Chad Leistikow throws appropriate shade at Carver crowds

[Sjf6]

Northwest Iowa fan is a lot different than the wine and cheese donor fans at carver.

Duke Cameron is loud. And yes it is a top 5 program.But stop the cheese and wine analogy. I like both and I can be a bitch.
Our staff and Barta need to embrace us the fan base. We don’t hate the Hawks. We are the reason they get $$$. But they( coaches, admin)all are so guarded like we don’t know shit. We know when help D sucks. We know when you don’t have a hand up on a 3. We know when we are undersized and have challenges on the glass. I am sick of “we watch tape evaluate “ etc. Like tell us something we don’t know.
We love the Hawks. Stop treating us like the enemy. Just play hard and expect the fans to back it up. If we don’t call us out. But when the crowd is a potential difference maker, acknowledging that Fran would be a start. And when the guys play as hard as they have been then start bitching at us to get off our lazy butts and get to Carver and support the effort. If it’s real keep it that way
I was at Sioux Falls. The guys fed off the crowd. It was fun to see them enjoying that. They were even chatting a bit to the fans.
It had the feeling that the crowd would not let the Hawks lose. Hawks took care of business no need for the sixth man not dressed . But there was a connection between fans and team Saturday night. We need more of that. This team is fun. Let’s back them and make Carver the Kinnick of the Big Ten. It can be that. Fran needs to demand that from us or we flopped.

 

[red/green hawk]

The very worst and most long term damage Alford did to Iowa was break the fans' devotion to the team. I used to schedule my week around Iowa basketball. Nothing has happened since to earn the interest and fan loyalty that existed before Alford arrived.

Crowds were shrinking in the late 90s but the collapse in interest happened over the Alford years, largely due to the drama and a penchant for dislikable players.

This/\
I watched 1st hand Alford do the same thing to UNM's program. Only there were plenty of likable players. The coach was a dbag. Now the Pit is lucky to be 3/4 full. Product has been garbage too.

 

[CeMar_Clone]

I've always thought that U of Iowa needed to do a better job of locking down Cedar Rapids. Between Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids there are over 250,000 people. Somehow they need to tap into that market better.

The IC and CR MSA is 446K in 2020. The Des Moines/Ames CSA is 877K. All of the growth in the state of Iowa is in these 4 counties. One advantage for ISU is that the Des Moines/Ames CSA is growing much faster. By 2030 it will be over 1M. Ankeny is one of the top 20fastest growing cities in the country. It is expected to be at about 130k by 2030, which is about the size of CR right now. Ankeny will help fill in most of the empty land between Ames and Des Moines.

 

[hawkjt]

I think some fans hate SA so much that they love to distort the facts on attendance during his run.
I know we averaged 15k+ during the Recker years.
Reggie Evans was popular.
Then the Bru/Horner/Haluska team had the place rocking in 05 when we finished 2nd in the league.
It did tail off some with PP scandal.
But Lick is who broke the program.
Bad,boring BB...drove a stake thru the heart.

 

[doughuddl2]

I would disagree. I remember many times when we would host a NIT game and have raucous crowds. Not as much of the season ticket blue hair brigades. Bringing the students behind the opposing bench would help, but Barta went the other way, making it cozier for the donor class. And maybe don't take 42 year breaks in between winning the Big Ten and making a Final Four.

The bandwagon fans need to come out more than once a year.

 

[doughuddl2]

Put a decent product out there and the fans will show. Truth be told, the only players from this years team that would be good enough to play in front of those rocking 90’s crowds are JBo, Kris and Keegan.

They are decent, fun to watch and have a star in the making. Bandwagoner.

 

[doughuddl2]

I think most of us agree that it isn’t a building problem but rather a fan problem. There are things that should be done to the building, but I’m not going to cover those for the 10th time on this board.

