Bradley home attendance

[Da Coach]

BU yearly average attendance.
Statistics from the NCAA website and this year's numbers are from BU website.

Year.rank.games.total.avg.change from previous season
2014........ 6..33,808..5,635.down 922
2013 #79 18 118,024 6,557 down 1,083
2012 #68 16 122,245 7,640 down 807
2011 #56 16 135,148 8,447 down 892
2010 #52 15 140,079 9,339 up 229
2009 #55 18 163,981 9,110 down 490
2008 #52 19 183,392 9,600 down 128
2007 #53 17 165,376 9,728 up 508
2006 #54 14 129,086 9,220 down 117
2005 #51 15 140,065 9,337 up 159
2004 #52 15 137,667 9,178 down 173
2003 #47 14 130,907 9,351 up 279
2002 #47 13 117,935 9,072 down 50
2001 #51 15 136,683 9,112 down 1,066
2000 #41 14 142,495 10,178 up 646
1999 #44 15 142,980 9,532 down 237
1998 #41 13 127,001 9,769 up 144
1997 #41 14 134,755 9,625 down 47
1996 #44 13 125,733 9,672 up 151
1995 #47 14 133,288 9,521 up 707
1994 #46 16 140,700 8,794 up 1,523
1993 #67 13 094,523 7,271 up 278
1992 #78 13 090,904 6,993 down 391
1991 #70 13 095,995 7,384 down 357
1990 #65 13 100,632 7,741 down 1,177
1989 #51 13 115,939 8,918 down 1,098
1988 #36 16 160,263 10,016 up 1,307
1987 #41 14 121,922 8,709 down 199
1986 #37 14 124,712 8,908 up 1,366
1985 #60 15 113,124 7,542 up 350
1984 #62 15 107,881 7,192 down 1,821
1983 #38 16 144,209 9,013 up 1,730
1982 #56 17 123,810 7,283 down 33
1981 #55 14 102,430 7,316 up 63
1980 #59 16 116,050 7,253 up 503
1979 #64 14 094,500 6,750 down 113
1978 #56 16 109,800 6,863

[TPS1]

Interesting...started to plummet during the Les years as I suspected.

'14 average should be equal or more than '13 once we get to the conference schedule and hopefully some more W's.

[tornado]

you have an interesting perspective...

JL had only one season with a drop of more than 500 and it came in his final season when both his recruiting choices and his coaching staff choices were dictated for him...

but any way you slice it - no era in all of Bradley basketball has had such a tremendous decline sustained for so many years as we have since 2009-2010 - so you do the math and figure the common denominator...


Of the eight >500 drops BU has seen since the 70's...
Versace had one
Albeck had two
Molinari had one
Les had one
and three have occurred since then (one of those seasons is not complete..

[wizard1]

Bradley Home Attendance

I can't believe the totally poor attendance at last nites game against Tex. Pan Am.....5900 according to the PJS. I wonder what the butts in the seats were? Even a Saturday night game at Carver draws few fans. Mike and the Pres. are killing Bradleys fan base.
Wiz

[Da Coach]

Interesting...started to plummet during the Les years as I suspected.

'14 average should be equal or more than '13 once we get to the conference schedule and hopefully some more W's.

Nice try. You are entitled to your opinion, but if you are trying to suggest the massive drop in attendance the last 3 years is Jim Les' fault, it's clearly not. The only signifcant drop in the 9 years before the coaching change was the final season, when a potentially successful season (BU was picked 4th in the preseason poll) was derailed by injuries, the administration's decision to not allow Taylor Brown to play, and the fact that they dictated who the assistants would be.
The facts are, other than that single aberrant season, the attendance actually rose or held stable despite far worse economic times than we are seeing now. The attendance drop these last 3 years has been far bigger than at any time in the recorded history of Bradley basketball.
This could be the legacy of the current administration unless they can turn things around quickly.

[TPS1]

Hopefully the wins keep coming and attendance is all you guys can keep bringing up. Also, be sure to downplay every win as being against a weak team. If BU does well in the Valley just say the conference is weak!

What happened to the UC Davis updates this year?

[tornado]

I can't believe the totally poor attendance at last nites game against Tex. Pan Am.....5900 according to the PJS. I wonder what the butts in the seats were? Even a Saturday night game at Carver draws few fans. Mike and the Pres. are killing Bradleys fan base.
Wiz

yea - despite people claiming seasonal factors caused lo attendance - the thing last night had going for it was a rare Saturday night game and lots of families had members back in town that should have boosted not shrunk attendance...

I personally got three extra tickets over my four season tix, and brought with me a total of five family members who ordinarily are away at college but were home for the long weekend - or who wouldn't have gone had a school nite been the following morning..

