A month or so ago, I did a post on Georgetown's top bb attendance draws to show why the Hoyas might prefer to keep the football schools or in case there was a split, why they might ask the football schools to consider a partial hybrid with them in it.

I decided to do a further study of this looking at 5 other BB schools as well.

This is what I found, and including the Georgetown data from before:

Top BB attendance draws for Georgetown (cut-off 14K plus):

Syracuse - 19679
Connecticut - 18153
Pittsburgh - 17108
Notre Dame - 16928
Marquette - 16612
Villanova - 15630
Cincinnati - 14684
Louisville - 14644
West Virginia - 14236

Top BB attendance draws for Villanova (cut-off 12K plus):

Syracuse - 19701
Connecticut - 19401
Georgetown - 17179
Louisville - 16633
Notre Dame - 14703
West Virginia - 12333
Providence - 12261
Pittsburgh - 12127

Top BB attendance draws for Marquette (cut-off 17K plus):

Syracuse - 18878
Notre Dame - 18418
Pittsburgh - 18381
Louisville - 17640
Rutgers - 17269
Providence - 17519
Villanova - 17499
Georgetown - 17388

Top BB attendance draws for Notre Dame (cut-off 9.7K plus):

Marquette - 10964
Villanova - 10851
DePaul - 10530
Georgetown - 10358
Seton Hall - 10122
Pittsburgh - 9999
Syracuse - 9893
St. John's - 9756

Top BB attendance draws for DePaul*(cut-off 9K plus):

Notre Dame - 12599
Louisville - 11791
Marquette - 10672
Syracuse - 10459
Georgetown - 9923
Connecticut - 9541
Villanova - 9359
St. John's - 9133
Pittsburgh - 9069

Top BB attendance draws for St. John's*(cut-off 9K plus):

Syracuse - 12794
Villanova - 12627
Connecticut - 10598
Pittsburgh - 9866
Georgetown - 9593
Notre Dame - 9178


For all of the above I looked at the attendance over the past 6 years except for DePaul and St. John's because their athletics' sites were harder to navigate when you got past a certain point in time. I would have to go to all the other sites to get their data, so I only used the last 4 years of attendance data for them. Sorry. I have an awful lot of free time on my hands, but not that much.

I highlighted what I believe to be the anomalies, but I'll let the fans of those schools (if they even read this post) help give insight as to the data and why it may not be an anomaly.

I was surprised to see St. John's make two of the listings and somewhat surprised to see West Virginia and Marquette only making two of the cut-off scores considering how well Eers bb and the Golden Eagles have performed over the past 6 seasons. I guess building rivalries will take time.

Notre Dame is probably the truest bb school through and through with 6 of their top 8 draws being other bb schools. This was an eye-opener. I hope Terry D reads this post and responds with his thoughts after he returns from vacation.

I also would have expected Louisville to be a bigger drawer at MSG against St. John's. They seem to draw a decent crowd at the BET.

Thoughts on the data?

Cheers,
Neil

It seems that SU is the top draw for the bb schools overall. Surprised Louisville didnt have a better showing for the bb schools. I guess its going to take more time for the rivalries to really develop amongst the bb schools and the newest fb schools, with the exception of Depaul.

(06-06-2011 09:35 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  Surprised Louisville didnt have a better showing for the bb schools. I guess its going to take more time for the rivalries to really develop amongst the bb schools and the newest fb schools, with the exception of Depaul.

FWIW Rarely do Louisvillians migrate east. Most people I know to move from here go north (Chicago), south (Atlanta, Florida), or west (Houston, California). It is harder to generate as much interest when the fanbases don't rub elbows.

We didn't play at Marquette last season but if we had it would have been an attendance leader. (I'm very suprised about ND, I wonder if there wasn't a weather related issue to cause that one)

(06-07-2011 05:00 AM)ULdave Wrote:  

(06-06-2011 09:35 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  Surprised Louisville didnt have a better showing for the bb schools. I guess its going to take more time for the rivalries to really develop amongst the bb schools and the newest fb schools, with the exception of Depaul.

FWIW Rarely do Louisvillians migrate east. Most people I know to move from here go north (Chicago), south (Atlanta, Florida), or west (Houston, California). It is harder to generate as much interest when the fanbases don't rub elbows.

