Bradley home attendance

[Da Coach]

...

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.

I just did a little quick math myself, since your math just didn't look right.-
I added the total attendance from 2007 through 2013 (1,028,245) and divided it by the number of games played from 2007-2013 (119 games), just what you claimed you did).
The average is 8,641 per game.
The attendance Saturday night (11/30) was 5,898. That is a difference of 2,743.
That is a 32% decrease, not 20%.

The average this season (2013-2014) through 5 games is 6,012- a 2,629 per-game decrease from the average over the 2007-2013 period- down 30.4%

[tornado]

just a decade ago people were laughed at when the "envisioned" NCAA wins, and large crowds... - LINK
Now our visions seem to include just being in the upper half of the league, win 7 games in a row at home against lo opponents, have some fancy padded seats by the court, and get 3K in the RC
I love our players and coaches and I will support them win or lose - we need more fans like that not like the whiners who won't come unless they win.

[BSSFan#1]

I never said there isn't a problem.

As far as average, I took #s from first post of thread and averaged 8 years. I used your numbers.

My post is in reference to fact that Bradley is unique. We are not unique.

[BSSFan#1]

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.

You seem to have injected a lot of "you argue" items into my post that I did not actually say.

[Da Coach]

I never said there isn't a problem.

As far as average, I took #s from first post of thread and averaged 8 years. I used your numbers.

My post is in reference to fact that Bradley is unique. We are not unique.

I used the exact same numbers, which are accurate, and showed how I got the results- I believe your averages must have an error in them somehow.
Even when I included this year's attendance figures in averaging "past attendance" like you did (which is faulty math- if you are comparing current numbers with past average, you should not include the current numbers when figuring the average), the dropoff is still more than 30%, not 20%.

In addition to the huge dropoff in announced attendance, there are way more no-shows than ever before. I sit in a lower bowl section that is 3/4 empty, and other sections have large gaps of missing season ticket holders.
If we counted actual people, our attendance dropoff would be way more than 50%,

[bradleyfan124]

That is like when our politicians count the unemployment rate as the number of people drawing unemployment checks and not the actual number of people that have gone off the unemployment rolls and are out of work

[srw]

I don't expect those who are agenda driven to agree with me here, but ultimately its hard to judge anyones attendance anymore for the following reasons:

Schools are more revenue focused than "fanny" focused
Some schools are doing a much better job of using "Opaque" booking methods

That said, I am not happy with the attendance either.

I feel that having only been in one valley race since i graduated in 97 has had a negative impact on people being willing to pay money for the games. I hope we see it change.

[bigjimmy]

I would have to say morale around the program is as low as I can remember. I sit in an upper bowl corner section in row 10 and there's not been one game so far this season that anyone sits above row 11. Carver is just lifeless from before the game starts to the end. I like the song Thunderstruck but you have to crank it at the beginning of the song to hear it, otherwise you may as well play crickets chirping. I just don't think this administration had any idea or was prepared for how far BU has fallen in the grand scheme of things. Even in some tough season during the end of Albeck's term, the beginning and end of Mo's term, and the beginning and end of JL's term, BU fan support was as good as any mid major program in the country. We went 20 straight years with an average of over 9,000 and the place was a rockin most nights. No reason we can't do that again. Will it help if we're winning 20 games again? Won't hurt but I get the sense that the current administration needs to get a clue, and soon.

[Chico]

I would have to say morale around the program is as low as I can remember. I sit in an upper bowl corner section in row 10 and there's not been one game so far this season that anyone sits above row 11. Carver is just lifeless from before the game starts to the end. I like the song Thunderstruck but you have to crank it at the beginning of the song to hear it, otherwise you may as well play crickets chirping. I just don't think this administration had any idea or was prepared for how far BU has fallen in the grand scheme of things. Even in some tough season during the end of Albeck's term, the beginning and end of Mo's term, and the beginning and end of JL's term, BU fan support was as good as any mid major program in the country. We went 20 straight years with an average of over 9,000 and the place was a rockin most nights. No reason we can't do that again. Will it help if we're winning 20 games again? Won't hurt but I get the sense that the current administration needs to get a clue, and soon.

As I have said many times before, ths administration don't know or don't care how much this community loves Bradley basketball.

[tornado]

... having only been in one valley race since i graduated in 97 ...

again -an attempt to blame all current problems on people from the past...
seriously - at what point do the people who have been here for 3, 4, 5, even 6+ years in positions of leadership & responsibility actually take the credit or the blame for this historic slide in attendance, not to mention the historic blowouts and record losses.

Was the previous coach or AD still ripping and heaping blame on Jim Molinari or Ron Ferguson four to five years into taking over back in 2002 - No - he was winning and successfully getting us to the Sweet Sixteen.
We have spent four to five years dismissing & firing people, cleaning house & not renewing, spending millions on the fix, then we assess our woes and blame Molinari & Les?
In almost every endeavor - before you can even begin to fix a problem you must first identify it, and take responsibility. This trend of blaming the people from years ago is silly.

[Bradleyfan1]

My morale has never been higher! I think the next few yrs including this one are gonna be GREAT! Hold on to your hats NIT this yr NCAA's after that ......#BUILTFORDTOUGH #ALLABOUTTHEB

[Da Coach]

Speaking of the awful attendance- For those who were not there, and that includes almost everyone, here are some picture (no they are not photoshopped ) of the Renaissance Coliseum crowd from 4 different angles, showing every part of the arena at Wednesday night's game against IUPUI. Note that the announced attendance was 3,750, which is just 450 below capacity, or 89% of full capacity.
What is the real attendance? My estimate is well under 2,000, as even the most populated sections are not close to 50% occupied, and other sections are nearly empty. It appears there are less than 100 students there.

East stands-


Student/band section/south stands-


West Stands-


North Stands-

[TNel]

Not enough for a wave. Maybe a ripple???

[bradleyfan124]

Dr. Cross are you seeing this?

[Canton BU fan]

Dr. Cross are you seeing this?

I don't think he's been here long enough to know something's wrong. Also, the pictures manage to just barely cut off my seats in section 19.