Dear Eric Sexton and the WSU athletic department...

[SB Shock]

Has anybody considered that maybe some of these issue are related to revenue - WSU has only sold out 1 game this year and last night attendance was 10,078 (last year they had 3 sellout by now). It would seem that WSU is seeing the impact of the negative economy on attendance.

[ShockerPhi]

I doubt they would be having such economic issues with only missing 5 percent of a sell out game. Take UNI. They should be having revenue issues with less than half of their arena filling for home games. I think our attentance is still mostly solid. Not as solid as previous, but pretty solid nonetheless

[SB Shock]

I doubt they would be having such economic issues with only missing 5 percent of a sell out game. Take UNI. They should be having revenue issues with less than half of their arena filling for home games.

I have no idea what the state of UNI finances are but UNI works on shoe string budget anyway.

I think our attentance is still mostly solid. Not as solid as previous, but pretty solid nonetheless

Mens basketball funds the athletic department. If you are seeing less revenue, no matter how small and your overall costs across the board have and/or are increasing then there could be some pressure to cut out things that are not so important in the big scheme of things. Just something to consider.

[shockar25]

It's kind of funny that they claim sellouts, when in my section (not great seats) near the top is never full. Not even against Creighton! So, does that mean people are buying those tickets and just not showing up? Don't get me wrong, 10,000+ is always great, but I don't know how they claimed a sellout this season at all.

[ShockerFever]

Mens basketball funds the athletic department. If you are seeing less revenue, no matter how small and your overall costs across the board have and/or are increasing then there could be some pressure to cut out things that are not so important in the big scheme of things. Just something to consider.

I guarantee you this athletic department is making more money than it did in the mid-2000's. I'm willing to bet the avg attendance numbers are virtually the same between that time and now. And the media timeouts were much better organized and equipped than they are now. Also, add in the fact that every WSU stat is now sponsored by somebody, unlike in the past, and I bet they make up for it more than enough.

It's about organization, not about money. Anyone remember the Creighton game, when during 2 timeouts, Don Hall led the masses in "Go... Shox"... "Go....Shox" with the cheerleaders. That was pretty weak and poorly timed. Money has nothing to do with the band playing the low brass cheer with Illinois State making a run from being down 20. Money has nothing to do with the music selections made. Money has nothing to do with the WSU "choir" singing Christmas carols to the masses at halftime as some form of "entertainment". Money has nothing to do with cheaply put together timeout gatherings. There are way better promotions put out there by sponsors than trying to fling a rubberband at an object 20 feet away, which the promotional people looked like they had no clue what they were doing or what was going on.. along with Don Hall..., or having 3 slightly overweight middle-aged women spinning in circles during a "dance contest".

No creativity. No organization. Nothing to do with $$$. Very cringe-worthy.

Not acceptable and not on par for a program of this caliber and tradition.

[ShockerFever]

It's kind of funny that they claim sellouts, when in my section (not great seats) near the top is never full. Not even against Creighton! So, does that mean people are buying those tickets and just not showing up? Don't get me wrong, 10,000+ is always great, but I don't know how they claimed a sellout this season at all.

A sellout is just what it is.. tickets sold. But actual attendance is a bit misleading. That's why WSU will always report tickets sold as attendance in every sport, not actual attendance, even though it can be done..

This is a little off-topic but the crowd was a bit flat during the game last night. We jumped to a big lead and I know it's hard to stay as intense, but it did sound like a morgue at times, especially during Illinois State's run. We did get loud at the end though. But then again, another lackluster second half effort by the team didn't help matters.

[ShockerFan84]

Hey Fever I appreciate the complement about the time out games being better and more organized 5 years ago....;). Five years ago I was there and running them, but I left, and so did all of the other people I worked with in the Marketing Department during the Sweet 16 run.

[ShockerFan84]

I haven't been to a home game in 2 years, so I can't really comment one way or another about the current situation, but I know that several years ago everything was very organized and we felt that the fans really enjoyed it.

[WstateU]

I haven't been to a home game in 2 years, so I can't really comment one way or another about the current situation, but I know that several years ago everything was very organized and we felt that the fans really enjoyed it.

Please come back!

[ShockerFever]

Hey Fever I appreciate the complement about the time out games being better and more organized 5 years ago....;). Five years ago I was there and running them, but I left, and so did all of the other people I worked with in the Marketing Department during the Sweet 16 run.

No problem 84. Just calling it like I see it. It's unfortunate that you had to leave. Was it an issue of a transition with a new Athletic Director that caused the personnel turnover or was that just a coincidence?