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I thought the reason the attendance was down at the finals is because the Rivermen had to play at Owens Center as the Civic Center was already booked. There isn't much seating at the Owens Center and the seating is on metal bleachers. The Rivermen got as much respect from the Civic Center as Bradley has received in recent years.
The Rivermen don't draw as many for the playoffs as they do for the regular season is I've told by Rivermen fans because the games aren't part of the regular season ticket oackage.
The Rivermen never have and never will have the attendance average per game Bradley does. Both the Rivermen and Bradley attendance figures are not the actual number of people at the game. I believe both include tickets sold but not used as well as comp tickets. The reason the Rivermen play almost all of their games on weekends has nothing to do with favoritism from the Peoria Civic Center. It has everything to do with the fact the SPHL, plays almost every game on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The number of home games the Rivermen play has also been cut, almost in half, since they dropped down from the AHL to the SPHL. The Rivermen play the fewest amount of home games since Peoria started professional hockey back in the 80's.
As for Bradley and home games, I believe the MVC sets the dates for home and away conference games. Bradley and the Peoria Civic Center may set the start times, with the exception of games televised on the MVC Network. The MVC tries to schedule as many games as possible, so they don't conflict with the schedules of the top BCS conferences. This is not easy, but is done to get better officials, that generally are committed to top BCS conferences.
but Bradley does have an alternative for some of their games, the Rivermen do not- where they gonna go if they don't get the dates they want?
Seems the people who run the Peoria Civic Center just don't have a clue - they also blew the negotiations to land the five Illini games that went elsewhere..
just my biased opinion, but I think Bradley has been awfully good for the Civic Center and I just don't see it being as good for Bradley the other way around..
but Bradley does have an alternative for some of their games, the Rivermen do not- where they gonna go if they don't get the dates they want?
Seems the people who run the Peoria Civic Center just don't have a clue - they also blew the negotiations to land the five Illini games that went elsewhere..
just my biased opinion, but I think Bradley has been awfully good for the Civic Center and I just don't see it being as good for Bradley the other way around..
I wonder if it's possible Bradley prevented the Peoria Civic Center from having Illinois play five games there this past season? We don't know what may have gone on behind the scenes. I have to believe Illinois would have had bigger crowds than most Bradley games this season. Or how would it look if Illinois played in Peoria the same night as Bradley and had bigger crowds? I'm a Bradley fan, but it would have been horribly embarrassing. If it is so bad for Bradley to play at the Peoria Civic Center, maybe they should go back to games on campus and see how that works out.
When attendance is down, it's easy to blame the Peoria Civic Center. I don't know all the answers and I don't pretend to. Yes, the Peoria Civic Center has its problems. All I know is that if it weren't for Bradley basketball, the Peoria Civic Center may not have been built back in the 80's. Many changes took place at the Peoria Civic Center this year, to make it look more like Bradley plays their home games there. Obviously Chris Reynolds and Brian Wardle are committed to playing games at the Peoria Civic Center, so it must not be as bad as you want to make it look.
I wonder if it's possible Bradley prevented the Peoria Civic Center from having Illinois play five games there this past season? We don't know what may have gone on behind the scenes. I have to believe Illinois would have had bigger crowds than most Bradley games this season....
I don't know how much better they might have drawn in Peoria. They drew very poorly in Springfield.
Here are the attendance figures for the 5 games they played in the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield last fall:
Nov. 8, 2015 Exhibition against II Springfield- 5833
Nov. 13, 2015 vs. University of North Florida- 5186
Nov. 15, 2015 vs. North Dakota State Univ.- 5332
Nov. 21, 2015 vs. Chattanooga- 5653
Nov. 23, 2015 vs. Chicago State- 5023
Bradley's home average was 5953, which is better than for any game that Illinois played in Springfield. I know the former administration was not happy about the Civic Center courting Illinois, but I don't think they had anything to do with the final decision Illinois made to play in Springfield. My guess is that the financial deal and the available dates there were more attractive than what the Civic Center offered.
Does the average attendance of 5953 for Bradley, include the Valley games or is that the preseason average attendance. I would think the MVC game attendance would be quite a bit higher than the non conference schedule. I also think Illinois would have drawn much better in Peoria than Springfield. Basketball is much bigger in Peoria than Springfield.
.....the final decision Illinois made to play in Springfield.....
There have been some who think the decision was based largely on what "connected people" wanted and had little to do with logic or negotiations.
In the end everybody lost big time on the decision...
