ISU 53 - Winston Salem State 33

[tornado]

so you think it was a really good crowd??

Maybe Zooperstars will draw in better crowds??

[RedbirdFan21]

so you think it was a really good crowd??

Why puts words in my mouth???... I never said it was a good crowd. We won't get any good crowds with the OOC schedule that we have. I live in Springfield and the only reason I went to the Nicholls St. and Winston Salem St. games was because I had a free ride. Does that make me a bad fan? I don't think it does. Maybe you do. I subscribe to Redbird All-Access to watch the games that I don't go to. It is tough to get people to come to the games when we laid so many eggs in front of good crowds in the Richardson and Moser era's.

I think alot of people think the same way as I do. Why pay for gas, tickets, food, etc etc... to see them play weak competition. I am kind of pissed they played like crap the two games I went to and actually looked good vs. UCSB- the one game I didn't go to of the World Vision Invitational.

If BU went on a near 10 year streak of no post season play, you don't think they would see a steady decrease in attendance?

[tornado]

21--those were question marks at the end of my statement...
I was aksing if you thought it was a good crowd...

[RedbirdFan21]

21--those were question marks at the end of my statement...
I was aksing if you thought it was a good crowd...

A question that I think you know the answer to...if you didn't before you do now...

What do you think about the question at the end of my previous post? Agree or Disagree that BU (or any schools) attendance would take a steady hit if they didn't go to post season play for 10 years? Or be really even close to post season play for that long?

[Braves4Life]

What do you think about the question at the end of my previous post? Agree or Disagree that BU (or any schools) attendance would take a steady hit if they didn't go to post season play for 10 years? Or be really even close to post season play for that long?

IMO BU attendance would suffer very little (and I know some poster probably has the stats to back this up). BU would always draw 8000+ in Peoria, it's the ONLY game in town.

What makes the Bloom/Normal area so much different?

[tornado]

A question that I think you know the answer to...if you didn't before you do now...

What do you think about the question at the end of my previous post? Agree or Disagree that BU (or any schools) attendance would take a steady hit if they didn't go to post season play for 10 years? Or be really even close to post season play for that long?

glad you asked....of course Bradley has had some down years....and from 2001 through 2006, there were plenty of disappointing years, and lots of clamor to get rid of the coaches we had...and yet.......
attendance was right at the top of all the Valley schools, and BU still was averaging close to 10K.

I'd say except for a few hundred fair weather fans, the core group of fans at BU come thick or thin and good years & bad years.

Show me any season in the past 27 since BU has been at Carver, that the arena was half empty!!

[RedbirdFan21]

What makes the Bloom/Normal area so much different?

I don't really know to be honest with you... BU has a couple advantages IMO... the population is larger, and they can serve beer at the games.

I only lived in Blo/No for 4 years while at ISU so I don't know much about the rest of the city as a whole.

I know there are a TON of U of I fans... (being on 40 mins away)... and alot of the population is State Farm/Country empoyees. Alot of them are transplants from out of state.

I am sure there are arguements for BU as well (CAT employees from out of state... etc etc...)- no trying to prove a point really. ISU's attendance is clearly not as good as BU's or several MVC teams and there is nothing really more to say about it...

However, if ISU keep up the play of the last two year, I would expect the attendance to rise...

[tornado]

I propose there is yet more to the difference in the BU-ISU crowds..

I cannot be convinced the population or the selling of beer are the issues.
I just think certain schools own fan bases that are MORE loyal, and BU, Creighton, Notre Dame, Georgetown, and a few others are examples.
I think it's something intangible but not imperceptible...kinda like the following that the Cubs have even in bad years.
I honestly think some schools work harder at and ARE better at keeping the fan base and alumni loyal.

I have degrees from two instate schools, one is (of course) BU, the other is a large public/state supported school. The latter has NEVER in the 37 years since I enrolled, attended, and graduated from them, ever tried to contact me, send me alumni mailings, made me feel the least bit welcome, or paid any attention to me at all!! (other than bugged me until I paid off my loans.)
I can't quite say that about BU!!


