Where were the students??

[RedSeaElite1]

Something for nothing is nothing. OK what I mean by that if the students are not buying into the games then what is the game worth to them,"NOTHING". The first thing I would do if I was in charge is get the student to purchase season tickets at a nominal fee. Market certain seats as premium and give students the ability to buy their seats by some point based system. Before you start that you would need to fix the teams popularity so a viral marketing campaign could take root. What that marketing campaign would look like would be very important. I'm not in touch with BU students but I'm guessing using social media and a gaming application for mobile device would help a ton! There are some real nice mobile apps that I'm sure the school could use and brand around BU basketball. i.e. http://www.thumpgames.com

We tried to do this last year, and people were all up in arms about us having students pay $50 instead of $15. They said we were excluding students by having students pay more to get better seats and more perks...

[bustudent]

Plain and simple, when the team begins to win and be in the thick of a race students will show up. It really is that easy. It works that way for most any level of sports, people will come to watch a winner, people will not come to watch a loser.

[real fan]

First of all I would like to say that the students that are members and in charge of the Red-Sea are doing a good job in trying to promote and get more students to join and attend, you will always have complaints about things but remember you are the ones spending all your time and effort so whatever you think is right as far as cheers, clothing or whatever else should be it since without you there would be nothing.

[BradleyBrave]

If the team was annually contending for league titles and NCAA bids, there would be plenty of student support. I doubt you'll find a middling midmajor anywhere with great student support.

[DUBrave5]

Every year people say where were the students, where were the students, at some point everyone will have to realize that without another return to the sweet 16, we are not going to get the students there. I was there last night and I wasn't wondering where were the students. I was wondering how in the world we can average what 9,500 or something at Carver but we can't fill 4,200 at the on campus arena, especially since it is the only men's game there this season. Where was everyone else? I mean if the only seats that were left available there were in the "student section" then it would be a different story, but there were a lot of seats available around the rest of the arena.

People spent a lot of time complaining that the new arena is too small and how can we ever expect to hold men's games there. After seeing the crowd last night, it makes me feel like they made that arena the perfect size. I don't care that it was an exhibition against DII-Quincy, when we play against Texas A&M - Kingsville on Friday at Carver, we will have a bigger (not necessarily better) crowd than we had last night.

So scold me for it if you'd like, but where was everyone else?

[Chico]

exactly. they don't seem to care if the students are there or not.

If they're sports fans they know when and where the game is. IMO, most of the students don't care if there is a game or not. Don't blame the sports dept for not begging them to support their team.

[theBUer]

If they're sports fans they know when and where the game is. IMO, most of the students don't care if there is a game or not. Don't blame the sports dept for not begging them to support their team.

I would not be this nonchalant about the lack of student support. Like it or not, getting students interested is essential to making sure Bradley not only plays Carver but is D-I as well.

I hear you that if the students are fans, they will go to the games. But you can't just assume folks will walk into Carver or the new arena. A successful business cannot rely on word of mouth only, and even if it did it would take a long time.

Why do successful companies like McDonald's continually advertise?

[Chico]

I would not be this nonchalant about the lack of student support. Like it or not, getting students interested is essential to making sure Bradley not only plays Carver but is D-I as well.

I hear you that if the students are fans, they will go to the games. But you can't just assume folks will walk into Carver or the new arena. A successful business cannot rely on word of mouth only, and even if it did it would take a long time.

Why do successful companies like McDonald's continually advertise?

Tax break?

[RaiderOfBradley]

Every year people say where were the students, where were the students, at some point everyone will have to realize that without another return to the sweet 16, we are not going to get the students there. I was there last night and I wasn't wondering where were the students. I was wondering how in the world we can average what 9,500 or something at Carver but we can't fill 4,200 at the on campus arena, especially since it is the only men's game there this season. Where was everyone else? I mean if the only seats that were left available there were in the "student section" then it would be a different story, but there were a lot of seats available around the rest of the arena.

