http://cincinnati.com/blogs/uc/2014/02/2...-the-year/

Some of Bill Koch's favorite subject matter... but hey, the facts are the facts and home attendance will be down this season even with another sellout against Memphis. Without drilling into this game by game I'm frankly quite surprised. Pre-conference, NC State and Nebraska should have been reasonably good drawing cards and we just got back-to-back sellouts for the first time in a long time.

Nothing better than a deep run in this year's tourney to boost attendance next season.

Let's be honest... the schedule, outside of Memphis, is significantly worse this year than last.

Last year we had the X game as a home game so that helped this year it was a away game.

Lame excuses in 3....2....1...

Some of those early non-conf games were not head turners. We went to a couple of them and the crowds were sparse.

We were hitting 10,000+ for Big East games earlier than we were with the AAC line up .

Nevertheless we will close out strong with 3 sell outs. Go Cats

With the almost certain Memphis sell out our average attendance for conference foes will be around 11,200. Not to shabby!

2012-13

UTM 5728
MVSU 5617
NCA&T 5582
Campbell 5927
Alabama 10155
Ark LR 6127
Mary ES 6423
Wright St 9248
New Mex 10627
St John 8142
ND 10,293
Marq 12,812
Rutgers 11024
Pitt 12478
Villan 9534
GTown 12842
Uconn 12432
USF 11572

2013-14

UNCC 6532
NCState 7028
App St 6194
Campbell 6011
UMassLowell 5477
Kennesaw 6627
USC Upstate 5113
Mid Tenn 5424
Chi State 5564
Nebraska 8254
SMU 7239
Rutgers 10872
Temp 9864
UCF 10242
USF 10367
UConn 12432
Houston 13167
Louisville 13167
Memphis 13167?

Arent attendance numbers down around the country?

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Wow! Is that correct we had 12,432 against Uconn in 12-13 & the exact same amount for this years game against UCONN?

(02-26-2014 05:46 PM)Bearcat Jimmy-93 Wrote:  Wow! Is that correct we had 12,432 against Uconn in 12-13 & the exact same amount for this years game against UCONN?

I figured I made a mistake typing it in. But nope...exact. Bizarre


http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400496991


http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=330612132

I am too lazy to do the math, but those numbers looks almost identical.

(02-26-2014 04:18 PM)bearcatmill Wrote:  Some of those early non-conf games were not head turners. We went to a couple of them and the crowds were sparse.

True every year for the last 10 or more though, so I don't think that's a factor year over year.

The attendance numbers I care about are during conference season. For most of the city that is when basketball season starts. As long as the NFL and to lesser extent college is in play, college basketball isn't going turn many heads.

The Crosstown Classic, had 10,000 people this year. That is suppose to be a big rivalry game and an event for the city. While that number looks good, play that game over the last few weeks and you have a sellout.

Edit: I think our fan base needs to become better educated in terms of the teams we play in the American and in the non-conference. The SMU game was played on New Years but fans that were following college basketball for the first two months knew SMU was a good team. NC Central and NC State were great ways to open the season as well.

(02-27-2014 08:57 AM)bearcatlawjd Wrote:  The attendance numbers I care about are during conference season. For most of the city that is when basketball season starts. As long as the NFL and to lesser extent college is in play, college basketball isn't going turn many heads.

The Crosstown Classic, had 10,000 people this year. That is suppose to be a big rivalry game and an event for the city. While that number looks good, play that game over the last few weeks and you have a sellout.

Edit: I think our fan base needs to become better educated in terms of the teams we play in the American and in the non-conference. The SMU game was played on New Years but fans that were following college basketball for the first two months knew SMU was a good team. NC Central and NC State were great ways to open the season as well.

I agree with all three points. The only other thing I would add is that I think for the in-conference teams it was necessary to go through a season to or two to get familar with new names/faces. You are right that folks should have been excited about watching the Cats play a Larry Brown coached team but I do think people looked at the name SMU and took them for granted. The loss down at Moody Coliseium might have been an eye opener for both our team (per Mick) and our fans.

As an aside I think next year USF and Houston will be much improved and will give us all we can handle.

...and SMU should be ranked pre-season next year with what they've done this year and their incoming prized recruits. Anyone know if next week's game with Memphis is close to selling out?

(02-27-2014 10:01 AM)indycat Wrote:  ...and SMU should be ranked pre-season next year with what they've done this year and their incoming prized recruits. Anyone know if next week's game with Memphis is close to selling out?

Less than 500 tickets remaining. Can't imagine it won't sell out.

I just bought 2

Not at all surprised attendance is down, no one showed up the first two months of the season.

Side note, for the Louisville game I sat in the upper deck for the first time in 5-6 years. Have to say, the seats aren't that bad. I was row 19 and I could watch the game fine. Well worth it to experience a sell out crowd.

Not surprised some of us post Huggins/Wyler/Zimpher folks have not returned. I stopped after Born Not Quite Ready was allowed to do cross over dribbles (sometimes off his feet) and 4 other stood around. I still contribute enough for very good seats but do not buy them and signed up for $15k FB seats in pavilion.

As a retired business exec I learned the hardest customer to get is one you lost. You have to bust your butt and go the extra mile to get them back. The team has busted their butts but the administration has not reached out to lost fans, based on my experience. If they were proactive, they would have done some targeted promotions.