Attendance

[WSUwatcher]

I haven't bothered to check all the games, although it would be easy for someone who wanted to take the time to click on each box score, but I noticed that for today's game they packed 356 (officially) into the palace at Illinois State.

Memo to Doug Even -- oops, I mean Elgin: Has it occurred to you that the attendance for one day at WSU exceeds what you're likely to get in total this week at Illinois State?

Of course, the follow-up question that then cries out to be asked is, "Do you care?" Unfortunately, I think we probably already know the answer to that one.

[martymoose]

I'm not exactly sure how the attendance works, but the WSU season ticket holders get tickets for the MVC tourney games and are counted in the official numbers....but what I do know is, I have gone to some of the day games when WSU was not playing and attendance is often less than 100...of course attendance in the box score would show 2k or 3k.

[1972Shocker]

Yeah, it doesn't really matter where you hold the tournament. Games not involving the home team simply are not going to draw many fans.

At this point I'm not sure how important attendance is to the Valley in terms or revenue. My guess is that TV is where the revenue is for this particular event and as long as they have that they will be moving the tournament around without much concern for attendance.

[shocker3]

I haven't bothered to check all the games, although it would be easy for someone who wanted to take the time to click on each box score, but I noticed that for today's game they packed 356 (officially) into the palace at Illinois State.

Memo to Doug Even -- oops, I mean Elgin: Has it occurred to you that the attendance for one day at WSU exceeds what you're likely to get in total this week at Illinois State?

Of course, the follow-up question that then cries out to be asked is, "Do you care?" Unfortunately, I think we probably already know the answer to that one.

There was not anywhere near 356 people there today. There were about 25 to 30 Shocker fans and about the same number Sycamore fans and a few scouts and a handful of other people. I think they would be lucky if they broke a hundred.

[1972Shocker]

There was not anywhere near 356 people there today. There were about 25 to 30 Shocker fans and about the same number Sycamore fans and a few scouts and a handful of other people. I think they would be lucky if they broke a hundred.

Indicating they probably sold about 300 All-Session tickets.

[ShockTalk]

I'm not exactly sure how the attendance works, but the WSU season ticket holders get tickets for the MVC tourney games and are counted in the official numbers....but what I do know is, I have gone to some of the day games when WSU was not playing and attendance is often less than 100...of course attendance in the box score would show 2k or 3k.

Yeah, it doesn't really matter where you hold the tournament. Games not involving the home team simply are not going to draw many fans.

At this point I'm not sure how important attendance is to the Valley in terms or revenue. My guess is that TV is where the revenue is for this particular event and as long as they have that they will be moving the tournament around without much concern for attendance.

But what is so pathetic is that with these games being held so close to so many of the "Sisters of the Poor" they haven't drawn for any of the games. Illinois St and Bradley had 977 listed for 2 schools within throwing of each other. They ***** and moan about all the long trips to Wichita and then don't show up when the tourney is in their backyard. Tell ya what, bump the buy in from $25,000 to $50,000 and see who's still interested.

[shocker3]

But what is so pathetic is that with these games being held so close to so many of the "Sisters of the Poor" they haven't drawn for any of the games. Illinois St and Bradley had 977 listed for 2 schools within throwing of each other. They ***** and moan about all the long trips to Wichita and then don't show up when the tourney is in their backyard. Tell ya what, bump the buy in from $25,000 to $50,000 and see who's still interested.

In all fairness, 977 means that the place was totally packed (about like 8000 at the Eck). There are only about 750 actual seats in the stadium. The only way you could get that many people in the stadium is if you have a lot of people standing along the first base fence (you can't get to the third base fence area). Unfortunately the other 2 Illinois State games weren't nearly as crowded. They barely had more than the non-ILS games.

They have been promoting tonight's game locally as "Stuff the Duff" (Duffy-Bass field). They are pushing hard to try and get 750+ there tonight. Students get in free tonight as they have for the other Illinois State games.

[ShockTalk]

In all fairness, 977 means that the place was totally packed (about like 8000 at the Eck). There are only about 750 actual seats in the stadium. The only way you could get that many people in the stadium is if you have a lot of people standing along the first base fence (you can't get to the third base fence area). Unfortunately the other 2 Illinois State games weren't nearly as crowded. They barely had more than the non-ILS games.

They have been promoting tonight's game locally as "Stuff the Duff" (Duffy-Bass field). They are pushing hard to try and get 750+ there tonight. Students get in free tonight as they have for the other Illinois State games.

Not sure where you're getting your info but this is from their athletic site: "Duffy Bass Field - the home of Redbird baseball - features a gated complex with seating for over 1,000 spectators". And NO, 977 is not like 8000 at Eck. They didn't build more seating because they knew they couldn't fill them, even when they hold the MVC Tournament. So if they had built 8,000 seats, they would still have 977 at the game. That is unless they take the next step and start paying the students and fans to come.

[WSUwatcher]

I guess if you build a small enough park, 977 (or tonight's official 938) can look respectable, but it's still less than a thousand (!) fans, which is the whole point -- a place with that kind of capacity has no business as a host site for the tournament of a league with parks that hold 8000. Not unless you give the tourney to the champion automatically, which would be okay with me -- but how likely is that in the Valley of Even?

[shocker3]

I guess if you build a small enough park, 977 (or tonight's official 938) can look respectable, but it's still less than a thousand (!) fans, which is the whole point -- a place with that kind of capacity has no business as a host site for the tournament of a league with parks that hold 8000. Not unless you give the tourney to the champion automatically, which would be okay with me -- but how likely is that in the Valley of Even?

There is no way there were 938 there tonight. The place was probably about half full, which means there were probably about 400 people there.

[ShockerFever]

The Valley is setting their precedent. They are happy with 400 fans packing into parks with the home team playing watching their championship game. Looks real good on regional tv too.

I'm pretty sure there were double, maybe even triple the amount of fans at Eck yesterday for the HIGH SCHOOL state championship, than there were for a Division I conference championship.

Way ta go Valley! Keep it up! Can't wait for Terre Haute next year!