NCAA Basketball Attendance 2013

[Anthroshock]

Shockers in at #39, because, well, it can't change much. Behind Nebraska ahead of Pittsburgh.

#19 in all-game attendance.

MVC #8 in average conference attendance.
MVC #5 in average conference tourney attendance
SIU up 1700 per game with the hiring of Berruh.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2013.pdf

There are various media stories circulating now.

[Snapshot9]

I really like Charles Koch arena, they did a great job with it, but I wish it was bigger.

[SubGod22]

Shockers in at #39, because, well, it can't change much. Behind Nebraska ahead of Pittsburgh.

#19 in all-game attendance.

MVC #8 in average conference attendance.
MVC #5 in average conference tourney attendance
SIU up 1700 per game with the hiring of Berruh.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2013.pdf

There are various media stories circulating now.

We will drop in both averages with the loss of CU and addition of LU. We're trading something like 15k for 4k. It will also hurt in STL until one or two of the IL teams rise up and start bringing in the closer fan bases.

I really like Charles Koch arena, they did a great job with it, but I wish it was bigger.

I agree. I wish it held a couple thousand more.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

I really like Charles Koch arena, they did a great job with it, but I wish it was bigger.

I agree. I really hope super sizing Koch, with something like 15,000 capacity, is in the administration's long range vision. It would be a tribute to and a statement of the program we have here.

[SubGod22]

I agree. I really hope super sizing Koch, with something like 15,000 capacity, is in the administration's long range vision. It would be a tribute to and a statement of the program we have here.

If we start making some consisten runs in the Dance and can maintain a ranking during the season, I'd bet they strongly look into it. Even a 13k level would give us a Top 25 attendance number. If they wanted to go bigger than that great. It can be done as they looked into it during renovations but decided they didn't want to spend that much at the time. I've heard doing something to add seating has been talked about and considered in the past but there were no definite answers of what or when. Cost will be considered if/when the time comes, but it can be done. It may mean a season of playing all games at IBA, but that would be fine if it meant we'd return home to a larger and louder Charles Koch Arena.

[RoyalShock]

Until there's a waiting list of more than a hundred or so for season tickets, CKA is the right size. There are still a couple hundred seats left. As @SubGod22 mentioned, it's going to take a few years of consistent success before demand even necessitates thinking about it. Before that happens, they'll raise ticket prices a few times, which will curb demand. If they're looking at expanding 10 years from now, that means we will have had one heckuva decade.

[NCAABound]

I think we should take the Duke philosophy and keep it the same even after a few years of success. Worst case would be to have a few good years, expand, then have a half empty arena during an off year or two. It is still a good size arena, and atmosphere should trump a few thousand extra seats.

[jdshock]

I think we should take the Duke philosophy and keep it the same even after a few years of success. Worst case would be to have a few good years, expand, then have a half empty arena during an off year or two. It is still a good size arena, and atmosphere should trump a few thousand extra seats.

I disagree. Cameron Indoor is a 70 year old stadium that is rich in tradition and very different from many new arenas. I think it probably harms Duke's image or fanbase or whatever if they upgrade to a new stadium that holds 20,000 people. Otherwise they would, it's obviously not due to a shortage of funds. Theirs is a unique situation. I don't see any reason we wouldn't benefit from more seats. I think we are already one of the best places in the country to watch a basketball game and I think adding three to five thousand more seats would make it that much more intimidating.

[EB 22]

I'm of the opinion that Charles Koch Arena is just right in size for Wichita...........for now. WSU Basketball does not sell out season tickets on a consistent basis enough to consider paying the millions of dollars to add more seats.

[SHOCKvalue]

I would have to guess expanding Koch would cost an enormous sum of money. Perhaps even approaching 9 figures. I mean $25M alone was spent just to rebuild the outer walkway, add some offices and a practice facility, and essentially just clean up and refit the actual arena interior. Further, that $25M outlay was in dollars and construction costs from a decade ago.

Any future expansion of Koch would basically require taking it back down to an open, concrete-lined hole in the ground with some existing offices and a practice gym off to the side, and then a complete rebuild from ground level up. The new office structure on the E/SE side might even have to go, or be substantially restructured.

Cliffs Notes: Probably not going to happen unless we end up with KU-like ticket demand.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

I disagree. Cameron Indoor is a 70 year old stadium that is rich in tradition and very different from many new arenas. I think it probably harms Duke's image or fanbase or whatever if they upgrade to a new stadium that holds 20,000 people. Otherwise they would, it's obviously not due to a shortage of funds. Theirs is a unique situation. I don't see any reason we wouldn't benefit from more seats. I think we are already one of the best places in the country to watch a basketball game and I think adding three to five thousand more seats would make it that much more intimidating.

I disagree verily with that. The University of Wichita Field House (WSU Field House, Henry Levitt Arena, Charles Koch Arena) opened in 1955 to similar accords that the Duke Indoor Stadium (Cameron Indoor Stadium) opened.

Duke Indoor Stadium was the largest arena outside of the Palestra (designed by same firm) when it opened. The University of Wichita Fieldhouse was ahead of it's time with it's circular design when it opened in 1955.

Both have been recognized nationally for their atmosphere, and both are places known to have been tough to play in.

I say leave it as it is. Even if we sell out EVERY game with season tickets for 10 straight years, we can maintain demand by increasing costs of seats to ensure the program has the funding it needs.

[MoValley John]

From an outsiders point of view, the biggest strength to Koch arena is its shape, the round shape makes it very loud. The shape also makes it very difficult and expensive to enlarge.

Looking at it objectively, and not with any emotion either way, if you want a bigger arena, it would probably be less expensive to build new. Probably not going to happen. If I had a dog in this, the best way to keep Koch and enlarge it, in my opinion, would probably require an additional concourse. From a design point of view, it would make sense to tear out the first 8-10 rows of the upper bowl and build a ring of suites. Above that, an upper concourse and more seats. You could easily get to 13-15,000, but to my guess is the cost would be well over a hundred million.

My guess is that it would take wheelbarrows full of money to pull that off, plus it would probably hurt the environment for wbb and volleyball.

I'm no engineer, but I know more than a few, I would think it would be a daunting task to enlarge the roundhouse. I think it would be really cool, though.

[Rosewood]

Wouldn't it make more financial sense to just keep CKA the way it is and move men's basketball downtown? Of course it would.

[Anthroshock]

Shoutout.

http://rushthecourt.net/2013/08/16/three-more-thoughts-digging-deeper-with-the-ncaa-annual-attendance-report/#more-98184

[shox1989]

I really like Charles Koch arena, they did a great job with it, but I wish it was bigger.

I agree. And it would have only cost a few million more to raise the attendance to 12,000 to 13,000 when the renovations were made. Unfortunately our previous athletic director decided against doing that. Instead he made it slightly smaller (reduced seating capacity slightly). He was more interested in padding his resume with sell outs then looking to build the program for the future.