Some here have said that they have given up worrying about attendance. I haven't. To me it an embarrassment to say you have a good mid-major basketball program, but you're not able to regularly half-fill a 5600 seat arena. Seeing the video on the news(when they actually have it)shows what appears to be an almost empty arena, which usually it is. It's an embarrassment to be a Trojan fan when someone asks, "I saw the video from the UALR game on TV last night, y'all sure don't have many fans show up, do you?"

How can that not be embarrassing to any Trojan fan?

(12-07-2011 03:25 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  How can that not be embarrassing to any Trojan fan?

Certainly is. But I can't control what other fans do or what the administration does to attract fans. All I can do is yell loudly when I come.

I believe the administration feels, and rightly so, it is their job to sell tickets. I know they'd love to see the stands filled to capacity, but at least they have the money with which to operate. I would imagine that most of those seats on the South side of the arena are sold to corporations, which means our program can financially survivive, but when those seats sit empty, it leaves a bad impression when you're looking over there at all those empty seats. But there's really nothing we can do about it. Let's just hope the seats are sold so we can continue to have a program.

(12-07-2011 03:36 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(12-07-2011 03:25 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  How can that not be embarrassing to any Trojan fan?

Certainly is. But I can't control what other fans do or what the administration does to attract fans. All I can do is yell loudly when I come.

I am one of the fans who has given up on worrying about attendance. Decisions were made when the new on campus arena came on line that really hurt our fan base numbers. But what is done is done, and since there is absolutely nothing we fans can do about it, I quit worrying about it. But that said, there sure seems to be a lot of complacency and acceptance of an unacceptable status quo that goes on out there by the powers that be.

(12-07-2011 03:47 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(12-07-2011 03:36 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(12-07-2011 03:25 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  How can that not be embarrassing to any Trojan fan?

Certainly is. But I can't control what other fans do or what the administration does to attract fans. All I can do is yell loudly when I come.

I am one of the fans who has given up on worrying about attendance. Decisions were made when the new on campus arena came on line that really hurt our fan base numbers. But what is done is done, and since there is absolutely nothing we fans can do about it, I quit worrying about it. But that said, there sure seems to be a lot of complacency and acceptance of an unacceptable status quo that goes on out there by the powers that be.

What's really ridiculous is that it really does not even matter what quality of opponent we bring in. SMU, a well-known commidity in Little Rock, and now a Big East team (what a joke) drew no more than Philander Smith. Yes, there was almost no one in the arena when the Philander game started, but by half-time most folks had gotten off work and the crowd was comparable to SMU. Actually, there may have been a few more since Philander brought about 150 students to the game. We are bringing in a VERY good MoState team Saturday and I don't expect much more than we had for Philander. That is really sad, but just shows the lack of interest, knowledge, or whatever regarding college basketball in Little Rock. While I don't "worry" about attendance like I used to, it still obviously bothers me. However, at this point I really have no clue how to change it. While we are obviously bringing in a lot more money, the crowds are really not that much different than during the Kestenbaum (pre-Mike Newell) days.

On the other hand, it apparently is not just us. You can count the crowds at midmajor program in our area like UCA, NWLA, LaTech, SEMo, and even ASU is way down. Maybe it's the economy. Maybe it's all the games on TV. Maybe its the fact that you can get a movie at Red Box for a buck. I really don't know, but luckily its not my job to figure it out.

(12-07-2011 03:47 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(12-07-2011 03:36 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(12-07-2011 03:25 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  How can that not be embarrassing to any Trojan fan?

Certainly is. But I can't control what other fans do or what the administration does to attract fans. All I can do is yell loudly when I come.

I am one of the fans who has given up on worrying about attendance. Decisions were made when the new on campus arena came on line that really hurt our fan base numbers. But what is done is done, and since there is absolutely nothing we fans can do about it, I quit worrying about it. But that said, there sure seems to be a lot of complacency and acceptance of an unacceptable status quo that goes on out there by the powers that be.