Here’s what I see as the problems with the fanbase. It is mainly all of these points causing a lot of apathy.
1. BTN is scheduling us for 6:00 or 8:00 games at night. 6 is too early for anyone with a job that isn’t as close as CR. 8 is not ideal for anyone that has to get to a job the next morning.
2. The conference has given us what seems like a disproportionate amount of weeknight home games compared to ones on the weekend for B1G opponents.
3. The fan base has built a lot of apathy from so many either bad or underachieving teams over the last two decades. We’ve broken into the top 10 several times only to collapse before the end of the season.
4. No deep runs in the tourney in seemingly forever. Almost 23 years now since our last visit to the 2nd weekend.
5. Haven’t won the conference since Gen Xers we’re still being born.
6. The handling of the Pierre Pierce situation killed a ton of student support for the team. Those students back then should be the roughly middle-aged season ticket holders today, but few are.
7. The blue hairs have supported the team with money and ticket purchases through the years, but they aren’t loud and have the prime seats now. Having a lack of energy down low where there seats are hurts.
8. Students don’t have very good seats, and the athletic department doesn’t do all that much to try to get them to the arena. Plus the arena is a long walk in the winter cold from the nearest dorms on the west side or a long bus ride from the dorms on the east side. All of those combine to kill the student interest in games. A far cry from when we had the largest student section in the country back in 2001-2002(one of the aforementioned collapse seasons).

What we’ve seen with the NIT games is that getting rid of the season ticket holders and replacing them with a first come first served fan base really cranks up the energy and enthusiasm. Problem is that you can’t run an athletic department without season tickets.

Stop with the Pierre Pierce incident , students would have been 4 years old. Not the issue.

 

[Hawkfan_08]

I really didn't read the 2nd or 3rd page but it's absolutely the fans and not the building. We can quote wrestling as example A but we don't need to. Basketball can be fun.

I was a student in the Alford era. There were times that Carver was deafening. I never really moved around much outside of the student section and didn't remember a ton of other areas prior to being a student. Now I feel as though I have sat in almost every part of Carver and the problem is four-fold.

1- Student section. We can't fill it nor does it do much. It's almost a non- factor unless it's a really big game (get to that in a minute). At times in the most recent Illinois game it was almost silent on defense. I certainly think that students need to move closer but there has to be a feeling that the best seats in the house won't be vacant. A growing trend in high school, which I hope doesn't trickle up, is that student attendance at games is getting smaller and smaller.

2- Blue hairs. It's been discussed forever. If I ever get so old that I have to tell people to sit down while we are defending, tell me to go home. If I ever get too old that I'm leaving at the under 8 or under 4 minute timeout in a close game, ban me from coming back. If I ever take up reading a book or crocheting, kill me right there. We can't keep giving the best seats to people who want to control the game like they are watching on TV. Fans can do so little to impact a game. We need to do our part and stay into it.

3- Lower ticket prices. One of the top games I've been to in the Fran era was the Dayton NIT game. I drove 3 hours on a school night to go and 3 hrs back. I WANTED to be there. You know who else did? Everyone else in the arena. Regular people had good seats and it was crazy loud. It's such a hard balance because I know many of the older people pay lots of money to have the seats they do but we have to do something to add to their experience in a different way. Maybe more boxes with TVs and close parking? I don't know.

4- we are an entitled fan base. My thoughts on this are growing by the day. Look at how many in this thread are talking about how we have to be good for fans to show up. We have been great and flirted with ELITE last year. Still didn't matter. This team plays with tons of heart and energy. Yes, they are super deficient on the glass and have had poor nights shooting. They don't owe us anything, we owe them for wanting to represent us, our school, our state.

Sorry for the long post. Didn't proof read any of it so it's probably riddled with mistakes because I just slid on my phone.

 

[MAXIMUSHAWKEYE]

Obviously the crowds, and thus the crowd noise, gets a major uplift once the B1G schedule starts. A lot of the problem, as I see it, is the cupcake preseason home schedule, which I somewhat understand, but does nothing in the way of drawing out the crowds and even the season ticket holders. The other problem seems to me is the B1G schedule itself. It's hard to draw crowds when you have 8:00 starts in the winter and rarely play Saturday afternoon games, which seemed to be rare the past couple of years. Even last night's game, an 8:00 start, if it were played in Carver, would have probably been played to a half empty arena.

Start times don't seem to be a problem at other places like ISU ,Illinois, Maryland,Purdue,Indiana. One thing I would do to draw a crowd would be a lottery. The winner must be present to claim at the end of the game. They need to figure out how to get students at the games. Seating them around court side is the easiest solution.

 

[MAXIMUSHAWKEYE]

It's the fans, Carver is rocking for all wrestling events.

apple to oranges. Iowa is the mecca of the wrestling world. Give Carver to the wrestling program and build a bb arena.

