Shocker WBB - Jumping Back Into the Pool

[1972Shocker]

I did not renew my Shocker WBB season tickets after the 2014-15 season and I'm pretty sure I wasn't alone.

I am jumping back in the pool and have ordered by 2016-17 season tickets which are pretty reasonably priced at $45 to $60 depending on your age and whether or not you want reserved seats (which only consume 2 lower bowl sections on each side of the court).

A very small way (which I'm pretty much limited to) to help out with the transition to the American Conference. I like the HCKA hiring and I the initial recuriting efforts by HCKA seem pretty decent although that is hard to know for sure. Moving from the 17th ranked WBB conference to the 6th ranked WBB conference is a plus as well although winning games will get tougher. Not a great non-conference home schedule but perhaps that will improve a bit in the future.

Anyone else taking the plunge this year?

[flyingMoose]

Anyone else taking the plunge this year?

I maintained our season tickets (in part because of a ride we give to someone) throughout, but WBB is easily the least favorite of the three sports I bother to follow.

[1972Shocker]

I maintained our season tickets (in part because of a ride we give to someone) throughout, but WBB is easily the least favorite of the three sports I bother to follow.

I don't think you are alone in that viewpoint. Maybe not that high with many. Just guessing that your pecking order is Softball, Volleyball and WBB.

[flyingMoose]

I don't think you are alone in that viewpoint. Maybe not that high with many. Just guessing that your pecking order is Softball, Volleyball and WBB.

Interestingly, my wife's interests lie in the reverse order. Too cold too often to watch softball. :)

[1972Shocker]

Interestingly, my wife's interests lie in the reverse order. Too cold too often to watch softball. :)

I'm with her on that.

[pogo]

Put an inflatable dome over Wilkins:) They used to put a dome over the pool in the 70's

[1972Shocker]

WSU Ewa Laskowska @CoachEwa 23 hours ago

First @GoShockersWBB team meeting went well! Excited to start new school year and season! pic.twitter.com/xMsZytOgdd

[WuDrWu]

Saw coach Adams at the volleyball function last night. I continue to be impressed and really hope she finds success here.

[WuDrWu]

The only thing that hasn't been a huge positive since joining this league is the fact that our program isn't strong enough to command a visit from UCONN this year. I want to see this group in person and I'd love to meet Geno. What he's done is remarkable. I don't care who you are, you want to play the best and now the best is in our conference. We'll have to wait a year, maybe that will give Coach Adams a chance to at least be marginally competitive.....competitive being more than subjective.

In the last 4 seasons, spanning nearly 100 AAC conference and tournament games, I found only 2 where the final score was closer than 20. Most being 40 or more. TWO freaking games. One at Tulane (where UCONN was down at least one starter) and a tourney final that was around 16 points.

Keeping it under 50 might be an actually reasonable goal.

And I thought Gregg dominated the Valley........

[1972Shocker]

UConn's domination has been pretty much total and unprecedented. Even in the John Wooden days at UCLA they would be challenged regularly. While this is great for UConn I am not sure it is great for the sport as a whole. Parity in the men's game has improved greatly since the UCLA dynasty. Not sure whether the same thing will eventually happen in women's basketball or not.

I am not expecting WSU to be competitive at UConn this season even with a roster that includes 8 seniors (including three 5th-year seniors). Hard to be believe we will be any more competitive against UConn the following year at Koch Arena after having to replace 8 seniors. If we are than HCKA will have done a hell of a job.

At least when we drew the program's record crowds which came out to see Jackie Styles the Shocks were competitive in those games. In fact, the Shocks won 3 of the 4 games Jackie played in Wichita. Of course, the real measure of whether WSU is making progress in WBB will be when we can draw a decent crowd to see the Shocks and not to see one of the greatest women's players of all-time or to see the greastest WBB team of all-time or when USD259 busses in 9,000 screaming kids on a field trip.

Question: Should the Shocks raise ticket prices for the UConn games they host? Perhaps to $15.00 or $20.00. There is no question that the program could use the boost in revenues. Or should they just hope to attract as many fans as possible with the hope of getting some of those fans as regulars although not sure this has ever worked before for WBB. I say charge a premium price.

[WuShock16]

Question: Should the Shocks raise ticket prices for the UConn games they host? Perhaps to $15.00 or $20.00. There is no question that the program could use the boost in revenues. Or should they just hope to attract as many fans as possible with the hope of getting some of those fans as regulars although not sure this has ever worked before for WBB. I say charge a premium price.

If they don't raise prices for that game a little bit, then they are leaving money on the table. I would certainly be willing to pay $15-20 to watch Connecticut.

The day of the week would be important. The women played Tennessee a couple years ago but only drew 2400. Now, this decade's Tennessee squad isn't your mom's Tennesse squad with Pat Summitt coaching a bunch of future WNBA stars and Olympians, but still. For whatever reason, the game was scheduled on a Friday night at the beginning of the high school basketball season, so a lot of people who would/could/should have been there (namely recruits) weren't. I hope that our first home game against UConn can be on a weekend to draw a maximum crowd. I hope the department pulls out all stops (even using Gregg to help with promotions) to pack the Roundhouse for that game.

[1972Shocker]

If they don't raise prices for that game a little bit, then they are leaving money on the table. I would certainly be willing to pay $15-20 to watch Connecticut.

The day of the week would be important. The women played Tennessee a couple years ago but only drew 2400. Now, this decade's Tennessee squad isn't your mom's Tennesse squad with Pat Summitt coaching a bunch of future WNBA stars and Olympians, but still. For whatever reason, the game was scheduled on a Friday night at the beginning of the high school basketball season, so a lot of people who would/could/should have been there (namely recruits) weren't. I hope that our first home game against UConn can be on a weekend to draw a maximum crowd. I hope the department pulls out all stops (even using Gregg to help with promotions) to pack the Roundhouse for that game.

I suppose that scheduling is kind of pot luck since conference schedules are set by the league. Still the UConn game should be a big draw regardless of scheduling.

[flyingMoose]

If they don't raise prices for that game a little bit, then they are leaving money on the table. I would certainly be willing to pay $15-20 to watch Connecticut.

And might they raise season ticket prices a notch in the years UConn comes to town?

[1972Shocker]

And might they raise season ticket prices a notch in the years UConn comes to town?

IMHO they should price the season tickets at a level that raises maximum revenues. Of course, that is a guessing game as to what level that is and can be affected by longer term goals. Right now interest levels in WSU WBB outside of the outlier of the UConn game is pretty minimal. At this point I think they are wanting to grow the season ticket fan base and perhaps recover a bit from the malaise and apathy that seems to have set in over the past couple of years.

This year season tickets are $45 to $60 depending on your age and whether you buy GA or Reserved seating. That's pretty cheap. $2.50 to $3.33 per game (including the 2 exhibitions). If interest in the program starts to grow that should go up whether UConn is on the home schedule or not.

Of course, the immediate goal as to be to improve enough to have UConn on the home schedule every year. If the Shocks get to that point and improve their home non-conference schedule I would expect season ticket prices will go up. But only time will tell if any of that happens.

[1972Shocker]

Looks like Coach Keitha has some nice channel cat in the neighborhood pond!
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Wichita State WBB @GoShockers

We had great team bonding time tonight at @wsuKeithaAdams house! Go Shockers!



8:34 PM - 26 Aug 2017



Kelli Willingham @coachkelliwb Aug 26

All smiles! #Goodtimes #SHOCKERS