I would guess you are talking about the increased ticket prices and required "donation" to buy season tickets. For the financial stability of the program Chris certainly did the right thing. I assume we lost a number of season ticket holders (although I actually don't know anyone personally who dropped out) who didn't want to pay the higher prices. It appears that those folks found other things to do on game nights. Some of those were probably "real" fans, who showed up for games when compared to those that bought their seats. I really don't how we get those folks back or if that is even possible. It seems to me that we don't do enough to get "new" fans or, at least, it's clear its not working. It's mostly the same faces (except a little older) that we had 25 years ago. Like I've said before, I have no answers. Yes, the leather seats are expensive. But anyone can get into the arena for 6 bucks and sit as close to the court as they want to. As long as we have $6 seats, money can really not be used as an excuse for why we aren't drawing more fans.

Financial footing comes first. Actual attendance has to come after that.

Another embarrassing thing is that we've never, not one single time, sold the new arena out.

(12-07-2011 09:55 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  Another embarrassing thing is that we've never, not one single time, sold the new arena out.

I thought we have had a couple of "sell-outs". Certainly the arena has never been full, but I believe all the seats were sold. Not entirely sure how you deal with that problem (although it hasn't happened often) since you can't really sell the same seat twice. i would think you could sell "standing room" tickets with the understanding that those folk could sit in empty seats 10 minutes into the game.

(12-07-2011 10:12 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(12-07-2011 09:55 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  Another embarrassing thing is that we've never, not one single time, sold the new arena out.

I thought we have had a couple of "sell-outs". Certainly the arena has never been full, but I believe all the seats were sold. Not entirely sure how you deal with that problem (although it hasn't happened often) since you can't really sell the same seat twice. i would think you could sell "standing room" tickets with the understanding that those folk could sit in empty seats 10 minutes into the game.

UALR has never even been close to actually filling the Jack Stephens Center since it opened. Period. Not even close. If you will recall back in the days when we played in Alltel, there were several crowds which would not only have filled every seat in the Stephens Center, but would have required people to be turned away. Now, that's the truth.

Whatever excuses anybody wants to make about why things have to be the way they are today, why we need seat police Nazi's, etc., then go ahead. But the fact of the matter is that UALR games are just not as fun to attend as they once were. And I, at least for one, am very sad about that.

(12-07-2011 11:37 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(12-07-2011 10:12 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(12-07-2011 09:55 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  Another embarrassing thing is that we've never, not one single time, sold the new arena out.

I thought we have had a couple of "sell-outs". Certainly the arena has never been full, but I believe all the seats were sold. Not entirely sure how you deal with that problem (although it hasn't happened often) since you can't really sell the same seat twice. i would think you could sell "standing room" tickets with the understanding that those folk could sit in empty seats 10 minutes into the game.

UALR has never even been close to actually filling the Jack Stephens Center since it opened. Period. Not even close. If you will recall back in the days when we played in Alltel, there were several crowds which would not only have filled every seat in the Stephens Center, but would have required people to be turned away. Now, that's the truth.

Whatever excuses anybody wants to make about why things have to be the way they are today, why we need seat police Nazi's, etc., then go ahead. But the fact of the matter is that UALR games are just not as fun to attend as they once were. And I, at least for one, am very sad about that.

Before we moved into Stephens, Chris told me we had two crowds at Alltel that would not have fit into the Stephens Center (I assume that they were the OSU opener and the 12,000+ against ASU). Certainly we had other announced crowds higher than 5600, but who knows how accurate those were.

I agree about the "fun" part. Never would have believed that I would be looking back fondly at the days at Barton and the pregames at the old Farm and Ranch building. Those were really a lot of fun.

(12-08-2011 12:56 PM)mjs Wrote:  [Before we moved into Stephens, Chris told me we had two crowds at Alltel that would not have fit into the Stephens Center (I assume that they were the OSU opener and the 12,000+ against ASU).

