Bradley to move games to Renaissance Coliseum

[tornado]

Bradley's home attendance average over the past deacde....

2004-05 9338 - and nary an empty seat anywhere
2005-06 9220
2006-07 9728
2007-08 9600
2008-09 9110
2009-10 9339
2010-11 8447 - maybe a few empty seats
2011-12 7640 - even the 7600 announced crowds sure didn't look like it - with empties but at least the ISU game drew 11K
2012-13 6557 - even the ISU game failed to draw 9000
2013-14 6608 (and was also right at 6600 at this point after 5 home games) - ISU game ~8000
2014-15 5261 so far but lots of empty seats - something rarely ever seen prior to 2011
also we have now dropped behind both Illinois State & Missouri State in home attendance for the first time ever
and at risk of falling behind Indiana State, SIU, Evansville & UNI

contrary to some bogus claims that the "free fall" or "slide" started in 2008 or 2009...
it can clearly be seen that the entire problem, whatever it is, did not start until 2011 then accelerated rapidly thereafter...

If you wanna find a scapegoat - look to the people in charge from 2009, 2010 & up to the present and look at the decisions made since then to eliminate multiple long time favorite fan events, force long time ticketholders out of their seats and jack up prices, fire popular members of the Athletic Department, schedule ridiculously poorly, move games to alternate arenas, spend recklessly for little or no gain, screw up the long time TV relationships and drop the ball on televised games, hamper the successes of the programs by manipulating staffs, and multiple other decisions and changes in that interval that match precisely with the huge dropoff in attendance.
Just sayin'....don't blame the economy, don't blame the fans, don't blame the students, don't blame the enrollment drop or some vague argument about how potential fans have so many more options, and don't blame the people who sit in the upper bowl and pay the meager $8 per ticket that is so little that it does not benefit the university.
Those fans still have immense value - they are the Scholarship Society members of the future, some are the "entry level" fans and if we blow them off we blow off Bradley's future forever.

[Chico]

There actually are some of us "blue hairs" who had season tickets at Robertson and have never been fans of the downtown ice rink as our venue. I (for one) WOULD go back to purchasing season tickets IF BU expands the RC by 2K or so and moves back on campus. I believe it would benefit our student body and the University's image in general to play on campus and over time attract growth in the area for students and fans who attend events on campus. I understand the concerns posted by others--but I believe there are more pros than cons to this proposal (and it will make financial sense in the long run to downsize a little now as numbers have shrunk- and will not balloon back as others have said)--eliminate travel & rental to practice--our own concessions/parking etc). Parking and traffic were issues back in the day (as it is at Wrigley)--but that adds to the unique experience of a neighborhood ballpark (campus basketball venue) IMO help with recruiting in a true home court advantage. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Back then though you could, which our group did, leave our cars at home in West Peoria and walk to the Fieldhouse. Wouldn't want to take that chance now. Stay in an arena not a gym.

[CubbieBear]

I don't think they want the blue hairs at RenCol. I think they want 5,000 students in there. It would make for an outstanding atmosphere, that's for sure.

That would be cool--but not realistic.

[Chico]

That would be cool--but not realistic.

What's cool about no blue hairs? Wasn't for them there wouldn't be a basketball program. Wouldn't be a program if you had to depend on the students.

[CubbieBear]

What's cool about no blue hairs? Wasn't for them there wouldn't be a basketball program. Wouldn't be a program if you had to depend on the students.

5000 students would be cool---not zero of us blue hairs Geez

[Chico]

5000 students would be cool---not zero of us blue hairs Geez

50 students is a more realistic number. Not knocking the real fans among the student body, just facing facts.

[CubbieBear]

50 students is a more realistic number. Not knocking the real fans among the student body, just facing facts.

Unfortunately--no argument...I was just agreeing with Buesch N Chips that 5000 students (as unrealistic as it is) would make an outstanding atmosphere

[BU Bill]

I gave up my season tickets last year, and I am glad I did. I see no chance I'll come back soon. Bradley basketball is not what it was just a few years ago. But the real question here is how do Da Coach and tornado keep coming up with these stories, many times before the JS reporters even do?
Great work! I can't believe after we were told the Collisseum was not built or intended for men's basketball, and repeatedly told by the BU administration that they would never consider a move there, and that the facilities and infrastructure were never going to be capable of holding more fans- now its like reading something out of the Twilight Zone...suddenly the administration and the JS think its a great idea.

[tornado]

- Bill, hasn't one thing been 100% consistent for the last 5 years...
and that has been one of the prevailing opinions around here that this admin has actually been slowly moving towards downsizing with this ultimate plan in mind for those past 5 years.
Those who held that opinion were derided and scoffed at but they have been precisely correct fully five years before anyone else caught on.
It's also no coincidence they have also been right on a couple dozen other topics that also could be termed fallout such as the attendance slide, the revolving door, the downgrading of the schedule, calling everything good when it is not, bad finances, the decline of top recruits looking at BU..etc..
but don't unbuckle yourself yet - because there's even more right around the corner....remember those Board meetings this past month...

[tornado]

Even more to to hint that there's going to be a lot more events at Ren-Col in the near future if there's a need to hire a full time guy to run the scoreboard & video boards, etc.

Now Bradley is advertising nationally to hire someone to be full time in charge of running the video boards at Ren-Col plus other video-related duties....including streaming of events...

Here's just a snippet...