 

[doughuddl2]

Start times don't seem to be a problem at other places like ISU ,Illinois, Maryland,Purdue,Indiana. One thing I would do to draw a crowd would be a lottery. The winner must be present to claim at the end of the game. They need to figure out how to get students at the games. Seating them around court side is the easiest solution.

They are court side. During Alford's era they would fill from row 1 to the top behind the basket. They even have folding chairs court side for around 20 of them.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

I was in Champaign last weekend for the Illini/Arizona game, and it was the best college basketball atmosphere I’ve ever seen. I’ve also been to Carver plenty, seeing it extremely loud and quiet and boring.

Iowa should pretty much copy exactly what Illinois did. Touch everything up, put the students around 3 sides of the court and put the high level donors in some killer suites in the middle of the arena. Would work in Carver just fine, even with how far into the ground it is (IMO).

 

[iahawks10]

Michigan

MSU:

ILL:

Maryland:

Nebraska:

The students don’t have to circle the entire court. Just get them behind the opposing team’s bench. Start with Section A (maybe 10-15 rows) and run them around to the pep band in H. Overflow students can go up sections D, E, F. But get them behind the opposing bench. Just like Michigan and especially Michigan State does. The worst place I feel Iowa plays is generally Michigan State.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

I think some fans hate SA so much that they love to distort the facts on attendance during his run.
I know we averaged 15k+ during the Recker years.
Reggie Evans was popular.
Then the Bru/Horner/Haluska team had the place rocking in 05 when we finished 2nd in the league.
It did tail off some with PP scandal.
But Lick is who broke the program.
Bad,boring BB...drove a stake thru the heart.

Well, let's examine this claim closer.

I know we averaged 15k+ during the Recker years. Do we? I was still going to games in those days and I don't remember averaging a full arena. Even if true that's two years. Since Iowa had a losing conference record during those years I'm just guess but I'm thinking average actual attendance was not close to 15,000

Reggie Evans was popular. Luke Recker and Glen Worley certainly weren't popular or likable guys . Reggie's teammates certainly weren't enamored with him.

Then the Bru/Horner/Haluska team had the place rocking in 05 when we finished 2nd in the league. Yep, the only good team of the Alford era did recover some of the lost audience. Still didn't average close to sell out capacity in even that season.

It did tail off some with PP scandal. No shit. Hard to front the band with a rapist kidnapper, who'd been caught doing the sexual assault thing once before. Oh, PP, would also qualify as another very dislikable player.

It wasn't just attendance but also TV audience, fan hits on this and other sites, etc...

But Lick is who broke the program. Already crippled when Lick arrived. Alford's last season Iowa's reputation had fallen so low that a 4th place Big Team team (one of Alford's 3 seasons with a winning conference record) featuring the Big Ten's leading scorer was not even invited to the NIT.

Bad,boring BB...drove a stake thru the heart. After inheriting the worst combination of players any Iowa coach inherited (until Lick's survivors) Todd took the crippled beast to the edge of extinction, so we agree on this one.

My "relationship" with the Hawkeye sports is very transactional-Hawkeye success makes me happy, failure sad. Knew George Raveling. Great guy and a great role model for the boys he coached. I did not take his departure hard, and definitely felt Dr. Davis was an upgrade. Similarly, knew Todd, a very good and nice man. Thought he deserved another year but shed no tears when he was fired. Don't know McCaffery personally. Have to say his public persona, and a few other personality/political traits I don't like, leaves me pretty cold. But he's winning as much as anyone probably can at Iowa in today's environment and with a clear recollection of the disastrous Alford and Lickliter hires.

While I do detest Alford, and I think the vast majority of Iowa fans feel the same way, I'm not diminishing Alford's positive accomplishments or elevating his failures because I detest him. I, in part, detest Alford for the cancer he brought to our program with virtually nothing to offset the failures. Had Alford's 8 seasons had 5 actual and one virtual NCAA qualification (Iowa was going to the cancelled tournament-not a bubble team) and 1 NIT, like McCaffery's last eight seasons, I could have swallowed my animus toward the arrogant Hoosier face man. But he didn't, he just sucked.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

I really didn't read the 2nd or 3rd page but it's absolutely the fans and not the building. We can quote wrestling as example A but we don't need to. Basketball can be fun.

I was a student in the Alford era. There were times that Carver was deafening. I never really moved around much outside of the student section and didn't remember a ton of other areas prior to being a student. Now I feel as though I have sat in almost every part of Carver and the problem is four-fold.

