Carver arena

[IBleedRed87]

As a fan in the stands at the ISU game, I did witness the Upper Bowl having quite a few fans, not sure what the game appeared like on tv naturally.
Valid point on “ISU’s Championship Night” though as I do agree with that. We have conflicting reports on the attendance but that’s besides the point
We couldn’t get 41% to attend a BU home game right now so I’d be happy with 41% to start and move up from there.

[Da Coach]

Since there were no fans allowed at Carver last season (2020-21) I'll compare with the previous three seasons (2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20)
The 2017-18 ISU game at Carver drew 7,731 (70% capacity).
The 2018-19 ISU game at Carver drew 7,122 (65% capacity).
The 2019-20 ISU game at Carver drew a season-high 7,303 fans (66% capacity).
At the times of those games, neither team was vying for or expected to vie for a conference championship, so that didn't play a part. So I think it's reasonable to think this season's ISU game (Sat. 2/19, 1 pm) could easily exceed 41% capacity at Carver (capacity is about 11,000; 41% would be 4,510).
Also, it isn't really quite fair to judge attendance numbers this season, since they are still affected significantly by Covid issues. A much higher portion of Bradley's fans are older individuals and non-students, for whom Covid is still a big concern. You can see in the chart below that every MVC school is seeing attendance declines as a result of Covid. For example- UNI used to average over 6,000 and this season, with a very good team, they are averaging 1,856.

For the record... Bradley already drew an official attendance of 4,820 at their most recent home game against Southern Illinois on Jan. 22. That was 44% of capacity.-
https://bradleybraves.com/documents/...llinois_62.pdf

And note that Bradley has lead the MVC in attendance every year since Wichita State left in 2017.
This season, Bradley's average home attendance so far is 3,804, which ranks ahead of 8 of the other 9 schools. Only SIU (4,297) ranks ahead of Bradley, and probably 1000 of that number is their enormous student section (who do not pay for tickets).
And if Bradley continues to play much better, their home attendance will continue to rise..

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/confldrs.htm

[IBleedRed87]

The ISU vs Bradley games in those previous years stated above about attendance where 2 of the 3 games mentioned started at 7pm and 1 game starting at 6pm. This season we play at 1pm- would love to see 41%. Our game against SIU last Saturday drew a record breaking record this season yes but the game was at 7pm. 1pm Saturday games does not help our attendance much.
I guess the point I’m trying to make with my initial post was we lack energy at our games. I hear tradition thrown around an awful lot with Bradley Basketball so let’s get back to traditions of Bradley Basketball when we used to draw immensely bigger crowds at Carver. At the end of the day, we’re all on the same team here

[JMM28]

After reading all these post- they sure hit the nail on the head. Bradley basketball isn’t what it used to be and unfortunately it seems the people who are in the positions to make a change are failing to make a positive change at all.
I agree the Braves Club behind the basket looks like a daycare. Our music/hype video for the line ups is amateur hour, I’ve witnessed more hype and better energy at a grade school game. Prices for beverages/ food is ridiculously high, I mean really besides have a professional stage to play on we really don’t have much going for Us as Braves fans at Carver Arena.
If anyone attended the ISU vs BU game in Bloomington this year- you would of witnessed what a Missouri Valley Game basketball game should be like. Their fan base was rocking, not to mention most of the lower bowl was packed,
music was loud and the selection was good, their line ups got the crowd going.. as I sat there I wondered why can’t Bradley get this back?? Carver Arena only has 860 more seats than Red Bird Arena- they didn’t seem to have a problem filling the place and their tickets were more expensive than Carvers.
Bradleys marketing team needs to take notes! Get rid of these mediocre people who are in charge nowadays because clearly they’re not doing much to change the attendance or experience. They’ve had plenty of time to do so- hell we’ve won 2
MVC titles in 3 years and our attendance keeps dropping. How is that even possible?

This sounds like it was written by an ISU fan.

I was at Rebird. They have a nice sound system and the place is in nice shape in general. They had a decent amount of students in attendance, but that section was over half empty as well. Their intros and videos were sponsored hot garbage.

The crowd wasn't "rocking" and they were nowhere near filling the place. There were maybe 3500 people there. Their crowd got into it an appropriate amount for a team that came back from 20 down.

Bradley has zero control over the pricing at Carver Arena.

What notes would you suggest the marketing team take?

[JMG 76]

This sounds like it was written by an ISU fan.

I was at Rebird. They have a nice sound system and the place is in nice shape in general. They had a decent amount of students in attendance, but that section was over half empty as well. Their intros and videos were sponsored hot garbage.

The crowd wasn't "rocking" and they were nowhere near filling the place. There were maybe 3500 people there. Their crowd got into it an appropriate amount for a team that came back from 20 down.

Bradley has zero control over the pricing at Carver Arena.

What notes would you suggest the marketing team take?

[JMG 76]

You have all the answers. I was at that game also and the place was rocking. Not very many people but loud as hell! Bradley games are the loudest when they bring out the veteran in the second half.

maybe bring in a dj that can get the crowd going etc.

[Da Coach]

How can these numbers be possible when we are told Redbird Arena is filled with passionate fans?

