Attendance

[it's boogie time]

It did feel empty last night against Norfolk State. The basketball program needs to win consistantly to get new fans or fans back. 2001 was the last time BU was in the top 3 of the Valley. Hopefully, that changes this year. Two droughts were erased last year.

[LongTimeFan]

Brock, I also would be a season ticket holder if I lived in the Peoria area. However, as much as I miss being at the games, I do not miss the high taxes and fees. The income tax is likely to go higher.

[Stryker]

Here are my two cents on the attendance thing:

I graduated in 2008. It was an amazing time to be a BB fan. After the S16 run we had huge crowds at every game. Sellouts, you name it. The NIT game vs Providence and the MSU game are two very memorable games from my last couple years at school.

That said, BU basketball had a problem then, and we all knew it. It was the elderly ticket holders. We knew they had limited time left. And they made up a big portion of the season ticket holders. BU basketball was going to have a season ticket holder problem by now no matter what just because so many used to be elderly.

its over 10 years later and many of these season ticket holders are gone. Maybe not literally, but they are no longer able to attend games. As we saw, most dropped their tickets during the Glasser years, and rightfully so. But a lot of them didn’t come back just because they could not.

These were people that grew up watching ranked BU teams in the 60s & 70s. They had been with the team for decades. They are gone now.

The Glasser fiasco happened at the worst possible time. It was nearly impossible to get new season ticket holders when the team could not even win 10 games a year.

To sum it up, high amount of attrition due to age over the past 10 years combined with some of the worst seasons in the history of the program, and you see the results.

BU needs to show the community they have a good product that will last more than one or two seasons before many commit to being long term season ticket holders. They also need to find a younger audience, which most sports teams are having a hard time doing. Hopefully it improves as more of the people my age have kids and want to give their kids a fun experience like this. My boys are 3 & 1 so it will be a little while yet before I make a point to get them to games, but that time will come.

[Da Coach]

You are right. Especially about the Glasser/Cross/Ford fiasco happening at the worst time.
However, for decades, and even throughout generations, older fans passed their season tickets down to their children or to other family members because they were so much in demand. If the problem was just from fans getting older, attendance would have dropped off sharply starting in the 1960's. But many decades passed, and attendance stayed strong, even increasing for periods. So why isn't that happening now? Why are season tickets worth so much less now that nobody in the families of the older fans wants them? There are many reasons- people are having fewer kids, the kids aren't interested as much, people seem to prefer to watch on TV, etc.
That is why we shouldn't be giving fans even additional reasons not to attend.

[Dubl R 1]

Also, do we know the numbers on all those seats that were eliminated for the new Brave’s Club area?

How many season ticket holders were there in that area, and how many renewed after having there seats taken away?

Regardless of wether or not that hurt attendance I absolutely do not like the Braves club area where it is. It looks awful on tv. By late in the second half it looks like a daycare facility, with small kids doing cartwheels, running around. Combined with the mingling area next to the band, it looks like amateur hour to me.

These areas so close to the court should have people and seats in them in my opinion.

[Stryker]

You are right. Especially about the Glasser/Cross/Ford fiasco happening at the worst time.
However, for decades, and even throughout generations, older fans passed their season tickets down to their children or to other family members because they were so much in demand. If the problem was just from fans getting older, attendance would have dropped off sharply starting in the 1960's. But many decades passed, and attendance stayed strong, even increasing for periods. So why isn't that happening now? Why are season tickets worth so much less now that nobody in the families of the older fans wants them? There are many reasons- people are having fewer kids, the kids aren't interested as much, people seem to prefer to watch on TV, etc.
That is why we shouldn't be giving fans even additional reasons not to attend.

Bradley had much better teams in the 60s and 70s, which is why season tickets stayed in demand. BU has really only had one good season in the 90s and then a couple under Les. That’s not a lot of history of good basketball for anyone under the age of 40. You have to be about 45-50 to remember the Versace years. Season ticket holders were made up of mostly people that stuck with the team after experiencing the 60s-80s. Their kids didn’t have that experience. It’s hard to keep under 50s people invested when there have basically been 2 periods of somewhat limited success in their lifetimes.