We didn't play at Marquette last season but if we had it would have been an attendance leader. (I'm very suprised about ND, I wonder if there wasn't a weather related issue to cause that one)

Dave, Neils data is over a 6 year period. I dont think playing at Marquette last year would have been enough to change the 6 year average. The Marquette average for Luisville surpises me too since Marquette had history with Louisville in Cusa. Also surprised at Uconn not drawing well at a couple of bb schools like ND. I would have thought that SU, Louisville and Uconn would have been the top draws for the bb schools overall. Pitt draws surprisingly well.

I don't think much can be determined from the Marquette numbers. I bet those averages are more impacted by weekend and weeknight games than actual BE opponents.

When looking at BE opponent attendance, Golden Eagles fans come out in droves no matter the opponent. It's their non-Wisconsin OOC games that they just don't seem to care about as much.

Cheers,
Neil

(06-07-2011 07:48 AM)omnicarrier Wrote:  I don't think much can be determined from the Marquette numbers. I bet those averages are more impacted by weekend and weeknight games than actual BE opponents.

When looking at BE opponent attendance, Golden Eagles fans come out in droves no matter the opponent. It's their non-Wisconsin OOC games that they just don't seem to care about as much.

Cheers,
Neil

You have accurately described the attendance for MU. MU also does some special marketing and partial season ticket packages around the BE games, which provides a bump during BE play. People would rather see Providence and Rutgers than Prairie View and Alcorn State. There are also special events that impact attendance (Senior Day, Final Four reunions, National Marquette Day alumni event) and there is the impact of weekend versus weeknight games.

I was surprised to see that ND's attendance against the 5 Catholic schools was greater than Syracuse and Pitt. V. Syracuse, as much as they ruin each other's day, I expected a better showing. I also expected a little more spill over from Pitt's football histroy with ND than is apparently there.

(06-07-2011 09:46 AM)HtownOrange Wrote:  I was surprised to see that ND's attendance against the 5 Catholic schools was greater than Syracuse and Pitt. V. Syracuse, as much as they ruin each other's day, I expected a better showing. I also expected a little more spill over from Pitt's football histroy with ND than is apparently there.

At least we know that if the split does happen, the 5 Catholic schools will have at least one game that should sell well...

(06-06-2011 07:51 PM)omnicarrier Wrote:  This is what I found, and including the Georgetown data from before:

Top BB attendance draws for Georgetown (cut-off 14K plus):

Was this from 2009-10? Georgetown did not play UConn at home this past season.

(06-07-2011 01:54 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  

(06-06-2011 07:51 PM)omnicarrier Wrote:  This is what I found, and including the Georgetown data from before:

Top BB attendance draws for Georgetown (cut-off 14K plus):

Was this from 2009-10? Georgetown did not play UConn at home this past season.

I looked at the attendance figures from the past 6 years for all but DePaul and St. John's whose websites are lacking. For them, I only did the past 4 years.

Cheers,
Neil

(06-07-2011 09:46 AM)HtownOrange Wrote:  I was surprised to see that ND's attendance against the 5 Catholic schools was greater than Syracuse and Pitt. V. Syracuse, as much as they ruin each other's day, I expected a better showing. I also expected a little more spill over from Pitt's football histroy with ND than is apparently there.

DePaul and Marquette were ND's two biggest regional rivals when all of them were independent, while Villanova and Georgetown are institutionally ND's closest cousins in the BE. So, I'm not surprised at all at that top 4. Seton Hall being in there was more of a surprise.

TerryD can correct me if I'm misguided, but my understanding from ND fans is that there pretty much isn't any animosity towards Pitt, which kind of means that they don't consider them really "rivals" as much as a team that they happen to play pretty much every year (with recruiting in Western PA being an important factor). It's kind of like a conference game that's played every year but you can't really call it a rivalry (i.e. Michigan vs. Northwestern, Syracuse vs. USF, etc.).

(06-07-2011 03:24 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-07-2011 09:46 AM)HtownOrange Wrote:  I was surprised to see that ND's attendance against the 5 Catholic schools was greater than Syracuse and Pitt. V. Syracuse, as much as they ruin each other's day, I expected a better showing. I also expected a little more spill over from Pitt's football histroy with ND than is apparently there.

