Attendance

[tornado]

I think Bradley will shatter some attendance records this season, but note these numbers!

In 2006-2007, Bradley finished with an average home crowd of 9728, good for 53rd best in the nation
They were 3rd in the MVC behind Creighton and Wichita, but also...
ranked 6th among all NON-BCS (mid-major) schools!

Bradley's home attendance was better than every team in 21 different conferences!

Bradley's home attendance was better than 11 of the 12 teams in the C-USA

Bradley's home attendance was better than 13 of the 14 A-10 teams

Bradley's home attendance was better than 7 of the 9 MWC teams

Bradley's home attendance was better than 7 of the 10 Pac-10 teams

Bradley's home attendance was better than 6 of the 12 ACC teams!!

Bradley's home attendance was better than 8 of the 16 Big East teams

Bradley's home attendance was better than 4 of the 12 SEC teams

Bradley's home attendance was better than 3 of the 12 Big XII teams

and Bradley's home attendance was even better than 3 of the 11 Big Ten Conference teams,
and the Big Ten led the nation in attendance for the past decade.

[SFP]

Our attendance mark is great but at the end of the day it is the TV packages that bring in the money and exposure. I wonder what type of TV package and dollar value Gonzaga and Memphis have? Those are the two schools we should be modeling our program after. It would be neat to be America's team, play a top 5 rated non-conference schedule on national TV. Why not Bradley?

[ph]

Bradley will break some of their own attendance records, as the Lexus club gives Bradley a somewhat expanded capacity from last year.
I believe last year, Bradley set their one game record as the PCC has added basketball seating in the concourse throughout the years.

I believe Gonzaga has/had a smaller arena then Bradley and doing a road/TV heavy package brought in more $$ than they could get locally vs the cost of a new, bigger arena.

The B10 had a great overall National TV exposure, and still found they could make much more money by starting their own network vs the $$ they were already receiving. Also all good B10 teams play more home games than away games, so I doubt that TV rights are always more $ than home games.

For Bradley, the exposure advantage is likely greater than $ for TV rights.

[amckillip]

Our attendance mark is great but at the end of the day it is the TV packages that bring in the money and exposure. I wonder what type of TV package and dollar value Gonzaga and Memphis have? Those are the two schools we should be modeling our program after. It would be neat to be America's team, play a top 5 rated non-conference schedule on national TV. Why not Bradley?

I agree with you here, but at the same time I don't want to do what Memphis has done to get there. There are many a story about the shady things that revolve around Calipari and Memphis. I can say that I have never heard a negative thing about Gonzaga and they seem to run a really upstanding program... Though for no logical reason I hated Adam Morrison...

[OrangeandBlack74]

Bradley's home attendance was better than 6 of the 12 ACC teams!!

T.....since you highlighted this one, could you provide the detail by school/team?

I would imagine Duke is one of the 6 teams, just because they play in a smaller facility.

[BTID]

If BU shows well in the South Padre Island Tournament (SPIT!), finds a way to beat Michigan State in Peoria, and go 4-0 in its tour of the Horizon League, that ought to perk up a few ears around the country. I'd expect sellouts for Iowa State and Michigan State since BCS teams seldom venture to Carver Arena. Having said that, Bradley seems destined to finish in the top 75 for attendance annually because we are a hoops school first and foremost, regardless of our record. I must say all this pre-season love the Braves are getting has me somewhat nervous. Traditionally (and by that, I mean the last 20-30 years), Bradley seems to do better when expectations are lower than they are this year (God, I hope I'm dead wrong on that presumption!).

[BTID]

T.....since you highlighted this one, could you provide the detail by school/team?

I would imagine Duke is one of the 6 teams, just because they play in a smaller facility.

So does Boston College. The Conte Forum only holds about 8700, I think. Miami never draws well for basketball, even when they are good. I would think the other 3 could be Florida State, Georgia Tech, and perhaps Virginia Tech. Littlejohn Coliseum at Clemson holds just over 10,000, but the Tigers rarely sell that out unless they play North Carolina or South Carolina at home, or happen to be exceptionally good.

[tornado]

T.....since you highlighted this one, could you provide the detail by school/team?

I would imagine Duke is one of the 6 teams, just because they play in a smaller facility.

Here is the link:

http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_basketball/attendance/2007_basketball_attend.pdf

Here are the attendance averages of the ACC teams:

UNC- 20693
Maryland- 16822
NC State- 13952
Virginia- 13521
Wake- 10294
Va.Tech- 9822
Bradley- 9728
Duke- 9314
Ga. Tech- 9191
Fla. St.- 7496
Clemson- 7329
Boston Coll.- 6916
Miami (FL)- 3465

we could pass Virginia Tech and Wake this year and
rank ahead of 8 of the 12 ACC teams!!

