:51 PM
Official attendance last night was 6212. I guess that means paid. Clearly fewer than 4000 were there.
mail
bornacatfan
2/17/2016 5:05 PM
I think there were some athletic dept folk looking at the the vinyl chair overlays up top at Worthen a couple of weeks back. Would be nice to use those in the upper seats for brightness and color as well as to promote other sports. Strip em off for Commencement.

Several other boards from Butler to Illinois and others are lamenting the attendance on a regular basis.
mail
Andrew Ruck
2/17/2016 5:41 PM
FanInTheStands wrote:expand_more
I can't help but think that the move from Wednesday night games to Tuesday has had an impact on the number of people able to attend games at The Convo.
It has hurt my attendance, but not because of HS basketball. I support the Friday night ESPNU broadcasts though, and understand why they moved the games to Tue to accommodate.
mail
OU_Country
2/17/2016 6:03 PM
bornacatfan wrote:expand_more
I think there were some athletic dept folk looking at the the vinyl chair overlays up top at Worthen a couple of weeks back. Would be nice to use those in the upper seats for brightness and color as well as to promote other sports. Strip em off for Commencement.

Several other boards from Butler to Illinois and others are lamenting the attendance on a regular basis.

There are so many entertainment options "nowadays" that I can see this being an issue. I can also see the HS hoops conflict being an issue. Still, it would seem they could get better support as they seem to be turning the corner.
mail
person
Gallia Cat
2/17/2016 6:50 PM
I just settled in getting ready to watch the Ohio women's game and decided to flip on Iowa at Penn State for a few minutes. Penn State has the upper deck curtained off and the lower bowl is maybe 60% full. Maybe 6,000 in the place and they are hosting the #4 team in the country. Weeknight games in smallish markets are challenging. Not to mention it being a 6 pm tip.
mail
Mike Johnson
2/17/2016 6:57 PM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
This is why BGSU built a new arena w capacity 4800. It's the mid major wave of the future. People are watching web streamings and tv broadcasts. Gonzaga's new arena is capacity 6200.

Would love to see us carve abt 2000 seats out of the Convo.
Just a gentle reminder that The Convo does have other uses - such as commencements. I've attended two for my kids and one for a niece, and The Convo's 13,000 seats were filled for all three.
mail
person
catfan28
2/17/2016 11:20 PM
Low weeknight attendance for us is nothing new...been that way for as long as I can remember. I don't think it's any lower than usual this year. Midweek games right before Saturdays (like last night) draw even worse, since everyone is just looking ahead.

I'd venture to guess that a majority of season ticket holders purchase with the intention of just going to the Saturday games (maybe 1-2 midweeks if they can). It's the exact same thing we see at football. Saturday "butts in seats" attendance is easily 2-3 times bigger than midweek for both sports.

That said, the difference between football and basketball is that we can largely control the number of Saturday games in basketball. I'd love to see 4-5 Saturday OOC games, in addition to the MAC games.
mail
OU_Country
2/18/2016 9:18 AM
catfan28 wrote:expand_more
Low weeknight attendance for us is nothing new...been that way for as long as I can remember. I don't think it's any lower than usual this year. Midweek games right before Saturdays (like last night) draw even worse, since everyone is just looking ahead.

I'd venture to guess that a majority of season ticket holders purchase with the intention of just going to the Saturday games (maybe 1-2 midweeks if they can). It's the exact same thing we see at football. Saturday "butts in seats" attendance is easily 2-3 times bigger than midweek for both sports.

That said, the difference between football and basketball is that we can largely control the number of Saturday games in basketball. I'd love to see 4-5 Saturday OOC games, in addition to the MAC games.

Re: your thought on 4-5 Saturday OOC games - I agree. Everyone needs to put that comment in their post season survey at the end of the year. I think this year was probably just an aberration. Over the past several years it seems like there were at least 4 weekend games in the schedule for Nov/Dec.
mail
person
cbus cat fan
2/18/2016 9:33 AM
I would like to think attendance is down because we are competing with high school basketball on Tuesday nights, but I would not be telling the truth. As other posters have noted, the fact of the matter is in our technology age there are tons of options, not the least of which are those of us with families, who either have young children or children competing in sports. This inhibits our chances to get down to Athens as much as we like.

However, the elephant in the room is that maybe sports has been more of a social interaction component in our society than some of us true sports have dared to believe.

Those of us old enough to remember the state high school basketball tournament in the 1970s. There were tons of small town radio stations broadcasting the games as evidenced by their stations banners on display, even though most of those stations didn't have a team left in the tournament. Go today and watch a high school basketball or football game and look how many people are milling around in the hallway. If it is a football game how many people are socializing in the stands or around the grounds with only the slightest knowledge of what is occurring in the field of play. This is life in 2016 I guess.

I also believe March Madness brings out all kinds of people who want to socialize during the conference and early March Madness tournament games. Look at college football, ESPN's GameDay brings huge crowds to campuses full of people who have little interest in the game.

In a nutshell, I don't have a problem with people who just want to socialize, nothing wrong with people who want to eat and drink with friends while a game is going on. However, we shouldn't be shocked when attendance just isn't what it used to be. Our culture is changing and we are seeing the difference between those who like sports for it's competitive nature, and those who see it as a vehicle to socialize.
mail
100%Cat
2/18/2016 9:36 AM
OU_Country wrote:expand_more
Low weeknight attendance for us is nothing new...been that way for as long as I can remember. I don't think it's any lower than usual this year. Midweek games right before Saturdays (like last night) draw even worse, since everyone is just looking ahead.