Season attendance-
.........................# of home.....Total...........Average
School................games....attendance....per game...................................% Capacity
Illinois State...........12..........32,533.......2,711 (ranks 8th in the MVC)...........26.6%
Bradley...................10......... 38,791.......3,879 (ranks 2nd in the MVC)..........35.3%


For only the MVC conference games- The average attendance is 3,303 for ISU and 4,100 for Bradley, and I expect that difference will widen significantly over the last half of the MVC season, especially since Bradley still has ISU, Loyola, Drake, and Valpo in Carver..

And we are told "they didn't seem to have a problem filling the place" when Bradley played there. Yet the official attendance for the Bradley game at ISU was only 4,072, well less than half the capacity of 10,200. I will be shocked if attendance at Bradley for ISU isn't much larger than that.

[BradleyBiz]

The entire pre-tip off setup needs to be scrapped. I know they made some changes when that DJ came on board in 2019-20 but the pre-tip off intro and music is pretty bad. You should not have the band playing Seven Nations Army. You have the PA announcer trying to scream sponsor ads over the band playing Seven Nations Army. Very few fans are clapping. I’ve never been to a game where it is pretty silent at tip off…to the point that you can hear the players talking. It’s really bad and really awkward. A guest of mine asked if this is how every game is started. Sigh.

Scrap it all. Return to the Danzel “put your hands up in the air” song. It gets the crowd into it and is unique. And please stop with the dumb noise meter graphic. It’s embarrassing and is not tied to the noise level at all.

[MacabreMob]

Just take a look at some of ISU's other games at home... crowds totaling in the 2500-2800 range. That's rocking.

[Tommy]

You have all the answers. I was at that game also and the place was rocking. Not very many people but loud as hell! Bradley games are the loudest when they bring out the veteran in the second half.

maybe bring in a dj that can get the crowd going etc.

ISU Red does get loud when they beat us in their place, but Carver arena gets even louder when we are beating them on ours. It's the biggest rivalry in the MVC and it definitely brings out the best for crowd noise. I really hope we obliterate them when they come to our place.

[Old Coach]

Woof... those are a lot of harsh takes.

[yoda]

SIU also has promotions for lower bowl seats for $8, about half what Carver's cheapest lower bowl seats are
and their upper bowl seats are $6

[Dubl R 1]

Guys, I've seen a bunch of back and forth about how the game was attended and the atmosphere at the ISU/BU game this year at Redbird.

I was there, and I will not argue about the attendance as it was what it was....they announced a number and I assume that is correct.

As far as the atmosphere, I thought it was superior to the Civic Center....as much as it pains me to say it.

The music, the sound system, the scoreboard, the lighting, the promotions, all seemed more exciting and in line with what you would expect a college basketball to be. This is just my opinion....again I hated that they had this and we don't.

Maybe BU is more conducive to "big donors".....IDK....but average fan excitement level seems to be lacking at BU games....borders on boring.

Again, I'm there for the game so the extra stuff doesn't wow me, but we need to get younger people there and hook them on the game.

[Cousins Cuts podcast]

Again, I'm there for the game so the extra stuff doesn't wow me, but we need to get younger people there and hook them on the game.

Exactly. If you can't get younger generations excited about games then they'll forget about it and we'll continue to have low amounts of fans. Plus there's not a lot of intrigue for non Bradley fans that are basketball fans to come to the games. Unfortunately the atmosphere is not great. As was said the loudest the place gets is for the veterans not for the actual game itself. That being said I hope the place is "packed" for the Loyola game and the Drake game. By packed I mean 6000+. I don't think that's too much to ask but we'll see

[Da Coach]

Guys, I've seen a bunch of back and forth about how the game was attended and the atmosphere at the ISU/BU game this year at Redbird.

I was there, and I will not argue about the attendance as it was what it was....they announced a number and I assume that is correct.

As far as the atmosphere, I thought it was superior to the Civic Center....as much as it pains me to say it.

The music, the sound system, the scoreboard, the lighting, the promotions, all seemed more exciting and in line with what you would expect a college basketball to be. This is just my opinion....again I hated that they had this and we don't.

Maybe BU is more conducive to "big donors".....IDK....but average fan excitement level seems to be lacking at BU games....borders on boring.

Again, I'm there for the game so the extra stuff doesn't wow me, but we need to get younger people there and hook them on the game.

I have been to most Bradley games in Normal since they joined the MVC in 1981. And I agree with Dubl R 1 that the crowd energy and atmosphere is usually superior at ISU. But IMO, that is mostly due to the presence of their students. Even in bad years, ISU draws hundreds of students, while even in good years, Bradley usually draws a couple dozen or less. Plus their arena is right on campus, while Bradley plays in a downtown civic arena. Even though Bradley offers free transportation, free admission, and free drinks and snacks, none of that has ever been enough to get many students to come to the games. And, ISU has almost 20,000 students, most of whom live on campus, compared to about 5,000 at Bradley, most of whom live off campus.
Other than students, the rest of ISU's fans are not that much different that Bradley's. There are a lot of older ISU fans, and the non-student fans don't generate much energy or noise.
I don't know what, if anything, it will take to get more Bradley students to games. One thing that might help is something that Bradley used to do regularly. Bradley or the Chiefs/Braves Club used to host pregame rallies that offered food, drinks, snacks, the pep band, cheerleaders, and other things like raffles, giveaways, etc., to draw fans and students. I miss those. Why have they completely disappeared? That would probably draw more fans and students.