Attendance Drop...Bigly

[RJScootin]

Two reasons the attendance is down plan and simple, losing and conference. People love a winner and this team has been the opposite the last three years. Call them bad fans if you want but that's how it goes. The other thing is the conference they play in. There no local fans or traveling fans for any schools in AAC or a minuscule amount at best. The AAC has no good rivals games against Uconn that might get the more causal fans. The only thing to help attendance is winning or changing conferences. The upside to low attendance is..... It gets coaches fired!

 

[Lefty2one]

It is clear that many of you guys weren't around in the early days of the Big East. I bought tickets at the box office day of the game for almost every game including the Chris Mullins St Johns team and the Villanova team that won the NCAA title. Here is the thing. In those early days we were Tulane compared to those other guys. Heck we bought tickets to Georgetown in DC from the UConn ticket office and the gave us 2 for half price because we bought 4. They couldn't sell them in those days. It was only AFTER Calhoun started winning that these rivalries developed. If you asked people in the days when UConn played in the infamous 8-9 game at the BET if we were anyone's rival they would have told you "No. Not a rival but if you lost to UConn, the coach would be on the hotseat."

What you say is true but at the same time the big difference is that the Big East was a power conference. UConn was one of the few weak links who rose to join, and eventually surpass, the other elite programs. The AAC is the opposite, it's a dumpster fire with a ton of terrible programs and one elite program. There was also the whole geographic thing too back in the day with the BE that helped nurture those budding rivalries. You had family members or high school friends who attended other BE schools. Local recruiting battles, etc. Plus CT, the Tri-State area and New England has always loved basketball. The Big East's footprint was basketball-crazy. The AAC is full of a bunch of schools in football country.

Unfortunately, we will never be rivals with anyone in the AAC.

 

[UconnAlum04]

The problem with Gampel at 7pm on a weeknight is that no one will get there on time. Move it back to 8pm and you have a problem with people getting home at midnight. I live in Manchester off 44 pretty much halfway between XL and Gampel. After a game in Hartford I can go from getting into my car to my house in 25 minutes. From Gampel it's almost an hour. Remember the crowd for the 9pm start vs Temple in Storrs? Woof. Having games in Hartford is a must.

Agreed.

For people working/living in Fairfield county, it is Much easier when weeknight games are at XL.
Even then, for a 7pm game, we typically have to leave work a little early to get up there in time to grab dinner/drinks at a restaurant before heading in (hopefully there is seating available, City Steam is Always packed).
After the game, we're typically back home by 10:30 the latest.

With that said, that is the reason why we can only make Gampel games if they are on the weekend.

If they held a Top 25 matchup (non AAC) at Gampel during a weeknight...would we go?
Possibly, but it would require leaving work even earlier and then getting home even later.

 

[freescooter]

Also one shouldn't lose sight of the overall situation where college basketball attendance is dropping at the D1 level on a year over year basis. And has been for about 8-10 years. Last year only 1 D1 conference the SEC, saw an increase in attendance from the year before. And 1 smaller one stayed basically flat. Lots of things contribute including cost which is more than just tickets but add service fees parking even without meals, basically every game on tv, and to a large extent the fact that regular season games are not that meaningful and will become less so if the NCAA expands the tourney to 72 or 96.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Also one shouldn't lose sight of the overall situation where college basketball attendance is dropping at the D1 level on a year over year basis. And has been for about 8-10 years. Last year only 1 D1 conference the SEC, saw an increase in attendance from the year before. And 1 smaller one stayed basically flat. Lots of things contribute including cost which is more than just tickets but add service fees parking even without meals, basically every game on tv, and to a large extent the fact that regular season games are not that meaningful and will become less so if the NCAA expands the tourney to 72 or 96.

Add also that ALL of the basketball conferences have been fisted by Football

 

[freescooter]

There was only major basketball conference and it was mainly dominated by football schools at the end anyway. And yeah you could argue it got screwed. But you can't ignore a larger trend, in this case that live attendance at sporting events is down everywhere. The NCAA has actually set up a group to look at the problem. (Yeah I know but it shows how widespread it is). All the things everyone talks about just make the problem worse but if you fixed them you'd still have the same issue just at a different level.

 

[Travelman6]

I think when people came to the NE and Wagner games and saw a loss, they figured "What is the point, bye!"

Not everyone is as big/dedicated a fan as folks are here....

To me it is that simple.

Start beating cincy, smu and OOC P5 teams and people will come to not only those games, but every game.

 

[champs99and04]

There's a lot of obvious in this thread. Yes, we understand that when the product is worse, less people come.

Doesn't change the fact that that's the definition of bandwagon.

 

[sledog]

The political burden of playing in Hartford can't help.

 

[Chief00]

Benedict actually listens to Chief00, a good start.

 

[NielsisGood]

BullScalito

We are talking about a team who has given us 4 titles in 18 years. They deserved a pass and our support no matter what league we are playing in and how poorly the season was going.

We have multiple years down like this one and I start to buy the conference/performance metric.


Our fan base is made up of pathetic front runners.

This program deserved better from us, if for nothing else, then as thanks for what they have given us previously.

The XL crowd have always been pretty shameful. You can go back and watch any game from the last 20 years and only like 20% of the crowd are actually wearing UConn gear and trying to create an atmosphere that projects the way KU, UK, UNC, Duke do. This is something that has always annoyed me, and is downright problematic and sad now that the program is in a bit of a (hopefully temporary) rough patch.


I don't know all the logistics behind the idea, but I've always wondered why UConn doesn't try to at least have their weeknight games at Gampel and their weekend games at XL.

 

[whaler11]

I think when people came to the NE and Wagner games and saw a loss, they figured "What is the point, bye!"

Not everyone is as big/dedicated a fan as folks are here....

To me it is that simple.

Start beating cincy, smu and OOC P5 teams and people will come to not only those games, but every game.

Always good when some guy in South America had an opinion on attendance.

This is all very simple.

There are 3.6 million people in this state.

Regardless of what you read here unemployment is not an issue.

There is plenty of wealth and positive cashflow.

Do we really not have a good enough fanbase where 13-14k can show up in Hartford for 2 frigging hours for this program?

There are no shortage of excuses: the league sucks, the team has been bad, the school is clueless on how to present games, the school is completely lost on how to sell tickets, the buildings suck - we've got all the excuses.

On the other hand there is zero live sports competition and you know those 4 national championships in 15 years were nice.

Connecticut has killed every sporting entity put before it in the long run. At least all the others could blame poor results - when the fanbase smothers this program because it had the nerve to struggle... at least some people took an extra few hundred dollars to the grave.

 

[whaler11]

UConn and Providence should play every year. PCC/HCC. Very simple.

My inlaws live just outside Providence. If you have a route that is an hour between Hartford and Providence please share.... that is a legitimate 90 minutes on a good day.

 

[whaler11]

Benedict actually listens to Chief00, a good start.

What were AD Dave's takeaways from your last conversation? More biiitches?00

 

[freescooter]

I would play PC every year. It would be good for New England hoops I think.

Just like I'd love to play Syracuse every year. But those games don't solve attendance issues. As I said above, there is a bigger issue with attendance and you can't ignore that and just focus on UConn.