Climbing the charts in average attendance!

2 spots behind Duke

9 spots higher than national champion Villanova at #59.

http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/2016_release_mens_basketball_attendance_final1.pdf

Baylor ranked #82. Horns ranked #26.

It's still way too low, but getting better.

Sustained winning will get it to where it should be. I look forward to the day where I can't walk down and sit a row or two from the court in the early nonconference games.

What's our rank in arena capacity? A total sell-out would put us at 28th.

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What's our rank in arena capacity? A total sell-out would put us at 28th.

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If we literally had sold out every seat every game (100%), looks like we'd have maybe finished about 26th nationally in average attendance, instead of 50th.

To compare the average attendance to another 'peak' basketball season, the 2006-2007 season:

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2007.pdf

That year with All-American PG Acie Law at the height of the BCG ear we finished #52 nationally with average of 9,812.

This season we finished #50 nationally with average of 8,955.

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It's still way too low, but getting better.

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Per previous post, the reported average attendance for the 2006-2007 Sweet Sixteen season was 9,812 (#52 nationally) and this 20015-2016 Sweet Sixteen season was 8,955 (#50 nationally).

Hasn't college basketball attendance been reported to been generally falling on average nationwide the past several years? We were lower this season by about 1,000 per game than that other 'peak' year a decade ago but a bit higher up in the national average ranking.

You usually see the attendance bump the next season because season ticket sales go way up. 2008 was actually our peak, that year we averaged over 10,000 people.

But yes, basketball attendance is falling nationally. It's down about 8.5% at home games nationwide since 2006.

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You usually see the attendance bump the next season because season ticket sales go way up. 2008 was actually our peak, that year we averaged over 10,000 people.

But yes, basketball attendance is falling nationally. It's down about 8.5% at home games nationwide since 2006.

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Due to the decline in popularity of the sport, or better television distribution?

Both I imagine.

The general decline has been slow and extended in most traditional sports because the younger generation doesn't follow traditional sports as rabidly as the older generations.

to the guys counting beans the numbers are important, but attendance is about environment (to me) and a full house makes for a better environment ... my opinion is if rollie still existed and you could fill it every night (can't remember, but i want to say it was around 8,000) the attendance would be rank lower, but the environment would be one of the best in college basketball ... hot, impossibly loud, close, almost vertical seating (literally a couple of feet on the sidelines) .. so ranking is interesting, but i don't believe it's relevant

9th highest basketball attendance in the SEC this year

I have no idea why but it really looks bad when TV shows tons of vacant seats at both basketball and baseball games that are important. I hear it has something to do with football season ticket holders purchasing basketball and baseball season tickets because it improves their standing to get football tickets. Is this true?

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9th highest basketball attendance in the SEC this year

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If we had the Golden State Warriors as our team next season, I am confident we would rank no worse than 5th in the SEC in average attendance.

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The general decline has been slow and extended in most traditional sports because the younger generation doesn't follow traditional sports as rabidly as the older generations.

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I still (barely) qualify as "the younger generation" and have seen this first hand. Ended up taking the fifth or sixth person I invited to the Kentucky basketball game this season due to general disinterest in making the trip to watch it in person instead of at home.

Creighton is top 10 in attendance? That strikes me as random.

Creighton has a pretty good basketball history, plays in an 18,000 seat arena and is essentially the pro team in a pretty big town.

2000 more per game and we jump to no. 36 or so. I feel a larger arena coming on.

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2000 more per game and we jump to no. 36 or so. I feel a larger arena coming on.

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Not sure if serious

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to the guys counting beans the numbers are important, but attendance is about environment (to me) and a full house makes for a better environment ... my opinion is if rollie still existed and you could fill it every night (can't remember, but i want to say it was around 8,000) the attendance would be rank lower, but the environment would be one of the best in college basketball ... hot, impossibly loud, close, almost vertical seating (literally a couple of feet on the sidelines) .. so ranking is interesting, but i don't believe it's relevant

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Reed Arena is definitely too big. It should hold about 10K

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to the guys counting beans the numbers are important, but attendance is about environment (to me) and a full house makes for a better environment ... my opinion is if rollie still existed and you could fill it every night (can't remember, but i want to say it was around 8,000) the attendance would be rank lower, but the environment would be one of the best in college basketball ... hot, impossibly loud, close, almost vertical seating (literally a couple of feet on the sidelines) .. so ranking is interesting, but i don't believe it's relevant

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Reed Arena is definitely too big. It should hold about 10K

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Based on historical data, that seems to be roughly about what the natural average attendance ceiling is for even years when A&M is putting a conference championship quality team on the court. Though of course there is probably always going to be a very small handful of high profile games where you'd want more attendance capacity.

