What will make attendance better?

[BradleyBiz]

We do have to remember that the NCAA moved the finish line with the addition of NET and essentially the retirement of RPI. It made it harder for mid majors to get at large bids and gave P5 schools less incentive to play mid majors (especially home and home agreements). Perhaps that will change over time and the MVC will get back to a 2-bid league. Then we can start looking at NCAA bids again as an annual goal.

Look at the A10 this year…right now it is a one bid league (somewhat unusual for them especially since they are a larger conference).

[Da Coach]

We do have to remember that the NCAA moved the finish line with the addition of NET and essentially the retirement of RPI. It made it harder for mid majors to get at large bids and gave P5 schools less incentive to play mid majors (especially home and home agreements). Perhaps that will change over time and the MVC will get back to a 2-bid league. Then we can start looking at NCAA bids again as an annual goal.

Look at the A10 this year…right now it is a one bid league (somewhat unusual for them especially since they are a larger conference).

Here are the NET numbers for the A-10 conference. The best NET is currently Dayton at #71, and nobody else is better than 80-

https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2023/conference/Atlantic-10

Depending on the final games and their tournament results, they could indeed be a 1 bid league this year. If so, it would be the first time in 18 years the A-10 conference got only one bid-

https://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/atlantic-10-on-track-to-be-one-bid-league-with-0-17-record-in-quad-1-games/HN5H3DRSOZGVVC5KCEKHON7XZ4/?outputType=amp

Note that they have 4 teams with NET over 200, which helps drag every other team's NET number when they play. The worst A-10 team is 15th place Loyola, with an NET of 272. I'm sure when the A-10 invited Loyola, they never expected them to drag down everyone else's NET numbers, and cost the conference at-large bids.

[Stryker]

Here are the NET numbers for the A-10 conference. The best NET is currently Dayton at #71, and nobody else is better than 80-

https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2023/conference/Atlantic-10

Depending on the final games and their tournament results, they could indeed be a 1 bid league this year. If so, it would be the first time in 18 years the A-10 conference got only one bid-

https://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/atlantic-10-on-track-to-be-one-bid-league-with-0-17-record-in-quad-1-games/HN5H3DRSOZGVVC5KCEKHON7XZ4/?outputType=amp

Note that they have 4 teams with NET over 200, which helps drag every other team's NET number when they play. The worst A-10 team is 15th place Loyola, with an NET of 272. I'm sure when the A-10 invited Loyola, they never expected them to drag down everyone else's NET numbers, and cost the conference at-large bids.

Seems the NCAA Mens basketball landscape is in a great amount of turmoil right now. With the NIL and transfer rules I think most basketball programs are just trying to keep their heads above water trying to adjust to all the changes. I think things will be pretty weird the next couple of years until some kind of equilibrium and adjustments are made in the D1 landscape.

[Da Coach]

Here is the NCAA document showing the men's basketball attendance for all NCAA schools for last season (2021-22 season)-

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/2023/Attend.pdf

From page 2-
Average home attendance in Division I- 4,204 per game, in Division II- 427 per game, and Division III- 249 per game

The MVC ranked 10th in average attendance with a league-wide average of 3,280 per game. That was right behind the A-10, and ahead of conferences like CUSA, the MAC, and the Colonial Athletic Association.
Notice the enormous difference between the D1 conferences, and the D2 and D3 conferences in average attendance. The top D1 conferences averaged 10,000-12,000+ per game, while the top D2 conference averaged only 1,035 per game, and the top D3 conference averaged only 606 per game.
Individual team attendance also differs tremendously between D1, D2, and D3. The top D1 teams averaged 18,000-20,000+, while the top D2 team averaged just 2,357, and there are only 3 teams that averaged over 1,433. The top D3 team averaged 1,735, and there were only 4 teams that averaged over 1,000.

Page 14 also shows some interesting numbers. It lists the seasons with the highest average attendance figures for all divisions, and for all divisions combined. The top 10 average attendance seasons were all between 1979 and 1990. For Division I, the top 10 average attendance figures were all between 1989 and 2008.
And on page 17, they show the average attendance figures for all divisions and for D1 by year. The average has dropped every year but one since 2007!

