Stumbled upon several pictures that the ETSU website has listed for how the facilities look. This is the biggest case of false advertising that I have ever seen. Its been so long since I've seen crowds like this at ETSU I had forgotten what they look like.

That was in 2004 vs UTC....not that long ago.

(01-20-2009 10:25 PM)BucNut22 Wrote:  Stumbled upon several pictures that the ETSU website has listed for how the facilities look. This is the biggest case of false advertising that I have ever seen. Its been so long since I've seen crowds like this at ETSU I had forgotten what they look like.

If you look close I believe those shots are from the 2003-04 season because you can see Tim Smith in the lane and I think that's Fields scoring in the top photo. Not really that long ago. It's the Chattanooga game at the end of that year.

Of course, now the Dome's fire codes have changed and people can't sit up that high, but I believe the crowd for that game was between 8,000 and 9,000. Due to the Dome's age and facility issues capacity is now 5,700.

I wonder if there is any truth to Smith's article that ETSU could put more fire doors in and the potential attendance would be allowed to increase.

Even if the fire codes weren't what they currently are, would you expect to see 8-9K people at a game in this current era?

Not right now, but if we go the the tournament a couple of years in a row and get a decent OoC home game then sure.

ETSU isn't trying to fool anyone. That picture wasn't taken too long ago. Hell they could have shown a picture back from the NC State game in the day. And even if they did who cares? Look at some school websites. They have pictures of their stadiums/arenas empty! You think the UT football media guide is going to show a picture of Neyland Stadium from last year's Wyoming game? Is UNC going to show pictures of a 3/4 full Dean Center against a poor opponent?

Go look at UT's website and look at the top corner showing Lane Kiffin. It's obvious that they have taken a picture of him (with headset no less) while he was the Raiders coach and photo shopped in the orange T's. Now that is trying to fool someone.

I'm not sure we could pull those kinds of crowds in the A-sun regardless of fire codes. But who knows......That was ETSU basketball just a few years ago. Thanks Paul

My question is what the hell happened to all these people. 8,000 people in 2004 for a regular season conference game, did people move, were they not actually Buc fans to begin with? How do we go from 8,000 to lucky to put 4,000 people in the stands? Where the hell did the other 4,000 people go? More importantly how do we get them to come back?

Some may not be aware of this, but single-game ticket prices went up this year. The cheapest ticket is $10 (maybe not including children). No senior discounts, no alumni discounts, no cheap general admission.
A family of four, with maybe a popcorn for everyone, would run over $40. I actually think this hurt some. In fact, I know it did.

But you've got to blame most of it on who ETSU plays in the Dome. No decent OOC games, and no Davidson or C of C. Appy and Chatt only come once every two years. Clearly, there is less interest in the ASun teams than in the SoCon teams.

Let's also face it that ETSU's reputation around town is NOT a good one, these days.

Section B and F tickets should be sold for 5 bucks.

(01-21-2009 12:19 PM)Goldfinger Wrote:  I'm not sure we could pull those kinds of crowds in the A-sun regardless of fire codes. But who knows......That was ETSU basketball just a few years ago. Thanks Paul

We couldnt draw them in the Socon against anyone but UTC or App in 04. Did 8,000 people show up for Wofford or Furman? No.

Bottom line is most of our fans could care less about most of the SoCon teams. I will admit that the only conference team we could potentially get 8,000 for now would be Belmont.

In 04 that is probably true.....in the early ninties it is not



You will never get 8,000 for belmont



I would also check the college of charelston attendance in 04 as well.

Yeah but we were ranked in the top 25 in the early 90's. Do you really think if we were ranked in the top 25 in the ASUN that we couldnt draw 8 or 9 thousand???

And the only game we played against CofC in 03-04 was in Charleston.

My wife and I attend all of the home games and as many of the away games as we can. When we arrived at the Belmont game Monday night there were a few people standing in line to buy tickets and they were turned away. I don't know what happened, but it sounded to me like the guy in the booth said "sold out." Official attendance is listed as 4,196 which is below capacity with the new fire code. Surely they printed enough tickets.

The COC game I am referring to is 04-05...it was a december game rather than January and there were still high hopes for the season. It was around the same time we played Fresno State at home.

Fine 8,000 for an average game is pushing it, but 5,000 people showed up to watch us play Elon back in 03/04, 4000 against UNC Greenboro, heck we got 3,000 for Va Wise and 3000 against Union College. I think the quality of the opponent matters for the two extremes(high quality and low quality) but for all the games in the middle we aren't drawing crowds anywhere close to where we did just a few years ago. I`m about suppose to buy that people will get jacked up over games again Elon or UNC Greensboro, but not Kennasaw St or Lipscomb? We can draw 8/9K against UTC in the regular season but can only draw 6,000(if you buy ETSU's stats and figures) people two years ago in the A-Sun championship game with a NCAA berth on the line?

Even if we look at the same opponent things don't add up, two years ago we drew 5,500(once again if you buy the stats) against UTC, 3,100 this year, this after 8/9K back in 2004? We drew 7,000 against Appy St in 2004, last year 5000(a number I don't buy for a second). This about way more than who we play IMO.

22 is making some good points. I think it is important for Buc fans to be concerned about lowered attendance. I cannot think of a single overriding reason why but maybe a combination of reasons. Something has definitely changed when 4000 is being broadcast as great attendance. It may be due to the overall lessened stature of ETSU athletics in general due to the administration. Also, the Bucs level of play over the previous four years has not exactly been awe inspiring. It will be interesting to see if the team can continue to play on or near the level of last Tuesday. If it does then one would think the attendance would return. But nowadays who knows?

I think it's hilarious how the attendance figures became so "accurate" over the last few weeks. You go to a game, then hear the attendance figures (like Belmont for example), and think, "wow, only 4,000? seems like more..." You then realize it's because you're so used to inflated figures over the past few years, you can't accurately judge how many are there.

And '02, fill us in, what's up with the 'sold out' game for Belmont, yet only a little over 4,000 are listed in the official attendance?