However you play it, this is a marketing and promotion thing and probably really needs to be conceived through the AD's office somehow. I know football is terrible there but damn, Arkansas filled that arena when school was out with 18,000 ++. Yes they have more "tradition" but don't give me that. If not Bjork's office then find a marketing firm for input. Nearly 70,000 students plus two towns side by side and we can't fill a 12,000 seat arena? Just amazing.

Arkansas has a ton of businesses in the area that all have season tickets so that helps with their season ticket base.

That being said, BCS is actually pretty damn big itself. Surprised their aren't more locals who go to games due to getting to see major college basketball for next to nothing. Cheap family entertainment. If I grew up in BCS I would have gone to a ton of games even though my parents didn't go to A&M.

Aggie09Derek said:

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Arkansas has a ton of businesses in the area that all have season tickets so that helps with their season ticket base.

That being said, BCS is actually pretty damn big itself. Surprised their aren't more locals who go to games due to getting to see major college basketball for next to nothing. Cheap family entertainment. If I grew up in BCS I would have gone to a ton of games even though my parents didn't go to A&M.

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Arkansas is a little unique since there are no pro teams or other P5 competition. Back before football cratered and Petrino was at Arkansas, there were years were Arkansas finished top 25 in attendance for both football and basketball and top 5 in baseball in the same year. Now football has fallen off but we're still top 10-15 in basketball and top 3-5 in baseball every year.

Texas is a bigger state but also has more sports competition for people, plus Northwest Arkansas has 600,000+ people so it isn't exactly small either.

No doubt.

Selling beer starting on Saturday will help!

Marketing can make up for only so much idgaf.

Won't fill seats now with two home losses in a row.

Holy Moly!

We B***h about everything!

I know it's hard for the diehards on this forum but we have almost zero basketball tradition and only a tiny, tiny group of dedicated, diehard basketball fans

The size of the arena compared to the number of students and townies doesn't matter because nobody else is going to show up for a loser team.

They don't care about "seeing major college basketball" (thanks to TV and the inter webs, the unaffiliated can follow real winner basketball schools instead) or "getting to watch them grow" or "how fun they are to watch" (whatever that even means seems to be a leftover salve from the terrible Billy Ball years) or the stale attempt to directly port football into a basketball settings where it kills energy and momentum instead of letting it become its own thing

They want to see a winner. That's it. (Though like I said it wouldn't hurt to let Reed develop it's own version of the 12th Man as something different and unique rather than a stale imitation of football)