12-04-2013, 12:02 PM | #71 | ||
Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: newport
Posts: 56
|
Quote:
a couple other halftime/time out ideas: when those area youth teams are invited, have them put on a quick 5-10 minute exhibition (full court). not only would that be intriguing to watch, this would coax the youth players' families to want to attend/buy tickets. bring down fans to put in relay activities. goofy stuff like riding miniature bikes around obstacles, etc. have a race between 2 fans. shoot from the block, then the FT line, then the 3 point line. Quote:
reds have been putting up a quality PRO team for years, and we continue to put up luke-warm attendance numbers for those games, too. however, trying to blame just ONE factor for attendance just doesn't make sense. it's a combination of reasons, whether it be the urban atmosphere of Clifton, lack of parking, the Shoe is ugly/old, cupcake schedule, tickets are too expensive, lack of entertainment, crummy concessions, etc. i don't know, just a bummer situation as a whole; i don't really have any groundbreaking suggestions. Last edited by charlie hustle; 12-04-2013 at 12:09 PM. |
||
12-04-2013, 12:08 PM | #72 | |
Elite Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,030
|
Quote:
Go on the road or play at a neutral site an extra 2 times per year. This gives you opportunities to play on national television, and if I'm not mistaken, schools get more TV money in these games. Having 7-8 home games against cupcakes is ridiculous and doesn't do jack to help attendance. Then, for your home games, focus on scheduling MAC, A-10, and Conference USA schools that people have heard of. Renew a home-and-home with Dayton, as they are guaranteed to put butts in the seats -- both our fans and theirs. Get Ohio University and Marshall on the schedule, two schools that have alumni bases in the area and will help with attendance AND RPI. Miami would put some butts in the seats as well. Limit your directional schools in the south/east coast that no one has ever heard of to 2-3 games per year. Mick Cronin has good relationships with Huggins and Pitino... try harder to get more games with Louisville and West Virginia, even if it's only possible every couple of years. No one is asking Cincinnati to play Ohio State, Kentucky, and Indiana on a yearly basis... or ever for that matter. We all know it's not going to happen. But there are a ton of quality MAC schools in this area who would be RPI and attendance upgrades over the Kennesaw States and Chicago States of the world. I would rather Cincinnati play a QUALITY schedule with 7-8 home games than a cupcake schedule with 10 home games. What's better -- 10 home games at 6,000 per, or 8 home games at 8,000 per? With better scheduling, we could have more overall attendance with less games, which means less operating costs, more exposure, and more fan excitement. |
|
12-04-2013, 12:16 PM | #73 | |
Epic Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 2,280
|
Quote:
Louisville is an absolute no brainer annual game and Mick dropped the ball. There are 350 potential opponents. I don't believe for a minute that he can't schedule teams that at least bring our schedule strength under 200. Today, it is a robust 348 of 351 teams. Not a single coach gave us a vote in the coach's poll. Only 8 gave us votes in the AP. You don't think our schedule has a lot to do with that? I don't care how good USC Upstate and NC Central are. The whole world believes they are patsies no matter how high they are ranked in Kenpom (which today is 128 and 108). Even though their rank would suggest they are a mid-major, nobody views them as mid-major. One is in the America Sun and the other is in the MEAC...not mid-major conferences. Those are low major. Until Mick signs some top recruits, plays the best competition, has the program consistently in the Top 20, makes some long runs in the NCAA, etc., the fans just won't embrace him or the program. We've been to the NCAA tournament 3 straight years and have played in the top conference in the world. To offer up some lame excuse why he can't take down the Andy Kennedy team in average attendance is just that...an excuse. Bottom line, there is no excuse for our attendance. There are only facts. He hasn't been a great recruiter like we all thought he would be, and his OOC schedule has been pathetic. In the first 17 years of the Shoe, playing only in a Mid-major conference, we only drew under 10,000 fans per game twice....in the 1st year and in the Andy Kennedy year. There were only two other years where we drew under 12,000 fans per game...in Huggs last year and in 1998. Playing in the #1 conference in the world under Mick, we haven't had a single season that supassed any of the previous 17. Under Mick's watch, Xavier has supassed us in attendance and in conference affiliation. Oh by the way, Xavier can somehow play an OOC schedule that includes....Tennessee twice, Morehead St., Miami, Iowa, Southern Cal, Bowling Green, Evansville, Cincinnati, Alabama, Wake Forest, etc. Amazing how teams are dying to play in Cintas with a capacity of 3,000 less than the Shoe, but Mick somehow scares all of them away. |