So the dropping attendance is a national problem for all divisions in the NCAA, and for almost all schools. And it's been happening for the last 15 years in Division I, and for the last 30 years in the lower divisions. The peak attendance figures were seen back in the late 1970's through the 1990's.
The major D1 conferences, especially the Big Ten, have not been affected as much as the others. But, it is affecting nearly every mid-major school with a few rare exceptions.
But the solution does not appear to be to drop down to Division II or Division III, where attendance is far smaller than in D1, and the dropoffs are far more substantial.

[Stryker]

Here is the NCAA document showing the men's basketball attendance for all NCAA schools for last season (2021-22 season)-

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/2023/Attend.pdf

From page 2-
Average home attendance in Division I- 4,204 per game, in Division II- 427 per game, and Division III- 249 per game

The MVC ranked 10th in average attendance with a league-wide average of 3,280 per game. That was right behind the A-10, and ahead of conferences like CUSA, the MAC, and the Colonial Athletic Association.
Notice the enormous difference between the D1 conferences, and the D2 and D3 conferences in average attendance. The top D1 conferences averaged 10,000-12,000+ per game, while the top D2 conference averaged only 1,035 per game, and the top D3 conference averaged only 606 per game.
Individual team attendance also differs tremendously between D1, D2, and D3. The top D1 teams averaged 18,000-20,000+, while the top D2 team averaged just 2,357, and there are only 3 teams that averaged over 1,433. The top D3 team averaged 1,735, and there were only 4 teams that averaged over 1,000.

Page 14 also shows some interesting numbers. It lists the seasons with the highest average attendance figures for all divisions, and for all divisions combined. The top 10 average attendance seasons were all between 1979 and 1990. For Division I, the top 10 average attendance figures were all between 1989 and 2008.
And on page 17, they show the average attendance figures for all divisions and for D1 by year. The average has dropped every year but one since 2007!

So the dropping attendance is a national problem for all divisions in the NCAA, and for almost all schools. And it's been happening for the last 15 years in Division I, and for the last 30 years in the lower divisions. The peak attendance figures were seen back in the late 1970's through the 1990's.
The major D1 conferences, especially the Big Ten, have not been affected as much as the others. But, it is affecting nearly every mid-major school with a few rare exceptions.
But the solution does not appear to be to drop down to Division II or Division III, where attendance is far smaller than in D1, and the dropoffs are far more substantial.

Interesting numbers. I never get the sky is falling attitude when fans say things like "we are going to drop to D2" or "Might as well be a D2 program" etc. When huge swaths of schools in D1 mens basketball barely average 1,000 in attendance...come on. If wester IL and eastern IL can have D1 teams then BU will always have one.

That aside, I wonder how much the NBA is to blame for the drop in attendance in D1 basketball since the start of the 90s. Seemed like until then almost every top player played 3, sometimes 4 seasons in college. Talent pool was at its peak, and the product for college ball was likely the highest it has ever been. As the NBA became more popular in the 90s, players going directly from high school to the NBA, then one-and-done rules, etc. I could see interest declining just based on that.

Another thing: In 1970 there were 19 D1 conferences for men's basketball, but by 1990 there were 34. In 2010 there were still 33. I would say overall the sport has grown over that time, but also, the number of teams has exploded. This not only diluted the level of talent across all teams, but spread the number of fans thinner per school, ie the growth of college basketball fans didn't keep pace with the expansion of teams.

And finally, entertainment continues to become more and more easily accessible by the populace. Millenials and gen Z are involved in fewer social activities out of the house as compared to older generations, and all forms of entertainment that require physical meetups and gatherings appear to be less popular than they were a decade or two ago. This trend has impacted numerous segments of the entertainment industry.