DePaul and Marquette were ND's two biggest regional rivals when all of them were independent, while Villanova and Georgetown are institutionally ND's closest cousins in the BE. So, I'm not surprised at all at that top 4. Seton Hall being in there was more of a surprise.

TerryD can correct me if I'm misguided, but my understanding from ND fans is that there pretty much isn't any animosity towards Pitt, which kind of means that they don't consider them really "rivals" as much as a team that they happen to play pretty much every year (with recruiting in Western PA being an important factor). It's kind of like a conference game that's played every year but you can't really call it a rivalry (i.e. Michigan vs. Northwestern, Syracuse vs. USF, etc.).

I forgot the Marquette and DePaul rivalry with ND prior to ND joining the Big East - it's not like I really cared about them back then.

(06-07-2011 07:10 AM)cuseroc Wrote:  

(06-07-2011 05:00 AM)ULdave Wrote:  

(06-06-2011 09:35 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  Surprised Louisville didnt have a better showing for the bb schools. I guess its going to take more time for the rivalries to really develop amongst the bb schools and the newest fb schools, with the exception of Depaul.

FWIW Rarely do Louisvillians migrate east. Most people I know to move from here go north (Chicago), south (Atlanta, Florida), or west (Houston, California). It is harder to generate as much interest when the fanbases don't rub elbows.

We didn't play at Marquette last season but if we had it would have been an attendance leader. (I'm very suprised about ND, I wonder if there wasn't a weather related issue to cause that one)

Dave, Neils data is over a 6 year period. I dont think playing at Marquette last year would have been enough to change the 6 year average. The Marquette average for Luisville surpises me too since Marquette had history with Louisville in Cusa. Also surprised at Uconn not drawing well at a couple of bb schools like ND. I would have thought that SU, Louisville and Uconn would have been the top draws for the bb schools overall. Pitt draws surprisingly well.

I mistakenly thought that Louisville wasn't even on Marquettes list when I wrote my initial response. It doesn't appear that the OP was edited so "My Bad".

I didn't realize the numbers were six year averages either, thanks for the clarification.

Neil,

What about the attendeance for Seton Hall and Providence?

Seton Hall and Providence actually have people in attendance?

(06-07-2011 07:27 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  Seton Hall and Providence actually have people in attendance?

well, im guessing you can count the cheeleaders(at least in PC's case) and coach's wives

(06-07-2011 08:46 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  

(06-07-2011 07:27 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  Seton Hall and Providence actually have people in attendance?

well, im guessing you can count the cheeleaders(at least in PC's case) and coach's wives

Alright!!! Double digits...

(06-07-2011 06:39 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  ...What about the attendance for Seton Hall and Providence?

Top BB Attendance Draws for Providence (2006-2011):
Notre Dame - 11,641.
Connecticut - 11,342.
Syracuse - 11,361.
West Virginia - 10,782.
Louisville - 10,828.
Marquette - 10,412.
Georgetown - 10,381.
Pitt - 10,096.
Villanova - 10,185.

other notables:
Rhody - 11,937.
Boston College - 10,559.

capacity of the Dunk:
currently around 12,400.
during renovations, capacity dipped to around 10,800 for a year or two (dropped Syr (all sellouts), Uconn and URI (all sellouts) down a lot).

(06-08-2011 12:33 AM)billyjack Wrote:  

(06-07-2011 06:39 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  ...What about the attendance for Seton Hall and Providence?

Top BB Attendance Draws for Providence (2006-2011):
Notre Dame - 11,641.
Connecticut - 11,342.
Syracuse - 11,361.
West Virginia - 10,782.
Louisville - 10,828.
Marquette - 10,412.
Georgetown - 10,381.
Pitt - 10,096.
Villanova - 10,185.

other notables:
Rhody - 11,937.
Boston College - 10,559.

capacity of the Dunk:
currently around 12,400.
during renovations, capacity dipped to around 10,800 for a year or two (dropped Syr (all sellouts), Uconn and URI (all sellouts) down a lot).

I think with the new coach, attendence should see an increase next year.

(06-07-2011 07:27 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  Seton Hall and Providence actually have people in attendance?

More than Rutgers or South Florida...