|
12-04-2013, 12:17 PM | #74 |
Elite Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,030
|
From Lance's blog, attendance figures this season:
6,532 North Carolina Central 7,028 North Carolina State 6,194 Appalachian State 6,011 Campbell 5,477 UMass-Lowell 6,627 Kennesaw State 5,113 USC Upstate Imagine we don't play SEVEN home games in a row to open the season, which is ridiculous in itself. It's a lot easier to get people to attend multiple games when they aren't going on twice a week... Replace those games with, say... 8,000 Miami 10,000 Dayton 7,000 Marshall road/neutral game road/neutral game 6,500 Campbell 9,000 Michigan Crosstown Shootout 7,000 Northern Kentucky road/neutral game 6,500 Akron 7,500 Ohio University road/neutral game These are just guesses off the top of my head, obviously, but I think they are decent guesses. Spreading the home games out a little more would help attendance, in my opinion. And bringing in schools that people have heard of will DEFINITELY help attendance. In this scenario, with 8 home games instead of 10, I think you would still have more total attendance than the 10 lousy home games we have this season. |
12-04-2013, 12:31 PM | #75 |
Elite Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,030
|
Another way of looking at it... if we are going to schedule 13 games out of conference, it could go something like this:
-2 games per year in a pre-season tournament (knowing the first game of the tournament is often against a cupcake) -Crosstown Shootout (I refuse to call it Classic) -4 home-and-homes per year (so 2 home games, 2 road games) against teams in good conferences (power 5, Big East, A-10, Mountain West) -3 home games against local schools like Miami, Ohio, NKY -3 home games against cupcakes That leaves you with 4 games against cupcakes, 3 against smaller local schools, and 6 quality opponents from good conferences, understanding that maybe 3 or 4 out of the 6 will be tournament teams. Tough schedule? Yes, but not brutal or unheard of by any means. |
12-04-2013, 12:37 PM | #76 | |
Senior Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 9,298
|
Quote:
What I disagree with is that we have to have a better SOS in order to get a high ranking or to sell the arena out. All we need is an outstanding record and show that we can beat anybody. It may take longer to sell it out...but eventually it will as long as you prove to be an elite team. |
|
12-04-2013, 12:42 PM | #77 | |
Elite Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,030
|
Quote:
|
|
12-04-2013, 12:50 PM | #78 |
Epic Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,120
|
Do you think they'll be able to find me seats equal to as good as mine? I'm in section 213 halfway up right now, which aren't amazing seats, but I don't want to move to upper corner seats and pay the same price just to be on UC's side.
|
12-04-2013, 12:57 PM | #79 |
Elite Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,030
|
When I look at the schedules of teams in our conference, I notice a common trend -- Temple plays all the schools in Philadelphia (I know that's the result of the Big 5, but still... no reason we can't do something similar in Cincinnati/Dayton)... UConn plays schools in the northeast like Boston University, Yale, Maine, etc... Houston and SMU play at least 5 games each against schools in Texas.
This area is a hot bed for college hoops. You've got your bigger programs like Ohio State, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisville, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Xavier, Butler, Notre Dame, Purdue, Dayton... then quality MVC, MAC, etc. schools like Ohio, Miami, Akron, Toledo, Indiana State, Evansville, Marshall, Western Kentucky... and a couple of local programs like Wright State and Northern Kentucky. There are PLENTY of schools in the region we can play. Why do we keep playing these crappy schools in the south from literally the worst conferences in college basketball? |
12-04-2013, 01:03 PM | #80 | |
Epic Member
|
Quote:
Last edited by JackBauer151; 12-04-2013 at 01:10 PM. |
|
Bookmarks |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|