It was also a different time. Even 10 years ago people would talk about how BU basketball was the only fun thing going on in Peoria during the winter. Not like there is anything better today but with streaming and online services every live entertainment product has more to compete with today than 10 years ago.

[Da Coach]

Bradley had much better teams in the 60s and 70s, which is why season tickets stayed in demand. BU has really only had one good season in the 90s and then a couple under Les. That’s not a lot of history of good basketball for anyone under the age of 40. You have to be about 45-50 to remember the Versace years. Season ticket holders were made up of mostly people that stuck with the team after experiencing the 60s-80s. Their kids didn’t have that experience. It’s hard to keep under 50s people invested when there have basically been 2 periods of somewhat limited success in their lifetimes.

It was also a different time. Even 10 years ago people would talk about how BU basketball was the only fun thing going on in Peoria during the winter. Not like there is anything better today but with streaming and online services every live entertainment product has more to compete with today than 10 years ago.

While I agree with much of what you said, I don't agree that "Bradley had much better teams in the 60s and 70s".
Here are the actual records-

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/bradley/

I lived through most of the 60s and 70s as a Bradley fan, and although there were some good teams, I wouldn't call any of those teams "great", and most of them were mediocre. Bradley often had good records, but much of that was because they usually played very weak non-conference schedules. In 11 of the 20 seasons between 1960-1980, Bradley failed to produce a winning MVC record.
Bradley never made a single NCAA appearance in the 60s or 70s. And after a few NIT appearances in the early-mid 1960's Bradley had a long stretch from 1968 to the second year of Dick Versace in 1980 that they never played in either the NCAA or NIT. I remember a lot of mediocre seasons in that stretch. Yet season ticket holders rarely gave up their tickets back then, and attendance held steady. I am not trying to denigrate those Joe Stowell teams, but IMO there have been just as many exciting and winning teams, including successful postseason teams in these recent 10-20+ years.

[buballer82]

While I agree that the end of last season was exciting and great, those would not be the words I would use to describe the 11 game stretch that BU went 2-9 incuding 5 home losses. There were several games last year that out of my group of about 16 friends and family that have season tickets, maybe only 4 or 5 of us showed up. The die hard fans will show up no matter what, but for many I feel like interest wanes easily when you are losing to the likes of EIU at home.

[Mikovio]

I think you also have to remember that in the 60s and 70s the Valley had the likes of Cincinnati, Louisville and Memphis, so season ticket holders would see those prestigious programs come to town even when BU had a bad team. Now you've got some regional appeal with foes like ISU, SIU and Loyola, but the overall home schedule doesn't compare to back then.

While I don't think we'll get back to regular crowds of 10k+ absent a string of NCAA runs, getting over 7k regularly should be the goal. It's going to take smart marketing and an exciting, winning brand of basketball.

[Go_Braves]

Joe Stowell to me was and still is "Mr. Bradley" - one who dedicated his life to the school and the program. The first Bradley game I attended was my freshman year - December 6, 1971 and Bradley was playing the previous season Big 10 Champions and ranked Minnesota at home. Joe had a strategy that really threw Minnesota off their game. Joe played "short" Henry Thomas and the extremely tall Minnesota players were constantly being called for charging. From that first game and the crowd in Robertson Memorial - I was hooked and have been ever since. Joe Stowell gave everything he had to train and teach below average players how to compete against teams with highly rated recruits. Joe's teams for the most part were competitive and had their fair share of upsets. Who do you think did a greater job and worked harder- Joe Stowell to make Bradley competitive or today's over priced coaches at Kansas and Kentucky with their "one and done" freshmen? And during that era there was no internet access to watch any games and tv coverage was sparse at best - so for entertainment and supporting their Bradley team all interested fans attended Bradley's games - and to assure good seats - I heard that season ticket holders passed their seats to younger family members.

