2006 NCAA attendance figures

[tornado]

Bradley ranks 54th overall among all D-I schools (top 16%)
and really only a few hundred fans short of being top-40, so I hope we get there for 2006-2007.

Bradley is the third highest MVC school (Creighton is #20, Wichita State is #37)
and Bradley is one of the top 6-8 midmajors.

Here are a few schools Bradley ranks ahead of:
Georgia Tech
South Carolina
UCLA
Washington
Missouri
Virginia
Kansas State
Georgia
Gonzaga
Illinois State

http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_basketball/attendance/2006_basketball_attend.pdf

[Braves4Life]

Sellout

I can't believe that a town of Peoria's size can't consistently sellout the place. In my opinion Bradley basketball is the only game in town. If I was still living in P-town I'd definately still have my season tix -- even through the lean years!

[tornado]

Braves4-
I hear ya, and would love to see BU sell 10,000 or 11,000 per game.
But consider this--
--Bloomington-Normal is a similar sized metro area in which ISU is just as much the only show in town, and they also have 4-5 times as many students and alumni, yet still sell only 5,000-6,000 tix.

--The only Valley teams that draw better than Bradley are in much larger metro areas (Wichita, Omaha)

--The next highest rated midmajor that sits in a metro area of similar or smaller population to Peoria is SIU/Carbondale which averages slightly over 7,000.
Dayton sells a bit better but is in a city of 170,000 compared to Peoria's 112,000.

[MacabreMob]

Wow - Indiana outdrew Illinois.

[DannyCooksey]

Bloomington-Normal is a similar sized metro area in which ISU is just as much the only show in town, and they also have 4-5 times as many students and alumni, yet still sell only 5,000-6,000 tix.

attendance has been poor of late. There is no denying that fact. There is a concerted effort being made by the athletic department to increase student presence at games. This, along with hopefully a much better and more entertaining team to watch in '06-'07, will result in numbers near the 7,000-7,500 mark this year.

Numbers in this range are still below par, but would be a marked improvement in 1 season and are certainly figures that have a realistic chance of being obtained. ISU needs to do a better job in this area, no question about it.

[RocketWatcher]

Actually, BN metro population is not similar to Peoria's at all.

BN's metro is roughly 150,000 while Peoria's is roughly 375,000.

[RocketWatcher]

Wow - Indiana outdrew Illinois.

Their arena is bigger than ours!

[tornado]

Actually, BN metro population is not similar to Peoria's at all.

BN's metro is roughly 150,000 while Peoria's is roughly 375,000.

According to Bloomington-Normal Visitors Bureau,
Bloomington population=69,282
Normal population=50,519
(TOTAL=119,801)
plus ISU has more alumni in and around the area, even in Peoria!

http://www.bloomingtonnormalcvb.org/index.php?c=65&w=200&r=Y

Peoria's population=112,936

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoria,_Illinois

If you are going with the 370,000 figure, you would have to include all of Tazewell, Woodford, and parts of Marshall and Stark Counties as well. Toulon is about as much Peoria as Pontiac is Bloomington!

[RocketWatcher]

Yeah, and I said metro. Don't you know what that is?

[MacabreMob]

Wow - Indiana outdrew Illinois.

Their arena is bigger than ours!

Their arena is 838 seats bigger.

I wouldn't care if it was 25000 seats bigger.

I should have explained I thought it was funny Indiana averaged SO WELL. The fact is, they were coming off a 15-13 season and at one point were 13-10 after losing 5 straight and 7 of 8. And they STILL had 97% capacity.

So go cry a river somewhere else. I don't care.

[RocketWatcher]

Their arena is bigger, they have a better tradition, and probably higher expectations.

It should be no surprise they have higher attendance.

How is that crying a river?

[MacabreMob]

Their arena is bigger, they have a better tradition, and probably higher expectations.

It should be no surprise they have higher attendance.

How is that crying a river?

Wow, RW. For an Illini fan you concede quite a bit. I got the impression from EVERY Illini fan I ran into after last season the Illini had 'arrived' as an Elite program. Elite as in top 5. Hmmm... let me try to name some that come quickly to mind (in no specific order) Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky. So that is four. Who would be the last piece in this top 5?

1989 Flyin Illini - 2005 Cryin Illini



Cry it elsewhere.

[RocketWatcher]

Just WHAT am I crying about?

[MacabreMob]

Just WHAT am I crying about?

Their arena is bigger than ours!

Don't end your statement with an exclamation next time (as if you are yelling at me).

Without the exclamation, to me, it would look merely as a statement of a fact.

[RocketWatcher]

The exclamation point is the punctuation zapper.

It is used as a kind of visual scream.

At the end of a sentence, the exclamation point shows you really, really mean it:

Don't even think of going there!

At the end of a word, the exclamation point makes the word louder:

Help!