Average Attendance for MBB = 9,712. Scanned Tickets Ave = 5,202 (35% of 14,998 Capacity)
- Thread starter Franisdaman
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They still wouldn't show up. Provide drink/pizza they still probably wouldn't show up. They'd grab the food and leave. Only time we have a good student section is when the Orange Krush takes over.
I’d bet anything that privately, beth would rather build a new arena.
Not sure how much of those empty spaces are for ADA - they also have spaces above the stands around the concourse as well.
Biggest design flaw with Carver is that because it’s in a hole in the ground, truly major renovations are out of the question.
They may not be…but it’s never been tried.
On the whole the Athletic Department prior to Goetz has never tried very hard to get students to Carver, or do much for overall fan experience as a whole.
If nothing else, give students a 1 or 2 year trial with seats around the bowl. If they don’t show, well, how is that worse than the status quo?
I can’t think of another student section anywhere that isn’t down near the court.
Anyone notice all the empty seats at Penn State tonight? Now pay attention to the sparse attendance at Maryland for our game. It's not just Iowa that has trouble filling their arena. TV has changed the way people watch sports and not for the better.
It's everywhere. I was flipping through several games last night and it was bad everywhere. Boston College was particularly bad.
That maryland game certainly was a poorly attended affair. Any shots of the arena showed mostly empty seats. Not an exciting event, to be sure, putting two below average B1G teams on the floor. But even for a lower caliber event like that the attendance was awful.
Venues probably need to shrink. So much more money comes from media rights anyway.
This can't be! I've read on this board that almost every other arena is sold out, except Carver.
Let’s be honest, the Frantrums - or possibility there of - is the main reason people tune into Iowa basketball.
It’s like watching NASCAR for the wrecks… everyone wants to see Francon 1.
That "crowd" at the Maryland game last night was far worse than what I've normally been seeing at Carver, judging what I can see on TV anyway. Pretty shocking to me, for what typically has been a pretty good Maryland program, historically. MD hasn't had a lot of success lately, but maybe there is an overall problem with college basketball in general. Starting to think it isn't just an Iowa thing. Is the sport dying?
I don't really understand the notion of shrinking the arenas, though. IMO just need to find a way to get butts back in the seats again. Small arenas just seems like an artificial way to mask the real problem by making the arenas look more "full", but doesn't really solve the heart of the issue. People simply aren't coming out to the games like they used to.
the real attendance problem is 52" tv's of every game, nothing else. that gets exacerbated by bad play.
Not sure I buy that. I remember in 1990 my parents getting a 25" console TV. WOW! Can really watch those Hawkeyes play now! At the time, that was pretty much top of the line. People didn't have 75" LCDs in those days..
Bad play, I agree with. The quality of play in college hoops in general isn't what it once was IMO. Top talent doesn't stick around college long, if at all.
the way to overcome those lcds is caitlin clark level play. otherwise, it's a chore in small college towns like ours.
Yeah, I think it's an issue with the level of play.. Not so much the fact that people have nice TVs. The annual attendance numbers on the men's side were posted somewhere in one of these attendance threads.. The men averaged close to 15K in 2014, when the program was back on the upswing. Big screen HD TVs were already pretty commonplace by then. Heck, I bought my first 50" plasma 20 years ago..
Produce an exciting product, and people will show up.
BIG TEN through 2/13
8. Indiana (14) - 16,318
10. Wisconsin (14) - 15,413
12. Illinois (15) - 14,880
13. Purdue (12) - 14,876
14. Michigan State (15) - 14,797
15. Nebraska (16) - 14,363
22. Maryland (13) - 12,842
29. Michigan (12) - 11,335
33. Ohio State (14) - 10,786
41. Iowa (13) - 9,716
53. Penn State (13) - 8,141
54. Rutgers (13) - 8,000
60. Minnesota (16) - 7,765
88. Northwestern (14) - 5,463
8. Indiana (14) - 16,318
10. Wisconsin (14) - 15,413
12. Illinois (15) - 14,880
13. Purdue (12) - 14,876
14. Michigan State (15) - 14,797
15. Nebraska (16) - 14,363
22. Maryland (13) - 12,842
29. Michigan (12) - 11,335
33. Ohio State (14) - 10,786
41. Iowa (13) - 9,716
53. Penn State (13) - 8,141
54. Rutgers (13) - 8,000
60. Minnesota (16) - 7,765
88. Northwestern (14) - 5,463
As far as TV goes - between streaming services and the various media deals, it’s not hard at all to watch games anymore. Used to be a lot more regional broadcasts so you might as a result get more fans traveling from outside the state to come to games. All the different tip-off times and scheduling plays a factor as well. Barring a transcendent player like Clark; families aren’t making the trip from DSM for example for a 8 pm tip of parents have to work and kids have a school day in the morning.
As far as capacity; I’d be interested to see historical numbers. No idea if or when the men last sold out carver; this year is likely a special occasion with Clark, we’ll see if that continues after her. But if Iowa has only rarely hit that 15k mark, and bear in mind carver was built as a multi purpose venue, it makes sense to me to reduce the capacity accordingly.
Maybe, but single game tix are only $25 at the moment, I don’t think that’s a primary driver for slipping attendance.
With the decrease in buying power that Americans have been experiencing these last few years, it certainly is a factor. Family of four paying $100 for tickets. Throw in elevated concession food prices and it's easy to see basketball games being one the first things people are pulling back on.
I’ve been going to games for many years. Single prices, concession prices have not changed significantly since covid at least. Only thing from a concession’s standpoint that has changed has been adding beer.
Not saying it’s not a factor, I just think it’s farther down the list.
$12 for a 16oz SWARM is outrageous. I’m guessing the athletes don’t get $3per can on that deal, but I may be wrong.
Yeah, I REALLY enjoy going to Carver for away games because there isn’t a bad seat in the house and it gets surprisingly loud, but students ringing the court or at least closer to the actual players is just simply the way to go, IMO…
Ideally, you have your students ring the court AND be behind the baskets. However, if you have them behind the basket, they need to be RIGHT on top of the court like Purdue. Given the configuration of Carver, I think ringing the court would be better than behind the baskets.
Tuesday night, 8:00 pm CT tip for tonight's 90-81 win over Penn State.
Attendance (tickets distributed): 8,502
Scanned tickets (actual butts in the seats): ???
Attendance (tickets distributed): 8,502
Scanned tickets (actual butts in the seats): ???
just curious...were you at the game?
it's hard to tell from watching on TV but the arena was probably less 1/3 full....
8:00 game on a school/work night. Two average BB teams fighting for their NIT lives. Should have been a huge crowd. (sarcasm)
nevertheless, for a B1G game, only selling/distributing 8,502 tickets is troublesome
and then, of course, based on the average this season, you had 5,000 or fewer (the scanned tickets) actually showing up in a 15,000 seat arena
Safe to say this is probably at or near the top of goetz’s priorities?
Will also be interesting to see how much women’s attendance drops post-Clark.
Declining attendance, especially tickets purchased, is the real cause of Lick getting fired. We couldn't afford to keep him another year. Otherwise there's no way Barta would have fired him because Todd was a straight white male and Barta only fired coaches if there was a potential lawsuit coming (sarcasm).
As Fran's buyout shrinks because of the lower number of years left on his contract, that math is going to start coming into play again. At least there is revenue with tickets sold, but if 3000 sold seats don't have butts in them, that is a lot of lost revenue from no concessions and and the people that pay same-day for parking.
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