How many teams have badly disappointing crowds and half-full arenas even during their BEST seasons?
ISU has now won 32 out of their past 42 games (32-10 in that stretch). They should be packing the place.

[shaunguth]

ISU has now won 32 out of their past 42 games (32-10 in that stretch). They should be packing the place.

At the very least for their home season opener!

[Phantom]

It's very simple. Our fans are famously fair-weather and always have been. However, even when we have a good team, the casual fan or fence-sitter will find an excuse not to come to games. This weekend's low attendance can be chalked up to Thanksgiving break, poor weather, and no opponents for anyone other than the diehards to be remotely excited about. Those aren't excuses, they are facts. With the buzz back in our program, I certainly expected bigger crowds than we got, but I'm not terribly surprised the turnout was as it was.

Last year, we drew in the 4-5K range early on too. We didnt start consistently drawing 6K+ until mid-December and from then on with the exception of 2 games (UNI and MSU) we were getting good, noisy crowds.

Does it suck we drew so poorly this weekend? Yes. Does it suck that so far our biggest crowd was in our exhibition game? Yes. Is it surprising? No.

Also, regarding those blocks of "prime" seats behind the bench or elsewhere in the lower bowl that remain empty---most of those are batches of seats sold/given to local businesses, faculty, etc. but if they don't show up to the games the tickets aren't reprinted & those seats remain empty. So those tickets are "sold" but just not "taken"...and they don't factor into our attendance. Now that everyone (students included) need an actual hard ticket for every game, the attendance figures are based on tickets actually taken, not sold, so therefore our attendance numbers are about as accurate as possible.

[SaintLouBrave22]

A question that I think you know the answer to...if you didn't before you do now...

What do you think about the question at the end of my previous post? Agree or Disagree that BU (or any schools) attendance would take a steady hit if they didn't go to post season play for 10 years? Or be really even close to post season play for that long?

My real question is, what happened to the student showing?

[Out of Bounce]

I propose there is yet more to the difference in the BU-ISU crowds..

I cannot be convinced the population or the selling of beer are the issues.
I just think certain schools own fan bases that are MORE loyal, and BU, Creighton, Notre Dame, Georgetown, and a few others are examples.
I think it's something intangible but not imperceptible...kinda like the following that the Cubs have even in bad years.
I honestly think some schools work harder at and ARE better at keeping the fan base and alumni loyal.

I have degrees from two instate schools, one is (of course) BU, the other is a large public/state supported school. The latter has NEVER in the 37 years since I enrolled, attended, and graduated from them, ever tried to contact me, send me alumni mailings, made me feel the least bit welcome, or paid any attention to me at all!! (other than bugged me until I paid off my loans.)
I can't quite say that about BU!!


How many teams have badly disappointing crowds and half-full arenas even during their BEST seasons?
ISU has now won 32 out of their past 42 games (32-10 in that stretch). They should be packing the place.

Bu basketball has been a family tradition and function for a long,long time. It's been handed down through generations. Just as shaunguth and his son attends games together today. It's not just Peoria people but the entire area.

[Phantom]

My real question is, what happened to the student showing?

Students were on Thanksgiving break for the past week. Only a handful of diehards came back for the 3 games this weekend.

[Out of Bounce]

Students were on Thanksgiving break for the past week. Only a handful of diehards came back for the 3 games this weekend.

What about your poor parking. At the CC you can park in about 3 different parking decks or a couple parking lots, all not more then a 1/2 block to a block from the court and your set. Over there you better have your hiking boots with you, have the right weather gear and be prepared with a full tank of gas as the wait to exit is very long.

[SaintLouBrave22]

Students were on Thanksgiving break for the past week. Only a handful of diehards came back for the 3 games this weekend.

Ok...I'll rephrase...where have the students been the last 5 years? I remember them having a lot more attendance in those sections back aways.