[Old Coach]

Bradley will break some of their own attendance records, as the Lexus club gives Bradley a somewhat expanded capacity from last year.
I believe last year, Bradley set their one game record as the PCC has added basketball seating in the concourse throughout the years.

I believe Gonzaga has/had a smaller arena then Bradley and doing a road/TV heavy package brought in more $$ than they could get locally vs the cost of a new, bigger arena.

The B10 had a great overall National TV exposure, and still found they could make much more money by starting their own network vs the $$ they were already receiving. Also all good B10 teams play more home games than away games, so I doubt that TV rights are always more $ than home games.

For Bradley, the exposure advantage is likely greater than $ for TV rights.

Just a point here... The Lexus Club is a room with no arena access. The suites that are leased by private companies and the Lexus Club are not the same thing.

[BUBraves06]

Here is the link:

http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_basketball/attendance/2007_basketball_attend.pdf

Here are the attendance averages of the ACC teams:

UNC- 20693
Maryland- 16822
NC State- 13952
Virginia- 13521
Wake- 10294
Va.Tech- 9822
Bradley- 9728
Duke- 9314
Ga. Tech- 9191
Fla. St.- 7496
Clemson- 7329
Boston Coll.- 6916
Miami (FL)- 3465

we could pass Virginia Tech and Wake this year and
rank ahead of 8 of the 12 ACC teams!!

I duno if it's just me, but I'd rather be No. 1 in the Valley, a conference we are a part of, then better then a bunch of ACC schools who are either football-first or who have smaller arenas then ours.

[BTID]

I duno if it's just me, but I'd rather be No. 1 in the Valley, a conference we are a part of, then better then a bunch of ACC schools who are either football-first or who have smaller arenas then ours.

Considering the Qwest Center holds 17,000+, the only way Bradley could pass Creighton is if there's huge SARS outbreak in Omaha! The best Bradley could do is finish 2nd in the MVC, and that's if we can pass the Koch Center crowds in Wichita (slightly larger than Carver Arena).

[SFP]

I duno if it's just me, but I'd rather be No. 1 in the Valley, a conference we are a part of, then better then a bunch of ACC schools who are either football-first or who have smaller arenas then ours.

The ACC is basketball first, especially the schools in Carolina. The only schools that I believe that would rank football first would be Miami, FSU, Clemson and probably VT. I'm not sure how BC fans feel about their sports. I know that MD men's basketball funds most of their athletics not football.

[BUBraves06]

Considering the Qwest Center holds 17,000+, the only way Bradley could pass Creighton is if there's huge SARS outbreak in Omaha! The best Bradley could do is finish 2nd in the MVC, and that's if we can pass the Koch Center crowds in Wichita (slightly larger than Carver Arena).

Good point. Well I amend my previous statement, I want to be 2nd in attendence in the Valley.

[Da Coach]

Bradley should finish 3rd again this year.
I think we had a thread a couple weeks ago that Koch Arena has sold out for all their home games, so even if they have an off year, WSU should maintain an average attendance well over 10,000. I am certain Bradley's will be higher this year, but I don't think they will average over 10,000. In order to do that they have to nearly sell out all the early season non-conf games, and I don't see that happening. I hope I am wrong.

[tornado]

BTID and '06...even within the past year or two, there have still been doubters that BU basketball is hot....if you know what I mean...

Less than a year ago, I started a thread on the "other board" describing how I thought
"the excitement was back"....and I am sure some of the guys like dogsrus will recall that thread.
Over a period of a couple days until the thread got axed when anti-BU posters started getting hostile, there were still
numerous posters who refuted the argument, who claimed attendance was slipping, interest was dying, people were giving up their season tickets and turning to other sports and areas of entertainment,
and that we weren't even close to the excitement we had back in the mid 90's and earlier.

I cannot imagine what those Chicken-Little's were looking at!
How can they not see that BU is HOT, and tickets are flying out the sales windows, and the press is overwhelmingly positive, and even on a national scale people are now PREDICTING Bradley will be at the top of the Valley and returning to the NCAA...
Now the only thing left is for the Braves to go out and EXCEED all of our expectations!


There should be a big boost in media attention next week when the Valley has its Media Week events and the release of the Preseason coaches and writers' votes.