The Appalachian on attendance

[RollNeers]

http://theappalachianonline.com/2016/02 ... -the-fans/

Interesting article from TheAppalachian on home attendance for basketball games, or lack there of. Does anyone have any ideas about what can be done for attendance? I can't think of anything and clearly the marketing team can't either.

[T-Dog]

WBB was handing out free tickets at Wal Mart today, so there's that.

Honestly, with now five-straight losing seasons in MBB and three straight in WBB and not much hoops history to build on, it's a tough sell.

The doubleheaders hurt IMO, but that should change next season.

I think one thing that could help is to move the 3,333 Club out of the arena itself. There's big meeting rooms in the Holmes Center and an area near the loading dock that have been used to catering for bands and performers in the past. Put students behind each goal with big heads, giant bricks and encourage creativity and costumes.

Despite these disadvantages, I believe promotions, for the most part, has been awful. They're doing re-treads and minimal effort ideas like glowsticks and player tunnel opportunities. I understand the kid's club stuff they do, but it's not helping attendance much IMO.

[asu66]

Things have been allowed to deteriorate for so long that only one thing will work--winning on a consistent basis with athletes that are fun to watch. What can the marketing folks do with no budget and a men's team that's *3-6 at home.* Not much!

I do believe that Elderkin, Fox and Gillen will right the ship--but it's going to take better players and a lot of time and patience. No easy answers or fixes are in the pipeline.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

WBB was handing out free tickets at Wal Mart today, so there's that.

Honestly, with now five-straight losing seasons in MBB and three straight in WBB and not much hoops history to build on, it's a tough sell.

The doubleheaders hurt IMO, but that should change next season.

I think one thing that could help is to move the 3,333 Club out of the arena itself. There's big meeting rooms in the Holmes Center and an area near the loading dock that have been used to catering for bands and performers in the past. Put students behind each goal with big heads, giant bricks and encourage creativity and costumes.

Despite these disadvantages, I believe promotions, for the most part, has been awful. They're doing re-treads and minimal effort ideas like glowsticks and player tunnel opportunities. I understand the kid's club stuff they do, but it's not helping attendance much IMO.

Do all of this and then give a small door prize to the most creative and distracting to the opponent antics that does not draw a technical. I am sure there are some that would want to win just to win. Throw in a free pizza or two and a few more might want to do something behind the goals. Hopefully the folks that give to the 3,333 Club for those seats will understand and not withdraw their support.

[moehler]

winning cures all attendance woes, easier said then done, but they start winning and become respectable, then people will starting coming out to the games. How we do that, I have no freckin idea, but I feel so bad for the players and coaches, we have reached rock bottom having to hand out free tickets at Walmart. Well, I guess it can't get any worse, atleast I hope so.

[3rd]

Parking is a huge problem to me. That seems to have been over looked when they built that building.

[AppDawg]

Things have been allowed to deteriorate for so long that only one thing will work--winning on a consistent basis with athletes that are fun to watch. What can the marketing folks do with no budget and a men's team that's *3-6 at home.* Not much!

I do believe that Elderkin, Fox and Gillen will right the ship--but it's going to take better players and a lot of time and patience. No easy answers or fixes are in the pipeline.

I agree with winning cures all ills. I however think you touched on a bigger factor. 3-6 at home is the key. 9 total home games and we have played 25. Out of those 9, at least 4 of them were when classes were out of session. That leaves just 5 games for the marketing department to work its "magic" and for the teams to win over the students.

I think Fox and the team heading to the tAPP room after every home game is an excellent move. Unfortunately, only 5 times have students been on campus.

We need to get a better home schedule. I think that will not only help with attendance, but also should help in the W column too.

[RollNeers]

I'm a student and 2 weeks ago I was walking through the Student union and they had Michael Obacha handing out flyers for people to come to the game. I haven't missed 1 home game this year (GA State ) and I've done my best to get people to come but they just won't. Hopefully with the football ceremony this weekend we can get people out and if we win maybe create some excitement.

[Rekdiver]

I mentioned this before. Go meet the Inter fraternity council and the Panhellenic Council and freaking beg them to all come to games. Go to the dorms, beg again. the Yosef Club, Athletic Admin, Boone Chamber of Commerce and Student Council AND The Appalachian need to develop all get together and build a hammering strategy. Take ownership and run with this.

[bcoach]

Unless APP is the most unusual place in the state there is really only one answer. Win games. That really is the only answer.

[Saint3333]

http://espn1420.com/the-reality-of-coll ... irds-nest/

[AppDawg]

For years I have heard if you win, they will come. With the intent of proving that mantra I went back to the NCAA official home attendance figures and compared those to our wins/losses on the season. The below is sorted by wins, largest to smallest. I also have included reported attendance & a normalized number, which removes the largest crowd of the season. This keeps a game such as the UNC sellout in 2000-2001 season from skewing the "real" numbers. What I found is over the last 21 years, we average approximately 2,000 fans per game and there has been little to no movement in that number +/- 500. Out of the 5 seasons with the largest average attendance, 3 were in Varsity and those 5 years coincide within the top 8 seasons in number of wins, which lends some credibility to winning will bring the fans. That said, 3 of the next 5 seasons with highest average attendance occurred in seasons that the win totals fell in the bottom 6 over the 21 year period. This leads me to believe it is more than "just win baby!" Below is the data. Feel free to shoot holes in it.