[algotrader]

But, again, Bradley has been trying to attract younger fans for the last 20 years, and it has not done much. They have always had a student section at the Civic Center prior to this season, and in addition they give the students free tickets, a free bus ride, parties, free snacks, free drinks, special student promotions, and much more, and as you can see, the student attendance at games is minimal. Everyone agrees they need to try to get younger fans, and they have tried. But nothing has worked. They just aren't interested. Even when Joanne Glasser tried playing a game or two at the Renaissance Coliseum in 2013-14 and 2014-15 coupled with student rallies, promotions, free food & drinks, and giveaways, only about a dozen or so students came to the games. She even visited dorms, fraternities, and sororities and dressed herself up in that ridiculous striped overalls outfit to try to whip up enthusiasm, but it failed. If anyone has a better idea, let Bradley know.

Bradley keeps failing at recruiting us younger fans because you continually employ tired and dated strategies that worked in the 80s to bring in fans but doesn't work now. First off, if you want younger fans to show up to games, you have to make them fans in the first place. You can't just expect to visit a dorm and magically make people fans of basketball, let alone Bradley basketball. The first thing Bradley and the MVC overall needs to do is to stop employing a media strategy from 2002.

Young people do not subscribe to cable tv.

Young people do not subscribe to cable tv.

Most of our screen time is on our phones and computers. You need to bring Bradley basketball to our phones and computers. And we're not going to pay for it. We'll pay for experiences which means paying for tickets. But you have to make us fans first. There needs to be an MVC app that broadcasts live games as well as on demand replays, for free. There needs to be highlights and plays that get posted to Tik Tok and other forms of social media. It needs to integrate with the player's social media as well. Kids today are a brand. You want to increase recruitment you need to be selling these kids on integrating their social media with their Tik Tok and the MVC video app. If a player makes a play of the week, highlight the play on THEIR Tik Tok account. Make them feel a part of the brand strategy.

Standardize the schedule. Make games on the same nights, at the same time. Make it predictable. Oh its Thursday, there's a game on at 7PM. I don't need to look that up, because there is always a game on Thursday at 7PM.

Finally, there has to be some excitement to watch the team. I think Wardle has done a good job with that. But we need to at least be in the top 3 teams every year consistently within the MVC.

[basketball nut]

Bradley keeps failing at recruiting us younger fans because you continually employ tired and dated strategies that worked in the 80s to bring in fans but doesn't work now. First off, if you want younger fans to show up to games, you have to make them fans in the first place. You can't just expect to visit a dorm and magically make people fans of basketball, let alone Bradley basketball. The first thing Bradley and the MVC overall needs to do is to stop employing a media strategy from 2002.

Young people do not subscribe to cable tv.

Young people do not subscribe to cable tv.

Most of our screen time is on our phones and computers. You need to bring Bradley basketball to our phones and computers. And we're not going to pay for it. We'll pay for experiences which means paying for tickets. But you have to make us fans first. There needs to be an MVC app that broadcasts live games as well as on demand replays, for free. There needs to be highlights and plays that get posted to Tik Tok and other forms of social media. It needs to integrate with the player's social media as well. Kids today are a brand. You want to increase recruitment you need to be selling these kids on integrating their social media with their Tik Tok and the MVC video app. If a player makes a play of the week, highlight the play on THEIR Tik Tok account. Make them feel a part of the brand strategy.

Standardize the schedule. Make games on the same nights, at the same time. Make it predictable. Oh its Thursday, there's a game on at 7PM. I don't need to look that up, because there is always a game on Thursday at 7PM.

Finally, there has to be some excitement to watch the team. I think Wardle has done a good job with that. But we need to at least be in the top 3 teams every year consistently within the MVC.

Algotrader, you make some good points about social media. Us Gray hairs wouldn't be into it that much but can see where the HS and college age kids would be.
As for a standardized schedule all conference game times are dictated by the conference and television.
Non conference games are dictated by who we can get to play us and when they are available.
I like your idea about highlights being shown all the time on social media so that the Braves are all the students minds when it's game time.

[Bball31]

Bradley keeps failing at recruiting us younger fans because you continually employ tired and dated strategies that worked in the 80s to bring in fans but doesn't work now. First off, if you want younger fans to show up to games, you have to make them fans in the first place. You can't just expect to visit a dorm and magically make people fans of basketball, let alone Bradley basketball. The first thing Bradley and the MVC overall needs to do is to stop employing a media strategy from 2002.

