2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Attendance

[UConnfan8]

I don't have this exact memory.

I remember lots of empty seats against seton hall, Rutgers and, later, St John's and DePaul and even Marquette.

There is just no way your going to convince me that playing Rutgers, Seton Hall etc equates to us playing Tulane, East Carolina.

You are wrong.

 

[Drew]

There is just no way your going to convince me that playing Rutgers, Seton Hall etc equates to us playing Tulane, East Carolina.

You are wrong.

ballsy move to tell someone their opinion is wrong just because it differs from your own.

went ahead and looked up the average UConn attendance for every year since 2002.

2002: 13709
2003: 13229
2004: 13549
2005: 13771
2006: 13948
2007: 13012
2008: 11887
2009: 12518
2010: 11688
2011: 11569
2012: 12640
2013: 10728
2014: 10134
2015: 10687
2016: 10413
2017: 8565

2008-2012 average: 12060
2013-2016 average: 10490

So its a decline in roughly 1500 fans (excluding last year when the team was just putrid) since the latter part of the Big East days to now. There are multiple reasons why attendance can and does change. In my opinion, winning is the biggest reason attendance numbers are what they are. Next in line is game time followed by opponent and location. Not to mention the quality of sports on tv today. But again, it's my opinion.

And for the record no, I really don't think playing Rutgers or DePaul or Seton Hall is any different than playing Tulane or ECU. I think where the difference in attendance really comes into play as far as conferences go is not having Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, and Louisville on the schedule. That is where the conference makes a difference in the bottom line, but there are enough quality teams in the AAC now that we should be showing up for games. Wichita State, SMU, Cincinnati, Memphis, Temple are all big names in the sport of college basketball.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[UConnfan8]

ballsy move to tell someone their opinion is wrong just because it differs from your own.

went ahead and looked up the average UConn attendance for every year since 2002.

2002: 13709
2003: 13229
2004: 13549
2005: 13771
2006: 13948
2007: 13012
2008: 11887
2009: 12518
2010: 11688
2011: 11569
2012: 12640
2013: 10728
2014: 10134
2015: 10687
2016: 10413
2017: 8565

2008-2012 average: 12060
2013-2016 average: 10490

So its a decline in roughly 1500 fans (excluding last year when the team was just putrid) since the latter part of the Big East days to now. There are multiple reasons why attendance can and does change. In my opinion, winning is the biggest reason attendance numbers are what they are. Next in line is game time followed by opponent and location. Not to mention the quality of sports on tv today. But again, it's my opinion.

And for the record no, I really don't think playing Rutgers or DePaul or Seton Hall is any different than playing Tulane or ECU. I think where the difference in attendance really comes into play as far as conferences go is not having Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, and Louisville on the schedule. That is where the conference makes a difference in the bottom line, but there are enough quality teams in the AAC now that we should be showing up for games. Wichita State, SMU, Cincinnati, Memphis, Temple are all big names in the sport of college basketball.

When Ollie came, attendance declined. Thats what your statistics show me. And as UConn, being under 10K a game? C'mon man....who do you think we are? Tulane?

Also- Rutgers and Seton Hall would destroy Tulane or ECU if they ever played each other.

Now you are wrong.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Did some research while bored at work:

Rank is in terms of Attendance ranking. I would have thought there would be a bigger change after Championships but it wasnt as drastic as I thought. Couple things stick out, 2007 had the highest attendance at 260,231 with a 17-14 record!! i had to recheck it cause i didnt believe it. Also from the height of attendance to last year is over 100,000 people... pretty crazy. Looks like we were pretty consistent in averaging a crowd of close to 13k until about 10 years ago where it starts dipping down.

 

[mauconnfan]

Let's Go nice job - the league certainly has a piece and losing also has a piece. I will admit the league proves in this illustration to have a bigger piece than I first thought. Add a team who doesn't compete as we wish and it's ugly.

Thanks interesting stuff.

 

[Guapo]

There is just no way your going to convince me that playing Rutgers, Seton Hall etc equates to us playing Tulane, East Carolina.

You are wrong.

No no, I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying it wasn't all sunshine and lollipops attendance-wise in the old big east either.

I'd be interested in seeing local tv ratings too as I think that's a better measure for fan engagement than ticket sales anyways...

 

[mauconnfan]

When Ollie came, attendance declined. Thats what your statistics show me. And as UConn, being under 10K a game? C'mon man....who do you think we are? Tulane?

