NIT Attendance Woes

[tornado]

They haven't made much of it, but the attendance at many of the NIT venues has been woeful.
Some people are noticing and reporting on it.

For those who watched Indiana on TV the last couple nights, you couldn't help but notice all those empty seats and how totally devoid the upper bowl was. There were basically THREE home teams playing (Butler, Indiana, and Notre Dame). And yet the attendance was pitiful. They sold 8,000 tickets at Conseco (capacity 18,400) but in all honesty there weren't more than 4,000 or so for any one game.

In Spokane, with Gonzaga playing, they drew 5,000 less than their season's average for home games (this was not part of their home ticket package, it was separate as all NIT games are)

In Nashville, Tennessee with the home team, the Tennessee Vols, playing they ONLY DREW 3,186!!

Is it too early in the season to expect fans?
Are there still too many distractions coming from football, other fall events, Dancing With the Stars?

Is this the beginning of the end for the NIT-Preseason?

[MDCowboy]

Seems like the NCAA since taking over the NIT was trying to make this more of a "neutral" event and play it all off campuses in mainly non-neutral areas. But take these games out of the season ticket package, and look what happens.....

I expect they will return to campuses next year to guarantee attendance will be high. Most people know these early season tourneys don't mean too much, and don't forget this is a weeknight time slot in larger cities...

Unrelated, this shows pretty well for the Chicagoland tourney in Hoffmann Estates... I expect it to be full for this tourney, mostly due to U of I and Bradley fans.

[Braves4Life]

Greed

I agree with Cowboy. This is nothing but greed -- trying to schedule these games at huge universities or venues. Fans at BCS football schools -- Tennessee, FSU, Miami, etc -- really don't care about basketball season until at least January, when football season is over.

Now, try holding a pre-season NIT game at BU, Butler, or some of the schools that attract huge Midnight Madness crowds and I think you'd see a different attendance result. Especially if the schools market it right.

[MDCowboy]

Thanks Braves4Life.... I actually don't think it is all greed - I think they went to on-campus arenas for 2 reasons:

1) to make it be more "neutral" and feel more like an NCAA regional.
2) To guarantee a consolation game and give the losers in the 1st round at least 2 games in this exempt event

Just goes to show weeknight games in neutral locations don't necessarily work unless it is postseason basketball.

The event in Hoffmann Estates would probably not be as well attended if it were on a Monday/Tuesday night..... but having it on the holiday weekend was a good decision.