Young people do not subscribe to cable tv.

Young people do not subscribe to cable tv.

Most of our screen time is on our phones and computers. You need to bring Bradley basketball to our phones and computers. And we're not going to pay for it. We'll pay for experiences which means paying for tickets. But you have to make us fans first. There needs to be an MVC app that broadcasts live games as well as on demand replays, for free. There needs to be highlights and plays that get posted to Tik Tok and other forms of social media. It needs to integrate with the player's social media as well. Kids today are a brand. You want to increase recruitment you need to be selling these kids on integrating their social media with their Tik Tok and the MVC video app. If a player makes a play of the week, highlight the play on THEIR Tik Tok account. Make them feel a part of the brand strategy.

Standardize the schedule. Make games on the same nights, at the same time. Make it predictable. Oh its Thursday, there's a game on at 7PM. I don't need to look that up, because there is always a game on Thursday at 7PM.

Finally, there has to be some excitement to watch the team. I think Wardle has done a good job with that. But we need to at least be in the top 3 teams every year consistently within the MVC.

I agree with you. It won’t be too many years from now and cable TV will be a thing of the past or at least, much different from what we have now. I ditched cable four or five years ago and stream with Hulu Live that includes ESPN+. Apps are essentially the ala carte version of cable TV, where you only pay for what you watch. I’m saving over $120 a month and get every MVC game and many more college games via the ESPN+ app. I’ve followed BU basketball since the early 1960s and I’m an oldtimer. If the MVC was wise they’d form a committee of students from Valley schools and get their input into how to generate interest. Getting their input is useless unless you utilize it. The future is with you folks. Even the corporate world recognizes this as evidenced by who they’re trying to reach in ads. About the only ads aimed at us old timers are from pharmaceutical companies. Those of us that are 40 and up may have the money, but you people have the ideas. I watched the Murray State at SIU game last week. After the game and the team handshakes, the SIU coach went directly to the SIU student section and gave them “high fives” and “fist bumps”. I’ve been told he does this after every home game, win or lose. He even purchased, I believe, 300 tickets for the SIU at ISU game, and gave them to SIU students to attend. After the BU game last night, I watched the UNI at Drake game. There were a lot of students behind one basket having fun and even making the referees laugh a couple of times. A more consistent game time would be very helpful. It seems like we’ve had a lot of Saturday afternoon games with different starting times. People like consistency.

[Bball31]

Interesting numbers. I never get the sky is falling attitude when fans say things like "we are going to drop to D2" or "Might as well be a D2 program" etc. When huge swaths of schools in D1 mens basketball barely average 1,000 in attendance...come on. If wester IL and eastern IL can have D1 teams then BU will always have one.

That aside, I wonder how much the NBA is to blame for the drop in attendance in D1 basketball since the start of the 90s. Seemed like until then almost every top player played 3, sometimes 4 seasons in college. Talent pool was at its peak, and the product for college ball was likely the highest it has ever been. As the NBA became more popular in the 90s, players going directly from high school to the NBA, then one-and-done rules, etc. I could see interest declining just based on that.

Another thing: In 1970 there were 19 D1 conferences for men's basketball, but by 1990 there were 34. In 2010 there were still 33. I would say overall the sport has grown over that time, but also, the number of teams has exploded. This not only diluted the level of talent across all teams, but spread the number of fans thinner per school, ie the growth of college basketball fans didn't keep pace with the expansion of teams.

And finally, entertainment continues to become more and more easily accessible by the populace. Millenials and gen Z are involved in fewer social activities out of the house as compared to older generations, and all forms of entertainment that require physical meetups and gatherings appear to be less popular than they were a decade or two ago. This trend has impacted numerous segments of the entertainment industry.

In my opinion, the NBA is a non factor in the decline of attendance at DI basketball games. There was a time when a player could go straight from high school to the NBA and it didn’t hurt attendance. There are over 4,100 players in D1 men’s basketball. There are also only two rounds of drafts in the NBA with a total of 60 players being drafted. Of those 60, many are from foreign countries that don’t play college basketball in the USA. The Big Ten and other power conferences that have one and done players, replace them the following year.