I'd venture to guess that a majority of season ticket holders purchase with the intention of just going to the Saturday games (maybe 1-2 midweeks if they can). It's the exact same thing we see at football. Saturday "butts in seats" attendance is easily 2-3 times bigger than midweek for both sports.

That said, the difference between football and basketball is that we can largely control the number of Saturday games in basketball. I'd love to see 4-5 Saturday OOC games, in addition to the MAC games.

Re: your thought on 4-5 Saturday OOC games - I agree. Everyone needs to put that comment in their post season survey at the end of the year. I think this year was probably just an aberration. Over the past several years it seems like there were at least 4 weekend games in the schedule for Nov/Dec.
It feels like the last several years the Akron game has been a week night affair, also. It would be nice to have the "marquee" home conference games on Saturdays, but that probably can't be avoided.
mail
Dexcat
2/18/2016 9:40 AM
I've heard that we give away/sell several packages of seats to companies around the area. It seems possible that these are in the lower bowl and are not being regularly filled by the companies. I think if you want more condensed seating maybe those packages need to be changed. I was more disappointed with the student turnout on Tuesday. It was really low.
mail
person
boydhallbobcat
2/18/2016 9:50 AM
And after about 5 minutes into the game, the empty lower bowl should become general admission. Sometimes you get a few ushers that are ruthless in letting people move down. You'd think they would want the bottom filled up.
mail
person
Ohio69
2/18/2016 11:00 AM
Would love to see some sort of seat covers or signage that blocks the upper part of the Convo and makes it feel smaller.

I'm hoping for a great end of this season and an attendance rebound next season as more folks understand how good the team is. There was zero buzz around town for this season.
Last Edited: 2/18/2016 11:01:24 AM by Ohio69
mail
Bobcatbob
2/18/2016 11:07 AM
boydhallbobcat wrote:expand_more
And after about 5 minutes into the game, the empty lower bowl should become general admission. Sometimes you get a few ushers that are ruthless in letting people move down. You'd think they would want the bottom filled up.
Except that, as in Peden, you have donors paying premium prices to obtain those seats. Making it festival seating 5 minutes in would be a bad OBC PR move. You can be sure that the people you move in next to know whose seats those are and they might not be so welcoming.

Seem to be plenty of close, open seats in the student section for the taking though.
mail
person
Alan Swank
2/18/2016 11:17 AM
Bobcatbob wrote:expand_more
And after about 5 minutes into the game, the empty lower bowl should become general admission. Sometimes you get a few ushers that are ruthless in letting people move down. You'd think they would want the bottom filled up.
Except that, as in Peden, you have donors paying premium prices to obtain those seats. Making it festival seating 5 minutes in would be a bad OBC PR move. You can be sure that the people you move in next to know whose seats those are and they might not be so welcoming.

Seem to be plenty of close, open seats in the student section for the taking though.
With the cost of four platinum seats going up to $2000 next year, letting people just amble down there isn't going to happen.
mail
person
BillyTheCat
2/18/2016 12:03 PM
Alan Swank wrote:expand_more
And after about 5 minutes into the game, the empty lower bowl should become general admission. Sometimes you get a few ushers that are ruthless in letting people move down. You'd think they would want the bottom filled up.
Except that, as in Peden, you have donors paying premium prices to obtain those seats. Making it festival seating 5 minutes in would be a bad OBC PR move. You can be sure that the people you move in next to know whose seats those are and they might not be so welcoming.

Seem to be plenty of close, open seats in the student section for the taking though.
With the cost of four platinum seats going up to $2000 next year, letting people just amble down there isn't going to happen.
As it should NOT, you pay that for the value and the experience, You lose that value and experience when you cheapen the product. One of the drawbacks we had for years regarding our ticket sales is the fact that why should I buy tickets when I can go to Krogers and pick up tickets for free, or just look for athletes standing on the corner passing out tickets.
mail
person
Alan Swank
2/18/2016 12:12 PM
BillyTheCat wrote:expand_more
And after about 5 minutes into the game, the empty lower bowl should become general admission. Sometimes you get a few ushers that are ruthless in letting people move down. You'd think they would want the bottom filled up.
Except that, as in Peden, you have donors paying premium prices to obtain those seats. Making it festival seating 5 minutes in would be a bad OBC PR move. You can be sure that the people you move in next to know whose seats those are and they might not be so welcoming.

Seem to be plenty of close, open seats in the student section for the taking though.
With the cost of four platinum seats going up to $2000 next year, letting people just amble down there isn't going to happen.
As it should NOT, you pay that for the value and the experience, You lose that value and experience when you cheapen the product. One of the drawbacks we had for years regarding our ticket sales is the fact that why should I buy tickets when I can go to Krogers and pick up tickets for free, or just look for athletes standing on the corner passing out tickets.
You forgot the Wendy's drive-thru.
mail
OhioStunter
2/18/2016 1:45 PM
Watching highlights of #4 Iowa at Penn St. last night showed a sparse crowd there. I don't think this is just a MAC problem.
mail
person
BillyTheCat
2/18/2016 2:48 PM
It's not just a MAC problem, and part of it is cost, and value.
Showing Messages: 1 - 25 of 65
MAC News Links



extra small (< 576px)
small (>= 576px)
medium (>= 768px)
large (>= 992px)
x-large (>= 1200px)
xx-large (>= 1400px)