(note the last paragraph below)
Published reports stated the Prairie Capital Convention Center lost over $200,000 hosting the games, but it was actually MORE than that.
They got a $200,000 discount from University of Illinois on what the PCCC HAD TO PAY TO HOST THE GAMES - LINK
so they really came up $400,000 short and Illinois absorbed $200K of it. But wait - that doesn't count the loss in concessions/parking/"the economic impact, with downtown bars and restaurants getting extra business"/etc..that the larger crowds would have brought ..and it doesn't count the amount Illinois lost by not having games in their own arena - so likely by the time all the losses are added up - it's gotta be over $1 million.
...and ... it's actually kinda odd that we're talking about the Prairie Capital Convention Center paying to host those five games? Does the Peoria Civic Center PAY to host Bradley games? I kinda doubt it - so if PCCC is paying to host the Illlini games, then it sure sounds like a pretty cushy deal.
btw - read that link above...it details that "a venue in another city offered to pay $325,000 per game to host" compared to Springfield's original offer of "$250,000".
Huskies are the second Pac-12 team on the schedule.
as more & more schools release their non-conference slates, we should soon be hearing more about our schedule as well...
almost every game last year the news was broke here before anywhere else....so stay tuned...
Thursday, October 13 BRADLEY BASKETBALL SPAGHETTI SUPPER Peoria, IL (Itoo Hall) 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 23 RED-WHITE SCRIMMAGE Peoria, IL (Renaissance Coliseum) 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 06 UW-LA CROSSE Peoria, IL (Carver Arena) 2:00 p.m. (Exhibition game)
As part of the Gulf Coast Showcase
Friday, November 11 Universitgy of ILLINOIS-SPRINGFIELD Peoria, IL (Carver Arena) 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 13 DELAWARE Peoria, IL (Carver Arena) 4:00 p.m.
Friday, November 18 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE Peoria, IL (Carver Arena) 7:00 p.m.
Then play in the Gulf Coast Showcase continues... Monday, November 21, 2016, 1:30pm - vs. Hofstra at Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, FL (see graphic below) - LINK
Tuesday, November 22, 2016 - TBA vs. Vermont or Wofford, "
Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - TBA vs. Kent State, South Dakota, Houston or George Mason, "
Tuesday, November 29 Eastern Illinois Charleston, IL (Lantz Arena) TBA
Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge Series
Saturday, December 03 NEVADA Peoria, IL (Carver Arena) 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, December 06 Ball State Muncie, IN (Worthen Arena) TBA
Saturday, December 10 CHICAGO STATE Peoria, IL (Carver Arena) TBA
Friday, December 16 UT-ARLINGTON Peoria, IL (Carver Arena) 7:00 p.m.
Monday, December 19 Ole Miss Oxford, MS (The Pavilion) TBA
Wednesday, December 21 TCU Fort Worth, TX (Schollmaier Arena) TBA
Estero, FL is immediately north of Naples, FL and about 3 miles from FGCU.
(but this tournament is not affiliated with FGCU)
Once again big time KUDOS to AD Dr. Chris Reynolds & Coach Brian Wardle...
to have the entire non-conference schedule done and released on June 10, is nothing short of phenomenal....given how "REALLY HARD" we have been told for years that scheduling is.
We are ONE of only 3 or 4 Division I teams who have released theirs - about 347 of the 351 DI's haven't got theirs completed yet...
our guys are way ahead of the curve!!
This much news about the non-conference schedule some seasons is not known until the fall in the years prior to Dr. Reynolds, and yet in both 2015 & 2016 Dr. Reynolds has gotten it done in early June!
One more thing - (and I know some will be picky about the definition of "BCS" but I'm going with the common sense one) ...
the schedule contains two BCS (Power Conference) teams, TCU (Big 12) & Ole Miss (SEC)...plus the possibility of another in the tourney (Houston- American Athletic Conference)
We had FIVE last year (AZ, VA, Seton Hall, Ole Miss, TCU), but...
Three such power-conference opponents is otherwise the most we've had since the final year of the JL-era when we had USC, TCU, Utah, Duke.
I think it's a schedule that could give us a better RPI if we win more, but it'll be hard to build an at-large caliber RPI with the likes of EIU, SEMO, Delaware, Chicago State...
Our non-conference STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE improved dramatically last year...
In the several prior seasons under Geno the non-con SOS was down around 200-300...
This last year, under Brian Wardle, it was 100....the current schedule looks to maybe land us again in the 100+ range given the multiple power-conference opponents...especially if we catch Houston who, like Hofstra, Ole Miss, & others were TOP 100 RPI.
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