(07-10-2015 06:39 AM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 11:40 PM)Murray007 Wrote:  Some of the lower attendance numbers in our conference are really ugly.

Perhaps fans of schools that average less than 3,000 a game can send some emails to their AD and see what can be done.

You obviously haven't been paying attention, Murray. We're in the CUSA now, which means we're way too cool to care about something as meaningless as basketball attendance figures.

Does it factor into how good your team is, no. Does it make your team any better, no but it has to suck being an athlete and walk into a near empty arena and play your heart out for the 500 fans that decided to show up. This goes for any sport not just basketball.

SEC would be close to Level 3 if not for one school to inflate their averages...

CUSA's goal should be averaging close to 5k and be comparable to A-10 and MVC, since that is our ceiling...However will be a tall task simply because about 5 or 6 schools will never draw much more than 1k and play in high schools gyms....Those schools are not going to turn around over night and start caring about basketball...

If the top teams can average 6,500 and the bottom teams can average 3,500, I think that gets CUSA closer to where it wants to be.

No, attendance doesn't "mean" anything in the grand scheme, but it's a good indicator of fan interest, which is an indirect effect on the work the athletic department (particularly the marketing arm) is doing. Good support can convince a school to invest more money in the program, which ideally leads to better results, which leads to more interest, which ... well, you see where this is going. If a program averages 1,000 a game even when they're respectable, what's the impetus in jacking up funding for it to get maybe 1,250?

It's also good optics when a CUSA game lands on Top 10 Plays of the Night and there's people there to cheer for it.

Another way to look at it is by percent to capacity. Here's the capacity for each school, according to bbstate-

12,000 UTEP
11,520 Middle Tennessee
10,032 North Texas
9,105 Charlotte
9,048 Marshall
8,508 UAB
8,424 Old Dominion
8,095 SoMiss
8,000 LaTech

7,953 CUSA avg. max capacity

7,326 WKU
5,208 Rice
5,000 FAU
5,000 FIU
4,080 UTSA

(07-10-2015 09:59 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  If the top teams can average 6,500 and the bottom teams can average 3,500, I think that gets CUSA closer to where it wants to be.

No, attendance doesn't "mean" anything in the grand scheme, but it's a good indicator of fan interest, which is an indirect effect on the work the athletic department (particularly the marketing arm) is doing. Good support can convince a school to invest more money in the program, which ideally leads to better results, which leads to more interest, which ... well, you see where this is going. If a program averages 1,000 a game even when they're respectable, what's the impetus in jacking up funding for it to get maybe 1,250?

It's also good optics when a CUSA game lands on Top 10 Plays of the Night and there's people there to cheer for it.

It also matters for recruits. Imagine recruiting a kid and he says I like you/your school but I want to play in front of fans and be seen on television. UTEP has lost some highly rated recruits because the kids wanted to play in packed gyms every night. It shouldn't matter but it does to todays athletes.

(07-09-2015 03:04 PM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 02:49 PM)Volkmar Wrote:  Why don't we just compare ***** length by country, and relative to the average male's height in said countries? LOL

http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=5744

They don't have a chart like that for schools, but it's the impression I get about some of the discussions we engage in.

Cool map. I would not have expected Canada to come up on the short end of averages.

Seeing the taller color designations for the Scandinavian countries is not a surprise. We've got a large Maersk presence here in downtown Norfolk. Running into a group of those guys at lunch hour is almost like an episode of Land of the Giants.



As far as basketball attendance goes, I suppose that a sneering shrug of the shoulders is about the best we can expect from a Roadrunners fan. Please pardon the rest of us for caring.

They care enough about basketball at least to beat us last February.

(07-11-2015 08:52 AM)GO_MONARKS Wrote:  They care enough about basketball at least to beat us last February.

In front of an arena-rocking crowd of 1168.

Does that make a bit of difference? Certainly not in the win-loss column. But I know that I would be embarrassed for my chosen team if we ever had such a poor turn out, no matter who the opponent.

(07-12-2015 07:36 AM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  

(07-11-2015 08:52 AM)GO_MONARKS Wrote:  They care enough about basketball at least to beat us last February.

In front of an arena-rocking crowd of 1168.

Does that make a bit of difference? Certainly not in the win-loss column. But I know that I would be embarrassed for my chosen team if we ever had such a poor turn out, no matter who the opponent.

They have a good product. Hopefully, the community support increases. Tough for them with the NBA in town.

(07-12-2015 09:12 AM)GO_MONARKS Wrote:  

(07-12-2015 07:36 AM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  

(07-11-2015 08:52 AM)GO_MONARKS Wrote:  They care enough about basketball at least to beat us last February.

In front of an arena-rocking crowd of 1168.

Does that make a bit of difference? Certainly not in the win-loss column. But I know that I would be embarrassed for my chosen team if we ever had such a poor turn out, no matter who the opponent.

They have a good product. Hopefully, the community support increases. Tough for them with the NBA in town.

Pro sports certainly hurts you some but 1100 fans is terrible no matter what. Utsa's bigger problem is simply that they haven't been very good. Having terrible facilities probably also hurts students and community perception of the teams ability to compete as well.

(07-12-2015 10:02 AM)Niner National Wrote:  

(07-12-2015 09:12 AM)GO_MONARKS Wrote:  

(07-12-2015 07:36 AM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  

(07-11-2015 08:52 AM)GO_MONARKS Wrote:  They care enough about basketball at least to beat us last February.

In front of an arena-rocking crowd of 1168.

Does that make a bit of difference? Certainly not in the win-loss column. But I know that I would be embarrassed for my chosen team if we ever had such a poor turn out, no matter who the opponent.

They have a good product. Hopefully, the community support increases. Tough for them with the NBA in town.

Pro sports certainly hurts you some but 1100 fans is terrible no matter what. Utsa's bigger problem is simply that they haven't been very good. Having terrible facilities probably also hurts students and community perception of the teams ability to compete as well.

What is the impact on the 49'ers from the Hornets? Any differences between the old Hornets and new Hornets?

(07-12-2015 02:20 PM)GO_MONARKS Wrote:  

(07-12-2015 10:02 AM)Niner National Wrote:  

(07-12-2015 09:12 AM)GO_MONARKS Wrote:  

(07-12-2015 07:36 AM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  

(07-11-2015 08:52 AM)GO_MONARKS Wrote:  They care enough about basketball at least to beat us last February.

In front of an arena-rocking crowd of 1168.

Does that make a bit of difference? Certainly not in the win-loss column. But I know that I would be embarrassed for my chosen team if we ever had such a poor turn out, no matter who the opponent.

They have a good product. Hopefully, the community support increases. Tough for them with the NBA in town.

Pro sports certainly hurts you some but 1100 fans is terrible no matter what. Utsa's bigger problem is simply that they haven't been very good. Having terrible facilities probably also hurts students and community perception of the teams ability to compete as well.

What is the impact on the 49'ers from the Hornets? Any differences between the old Hornets and new Hornets?

Not really comparable because our best years were in the 90s through the mid 2000s so our attendance increased during that period of time. Now we are in a 10 year downswing and attendance has followed.

Maybe the hornets hurt us some but not nearly as much as sucking. If we start winning again, I expect to see our attendance go back up to 6-7000.