American Athletic Conference

[OregonShocker]

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/10/26/mls-sets-new-attendance-records-seattle-hold-highest-average-league

[WstateU]

That would be wonderful although we are a long way from being able to fill such an arena on a consistent basis. We seemed to have topped out at about 2,500 to 3,000 in average attendance although this year we dropped down to 2,261 in average attendance (our worst average attendance since 2006). From 2007 through 2014 we averaged around 2,775 in attendance. In 2014 we averaged 3,078 (although we only had our 9 home MVC matches). So in 2015 we were down 18.5% from the 2007-2014 average and down 26.5% from 2014. Not sure what to attribute the drop in attendance in 2015 to but having most of the matches available on ESPN3 would seem to be the logical culprit. In any case, while we consistently have had good attendance numbers in volleyball in the last 10 years it is not really growing and we had a significant decline in attendance this past season.

Not sure what impact adding football and/or soccer in the fall might have on Volleyball attendance. It won't have much impact on student support because the Volleyball team gets very little student support now. Again, I suppose this questions will be address in the review and analysis that President Bardo has commenced.

Good points, however we're not currently a top 10 overall program bringing in 'high flyers' like I witness last night. Maybe 4,000-5,000 is more realistic (I'm not sure?); just don't build a 'cracker box' and always wish it was larger. I still remember Phog Allen's comment after playing one of the first games in Henry Levitt Arena; "Wichita built themselves a nice arena, however they built it too small."

[WstateU]

Would they sell beer on campus at a soccer game? If so, I might put more thought into soccer.

[OregonShocker]

Would they sell beer on campus at a soccer game? If so, I might put more thought into soccer.

LOL! They used to sell it at the baseball (and basketball?) games back when I went to school but we had to sneak it into the football games. I think the NCAA made them stop????

[Eric]

LOL! They used to sell it at the baseball (and basketball?) games back when I went to school but we had to sneak it into the football games. I think the NCAA made them stop????

Ah......sneaking booze into the football stadium......I remember sneezing Bacardi out my nose right after taking a sip at a night game. I didn't have a damn cold for ten years! Still makes my eyes water to think about it.

[Kung Wu]

I wasn't talking about attendance. I meant from a recruiting standpoint we could own those places. I think there is enough interest in soccer in Wichita alone to support the teams.

Okay, that's what I thought you meant. :) Then I agree, there's no reason we can't kick the snot out of Tulsa and UMKC for the best recruits.

[1972Shocker]

Good points, however we're not currently a top 10 overall program bringing in 'high flyers' like I witness last night. Maybe 4,000-5,000 is more realistic (I'm not sure?); just don't build a 'cracker box' and always wish it was larger. I still remember Phog Allen's comment after playing one of the first games in Henry Levitt Arena; "Wichita built themselves a nice arena, however they built it too small."

Then why not just keep the VB in Koch Arena. Nebraska continuously sells out the 8,000 seat Devaney Center. If you believe we can reach the level of a Nebraska or Texas in Volleyball we should just stick with Koch Arena. If we get to Nebraska's level in terms of VB success and support we can turn Koch over to the VB team and build a bigger arena for Shocker basketball.

[WstateU]

Then why not just keep the VB in Koch Arena. Nebraska continuously sells out the 8,000 seat Devaney Center. If you believe we can reach the level of a Nebraska or Texas in Volleyball we should just stick with Koch Arena. If we get to Nebraska's level in terms of VB success and support we can turn Koch over to the VB team and build a bigger arena for Shocker basketball.

Probably just me, but I've never been a big fan of volleyball in Koch Arena.

[1972Shocker]

Right now the only Valley schools that sponsor men's soccer are Bradley, Drake, Evansville, Missouri State and Loyola. Not counting Drake's D-III football program the only one of those schools that has a scholarship football program is Missouri State (some might argue that they don't really have a football program but they do give out football scholarships).

All of these schools except Bradley also sponsor women's soccer plus Illinois State, Indiana State and Northern Iowa also sponsor women's soccer.

Wichita State and SIU are the only schools that do not sponsor either men's soccer or women's soccer. SIU does sponsor FCS football.

So WSU is the only Valley school that does not have football and/or soccer (either men's and/or women's). Obviously, men's soccer doesn't seem to co-exist well at Valley schools with football. The Big 12 doesn't appear to even sponsor men's soccer. Perhaps what men's soccer doesn't co-exist with well is a combination of football and Title IX.

Soccer is obviously very popular in Wichita as a participation sport. Whether that is the case as a spectator sport I could not say. The question I have is if Wichita is, in fact, a hot bet of soccer interest why is WSU the only non-football playing Valley school without soccer? Is this a hangover from our days of having football? If we do bring back football would that more than likely increase the chances for adding women's soccer but decrease the chances of adding men's soccer because of Title IX issues?

[Ta town]

Oh no not football, it cost too much. Lets add a mens non revenue sport, offset it with a women's non revenue sport all while staying put conference wise. Good Lord, sometimes I wonder.

[ShockBand]

Unless there is a TON of increase in donations, football would be a non-revenue sport as well for quite some time.

[Ta town]

Unless there is a TON of increase in donations, football would be a non-revenue sport as well for quite some time.

Not saying it would be, but shooting down football because of cost while holding up mens soccer as a potential great ad seems contradictory.

To me you look at football as a potential recruiting tool for regular students. Especially now that all of OKC/Tulsa (roughly 75% of Kansas population) kids can attend for in state tuition. I promise you it does matter more down there. Obviously OU/OSU will be were a majority of those students go, but after that why couldn't WSU be that next choice, it would be the only other D1 in state tuition cost school.

[ShockBand]

Not saying it would be, but shooting down football because of cost while holding up mens soccer as a potential great ad seems contradictory.

To me you look at football as a potential recruiting tool for regular students. Especially now that all of OKC/Tulsa (roughly 75% of Kansas population) kids can attend for in state tuition. I promise you it does matter more down there. Obviously OU/OSU will be were a majority of those students go, but after that why couldn't WSU be that next choice, it would be the only other D1 in state tuition cost school.

At what point did I make that claim about soccer? As much as I would love to see Shocker football back, I'm not sure the potential benefits outweigh the massive costs, short of some big donors dropping massive amounts of cash to get things rolling and sustain it for some time. Including either a new stadium or stadium renovation, along with all the startup costs and reserves to keep things stable for at least a decade, the real cost is likely well north of $100 million.

[wusphlash]

I say we let Phil Ruffin reopen the Greyhound park, including slots, with the provision he tears down the Kansas Coliseum and puts a stadium in its place.

[WstateU]

I say we let Phil Ruffin reopen the Greyhound park, including slots, with the provision he tears down the Kansas Coliseum and puts a stadium in its place.

Probably don't want to move NIAR...

http://www.niar.wichita.edu/profile/locations.asp