My records go back through the 00-01 season. Here are the announced attendances at Alltel greater than 5600.

12985 ASU 2/2/2002
8390 ASU 1/10/2004
8112 ASU 1/27/2005
7172 ASU 2001
6812 ASU 1/25/2003
6015 UNO 2/1/2003
6012 WKU 2/7/2002
5912 WKU 2001

Use our standard assumption that any given announced crowd is too high by a third, and that means that it would take an announced Alltel of 8400 to fill up the Jack, and the statement of only two crowds that the Jack could not have held appears to be correct.

(12-08-2011 01:29 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(12-08-2011 12:56 PM)mjs Wrote:  [Before we moved into Stephens, Chris told me we had two crowds at Alltel that would not have fit into the Stephens Center (I assume that they were the OSU opener and the 12,000+ against ASU).

My records go back through the 00-01 season. Here are the announced attendances at Alltel greater than 5600.

12985 ASU 2/2/2002
8390 ASU 1/10/2004
8112 ASU 1/27/2005
7172 ASU 2001
6812 ASU 1/25/2003
6015 UNO 2/1/2003
6012 WKU 2/7/2002
5912 WKU 2001

Use our standard assumption that any given announced crowd is too high by a third, and that means that it would take an announced Alltel of 8400 to fill up the Jack, and the statement of only two crowds that the Jack could not have held appears to be correct.

So is the statement by Peterson an admission that we lie about attendance regularly? We all know that we do, but I don't know that I've ever heard of anybody who puts out the attendance figures actually admit it.

(12-08-2011 09:20 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(12-08-2011 01:29 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(12-08-2011 12:56 PM)mjs Wrote:  [Before we moved into Stephens, Chris told me we had two crowds at Alltel that would not have fit into the Stephens Center (I assume that they were the OSU opener and the 12,000+ against ASU).

My records go back through the 00-01 season. Here are the announced attendances at Alltel greater than 5600.

12985 ASU 2/2/2002
8390 ASU 1/10/2004
8112 ASU 1/27/2005
7172 ASU 2001
6812 ASU 1/25/2003
6015 UNO 2/1/2003
6012 WKU 2/7/2002
5912 WKU 2001

Use our standard assumption that any given announced crowd is too high by a third, and that means that it would take an announced Alltel of 8400 to fill up the Jack, and the statement of only two crowds that the Jack could not have held appears to be correct.

So is the statement by Peterson an admission that we lie about attendance regularly? We all know that we do, but I don't know that I've ever heard of anybody who puts out the attendance figures actually admit it.

Lying about lying is not a good thing, is it.

(12-09-2011 10:35 AM)Jim Tripcony Wrote:  

(12-08-2011 09:20 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(12-08-2011 01:29 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(12-08-2011 12:56 PM)mjs Wrote:  [Before we moved into Stephens, Chris told me we had two crowds at Alltel that would not have fit into the Stephens Center (I assume that they were the OSU opener and the 12,000+ against ASU).

My records go back through the 00-01 season. Here are the announced attendances at Alltel greater than 5600.

12985 ASU 2/2/2002
8390 ASU 1/10/2004
8112 ASU 1/27/2005
7172 ASU 2001
6812 ASU 1/25/2003
6015 UNO 2/1/2003
6012 WKU 2/7/2002
5912 WKU 2001

Use our standard assumption that any given announced crowd is too high by a third, and that means that it would take an announced Alltel of 8400 to fill up the Jack, and the statement of only two crowds that the Jack could not have held appears to be correct.

So is the statement by Peterson an admission that we lie about attendance regularly? We all know that we do, but I don't know that I've ever heard of anybody who puts out the attendance figures actually admit it.

Lying about lying is not a good thing, is it.

That's a good one Jim! We can always count on you for a little humor. And it is especially needed now that Scotto seems to have disappeared.

What in the world happened to Scotto? I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it here. He was always one of our best posters, and probably the funniest.