[LittleBrave]

And, sorry to vent, but to those who are blaming the drops in attendance on the "older fans" who actually do attend the games, or blaming Bradley for "catering" to the old people, that is complete BS. Everything about the games is catered to younger fans- the loud music, the intolerable hip-hop stuff, the loud, obnoxious MC, the promotional games for students during timeouts, the dance cam, the t-shirt toss, the kids' game ball presentation, and many other promotions, all the high-tech stuff like the scoreboard videos, and the flashing cell-phone strobe-light intros, the special ticket pricing for kids, and free stuff for students, and much more.
Us "old folks" would be there even if all that stuff disappeared, and it's the younger generations who shun quality live sports and stay home to watch the video stream, or play games on their PlayStation or text and socialize on electronic media. It's the older fans who buy the great majority of season tickets, and donate the overwhelming majority of money to support Bradley athletics. If not for the "older fans", Bradley would be where Valparaiso or Evansville are, or worse, maybe D2 or D3 by now.

Well said DC, and I am very grateful for the older generation for supporting the Braves thick and thin, while tolerating a lot of the newer generation entertainment that must not be too appealing for you all.

Lower the ticket prices and I'll bring a friend or 2 to Carver for a couple games next year...just too high to make the 3-hr trip there from Chicago, though I love going to games every chance I get.

[Stryker]

Well said DC, and I am very grateful for the older generation for supporting the Braves thick and thin, while tolerating a lot of the newer generation entertainment that must not be too appealing for you all.

Lower the ticket prices and I'll bring a friend or 2 to Carver for a couple games next year...just too high to make the 3-hr trip there from Chicago, though I love going to games every chance I get.

What kind of seats do you need to have? I've gotten good lower bowl tickets at $10 a pop this season and upper bowl tickets for $5 a pop. Yes mid court lower bowl might be $65 or something, but there are plenty of decent to good seats for cheap imo.

[Da Coach]

Bradley "students have been coming out in waves this season"-
https://twitter.com/BradleyUMBB/stat...45237538066432



Bradley's average attendance is now up to 4,564 after a season-high attendance for the Murray State game of 6,213.

Bradley ranks a close 4th among MVC schools in average attendance-
1) Murray State.....5,187
2) Evansville.........4,586
3) SIU...................4,569
4) Bradley.............4,564
5) Indiana State....3,594
6) Illinois State......3,543
7) UNI...................3,307
8 ) Drake...............3,297
9) Missouri State...3,209
10) Belmont...........2,032
11) UIC..................1,691
12) Valparaiso.......1,625

[Dubl R 1]

What kind of seats do you need to have? I've gotten good lower bowl tickets at $10 a pop this season and upper bowl tickets for $5 a pop. Yes mid court lower bowl might be $65 or something, but there are plenty of decent to good seats for cheap imo.

Lower bowl tickets are $75, $65, and $35 as you move from center sections out.

lower bowl tickets are $15 if do t mind sitting partially behind the band or the daycare center, I mean Braves club.

I still hate having the Braves club there, the second half it turns into a tumbling center/daycare for children.

Almost every game. I’ve watch kids sword fighting, doing cartwheels, crawling on\around adverstisement signs on the court during play. Kids running full speed into adults who are carrying beer/soda/popcorn… I dont get it.. it looks like amateur hour. I don’t even go down there anymore as it’s more trouble than it’s worth. And we took out a lot of seats to have it. I’m amazed the fans who sit next to the railing of it put up with that stuff right in front of them during the game.

oh well that’s my rant.

[Ogre]

Interesting reading this thread. I was there in the early/mid nineties. I was in the band for a year so I was there for all the games. Later years, we always had free tickets and brought a huge group from our fraternity. Beer was two bucks and the team was decent. Times have changed for sure.

[BradleyBiz]

Drake game ticket sales are ramping up quickly. BU ticket office should do a flash sale on tickets in Section 112. $65/ticket is absurd. If we win at Valpo, do a $22 flash sale for remaining tickets in the lower center bowl. $7 for all other tickets to celebrate a successful February and a successful season.

Let’s surpass the attendance at Loyola 2020!