Reynolds:Bradley basketball 7 wins and CIT better...

[Da Coach]

I didn't take it to mean fans were not renewing season tickets, but that the weak opponents caused a lot of fans to stay home. How else can the low attendance at some of those early games be explained (barely more than 6000 announced).

And again, I don't think this has anything to do with Jim Les. Things were bad the last year of Molinari, but attendance and season ticket sales soared after the 2002 coaching change. So if things are as rosy as we keep reading, why are they dropping now?

[wily coyote]

I didn't take it to mean fans were not renewing season tickets, but that the weak opponents caused a lot of fans to stay home. How else can the low attendance at some of those early games be explained (barely more than 6000 announced).

And again, I don't think this has anything to do with Jim Les. Things were bad the last year of Molinari, but attendance and season ticket sales soared after the 2002 coaching change. So if things are as rosy as we keep reading, why are they dropping now?

You may not have taken that way but I did. Doesn't matter whether it's season tickets or butts in the seats. That's just my take on why people aren't in them NOT our SOS as someone posted prior. The economy could also have a large part to do with it. When we put W's in the win column IMO that will all be a distant memory for MOST of US.
I think the boost in attendance after Mo was let go was because people were tired of watching 42 to 40 games and the fact we brought in a favorite son.I know some people were not happy with the hire but I think most of us were. Trouble was he didn't deliver and his last 3 to 4 years season tickets may not have suffered much but butts in the seats did and that message was delivered loud and clear.

[ACBL]

Always looked forward to all the pre-season and post season banquets etc. ...

3rd year in a row - whatsup? Fans loved these events.

[bravetime33]

Here is what is driving many fans away, and the PJS pretending it isn't the case, and the excuses they make simply isn't fooling the Bradley fans.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology/sos

check Bradley at #177 on the overall Strength of Schedule. Then look over to the right and see the Nonconference SOS #339.

There is simly no excuse for that. Ever. I didn't even know there were that many teams. As far as I can check, no Missouri Valley team has ever been that low. And I doubt any Bradley team has been within a hundred of that number in their history. All these ridiculous articles boasting of improvement and making excuses for the horrible schedule is embarrassing to see by Dave Reynolds. It's not fooling anyone. He used to be a great beat writer, but now he and Kirk are just a house boys for the Bradley folks.

2003 SOS was 1.92.

[Go Braves]

What was the non-conference SOS? That is the issue. 339 is an embarrassment and it is the biggest reason fans stayed away, not the economy. I guarantee the non-conference SOS was nowhere near as low in 2003 or at any time in the past.

[alczervik75]

I think the 7 wins is talking about MVC wins.

Pretty sure DR doesn't get to pick the headline.

[alczervik75]

Dave also said-
7,411 ??” Average attendance for 15 Carver Arena games, fourth lowest in 31 seasons.

What 3 years was that better than?
And the Bradley website say the correct average attendance was 6557. Where does that rank? And why are we only parsing out certain games and ignoring the 3 least attended games?

There were only 15 games at Carver, the other three were at Renaissance. I'd guess because it doesn't hold as much, and since the CIT games aren't a part of the regular package.