1- Student section. We can't fill it nor does it do much. It's almost a non- factor unless it's a really big game (get to that in a minute). At times in the most recent Illinois game it was almost silent on defense. I certainly think that students need to move closer but there has to be a feeling that the best seats in the house won't be vacant. A growing trend in high school, which I hope doesn't trickle up, is that student attendance at games is getting smaller and smaller.

2- Blue hairs. It's been discussed forever. If I ever get so old that I have to tell people to sit down while we are defending, tell me to go home. If I ever get too old that I'm leaving at the under 8 or under 4 minute timeout in a close game, ban me from coming back. If I ever take up reading a book or crocheting, kill me right there. We can't keep giving the best seats to people who want to control the game like they are watching on TV. Fans can do so little to impact a game. We need to do our part and stay into it.

3- Lower ticket prices. One of the top games I've been to in the Fran era was the Dayton NIT game. I drove 3 hours on a school night to go and 3 hrs back. I WANTED to be there. You know who else did? Everyone else in the arena. Regular people had good seats and it was crazy loud. It's such a hard balance because I know many of the older people pay lots of money to have the seats they do but we have to do something to add to their experience in a different way. Maybe more boxes with TVs and close parking? I don't know.

4- we are an entitled fan base. My thoughts on this are growing by the day. Look at how many in this thread are talking about how we have to be good for fans to show up. We have been great and flirted with ELITE last year. Still didn't matter. This team plays with tons of heart and energy. Yes, they are super deficient on the glass and have had poor nights shooting. They don't owe us anything, we owe them for wanting to represent us, our school, our state.

Sorry for the long post. Didn't proof read any of it so it's probably riddled with mistakes because I just slid on my phone.

Spot on in the four factors, especially the 2nd and 4th. Helmet sticker post!

 

[iahawks10]

Well, let's examine this claim closer.

I know we averaged 15k+ during the Recker years. Do we? I was still going to games in those days and I don't remember averaging a full arena. Even if true that's two years. Since Iowa had a losing conference record during those years I'm just guess but I'm thinking average actual attendance was not close to 15,000

Reggie Evans was popular. Luke Recker and Glen Worley certainly weren't popular or likable guys . Reggie's teammates certainly weren't enamored with him.

Then the Bru/Horner/Haluska team had the place rocking in 05 when we finished 2nd in the league. Yep, the only good team of the Alford era did recover some of the lost audience. Still didn't average close to sell out capacity in even that season.

It did tail off some with PP scandal. No shit. Hard to front the band with a rapist kidnapper, who'd been caught doing the sexual assault thing once before. Oh, PP, would also qualify as another very dislikable player.

It wasn't just attendance but also TV audience, fan hits on this and other sites, etc...

But Lick is who broke the program. Already crippled when Lick arrived. Alford's last season Iowa's reputation had fallen so low that a 4th place Big Team team (one of Alford's 3 seasons with a winning conference record) featuring the Big Ten's leading scorer was not even invited to the NIT.

Bad,boring BB...drove a stake thru the heart. After inheriting the worst combination of players any Iowa coach inherited (until Lick's survivors) Todd took the crippled beast to the edge of extinction, so we agree on this one.

My "relationship" with the Hawkeye sports is very transactional-Hawkeye success makes me happy, failure sad. Knew George Raveling. Great guy and a great role model for the boys he coached. I did not take his departure hard, and definitely felt Dr. Davis was an upgrade. Similarly, knew Todd, a very good and nice man. Thought he deserved another year but shed no tears when he was fired. Don't know McCaffery personally. Have to say his public persona, and a few other personality/political traits I don't like, leaves me pretty cold. But he's winning as much as anyone probably can at Iowa in today's environment and with a clear recollection of the disastrous Alford and Lickliter hires.

While I do detest Alford, and I think the vast majority of Iowa fans feel the same way, I'm not diminishing Alford's positive accomplishments or elevating his failures because I detest him. I, in part, detest Alford for the cancer he brought to our program with virtually nothing to offset the failures. Had Alford's 8 seasons had 5 actual and one virtual NCAA qualification (Iowa was going to the cancelled tournament-not a bubble team) and 1 NIT, like McCaffery's last eight seasons, I could have swallowed my animus toward the arrogant Hoosier face man. But he didn't, he just sucked.