"Bradley Athletics invites applications for the position of Coordinator of Creative Production.
This 12-month, full-time position reports to the Associate Director of Athletics for External Affairs
and will supervise the video control room in Bradley University's Renaissance Coliseum, manage a student staff, and serve as the video and LED boards technical director for all athletic events
...as well as for features on BradleyBraves.com and affiliated social media platforms. ..
The coordinator also will act as a liaison between Bradley Athletics and the Department's ISP partner specific to streaming events as well as independent television production entities assigned to broadcast Bradley Athletics events."


btw - anyone who thought that was a loud or a great atmosphere last Tuesday at Ren-Col is simply unaware of what it used to be like at Carver Arena whena real Bradley team played a real opponent and fans showed up.
In other words - they are willing to call mediocre "outstanding" simply because they never saw true "OUTSTANDING" - like this...



or this....



or this



or this





or this

http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.cdnllnwnl.xosnetwork.com%2Fpics4%2F800%2FZK%2FZKUBSCMKRXXUQHZ.20050622201826.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bradleybraves.com%2FViewArticle.dbml%3FDB_OEM_ID%3D3400%26ATCLID%3D682656&h=480&w=800&tbnid=IjFb_TxWTJMICM%3A&zoom=1&docid=wsdVm8gYBGpaLM&itg=1&ei=B1-CVKiLHMydygSGlID4Dw&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=563&page=1&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=0CDUQrQMwBw

or even this picture from SEVERAL YEARS AGO that they dug out to use to sell tickets this year

http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.cdnllnwnl.xosnetwork.com%2Fpics32%2F800%2FXR%2FXRGEYMRMXSTLLRG.20121203182107.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bradleybraves.com%2FViewArticle.dbml%3FATCLID%3D205671540&h=450&w=800&tbnid=lGylh0q1V0UtGM%3A&zoom=1&docid=ZT-BtoTRVvU3rM&ei=HV-CVJ72BMT3yQTq24GoAQ&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=587&page=1&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=0CDsQrQMwCQ

that's cuz here's what the pictures look like this year - EMPTY!

http://www.bradleyscout.com/sports/bringing-home-the-bacon-braves-knock-off-cmu-at-renaissance-coliseum/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[LongTimeFan]

I know people always play with statistics to make their point look good. Saying that BU is 6-1 at RenCol and comparing it to their record at Carver is comparing apples to oranges. Most people should realize it. Look at the quality of the teams we played at RenCol. A few years ago BU would not have bragged about wins against those quality of teams.

Maybe we could have beat Augustana at RenCol and maybe not. Even so I still can't believe we would be bragging about such a win. I wonder what the win-loss record would be if they played valley teams there.

[gds15]

Even more to to hint that there's going to be a lot more events at Ren-Col in the near future if there's a need to hire a full time guy to run the scoreboard & video boards, etc.

Now Bradley is advertising nationally to hire someone to be full time in charge of running the video boards at Ren-Col plus other video-related duties....including streaming of events...

Here's just a snippet...

"Bradley Athletics invites applications for the position of Coordinator of Creative Production.
This 12-month, full-time position reports to the Associate Director of Athletics for External Affairs
and will supervise the video control room in Bradley University's Renaissance Coliseum, manage a student staff, and serve as the video and LED boards technical director for all athletic events
...as well as for features on BradleyBraves.com and affiliated social media platforms. ..
The coordinator also will act as a liaison between Bradley Athletics and the Department's ISP partner specific to streaming events as well as independent television production entities assigned to broadcast Bradley Athletics events."

I don't post on here that much because nine times out of ten I don't know what I'm talking about, but this is that one time I do. Yay!

This job posting has little if anything to do with more men's games at RenCo. The position became available earlier this month when the person who currently has it left to take a job for the Big South conference. In her absence, students have been producing most of the on-campus events, including the men's game Tuesday night. They're just trying to fill it as soon as they can.

[tornado]

I know people always play with statistics to make their point look good. Saying that BU is 6-1 at RenCol ...

the games that have been chosen to play at Ren-Col have intentionally been selected because they are the lowest caliber of opponents - that were generally not expected to be big draws...
all the better teams that would have been expected to draw better have been played downtown.


Again - for the record - I have from day one been a proponent of having some select games at Ren-Col - just as lots of other schools
have occasional games in their smaller on-campus arena (DEPaul, UWM, Cincy, UConn, and many other schools do this)
but it should NOT be our regular, full time home venue - it will kill any chances of getting a decent TV deal, will generate massive traffic,
parking, and logistics complaints, and hurt recruiting - and in the end if done "to save money" - which from all the talk seems to the be real reason -
it will cause MORE losses, because 6,000 people are NOT going to pay $20-$40 to come there 17 times a year.
This current admin has a track record of making many terrible moves and choices - let's not make more.

[Dub]

btw - anyone who thought that was a loud or a great atmosphere last Tuesday at Ren-Col is simply unaware of what it used to be like at Carver Arena whena real Bradley team played a real opponent and fans showed up.
In other words - they are willing to call mediocre "outstanding" simply because they never saw true "OUTSTANDING"

Tornado is right. Fans of teams in our size range want nothing more than to see their team reach the "big time"... Play and beat major conference teams, advance in the NCAA Div 1 tournament, gain national significance and be in a national sports conversation, pull up ESPN and see their team on the front page as we did on night in 2006

The players we want to attract and recruit want to make the "big time" as well, and one of their first considerations is the size of the crowds that will see them play, in person and on TV.

That's why I'm there every game... Trying to see progress toward advancing the programs significance. Moving toward the junior arena is a quantum leap backward from where I've dreamed the program would get. Frankly I'd lose interest if it went that route.

[CubbieBear]

Moving toward the junior arena is a quantum leap backward from where I've dreamed the program would get. Frankly I'd lose interest if it went that route.

I have already lost interest I would rather read about the best and worst restaurant thread on this site