Attendance?

Will be making our annual trip to the bluff for the SMC game this year.

Was surprised to be able to pick up lower center court seats with a week and a half to tip off.

What's the story on attendance? Been reading the box scores and averaging 2575 after 11 home contests seems low.

UP is building it, why aren't they coming?

SMC's attendance is avearging only 3070. I'd ask you the same question.

I think every WCC school other than Gonzaga has battled the chronic problem of lackluster attendance.

I anticipate better attendance from this point forward though, since students are finally back on campus (starting yesterday, so they missed the first weekend of WCC games) and the SMC and Zag games are still coming.

I bet UP could get it's average attendance up around 3000 by season's end.

3000 average for the last five games seems doable.

Also I think McKeon Pavilion's capacity is 3500 or so...3070 is pretty darn close to a sell out down there.

Funny, I was seeing the attendance numbers and thought we were doing pretty good, and that with the students back we should push over 3000 easily. Last game was at ~2500. With league play getting into high gear, we should push up to 3200 or 3300, and sell out Gonzaga and hopefully sell out SMC.

It's always been a struggle to get portlanders to go to UP games. I think the athletic dept. has been doing a lot better over the last few years of getting poeple to games. Helps a lot that Rev and the team are out in the community and are doing very well within the confines of the Chiles Center.

Woodless! wrote:3000 average for the last five games seems doable.

Also I think McKeon Pavilion's capacity is 3500 or so...3070 is pretty darn close to a sell out down there.

Yeah, but that's still 500 or so seats they are leaving empty for a team that is in the Top 25 and is coming off a Sweet 16.

My point is that a Gael fan has no room to come in here and criticize UP's attendance.

I don't think we'll get average attendance up to 3000 this year - we've played 11 home games (counting Kentucky), and only have five left. We'd need to pull around 4000 fans for each of those games to push the overall average to 3000. We'll get that against Gonzaga, possibly against SMC, but probably not against USD, USF, and SCU.

But Stonehouse is right. When you consider how bad the Pilots have been - and for how long - pulling in 2500 this year seems just about right. If the success continues, I'd expect a 3000-3500 average next year.

I think that 2500 is pretty good progress as well...all things considered. In addition, I think that some of our more athletic recruits like K. Bailey and Cason are bound to bring in some fans in the coming years. We've got some great student athletes coming in and a high capacity venue to show them off. The best is yet to come.

Rob's Jacket wrote:I don't think we'll get average attendance up to 3000 this year - we've played 11 home games (counting Kentucky), and only have five left. We'd need to pull around 4000 fans for each of those games to push the overall average to 3000. We'll get that against Gonzaga, possibly against SMC, but probably not against USD, USF, and SCU.

Probably true.

I suppose I was being a bit sanguine saying we could hit a 3K average, but Gonzaga is already sold out and I bet St. Mary's will get close. The Thursday games always draw a bit less than the Saturday games though, so hitting 3K would be tough.

Still, I have actually been impressed by the nice turnouts for games over the break like Boise State and Nevada. The Utah game was a tough one, it being at 2 in the afternoon on New Year's Eve, but even that wasn't terrible. I think word is getting out for sure, but it's a process.

I think athletics is doing an awesome job with their social media marketing this year, and I think that has helped bring more attention to the team among alums, current students, and families/friends that follow those Facebook and Twitter pages. Sometimes it's just making sure you are on people's radars and they recognize that we are playing some damn good basketball out here on The Bluff.

After seeing fewer than 1500 for the last few decades, I must say that I'm pretty darn excited about the 2500 number. To be averaging that headed into conference play speaks volumes about how far we've come as both a program and a fan base. This is probably double the attendance when I was a student.

Now the students should have been back for the Pepperdine game, correct? Who were those people sitting in the student section? They looked like the young alums from Thursday's game, except younger, and quiet.

At SMC, the struggle for consistent attendance has been a battle since I have been affiliated with the college from the early 90s.

For some reason, SMC has had some sort of disconnect with the local community. Many have theorized that its the diversity of culture and activities in the Bay Area. Certainly, competing for entertainment dollars against the likes of CAL just over the hill doesn't help things.

Seemingly, SMC should be a great value. The best Bay area team for the past few years, low ticket price, a cozy venue.....yet we can't seem to break through to the other side. One would think that our fan base would be growing yet I just received an email indicating we still had at least 50 WCC tournament passes from our original allotment.

Urika wrote:At SMC, the struggle for consistent attendance has been a battle since I have been affiliated with the college from the early 90s.

For some reason, SMC has had some sort of disconnect with the local community. Many have theorized that its the diversity of culture and activities in the Bay Area. Certainly, competing for entertainment dollars against the likes of CAL just over the hill doesn't help things.

Seemingly, SMC should be a great value. The best Bay area team for the past few years, low ticket price, a cozy venue.....yet we can't seem to break through to the other side. One would think that our fan base would be growing yet I just received an email indicating we still had at least 50 WCC tournament passes from our original allotment.

I think that the challenges to build up attendance that we face are just common of mid major schools. People are slower to build up the bandwagon (and the enrollments are obviously lower than a big Pac-10 school), and it takes a bigger name school to make the demand for tickets go up a bit. At UP, if students and fans would avoid sitting up so high in the rafters and move to the lower seats closer to the court (if that's permitted by security), 2500 fans would have a greater presence. We also have the advantage of having a venue for 4,800+, so when we finally do build up that fan base we'll be ready for it...

Just think though, someday we may be complaining about not being able to get tickets. We might as well enjoy it while we can.

Speaking of Chiles, I think its the best gym in the conference when you combine seating capacity, spectator comfort (chair backs in upper level) and amenities. Really looking forward to seeing your new scoreboard. Hell, at McKeon, seems that we have finally solved the HVAC problems

If you have never been to McCarthey at GU, Chiles makes the Kennel look like the 25 million dollar spud shed that it is; concrete on exposed I beams.

Urika wrote: Chiles makes the Kennel look like the 25 million dollar spud shed that it is; concrete on exposed I beams.

Ouch, baby. That one's gotta hurt their pride. Heh heh .

Rob's Jacket wrote:I don't think we'll get average attendance up to 3000 this year - we've played 11 home games (counting Kentucky), and only have five left. We'd need to pull around 4000 fans for each of those games to push the overall average to 3000. We'll get that against Gonzaga, possibly against SMC, but probably not against USD, USF, and SCU.

But Stonehouse is right. When you consider how bad the Pilots have been - and for how long - pulling in 2500 this year seems just about right. If the success continues, I'd expect a 3000-3500 average next year.

If they build it (BB program)we can come....