Today it is different and Da Coach briefly touched on this one key factor - which is all the available TV channels and Internet coverage. It is so much easier to just turn on a game and save the expense, the time, the travel, the cold, the hassle. This is true even for Bradley students in their dorm rooms or living off campus. During my era if anyone wanted to watch the game - "they had to be there".... Well let me share with today's students that you are missing golden opportunities to enrich your Bradley memories. Many Power 5 (or 6) conference schools would give anything to have a team like Bradley does this year. Today I live in Colorado - but as a Bradley fan stated earlier - I too would be a season ticket holder if I lived within 1 - 1.5 hours of Peoria.

As for the weekday 6 pm starts - my belief is that is a MVC issue with the cable and TV networks since all teams also have this issue. As for improving the game atmosphere. Norfolk State and Radford are formidable foes - but not to many fans have ever heard of these schools. Somehow a miracle needs to be in place where power five or six schools have to play 2 road games on mid-major home courts. Michigan State and Michigan both played at Bradley and # 1 North Carolina opened their season a couple of years ago at Northern Iowa and the places were stuffed. More games such as these need to occur and I realize it is tough - especially for mid-major schools.

I do not have any solutions or suggestions at this time. I believe everyone is trying to improve what they can control. I totally "disagree" and shocked with any suggestion of moving the games to Bradley's Renaissance Center.

Well I do have one suggestion - BRADLEY FANS and STUDENTS - take advantage of having a very good team this year and attend the home games. The caliber of the Valley basketball is right up there with all other major conferences. Make some memories that will last a lifetime. GO BRAVES !!!!

[BUSongwriter]

I'll add one more factor into the "perfect storm" that is harming attendance -- the great dip in circulation of the Peoria Journal Star, and its drastically reduced coverage and commentary about Bradley basketball. In years gone by, that was a lot of free publicity generating interest and it went directly into a great many homes. It's a different era, with so many information and entertainment choices, but it wasn't too long ago when the daily paper was a big unifying force in a region and had a lot of influence. You may not have always agreed, but you wanted to know what Dick Lien or Phil Theobald had to say about Bradley hoops -- and they had a lot to say!

[Tommy]

Millennials, amiright!

Just kidding, so don't freak out on me. I know you millennials are more sensitive!

[Buesch N Chips]

Unpopular opinion---at this point I think BU should try to find a way to make Renaissance their home. Make tickets tough to get, make it a tough place for opponents to play, make it easier for students to get there. Loud, Concentrated, Raucous. There are parking issues they need to address, but if they can do that I think they need to scale back and try to re-assess reality.

[LongTimeFan]

They would need to add some seats, more parking, and solve traffic problems at university and main. Some of the best memories were getting to Bradley early, walking to Avanti's on the corner to eat, and then back to the field house for the games.

[patrick_o'brian]

There's not much to add to what has already been said. Great conversation guys. In my opinion all that Bradley Basketball needs is consistency. The "if you build it, they will come" mentality. You can certainly use last year's success as a building block but you can't expect 8-10 years of futility be forgotten in 2 years of success. I think the crowds will come if lasting success is built. The Ren-Col ideas have been whispered for years. I think if that was the direction that Bradley wanted to go with their men's program it would have happened already. I do not think that it is even considered, anymore, to move men's games from the Civic Center. It is quite discouraging to see the sparse crowds at Carver as well as the lack of cheering, but the lack of cheering was there when 9,000 people attended games.That discussion was quite prevalent on this board 10 years ago.

This is just me, but I do not like that they have went away from the "put your hands up in the air" intro before tip off. That song, the beat, and everyone standing and clapping was electric and got the place rocking right away. It set the tone, in my opinion. It's small, but I think that should return. LOL!!!! GO BRAVES!!!