A friend of mine last year had a good idea that for those non-high-profile games they should do like they do for the women's games and block off the upper deck.

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The general decline has been slow and extended in most traditional sports because the younger generation doesn't follow traditional sports as rabidly as the older generations.

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I don't think that is really true.

MLB

Last year baseball had seventh highest average attendance ever. Down a bit from the late 2000's, but much higher than "older generations." TV viewership is way down though and I think it is totally fair to say interest in baseball is lower for younger versus older generations. That being the case, MLB has done a nice job of renovating ball parks and making a trip to the ball park an enjoyable leisure experience even for less than rabid fans. Overall, interest down, attendance and revenue still very high.

NFL
College Football

NFL and college football peaked late 2000's and have declined slightly since then but are still at very high levels historically. TV numbers are still good and I think interest is still very high. I think the slight decrease in attendance is due more to better television and higher ticket prices than declining interest. Revenue still at all time highs.

NBA
NBA set an all time average attendance record last year. So obviously doing just fine.

Summary; I think it is over simplistic to say there has been declining interest in traditional sports. I think there has been declining interest in baseball but I don't think that is the case for football and basketball. I do think there is an increasing problem with student attendance for both football and basketball but I think that has more to do with other entertainment options than lack of interest per se.

I also think that interest in soccer specifically (which I assume you consider a "non traditional" sport) is way up for the younger generation and is the second most popular sport in America behind football by most metrics in the 18-30 age cohort. But I don't think that hurts the other sports necessarily. Sports overall is a relatively small part of the leisure/ entertainment world and it isn't zero sum. Increased interest in soccer doesn't necessarily hurt baseball or basketball any more than increased interest in Star Wars or Game of Thrones.

A final point; I think defining certain sports as "traditional" is pretty arbitrary. For my grandfather's generation, the main traditional sports were baseball, boxing and horse racing.

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Creighton is top 10 in attendance? That strikes me as random.

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Metro area size is very significant to college basketball attendance while it isn't for football. Football is just 6-7 games a year and always on weekends and people can easily come from out of town. Basketball is tough on a weeknight. So relatively small metro areas that do great for football attendance often struggle for basketball attendance (even controlling for relative interest level) while teams in fairly large metro areas without major league pro sports do well (Creighton, Dayton, Wichita State, New Mexico).

The greater Brazosplex has ~200,000 residents, so we're not exactly a small town. Bigger than Dayton actually.

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The greater Brazosplex has ~200,000 residents, so we're not exactly a small town. Bigger than Dayton actually.

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Dayton metro has 841,000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_metropolitan_area

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I also think that interest in soccer specifically (which I assume you consider a "non traditional" sport) is way up for the younger generation and is the second most popular sport in America behind football by most metrics in the 18-30 age cohort. But I don't think that hurts the other sports necessarily. Sports overall is a relatively small part of the leisure/ entertainment world and it isn't zero sum. Increased interest in soccer doesn't necessarily hurt baseball or basketball any more than increased interest in Star Wars or Game of Thrones.

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I'd like to see the study you're referencing regarding interest in soccer among the 18-30 age cohort. I'm in that age group and the only people I know who actually legitimately follow soccer are people that played soccer in high school.

Omaha metro 931,000.

Albuquerque metro 1.1 million.

Wichita 638,000

That is the sweet spot for college basketball attendance for non blue blood schools.

DIVISION I BASKETBALL LARGEST INCREASE FOR AVERAGE ATTENDANCE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR

2016 2015 Change Rank School G Avg. Avg. in Avg.
1. Maryland 17 17,863 12,694 5,169
2. Alabama 15 13,110 10,176 2,934
3. LSU 18 11,382 8,897 2,485
4. Little Rock 14 3,750 1,407 2,343
5. Vanderbilt 16 11,135 8,861 2,274
6. Purdue 18 13,662 11,522 2,140
7. California 18 10,182 8,098 2,084
8. Texas A&M 18 8,955 6,926 2,029

Dayton and Cincinnati are basically the same area now anyway, but my point is that we're not exactly on a farm out in the panhandle. Manhattan, Kansas has like 50,000 residents and it's 2 hours from any city of any size and they average 3,000 more fans a game than we do.

Someone should go hop on their board and tell them good job....

That's Lawrence.

Well aware...been to both. Just couldnt pass up the opportunity