People spent a lot of time complaining that the new arena is too small and how can we ever expect to hold men's games there. After seeing the crowd last night, it makes me feel like they made that arena the perfect size. I don't care that it was an exhibition against DII-Quincy, when we play against Texas A&M - Kingsville on Friday at Carver, we will have a bigger (not necessarily better) crowd than we had last night.

So scold me for it if you'd like, but where was everyone else?

A very astute post, DUB. I was there for the game last night (and was on the radio, doing color commentary, for the second half of the game on WMBD with Dave Snell) and was disappointed by the lack of ANYONE outside of the student area. The end zones were completely empty and the sideline stands were spotty. Even with those that were there, it seemed there was a lack of enthusiasm during the game and especially when it got close.

As far as the students, they were vocal, supportive and made their presence felt. Although there was space for plenty more, they did the best with what they had in attendance.

Would an MVC championship or a NCAA run help? Maybe in the short term, but I doubt it would be the cure-all for what ails the athletic scene at BU. Perhaps we should revel in the factor that the students are here for the betterment of their minds through academics than for the sports.

Overall, it seems that there is a general apathy for BU sports, even the basketball team. I've been to soccer matches, baseball games, volleyball matches and men's basketball and it seems there's no general consensus for attendance by the students for athletics at BU. This is unfortunate, but it does seem that way to me.

[abesimpson]

I'm not entirely sure what you're refering to here. As a recent grad (200 my experience was that very little was done to encourage student attendance. There was never anything advertising the shuttle to Carver, or signs around campus reminding students it was gameday, or any kind of program aiming to get freshman interested in the team which I think is an absolute must.

In fact if I had to grade Bradley on its attempts on gaining student interest during the 5 years I was at the school, I'd give them a big fat F.

I agree. I never really felt that encouraged to go to basketball games ever by the university or athletic dept. The Red Elite program seemed to do well as first, but I don't know if it is as big now. It doesn't seem like it.

They need to promote the games better with viewing parties or free/cheap food. That always seemed to work the best. Babes used to always have some free food before games until it shut down, and then Big Al's picked it up for a little and those places usually seemed to draw a good amount of students before games.

[Beninator]

Every year people say where were the students, where were the students, at some point everyone will have to realize that without another return to the sweet 16, we are not going to get the students there. I was there last night and I wasn't wondering where were the students. I was wondering how in the world we can average what 9,500 or something at Carver but we can't fill 4,200 at the on campus arena, especially since it is the only men's game there this season. Where was everyone else? I mean if the only seats that were left available there were in the "student section" then it would be a different story, but there were a lot of seats available around the rest of the arena.

People spent a lot of time complaining that the new arena is too small and how can we ever expect to hold men's games there. After seeing the crowd last night, it makes me feel like they made that arena the perfect size. I don't care that it was an exhibition against DII-Quincy, when we play against Texas A&M - Kingsville on Friday at Carver, we will have a bigger (not necessarily better) crowd than we had last night.

So scold me for it if you'd like, but where was everyone else?

Great post with very fair statements!

[BUBraves2006]

I think something major is being missed by the university / athletic department and it rarely gets brought up at all.

I'm not sure what the number is, but let's just say 40% of all students come from the Chicago area (maybe it's less, but whatever the actual number is, it's a pretty significant total based upon when I was there a few years ago).

Now try living up here and try to find any sort of Bradley coverage. Go to ESPNChicago.com, which is somewhere that tons of people go on a regular basis. Hover over the colleges tab and who do you see?

Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, DePaul, Loyola, UIC, Illinois State, Western Illinois, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois

Granted many of these are Chicago area schools, but why in the world shouldn't Bradley be on this list?

Until Bradley gets its name out there better, people who care about sports aren't going to come to Bradley for that reason.

Some solutions:

- TV Coverage - it's almost non-existent unless BU plays someone really big and then their might be a mention on the news. You should be striving to be important enough to get every game mentioned, even if it's a score only (which doesn't happen a lot).

