Season ticket sales

[BU fan]

I have heard Bradley is around 7000 season tickets sold again this year.

But what would the demand be like for season tickets if Bradley went to the NCAA 5 years in a row, and was picked to be the top team in the Valley this year? I would guess they could sell 10,000 or more season tickets.

SIU has been to what? 5 straight NCAA tournaments. They won the MVC tournament title last year. They return their coach and entire team intact from last season, plus several new players. They will probably be the unanimous pick to win the MVC and they are a lock for another NCAA bid. They have several sure All MVC players. They play maybe their best schedule ever-- Murray State, Arkansas, Minnesota, St. Louis, Western Kentucky, and Indiana, in addition the the MVC schedule.

Yet they sold a record total of 3,564 season tickets this year. Is there something better those people at SIU and in the Carbondale region have to do over the winter? What is wrong with those people? There are high schools in that part of Illinois that sell more season tickets than that.

http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?t=8702

[Eddie]

I am sure that schools like Bradley, Wichita, or Creighton could finish last in the Valley for the next 20 years and still sell more than twice that many season tickets. That is terrible.

[Da Coach]

I don't see it as a negative toward SIU, but rather as a positive toward such programs you mentioned like Bradley, WSU, and CU. There is tremendous fan support in many of the MVC towns. Bradley especially, has fan support that is rarely matched among colleges. The Peoria area population is smaller than 6 of the 10 MVC areas (Wichita, Omaha, Des Moines, Springfield, Evansville, and Bloomington-Normal all have larger population than Peoria). Only UNI, Indiana State, and Carbondale are significantly smaller population areas than Peoria, and yet only WSU and CU outdrew Bradley. And they have only achieved that the last 2 years. For many years prior to that BU lead the MVC in attendance. Bradley's fans are the greatest.

[BTID]

Another consideration to SIU's lack of sales might be that high school sports, especially basketball, are very big in the southern part of the state. That, coupled with the fact that the economic juggernaut for Illinois lies in suburban Chicago while the poorer parts of the state are in rural western and southern Illinois may have something to do with it. On the other hand, smaller schools like Bradley and Northwestern embody more loyalty from their alumni than the larger public schools. Whether they are 18-10 or 10-18, the Braves and Wildcats get their fans to the home games more often than not. As one who works with lots of Illinois and SIU alums, I can tell you that most Bradley fans are less willing to "throw the program under the bus" over a couple of bad seasons than someone at a BCS school, or a larger state school. Further, I think you'll find the home attendances for NIU games are pretty paltry too, compared to the full time enrollment of students there. I would also wager that Bradley has a higher percentage of students attend home games than those found at larger public and private institutions, even though it's not as convenient as it used to be to walk across the Lovelace Quad to get to the Field House.

[BU Bill]

On the other hand, smaller schools like Bradley and Northwestern embody more loyalty from their alumni than the larger public schools. Whether they are 18-10 or 10-18, the Braves and Wildcats get their fans to the home games more often than not...I would also wager that Bradley has a higher percentage of students attend home games than those found at larger public and private institutions, even though it's not as convenient as it used to be to walk across the Lovelace Quad to get to the Field House.

I appreciate your opinion, but a couple of things you said are just not supported by facts. I can't understand why you would try to lump Northwestern in with Bradley? They are completely different.

First, it is not just alumni that support Bradley basketball. It is mostly community fans who never went to Bradley. So the size of the school is much less relevant than other factors.
For every small school like Bradley that has great alumni or fan support, there are many others that do not. And there are numerous examples of large schools with passionate alumni and community support.
One of those that has surprisingly low support is Northwestern. You said that they "embody more loyalty from their alumni", and they "get their fans to the home games more often than not", but their attendance much lower than what Bradley's is every year. Despite having a student population of nearly 8000 (3000 more than Bradley), and the fact they play their games in an on-campus arena, and they exist in a region with millions more in population than the Peoria area, and they play in the Big Ten, Northwestern's average attendance last year was 5011. And that's inflated by the large crowds of visiting fans from other Big Ten teams that travel to Northwestern to watch their teams on the road. If you look at the attendance for games that don't include many visiting fans, they generally draw less than 4000 fans per game. I don't think I would consider that very good support.

http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2005-2006/teamcume.html

And the statement that Bradley students attend the games in large numbers proportionate to enrollment isn't exactly true, either. There are usually a couple hundred Bradley fans at games. Many Big Ten schools allot thousands of tickets to students, and they are assigned by lotteries because the stadiums would be filled with students if they had ticket priority. Not true at Northwestern, where the student attendance at games is low.

[chitownBUB]

BUbill, you must have never been to a NU game.
If the opponent isn't another Big Ten school, then the attendance, although publicly stated to be in the 3,000 range, is barely half that by actual count.

http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2005-2006/mb112105.html

Even when nearby Wisconsin or Purdue play, the attendance barely beats 3-4,000 sometimes, and rarely over 6,000.

http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2005-2006/mb010406.html

http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2005-2006/mb022306.html

The Welsh-Ryan arena only seats 8,117, the smallest arena in the Big Ten by far, but it seems the largest because it is so empty and hollow.
What's most embarrassing is when they hold high school sectional games there, it is a rocking sellout every time, so it's NOT the arena, it's the team and the campus.


As a last comment, the arena is going to be hurt also by the new Sears Center in Hoffman Estates.
Many events that used to rent the Welsh-Ryan Arena, are now looking to book at the Sears Center because of better facilities, larger seating capacity, and better/more parking.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=232474

And there has even been some talk of Northwestern moving some of its games, such as one vs. Illinois, so they can draw bigger crowds.