Regular Season Home Attendance

[Pablo]

I don't want to start another debate on the accuracy of the home attendance reported by Mason. We all know that the reported attendance is higher than actual attendance. And, in 2013-14, it appeared to be significantly higher than the actual attendance. But, even the reported attendance reflects a significant downward trend in attendance since it peaked in 2006-07 (the season after the Final Four run). Here is the reported regular season home attendance (I've excluded the postseason CBI and CIT home games) for the past 10 seasons:

2004-05: 3,938 (12 games)
2005-06: 4,533 (13)
2006-07: 6,834 (13)
2007-08: 6,494 (14)
2008-09: 6,295 (14)
2009-10: 6,089 (15)
2010-11: 5,896 (14)
2011-12: 5,161 (16)
2012-13: 5,393 (13)
2013-14: 4,916 (14)

Will home games vs. ODU & vcu significantly boost attendance in 2014-15?

 

[sigmanorm]

For those who prefer graphs...hmm seems to be heading back to pre-final four numbers

 

[GMUSig03]

Attendance is going to decline and be terrible next year. We have so many fans jumping ship who have been fans for decades and have traveled to Richmond/JMU/PSU and NCAA tournament games on a regular basis, I have to assume we are losing even more of the casual fans. Unfortunately playing highly ranked A-10 teams didn't seem to provide the boast we would have hoped for either, since those teams are still not "marquee" names.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Getting our brains beat in the last few homecomings is a real buzzkill...

 

[Patriotsince81]

Our attendance is also padded by things like "Scout Night", youth cheerleader night, and jump rope night. Overall attendance will most likely remain similar to last year. Our students really need to step up because hardcore fans are few and far between. Losing 8 times at home last year certainly won't help anyone's desire to return. vcu will be a sellout with 4,300 rooting for Mason and the other 5,700 cheering on vcu. I have given up the hope that I once had that the team would play in front of a packed house every night. On really bad nights I wish they would just rope off the upper sections so we don't look quite so bad on TV.

 

[GSII]

Students should wear neck braces next year when JA returns in an ODU uniform.

 

[Five Two]

I'm told I'm wrong, but I think having home games on TV does impact attendance, especially weeknight games. Its a lot easier for the casual fan to watch from home than fight traffic to get to Fairfax on a Tuesday or Wednesday night.
The flip side:
-we can tell recruits we are on TV x amount of times a year
-the press row LED board is more valuable with games being on TV

Do those two points (and probably others) make up for the lack of ticket/merchandise/food revenue on game day? Not sure.

 

[dr. gunnie]

Zip it Five Two. Home games on TV are a good thing, no matter how many fans might not attend because of it.

 

[GMUgemini]

Zip it Five Two. Home games on TV are a good thing, no matter how many fans might not attend because of it.

Yeah. Think of us out of towers!

 

[MasonFanatic]

Winning at home would cure a lot of problems. At the Q&A, Hewitt mentioned two losses in particular that really bothered him, because the students and fans really turned out and created a great atmosphere. One was the St. Bonaventure game, and I forget what the other one was. He definitely recognizes the problem, even if he hasn't solved it yet.

I also think we should lower ticket prices in order to maximize the number of bodies in seats. We would make most of that money back in concession sales.

 

[GMUgemini]

Winning at home would cure a lot of problems. At the Q&A, Hewitt mentioned two losses in particular that really bothered him, because the students and fans really turned out and created a great atmosphere. One was the St. Bonaventure game, and I forget what the other one was. He definitely recognizes the problem, even if he hasn't solved it yet.

I also think we should lower ticket prices in order to maximize the number of bodies in seats. We would make most of that money back in concession sales.

It has to be that South Florida loss. That was just inexplicably bad.

 

[MasonFanatic]

Yeah, I think it was.

 

[Patriotfan49]

Yeah, I think it was.

The UMASS game where we had #16 dead to rights all game....until the final 25 seconds? The GSU beatdown at homecoming? The USF game? The St Joes game? Youll have to be more specific lol.

In regards to attendance, its not surprising. The product on court is declining rapidly, the atmosphere hasnt changed in years etc etc. But winning cures a lot, and makes it worth it to battle traffic and make the effort.

 

[Dawgs99]

It was the GA State game that he mentioned as well as the st. Bonny game. The home losses have been crushing.

 

[wijg]

In response to 52, would blacking out the local area address the concerns of home games being on TV? Probably not since it would negate the value of local advertising on the press row board.

 

[Five Two]

In response to 52, would blacking out the local area address the concerns of home games being on TV? Probably not since it would negate the value of local advertising on the press row board.

the more I think about it, I doubt home games on TV impact ticket sales. What I do think it does is impact tickets used. We've had a ton of no-shows, especially last season. And we can't blame them- we were not good and its easier to stay home and watch in HD (CBS SportsNet is now offered in HD by FiOS!!!!).

 

[Harry]

And we can't blame them- we were not good and its easier to stay home and watch in HD (CBS SportsNet is now offered in HD by FiOS!!!!).

Best of both, I watch them live and then watch my HD recording when I get home (if they win)! Sometimes I can even see myself.

 

[gmutom]

Best of both, I watch them live and then watch my HD recording when I get home (if they win)! Sometimes I can even see myself.

I can never see myself, because the guy in front of me has such a fat head.

 

[Five Two]

here is an interesting study by U Texas on getting students to football games. To me, a lot of this is relevant to hoops also:
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/08/24/In-Depth/Sidebar.aspx

 

[GMU92]

here is an interesting study by U Texas on getting students to football games. To me, a lot of this is relevant to hoops also:
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/08/24/In-Depth/Sidebar.aspx

That is an interesting article. The theme applies to folks other than students as well. We're loyal alums who attend all home games (and have for years), however, it has been the social experience aspect that has kept us going for the past few (dreadful) years under Hewitt. We've gotten to know a lot of the folks in our section and enjoy talking to them, it is a nice social outing for a reasonable investment in time and money. That said, we want to win and see a decent and competitive A-10 product on the court, and I'm encouraged that BE's actions are leading us in that direction over time. I'm sure this article was driven by UT's recent woes - a 6-7 football record last year and they were smoked by Arkansas 31-7 in their bowl game. If I'm not mistaken, they got hammered by in-state rival TCU last season. As with our past 2 season, the loyal fan base will hang in there for a while, but you ultimately have to be competitive to hold fan interest in the long run. Interesting, with the shifting views of the game day experience discussed in the article, I wonder if future generations of students/alums will be as eager to continue donating heavily and paying big bucks for season tickets at places like UT after they complete their studies.