Iowa’s average attendance in 2002 was 15,207 and in 2001 it averaged a sell out, 15,500.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2002.pdf

 

[iahawkeyes17]

Michigan

MSU:

ILL:

Maryland:

Nebraska:

The students don’t have to circle the entire court. Just get them behind the opposing team’s bench. Start with Section A (maybe 10-15 rows) and run them around to the pep band in H. Overflow students can go up sections D, E, F. But get them behind the opposing bench. Just like Michigan and especially Michigan State does. The worst place I feel Iowa plays is generally Michigan State.

Minus nebraska, with brand new arena, the other schools you mention are bball schools. Illinois and Maryland have awful football programs and for some time. Sparty and Michigan both football but also have good winning bball traditions with final 4 appearances and conference titles.

It’s a catch 22 for Iowa. Students don’t show so why give them good seats. However having students in good seats would make the atmosphere better and more would show. How many more? Who knows if enough to warrant the seats.

 

[iahawks10]

Iowa’s attendance dropped from 2002 to 2003 to about 12,000, but remained consistently there through the rest of SA’s tenure. Even after the PP incidents.

 

[2432Hawk]

Yep. 2013 NIT game vs Dayton was LOUD. And the Indiana game when they were #1 6 or so years ago was LOUD. Carver can rock it just depends on how many/who attends. I've been to games off and on since 1995.

Pretty much seems to be a segment of the season ticket holders that's the problem?

 

[obfuscating]

"Even with just 3,250 in the stands, this was the loudest home feel Iowa players have experienced all year." That's what Chad wrote in his Press-Citizen story of last night's Utah State game, and he was absolutely right.

Here's the link: https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...e-sanford-pentagon-fran-mccaffery/8952263002/

We've had recent threads devoted to the problem that is Carver and the people who show up to watch basketball there, and most people realize something needs to be done to bring the energy back to Iowa's home court. Many excellent ideas have been proposed, but the only real option for the rest of this season is for fans to show up and act like sports fans rather than an audience attending a funeral.

I said in another thread before last night's game in Sioux Falls that I thought it was fortunate that Iowa was coming off the break and playing in the Pentagon where the fans would provide energy all night long whereas a Carver crowd would have been on mute.

It's a shame that the rowdy Iowa crowds of days gone by are as infrequent as 70-degree days in an Iowa City December. But Barta needs to do something about it ASAP. And I said several years ago, were I Fran, I'd demand the students be seated around at least the bottom 20 rows of one side of Carver and that other changes be made to reestablish a home court atmosphere.

And as I said a few days ago, even one the nation's top 11 football players said he chose Iowa partly based on the amazing atmosphere in Kinnick during the PSU game this season. Iowa very well may be missing out on key recruits because nobody wants to play college basketball in a cone of silence. And the Hawkeye players deserve much better.

BBall has lost its luster with many fans, i haven't watched an entire game in some time and haven't been to carver in a decade. Just doesn't appeal to me any longer as a whole.

 

[red/green hawk]

Stop with the Pierre Pierce incident , students would have been 4 years old. Not the issue.

When Alford got the job at UCLA the local media destroyed him during his first presser in regards to PP...it still matters.

 

[iahawkeyes17]

The day it stopped being loud in Carver was the day the Daily Iowan published, in surprising detail, Pierre Pierce’s attempted sodomizing of a female player. Coeds stopped attending. Male students quit soon after. Downtown Iowa city had beer & women. Carver not so much. Without any student support, the crowds went downhill.

It was the beginning of the down fall. Maybe 2nd piece. Was a student and remember dean olivers sr yr, Alford’s 2nd, lot of buzz and excitement for the program and students showed up in droves. Next yr tix were at a premium and student section sold out. Then season came crashing down as a total failure missing tourney after being pre season top 10. Couple that with pierce debacle before next year and complete 180 on students interest in bball and feelings toward Alford. Minus few years interest for most part steadily declined until Lick almost killed it. I always say rock bottom for Iowa bball was his last year when we played ILL. stands weren’t even half full and right before tip off large group 200-300 behind basket, surrounded by empty seats, took off shirts and was the Illini orange crush. Chanting this is our house at end of the game after another Lick L.

Over next 20 years multiple things that hurt student even general admission and been a struggle to recover from Alford and lick and honestly tough to ever get back to Davis 90s level excitement ever since. For students location of carver never has helped. Weather always been there but now unlike height of the 90s pre internet anyone can watch Iowa and any other game in the dorm/apt room if they want to instead of trek across campus. Fans will show when we are good or for good non or conference games but fans especially students aren’t coming or paying for games like SE Louisiana when can watch from home or find something else to do.