[Da Coach]

I also bought several extra tickets off Ticketmaster for the family from out of town. The weather was good and there weren't any other conflicting events in town. So I was surprised when some people's prediction of much better attendance did not happen.
I am just like most fans. I just want to see success, but the difference is I did not think the program needed to be completely dismantled and rebuilt like some people did. All it has accomplished is wasting several years waiting to get back to where we had been, with no certainty we'll get there.
And TPS, unlike a lot of fans, some may be friends of yours, who dropped their season tickets, and stopped supporting and donating to Bradley, I have never stopped supporting Bradley, renewing my season tickets for nearly 40 years, and maintaining my yearly donations for the same length of time.
And, I'll be the first one in line to buy NCAA tournament tickets if we ever get back there.
If it wasn't for the incredible loyalty that the remaining fans have shown, the program might be headed for Division 2 or 3. So Bradley should be listening to them. Maybe that's what they want.

[Biff]

Hopefully the wins keep coming and attendance is all you guys can keep bringing up. Also, be sure to downplay every win as being against a weak team. If BU does well in the Valley just say the conference is weak!

Not talking about these obvious issues will not make them go away. The attendance (fans & support) were what made Bradley a great program. That is fast disappearing. I've never seen such lousy fan support or such a weak home schedule, and even if the Journal Star people want to sugar coat it, it is really hurting this program. It is the direct responsibility of the AD. We used to make fun of ISU and other schools that scheduled all patsies. Now Bradley chooses to do it.
Whats funny is that when we fired Molinari, the administration used the excuse it was because of dwindling fan support and attendance drop. When we fired Jim Les, the same reasons were given though everyone knew the real reason. But now that attendance and support is dropping more than ever, the Journal Star ignores it, and some people say we should not talk about it. Im not into placing blame, but it needs to get fixed and it isn't.

[panther12thman]

Great post. The JS Sports Department should be re-named the JS Spin Department. DR and JW want the Braves to be good and the attendance to be up so bad that I bet they can't sleep at night. They do everything they can to paint a perfect picture, much different than they handled the Molinari and Les years. Few of us call them out on it and when we do we get ripped for it. The truth is they are low-budget sports writers writing for a low-budget newspaper and both have an agenda.

[BSSFan#1]

There are a lot of factors at play. I'd like attendance to be much higher but Bradley is not alone. Here are just a couple examples from November 30 games:

Attendance - 1,414 for team averaging 2,025 over past 8 years. 30% less than 8 year average.

Attendance - 627 for team averaging 2,002 over past 8 years. 70% less than 8 year average.

These are just a couple examples found after a quick look at November 30 games.

Bradley's attendance on 11-30 was 20% less than past 8 year average.

I went back 8 years through 2007 as that was easy to find for most schools and that is when economy took a turn and things changed.

[wily coyote]

I'm blaming the attendance on Obama and he is blaming it on Bush.

[it's boogie time]

No shows turned into no buys

[LongTimeFan]

Let's face it. Bradley faces basketball issues that we never experienced in the 50's and 60s. Bradley was one of the earlier programs to integrate their teams. This provided a big advantage in recruiting over teams in the south. One trip through Florida landed both Strawder and Tart. That is never going to happen again.

All schools are recruiting the same players and this makes it very hard to recruit to Bradley. The bigger schools have more alumni and more resources of all kinds to use in recruiting. It will take uncovering the hidden gems. Coleman's success in recruiting the Chicago area will be a very key factor to Ford's success.

As for attendance, the diverse demands for parents' time is much more these days. Kids have more going on and the parents are busy attending their events. There are more demands for available cash.

I hate to say it but the atmosphere at the games in the Civic Center does not create the same enthusiasm among the fans. The Field House use to actually rock. Anyone who had seats on the south side would swear they could feel the stands move when everyone was stomping their feet.

I would guess the age of those who regularly attend is going up every year. This is going to present a problem in the future years. Yes, we are picking up new fans every year but until we get students regularly attending and creating a future fan base the fan base will continue to shrink

I know many people say winning solves all problems. I think it helps but the longer people stay away the less likely they are to return.

[tornado]

BBSfan you are trying to argue there is no problem with BU's attendance plummetting? - you argue-
-it's happening elsewhere
-it was a holiday
-people stayed home to get the TV warmed up for the Bears game
-students had exams..

I have no idea where you got your numbers but we are talking Bradley not NIU..
Bradley has not had ONE single home crowd under 6000 in FORTY years (not counting games on campus).. until now
This decline is of historic proportions - if people are not concerned, then fine - as I said it means more legroom for most fans so maybe no big deal - but BU should be concerned. The drop in attendance isn't just a weird coincidence - the reasons behind it are what needs to change.