Also- Rutgers and Seton Hall would destroy Tulane or ECU if they ever played each other.

Now you are wrong.

Yeah no doubt RU would destroy Tulane or ECU, I mean they ripped up Hartford 77-75 after all.

 

[UConnfan8]

Yeah no doubt RU would destroy Tulane or ECU, I mean they ripped up Hartford 77-75 after all.

No sweat off my back if you can't grasp that besides Ollie literally killing our program, the conference that we are in will never allow us to be a major player in college basketball again.

You're not the only one.

 

[Kitaman]

There was once upon a time when the most important number that mattered was student attendance.

 

[mauconnfan]

No sweat off my back if you can't grasp that besides Ollie literally killing our program, the conference that we are in will never allow us to be a major player in college basketball again.

You're not the only one.

I grasp a lot just can't be that negative where there's never anything good to say. Grasp that a little because your game sucks.

 

[chickenhead]

I hate Syracuse but taking shots at their attendance, when we can't even sell out our conference semi finals against a ranked team?

Come on.

It's all relative. Their attendance is down...

 

[Chief00]

Did some research while bored at work:

Rank is in terms of Attendance ranking. I would have thought there would be a bigger change after Championships but it wasnt as drastic as I thought. Couple things stick out, 2007 had the highest attendance at 260,231 with a 17-14 record!! i had to recheck it cause i didnt believe it. Also from the height of attendance to last year is over 100,000 people... pretty crazy. Looks like we were pretty consistent in averaging a crowd of close to 13k until about 10 years ago where it starts dipping down.

View attachment 24072

Looking at Jim Calhoun's records - I just say wow! Really amazing accomplishment over time!

 

[Guapo]

Did some research while bored at work:

Rank is in terms of Attendance ranking. I would have thought there would be a bigger change after Championships but it wasnt as drastic as I thought. Couple things stick out, 2007 had the highest attendance at 260,231 with a 17-14 record!! i had to recheck it cause i didnt believe it. Also from the height of attendance to last year is over 100,000 people... pretty crazy. Looks like we were pretty consistent in averaging a crowd of close to 13k until about 10 years ago where it starts dipping down.

View attachment 24072

So my question for you all is, what would attendance be if we went 32-4 in the AAC?

 

[Chief00]

So my question for you all is, what would attendance be if we went 32-4 in the AAC?

Jim really set the bar high!

 

[UConnfan8]

Looking at Jim Calhoun's records - I just say wow! Really amazing accomplishment over time!

Best accomplishment in college SPORTS history.

 

[Chief00]

ballsy move to tell someone their opinion is wrong just because it differs from your own.

went ahead and looked up the average UConn attendance for every year since 2002.

2002: 13709
2003: 13229
2004: 13549
2005: 13771
2006: 13948
2007: 13012
2008: 11887
2009: 12518
2010: 11688
2011: 11569
2012: 12640
2013: 10728
2014: 10134
2015: 10687
2016: 10413
2017: 8565

2008-2012 average: 12060
2013-2016 average: 10490

So its a decline in roughly 1500 fans (excluding last year when the team was just putrid) since the latter part of the Big East days to now. There are multiple reasons why attendance can and does change. In my opinion, winning is the biggest reason attendance numbers are what they are. Next in line is game time followed by opponent and location. Not to mention the quality of sports on tv today. But again, it's my opinion.

And for the record no, I really don't think playing Rutgers or DePaul or Seton Hall is any different than playing Tulane or ECU. I think where the difference in attendance really comes into play as far as conferences go is not having Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, and Louisville on the schedule. That is where the conference makes a difference in the bottom line, but there are enough quality teams in the AAC now that we should be showing up for games. Wichita State, SMU, Cincinnati, Memphis, Temple are all big names in the sport of college basketball.

Good post but I think opponent is bigger than you give it credit for. A great opponent will sellout regardless of all other factors except maybe winning.
Looking forward to seeing Carlos Daniels again in a couple of weeks.

 

[Guapo]

Jim really set the bar high!

Chief I love you, but you did not answer the question

 

[champs99and04]

The conference is a huge crutch when there are 12 programs in non-power conferences averaging a higher attendance than us. Of those 12, eight of them are from conferences outside the Big East and therefore play schedules worse or comparable to ours.

And it isn't all about winning, either. Of the 12 non-p5 schools that finished ahead of us, five of them failed to make the tournament.