 

[Ladell-hawk]

People complaining about Carver not being loud have obviously never been to a big time wrestling meet. It's deafening. The building is fine. Our basketball support simply isn't there, and never really has been consistently for decades.

Right , people need to get their ass' to Carver for the basketball games and stop bitching about it . Go Hawks !

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Iowa’s average attendance in 2002 was 15,207 and in 2001 it averaged a sell out, 15,500.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2002.pdf

Where did attendance go from there?

 

[DavidHawk324]

Michigan

MSU:

ILL:

Maryland:

Nebraska:

The students don’t have to circle the entire court. Just get them behind the opposing team’s bench. Start with Section A (maybe 10-15 rows) and run them around to the pep band in H. Overflow students can go up sections D, E, F. But get them behind the opposing bench. Just like Michigan and especially Michigan State does. The worst place I feel Iowa plays is generally Michigan State.

Looking at the Carver map, if students aren’t getting more premium seats, I would split the student section in half and have them behind both hoops. Then stick as many floor chairs as you can on each side for the students to cut the gap between the court and stands. At least that would push everything closer.

 

[moondog24]

The Big Ten Conference provides us with a great schedule -- however in most years, the non-conference schedule is uninspiring. We may have in alternate years: one ACC school, maybe one Big East school and Iowa State. The rest of the schedule is lousy. Fans don't get excited watching teams in the high 200's and 300's play. Heck, I don't even watch those anymore on TV. I know it fattens the W-L record, gives playing time to bench players, pads stats of the starters, etc. -- but really who cares about Savannah State or any of the other cupcakes. Other than Virginia and Iowa State, who else was worth watching.

 

[iahawks10]

Where did attendance go from there?

About 12,000 plus for the remainder of SA’s tenure. Top 25 in most years. One year had 13,250 and another had 11,900 (2005). Even in 2005 with, 11,900 avg, that was good for 22nd in the country.

Lick’s years were: 10,700 - 10,800 - 9,500 respectively.

Fran’s first years shot back up to: 11,600 - 11,800 - 13,600 when we all got mad again. Most of Fran’s years have been between the upper 12,000’s to mid 14,000’s. Around the top 25 in most years and top 20 in a few.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

Stop with the Pierre Pierce incident , students would have been 4 years old. Not the issue.

I’m not talking about current students with regard to PP. I’m talking about the now almost 40 year old alums that were students back when that happened. Many of them got turned off from basketball and it is impacting our fan base today. They should be donors and season ticket holders. Instead they’ve bought tickets to football because Ferentz didn’t completely bungle every bad situation like Alford did.

 

[farina1]

Pat Mc- power 5 bench player
Tony P- mid major starter
Flip- mid major starter
Ulis- mid major bench player
Connor- D3 Starter
Joe T- D3 starter
Sanfort- too early to tell
Ash- D3 bench player

jBo- starter anywhere
Keegan- starter anywhere
Kris- starter anywhere, but Iowa

You obviously know little about assessing basketball talent.

 

[doughuddl2]

Pretty much seems to be a segment of the season ticket holders that's the problem?

No it's the segment that are fair weather fans. They only show up for the 3-4 big games or some random small 3,500 seat gym in NW Iowa for their one game of the year. The rest of the season watching at home from the couch.

Meanwhile season ticket holders commit to EVERY freaking game. Sometimes 3 nights a week with a late game on Sunday.

Fairweather fans rarely attend the less desirable preseason games as there are thousands of empty seats.

Just another thread where the fairweather fans self proclaim how much better they are than the rest of the regulars.

 

[BDinIC]

What students??? There are more band and cheerleader than there are students attending

Actually, the students have been really good this year.

 

[Ronman]

How is the current parking situation around Carver? Is this another negative in the equation?

 

[2432Hawk]

No it's the segment that are fair weather fans. They only show up for the 3-4 big games or some random small 3,500 seat gym in NW Iowa for their one game of the year. The rest of the season watching at home from the couch.

Meanwhile season ticket holders commit to EVERY freaking game. Sometimes 3 nights a week with a late game on Sunday.

Fairweather fans rarely attend the less desirable preseason games as there are thousands of empty seats.