- TV broadcasts - it'd be nice to see an actual Bradley game on regular TV up here. You're telling me with the 52 local channels we have around here that Bradley couldn't make some kind of deal to just get the games rebroadcast on a local network? I know a bunch of alumni personally that aren't going to take the time to purchase the online game package, but if I tell them there is a game on a local station, they are likely to watch.

It's kinda like the Cubs on WGN - some people in random places become Cubs fans just because that is the only team they could see. If people are flipping channels ... there are some that are bound to stop and watch part of a game if it were on.

- Merchandise - Considering that we have a very nondescript logo and no mascot, maybe it's more difficult to make cool stuff to sell. But still, I never see almost anything up here in a store for Bradley. It's the whole "catch your eye thing" ... even if someone just sees it, but doesn't buy, maybe they think of it when they start planning on what colleges to visit. Of course, this would all become a lot easier if we had a better logo and mascot ... maybe the university is still planning on that eventually.

All I can do is provide my own personal experience of honestly knowing nothing about Bradley until I started looking at colleges. Then I read about the history, became a crazy diehard fan and I now I waste my time with all of you on the boards! :-) But if someone like me, who desperately wanted a team to latch onto as my college squad and followed college sports pretty closely from the beginning, doesn't know much about BU, how is the average joe going to know or care at all about the school?

[abesimpson]

Let me speak as a current student here.

The athletics program at BU, for the most part, is an afterthought to many students. It's not so much that people hate sports or general physical activity, after all Markin is pretty bustling all day and all night.

The school attracts a LOT of students from Chicagoland, and the Scout had something about 85% of the student body from being in Illinois. For that reason, I am not so sure if there is that college sports gene up there that you would find here in Central or Southern Illinois where we don't have pro sports in our backyards.

Now Notre Dame is a private school, but bear in mind that Bradley does not have a football program. What this does is that when a new student comes here, they are treated to an Activity Fair or Rush but no big game to unite the students. There is that definite lull between then and the start of basketball season. Sure there is soccer, but how many actually care to watch it? I went to the Drake game last year, it was okay but the atmosphere kinda stunk.

I understand that Bradley should be an educational institution first, but making runs to the NCAA or even an NIT can definitely be free advertising for the school. If BU wants to attract kids from the coasts, they are going to have to WIN. WIN, and you will see increased applications. WIN.

WIN.

This is a good point, you need to understand the incoming student demographics. U of I, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Iowa are big in Chicago, behind the pro sport teams. You never see much coverage of anything else besides them and the local universities. Most of the incoming freshman from Chicagoland don't know anything about BU basketball, I didn't and neither did just about all of my friends at first.

Also, I know this sounds stereotypical, but....
1. There are still more women than men and BU, and women usually don't follow sports as much
2. The vast majority of foreign-born students don't really get involved in anything else with the university besides class
3. As an engineering/liberal arts and sciences school, there are going to be a lot more "nerdier" students, who really don't care about sports. I knew a lot who had a lot of passion and devotion, but it was to video games and weird movies and cartoons

The athletic dept. needs to get students to view the games as something to do and fun, not just basketball (I know that sounds weird) because many are simply not interested in college basketball to begin with.

[theBUer]

This is a good point, you need to understand the incoming student demographics. U of I, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Iowa are big in Chicago, behind the pro sport teams. You never see much coverage of anything else besides them and the local universities. Most of the incoming freshman from Chicagoland don't know anything about BU basketball, I didn't and neither did just about all of my friends at first.

Exactly. Northwestern faces this challenge as well. From what I understand, they are promoting themselves as Chicago's Big Ten team. Since Chicago is such a magnet for fans/alums of the other Big 10 schools, NU gets lost in the shuffle.

And glad you mentioned Iowa. It is said that the students who could not get into UIUC often enroll in Iowa because it is easier to get into. They played an "away" game against NIU at Soldier Field, and many of them were all Hawk fans.

My high school had way more school spirit than BU, and it's not like they are a perennial powerhouse either.

[Beninator]

The athletic dept. needs to get students to view the games as something to do and fun, not just basketball (I know that sounds weird) because many are simply not interested in college basketball to begin with.

This doesn't sound weird at all. I very much agree with your post!