Attendance

[molar50]

How about starting at 6:30 pm? I know there is no magic start time to accommodate everyone's preference, but this time might work. I still like the 7:00 pm start time.

[Da Coach]

The idea of moving start times to 6:00 pm was an idea that was hoped to bring in more young families with children, but so far I don't see that it is doing what they had hoped, yet. But, there are some great Bradley boosters who have been working with the Bradley athletic department to help implement more ideas to try to improve attendance and enhance the game experience for fans.
One new promotion I have heard about, not yet announced, will happen at a home game later in January. It's a promotion that should draw more fans, and maybe even draw folks who don't usually attend Bradley games. We'll have more about that later. But it is encouraging that in addition to the team's continued improvement, and the more consistent winning, Bradley is still working on other ways to improve the attendance.

[Da Coach]

Attendance for the last game against Drake was 5,416. That was better than the previous seven home games, and pretty good considering Bradley is on semester break and the students and band were gone.
But the highest attended game of the season was the first home game against IUPUI (5,518 )-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/BRAD.HTM

Hopefully, Bradley will keep winning and the attendance will keep rising.

It could be worse. Check out this brief video clip from San Jose State where they are playing New Mexico tonight. This video was during the player introductions right before tipoff-
https://twitter.com/GeoffGrammer/sta...70798763859969

[Chico]

We had great crowds when BU went 32-3 and when they went to the Sweet 16. Fired the coach after each of those seasons.

[Lights down]

Here’s a thought.... at some point in the game -why not allow upper bowl fans the opportunity to occupy empty seats in the lower bowl, Closer crowd, louder and maybe a better television presentation.

[egib52]

Here’s a thought.... at some point in the game -why not allow upper bowl fans the opportunity to occupy empty seats in the lower bowl, Closer crowd, louder and maybe a better television presentation.

Better yet reduce ticket prices in the lower bowl. I went to the Georgia Southern game, and was going to splurge for lower bowl sideline tickets until I saw they were $55 each!

[Da Coach]

Better yet reduce ticket prices in the lower bowl. I went to the Georgia Southern game, and was going to splurge for lower bowl sideline tickets until I saw they were $55 each!

The reason they won't do that is because if they price them lower than $55-60, then they become cheaper than what season-ticket buyers pay for their tickets + maintenance divided by the number of games. They are concerned that if that happens, people will drop their season tickets.

[MacabreMob]

Attendance for the last game against Drake was 5,416. That was better than the previous seven home games, and pretty good considering Bradley is on semester break and the students and band were gone.
But the highest attended game of the season was the first home game against IUPUI (5,518 )-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/BRAD.HTM

Hopefully, Bradley will keep winning and the attendance will keep rising.

It could be worse. Check out this brief video clip from San Jose State where they are playing New Mexico tonight. This video was during the player introductions right before tipoff-
https://twitter.com/GeoffGrammer/sta...70798763859969

Wow! We had more people attending our women's volleyball matches than what they got for their men's basketball.

[Da Coach]

San Jose State pulled off the big upset last night beating New Mexico 88-85. The official attendance was posted as 1,288-

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sjsuspartans.com/documents/2020/1/1/1415675.PDF

[egib52]

The reason they won't do that is because if they price them lower than $55-60, then they become cheaper than what season-ticket buyers pay for their tickets + maintenance divided by the number of games. They are concerned that if that happens, people will drop their season tickets.

I was guessing it was tied to that, but I have to imagine there has to be a way to determine that they make more money at a certain price point that would encourage more people to buy them. I would never pay that for one game short of it being something historic, but would regularly pay it $20+ for the better seats. It just gets frustrating seeing how many empty seats are down there.

[Da Coach]

I have bought those $60 tickets a few times in past seasons when I needed to get extra seats near where I sit (in section 14) for friends or family. And yes, they are overpriced at that price.
But I noticed that this season those seats in prime side-court lower-bowl sections are not even listed for sale on Ticketmaster, even though the last several seasons there were many that were not sold. I am not sure why this season they aren't even trying to sell those.
Here is the ticket site for the next home game. Zoom in and notice that they are not even offering seats for sale in lower bowl sections 24, 1, 2, 12, 13, & 14-

[Da Coach]

.....
One new promotion I have heard about, not yet announced, will happen at a home game later in January. It's a promotion that should draw more fans, and maybe even draw folks who don't usually attend Bradley games. We'll have more about that later. But it is encouraging that in addition to the team's continued improvement, and the more consistent winning, Bradley is still working on other ways to improve the attendance.

The deal is finalized and I can now reveal what I was referring to when I posted the above note 3 weeks ago.
National Anthem singer Jim Cornelison will be at the January 22 game against Illinois State and will perform the National Anthem.
Many might be familiar with him for singing the anthem before Chicago Blackhawks home games, and at various other events like the NHL Winter Classic, Chicago Bears games, the Indianapolis 500, and various college events. If you have never heard him, you need to get tickets and attend this game. He has an incredible voice.

https://twitter.com/BradleyBraves/st...44621565345792

[Da Coach]

From Jim Cornelison

https://twitter.com/Anthem_Singer/status/1214346720840224774

[Mikovio]

That's a big deal. He's the premier national anthem singer.

[FortyTwo]

Here's my perspective as season ticket holder, in the 35-49 demo, with grade school age kids.

• The ESPN+ option is a fantastic way to get more fans engaged. It doesn't help in-arena attendance but from my conversations with people has greatly increased overall fandom/engagement both locally and across the country. I've watched parts of every game this year with it, and likely would have missed many without it. I would love to see some of the streaming stats for each broadcast. I think people would be shocked at how many people are tuning in, likely including many students and locals.
• The quickest way to fill the arena is with families of 4-5 people. This is really difficult in today's environment due to all the commitments kids/parents have in the evenings and on weekends (much more so than past generations). I have two kids and between the two of them we've had activities scheduled during more than half of Bradley's home games this year (but I can watch on ESPN+!). And as mentioned, even with the packages offered it's still a pretty pricey night out for a family who can just as easily stream the game on the 60" TV at home and multitask.
• Outside of the traditional powers, attendance is down at all athletic events. Rather than lament the past, I think we should all be realistic about what the new norm should look like and measure success against that. Take TV as an example. 20 years ago the highest viewed TV shows averaged 20 million viewers an episode. Today, over a million is fantastic. Are the shows worse? Providers worse at advertising? Or is there infinitely more competition for viewers attention and time?
• The non-conference competition (and conference with perennial top 25 programs like Creighton and Wichita leaving) doesn't have the name recognition to pull in thousands of additional fans. I don't blame the athletic department at all, as I know they (and other mid-majors) try incredibly hard to schedule name teams, even offering 2-1's. There is just little incentive for Power 5 schools to come to us, bottom line. You can thank all the data and metrics used to rank and select post-season teams that has exposed this issue.
• Regarding fan engagement during the games, I think you can 100% look to cell phones as the issue. During timeouts, young and old alike immediately pull out the phone to check in on the outside world. I personally like to check the game stats and other scores during the break, or respond to texts, emails, etc. Again, sign of the times and isn't likely to change regardless of in-game promotions, music or noise meters.

As I said, I'm an alumni and a season ticket holder that loves and supports the program. I'm also a realist, and honestly think if we can average 5-6 thousand fans a game (at a school with less than that in enrollment) in today's environment it should be applauded, not shit upon. Of course, the optics of those 5000-6000 fans is much better in an arena where that is near capacity but there is nothing that can be done about that as we only have 2 options to play the games and one is too small and the other is too big.