Just another thread where the fairweather fans self proclaim how much better they are than the rest of the regulars.

if you think all season ticket holders "commit" to EVERY freaking game than you're more HUGELY mistaken.

My point is there is a segment (not all) of season ticket holders that do not and that's a FACT. Now some of those season ticket holders do or did a good job of getting their tickets in the hands of someone that would go, but not all do.... and that's really the main issue. There needs to be an easier way for empty seats to be filled, until that problem is solved we're going to continue this debate.

 

[BDinIC]

if you think all season ticket holders "commit" to EVERY freaking game than you're more HUGELY mistaken.

My point is there is a segment (not all) of season ticket holders that do not and that's a FACT. Now some of those season ticket holders do or did a good job of getting their tickets in the hands of someone that would go, but not all do.... and that's really the main issue. There needs to be an easier way for empty seats to be filled, until that problem is solved we're going to continue this debate.

In that regard, it would be nice to have a ticket exchange pinned thread in the basketball forum. Many people there who don't pay to access the lounge.

 

[doughuddl2]

if you think all season ticket holders "commit" to EVERY freaking game than you're more HUGELY mistaken.

My point is there is a segment (not all) of season ticket holders that do not and that's a FACT. Now some of those season ticket holders do or did a good job of getting their tickets in the hands of someone that would go, but not all do.... and that's really the main issue. There needs to be an easier way for empty seats to be filled, until that problem is solved we're going to continue this debate.

Their seat is paid for that's committed.

How about this, the blue hairs that own the prime seats you bitch about who can't make it call and release their tickets back for resale. Iowa resells them again for the $500 bucks the season ticket holder paid. School makes out, that's good. You fairweather super fans can sit in the prime seats for $1000 a pair just like the blue hairs and show them how a real super fan cheers. Sound good fairweather super fan?

There are still 5,000 unpurchased tickets per game. How are you going to get the bandwagoners to buy those tickets when it's not a top ranked opponent? You know the ones that only go when it's a cool game.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

It's the fans, Carver is rocking for all wrestling events.

Yeah. One of the last games I went to at Carver was for an NIT game the year we made it to the Finals.

Carver was loud even as the game began to get out of hand for our opponent.

It is the fans, but it's also who is showing up for these games, and perhaps more importantly who is not......

I get why attending basketball games at Iowa is not the draw for the students that football is, but they only have themselves to blame for the atmosphere. If they can make Kinnick a house of horrors even when the team is average, then they can technically do the same for average Iowa bball teams.

 

[ROCKY MOUNTAIN HAWK]

There’s plenty of money around here, but a plethora of contributing factors...start times, parking, crappy weather, seating inside the arena,ticket prices( for students), etc.

Awesome excuses!

So pretty much every excuse that ISU could use but yet somehow they pack the house almost every game.

I’m getting more & more convinced that Des Moines is the answer to all of this. Why ISU has packed houses (so close to DM) & why Iowa doesn’t (just far enough away to DM).

Easten Iowa just doesn’t have the population/money/support that the DM metro would provide.

 

[BBHawk]

I think some fans hate SA so much that they love to distort the facts on attendance during his run.
I know we averaged 15k+ during the Recker years.
Reggie Evans was popular.
Then the Bru/Horner/Haluska team had the place rocking in 05 when we finished 2nd in the league.
It did tail off some with PP scandal.
But Lick is who broke the program.
Bad,boring BB...drove a stake thru the heart.

Wrong. Paid attendance was still there but people stopped attending when the PP stuff hit the fan. As a season ticket holder during that time, I can tell you that was definitely the case. Then following Alford's sorry act with Lickliter proved fateful. Interest by the students started to wane and has never really returned.

But make no mistake, Alford started it with his handling of PP and then his poor coaching/attitude.

 

[83Hawk]

You prefer Iowa play in front of empty seats in Carver?

The more I think about it, the more I’m really starting to warm up to the idea of Iowa playing 4 or 5 home games a year at Wells Fargo Arena.

I’d fly in for those games.

No you wouldn’t.

 

[ROCKY MOUNTAIN HAWK]

No you wouldn’t.

Hell yes I would!

Easy airport to downtown access. Quick, direct, cheap flight.

Tons of hotels/bars/restaurants/music/other nightlife entertainment to make a great weekend around a game.

If people won’t attend Carver. Let’s move the games to the people!