[Saint3333]

I think it will take sustained wins and reaching performance that would warrant an at-large bid before you see attendance increase to the 5,000 level.

Basketball in college athletics draws from a much tighter footprint. Our football attendance can pull from 3 hours (up to 5-6 hours away) for a significant portion of our crowds. Basketball is much more limited for half the games and is likely within an hour of Boone.

[EastHallApp]

First of all, AppDawg, terrific data - thanks for compiling.

I take a couple points from that chart:

- We don't need just winning, but sustained winning. The highest attendance year was 2000 - which was our third straight 20+ win season under Buzz. (I remember it well, as it was my senior year.) The home schedule wasn't as good as it was the previous two years, but App had built a regular fan base of students like me who expected us to be good.

- With that said, the effect of winning hasn't been as great as one might expect or hope. A crowd of 3,500 was rocking in Varsity, but it wouldn't look too good in the HC.

But, look at the figures sequentially from 1997-2000. They increased each year. Maybe if we could have kept it going, we could have kept growing those numbers.

Also, one other minor note - without checking my history books, I know we weren't conference champions (regular season or tournament) in '99 or '07. Not sure about the other years. Maybe you're counting division titles?

[moehler]

I agree the foot print of basketball vs football is much smaller, but we are also talking about 4 thousand vs 25 thousand, with a student population of 15 thousand plus, and with the surrounding communities, including Hickory, there really isn't an excuse for not having 3000 to 4000 there every home game. I agree winning isn't the only thing that will attract fans, but its definitely the top reason. I think other factors such as quality OC opponents (good luck getting any ACC, SEC, or even AAC team to come to Boone), scheduling more home games when the students are in town, and a bigger budget for marketing are very important if we are going to become a decent program. I think we have the right coach and staff, I just hope he doesn't become so dejected by the lack of support he gives up and leaves. Lastly, its an embarrassment to the University and it shows how far the programs have fallen, when players are spending their time begging students on campus and in the local community to come out and watch the games. Lets be honest, I don't know if the programs have ever been as low as they are today, time for our AD and his staff to work some magic.

[AppDawg]

First of all, AppDawg, terrific data - thanks for compiling.

I take a couple points from that chart:

- We don't need just winning, but sustained winning. The highest attendance year was 2000 - which was our third straight 20+ win season under Buzz. (I remember it well, as it was my senior year.) The home schedule wasn't as good as it was the previous two years, but App had built a regular fan base of students like me who expected us to be good.

- With that said, the effect of winning hasn't been as great as one might expect or hope. A crowd of 3,500 was rocking in Varsity, but it wouldn't look too good in the HC.

But, look at the figures sequentially from 1997-2000. They increased each year. Maybe if we could have kept it going, we could have kept growing those numbers.

Also, one other minor note - without checking my history books, I know we weren't conference champions (regular season or tournament) in '99 or '07. Not sure about the other years. Maybe you're counting division titles?

Yes, those are division titles. Probably should have indicated - good catch. One thing to note of '97 -'00 those were also coincided with the last years in Varsity. I think it is underestimated how much the location impacted attendance. With Varsity being in the middle of campus loud crowd inside had the impact of pulling the casual fan/student walking past on the way to Sanford Mall or Dorm inside to see what was going on.

[EastHallApp]

One thing to note of '97 -'00 those were also coincided with the last years in Varsity. I think it is underestimated how much the location impacted attendance. With Varsity being in the middle of campus loud crowd inside had the impact of pulling the casual fan/student walking past on the way to Sanford Mall or Dorm inside to see what was going on.

It was definitely a nice, central location. It's not like the HCC should be too far away for people to go, but you're right that it's not exactly in the middle of things either.

However, I'm sure we're not alone in that regard - having replaced an old barn that was right on campus with a newer arena that's less central. The HCC is still at least on the edge of campus - it's not like students have to take a bus to get there like State students do to get to PNC.

To another point, I do think that getting at least one name OOC opponent per year to visit would be a big help. We had home games vs. a top 25 UNCC team in '97-98 and vs. Georgia the next year, and Varsity was packed and rowdy for both. And even though they might be outliers in attendance, I think games like that help bring in new fans, some of whom will become regular fans if the team does well.

[AppDawg]

Lets be honest, I don't know if the programs have ever been as low as they are today, time for our AD and his staff to work some magic.

I would argue 2014 was rock bottom and we are now digging out.

[moonshine]

Parking is a huge problem to me. That seems to have been over looked when they built that building.

From my understanding (still very early in the process), there is a plan to place a 3-4 story parking deck on Faculty St. right behind Hardees. The hope is to break ground next August and possibly have it completed by early 2018, if no speed bumps are encountered along the way.

[AppinVA]

Lets be honest, I don't know if the programs have ever been as low as they are today, time for our AD and his staff to work some magic.

I would argue 2014 was rock bottom and we are now digging out.

Brighter days lie ahead.

They just have to....right?