The reality is that our fan base kind of sucks. That isn't the fault of anyone here but there's no need to dress it up. There is a reason we're not in a power conference.

 

[Tuna]

When Ollie came, attendance declined. Thats what your statistics show me.

People always twist stats to cater to their own narratives but they generally try and tone it down a bit so they don't come off like complete idiots...

 

[David 76]

Conference
Losing
An aging, complacent fan base that doesn't go out on weeknights and has the ability to watch every game on tv.

In the 90s we went to bad games because you could not get tickets to good games.

 

[Hoophound]

You have to be careful saying our fanbase sucks, it doesn't. The numbers show UConn has a huge fanbase when it comes to merchandising. We are getting paid by Nike and IMG because of the fanbase. Where we do suck, is in attending live sports events religiously.

Connecticut is an aging population. I attended far more games in my teens and 20's than I did in my 30's and now 40's. Unless I retire near CT, I'll almost surely travel to less games as I get older. Peak UConn fandom probably occurred around 1992-2004. Many of the paying customers of that time that went to happy hour and then to basketball games etc. are in their 60's and 70's now. I fear we aren't replacing them with fans that attend. Teens don't feel the need to be there. I suspect it is because they'll look at their phones the whole time anyway.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

You have to be careful saying our fanbase sucks, it doesn't. The numbers show UConn has a huge fanbase when it comes to merchandising. We are getting paid by Nike and IMG because of the fanbase. Where we do suck, is in attending live sports events religiously.

Connecticut is an aging population. I attended far more games in my teens and 20's than I did in my 30's and now 40's. Unless I retire near CT, I'll almost surely travel to less games as I get older. Peak UConn fandom probably occurred around 1992-2004. Many of the paying customers of that time that went to happy hour and then to basketball games etc. are in their 60's and 70's now. I fear we aren't replacing them with fans that attend. Teens don't feel the need to be there. I suspect it is because they'll look at their phones the whole time anyway.

When i was living in Stamford, it was almost impossible for me to make it after work up to Gampel for a game at 7, with the amount of traffic on 95 or the merit. Hartford was a little easier but still, you end up ripping ur hair out. Anyone that commutes down 95 and back up every day, bless you.

 

[Waquoit]

You have to be careful saying our fanbase sucks, it doesn't. The numbers show UConn has a huge fanbase when it comes to merchandising. We are getting paid by Nike and IMG because of the fanbase. Where we do suck, is in attending live sports events religiously.

This is true. What isn't mentioned is the lasting damage Lou Perkins did when he was in charge. If you weren't a big donor, he wasn't interested. He alienated many fans that love UConn and went to games. He didn't care because when we riding high there were plenty of casual fans to pick up the slack. Now the casual fans are gone and the ones Lou treated like crap are fine watching from home. A little care and feeding back then would have gone a long way.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

The economics and demographics of the state play a larger roll in attendance than most of you believe.
Extraordinary success or the occasional big name mask that decline which really mirrors the decline of the states economy.
That's the most disturbing thing about the future of UConn basketball.
It was a rabid fan base and broad state support that enabled us to go from a regional to national player.
Dave Gavitt saw the possibility.
The population decrease if examined closely is much worse for sports entertainment than first appears
The exodus is somewhat offset by foreign immigrants who historically only have sports attachments to their old country if any at all. The people who leave are retirees with multitude generaration ties to the state and young professionals both of whom are more likely to attend games . I would love to see stats on the % of UConn grads or any grads for that matter , leaving the state for employment now vs 1980.
Retirees are important because they continue going to games with there kids and grandkids making future fans . Establishing a tradition. Business Relocation out of the state caused my son to move
He had been going to UConn games since the 1970's with me., and now his sons would be going with him.
Those that write off last year as an anomaly are
Just plain wrong . In the 1980's an undermanned team fighting for a NCAA birth would have sold out the Cinncy game . A half full Crowd for that game is indiciative of real problems. Worse yet if they pulled off that upset I suspect the game against SMU would not have sold out. That's just plain inexcusable.
I looked up real estate in my old neighborhood and houses were listing at $100,000 less than 10-15 years ago. That loss of wealth in much of CT is
mind boggling.
Western Fairfield County is an exception ,the one area with minimal loyalty to UConn's men programs.

Like the old Bill Clinton campaign mantra of 1992 " Its the economy stupid"