Announced attendance was 10,149. There had to be a lot of freebies. There were fans in the upper level behind the baskets that I haven't seen in years. It was great to see such a great crowd. Any thoughts on the low announced figure? Excellent crowd.
Attendance last night?
- Thread starter ritter
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I couldn't even sit in my seats, I went and sat in the upper level. Great to see so many people! It was Girl Scout Night, so maybe that throws the numbers off??
Carnac
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Give the girl scouts a play, the boy scouts too. If I'm in marketing for the XL Center, the arena would be filled to capacity that night. After we sold all the tickets we could, I'd give the rest away to civic groups, senior citizen groups, youth organizations, local volunteer agencies, local police & fire departments. Usually winning puts butts in the seats. Most folks in the Hartford area are familiar with the UConn women's basketball team, and their unprecedented current win streak. Those free tickets would generate some revenue at the snack bars and fan shops at kiosks in the arena. I would cater to the seniors by providing complementary transportation to and from the game if needed.
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I couldn't agree more! In addition to the added concession revenue, recruitment and the UConn image could be enhanced with full stands showing-up on TV broadcasts ..not to leave-out the added game enthusiasm that would be generated. Also, as our fan base advances in age, we'd be promoting "new Uconn fans and advocates" who could very well become future paying customers. I've written several times to the Athletic Dept advocating this approach-- used to good avail, in the past, by the Lady Vols and others.
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I follow attendance and was rooting for 12k. Still, it looked like a good crowd and sounded into it. The thought I had was that the Hartford games do best during the day on Saturday. If the Temple game was on campus, it probably would have drawn nearly as many and been a nice diversion for the students. Of course, this places Senior Night off-campus. It's a difficult juggle.
Carnac
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IF fan attendance is really important to UConn, and 12K is a goal, I wonder if how much thought the basketball office and the XL Center stadium operations personnel have given this in regards to scheduling games, so as to maximize attendance and fan participation with the program. If most fans find it easier to attend games in Hartford on the weekend, then try and schedule as many weekend games in the early afternoon as possible.
If fan attendance is dwindling at Gampel, the marketing team need to get together, and think outside the box, and figure out ways to make a visit to either of these venues "fan friendly". No more BIG Monday 9:00 pm start time games. Those are sure fire crowd killers. I understand ESPN has a broadcasting contract, and they call the shots on those games. They can certainly lobby for an earlier start time. There lots of ways to put butts in those seats.
A forward thinking person(s) just has to figure out how to do it. Nothing is impossible.