Attendance today - factor?

[thebigabd]

Should be a relatively easy win at home today... WVU stinks and the Sooners are good at home.

Might not see 35 degrees today... Playing the worst team in the league, who most casual fans don't care about (no rivalry, history, etc with WVU)... I wonder what attendance and environment will be like..

If the crowd is totally dead, I think OU still wins by 7+... But a boring environment might mitigate the home advantage a little.

 

[AdaSooner]

The winter precip is not forecast to arrive until tomorrow some. So, I doubt if a little rain and cold temperatures will impact attendance as much as the record of the two teams competing in today’s game.

This will also be OU’s Senior Day, so that should help some. OU fans are surprisingly loyal to seniors who will be playing in their next to last game st home.

 

[TheMont]

Why is today OU’s designated senior day when we play KU Tuesday night?

 

[opsooner]

Could be an easy win, could be a struggle, could be a loss. No idea.


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[AdaSooner]

Why is today OU’s designated senior day when we play KU Tuesday night?

Good question. Today’s game is important to our post season bid. A win Tuesday night would make us a virtual lock as well as affect seeding.

Besides, nothing would be sweeter than adding to the Jayhawk’s dismal season! (for them)

 

[tycat947]

Why is today OU’s designated senior day when we play KU Tuesday night?

Probably because it’s on a weekend and people will be traveling.

 

[opsooner]

Why is today OU’s designated senior day when we play KU Tuesday night?

Because they would rather have it in front of more OU fans than opposing fans?


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[WichitaSooner]

Should be a relatively easy win at home today... WVU stinks and the Sooners are good at home.

Might not see 35 degrees today... Playing the worst team in the league, who most casual fans don't care about (no rivalry, history, etc with WVU)... I wonder what attendance and environment will be like..

If the crowd is totally dead, I think OU still wins by 7+... But a boring environment might mitigate the home advantage a little.

I wish your first paragraph was true lol, but it's been a long time since we've been truly good at home. I'd say our three worst efforts of the season have all been at home. Certainly not talking anything for granted.

 

[61sooner]

Watching on tv didn't look like LNC was even near half full.

 

[thegreyghost]

They should remodel LNC to about 7,000 seats and make box seats/suites up at the top

What a horrible atmosphere

 

[AdaSooner]

Watching on tv didn't look like LNC was even near half full.

7921 tickets sold, 6193 tickets collected at the gates (actual attendance).

To be honest that’s better than I expected given the record of both teams and the inclement weather. I think Senior Day may have brought a few more diehard fans out to support the team.

 

[oudna]

Probably because it’s on a weekend and people will be traveling.

I assume for the senior’s families making the trip

 

[red recluse]

literally around 100 students at the game. credit to those that show. but that is beyond embarrassing for a 1pm saturday game. pathetic. and weather was no excuse.

 

[oudna]

literally around 100 students at the game. credit to those that show. but that is beyond embarrassing for a 1pm saturday game. pathetic. and weather was no excuse.

Something radically changed about 10-15 years ago with the students. Football too

With the adults/families it’s clearly a Thunder preference

 

[Max Power]

Something radically changed about 10-15 years ago with the students. Football too

With the adults/families it’s clearly a Thunder preference

I know this isn't popular, but what changed is every game being on TV and in HD.

 

[OUSKINS]

At some point it’s OK to simply admit there is no fan culture for basketball at OU and that no one cares. The LNC, weather, TV, blah blah blah. All very minor factors when judged against the big one. No. One. Cares. Obviously there are die hards and that would include about everyone on this site. We are the minority.

The empty student section is pretty unique to OU. Almost every other school packs students in even though they face the same challenges we do. Look at a school like Pitt who has been AWFUL for two years now... still very strong student turnout.

It’s just not a thing at OU and it really wasn’t when I was there either (1996-2001). It’s not as bad as it is now, but I remember MANY games with sparse attendance even 20+ years ago.

I had season tickets pre-Thunder. Yes, I gave up OU season tix in favor of Thunder tix; but it’s so easy to just go whenever I want that season tix seem pointless anyway.

I think there are certain things they could do to market better; I have some specific ideas there; but overall it’s hard to make people care about something when they don’t.

 

[oudna]

I know this isn't popular, but what changed is every game being on TV and in HD.

HD came in around ‘07 if I recall.

What year did all the games start getting televised? Timeline may make sense

 

[oudna]

I had season tickets pre-Thunder. Yes, I gave up OU season tix in favor of Thunder tix; but it’s so easy to just go whenever I want that season tix seem pointless anyway.

Ain’t just you. I have countless friends that have all done the same and almost universally they say it’s because their kids like the pro game more.

 

[OUSKINS]

Ain’t just you. I have countless friends that have all done the same and almost universally they say it’s because their kids like the pro game more.

Truth is, I’ve always preferred the NBA as well. So Thunder were a no-brainer for me. But I love both. I’ll admit my love for college hoops has dwindled a bit, but that is due to the deterioration of the product as opposed to the arrival of the NBA. But yes, my kids by far prefer the NBA.

None of that though really explains the student section issues though. I watched St. John’s/Nova a couple of weeks ago. Played at MSG, not even a college campus. And a school (SJU) that hasn’t been relevant in forever. In a city with a billion things to do and two NBA teams. Yet it was a great atmosphere and a vibrant student section. Same thing plays out all over the country at arenas and schools big and small. This is truly an issue unique to OU and maybe a very small handful of other programs.

 

[Eielson]

I watched St. John’s/Nova a couple of weeks ago. Played at MSG, not even a college campus.

Villanova is about a 1.5 hour drive to NYC, and St. John's is in NYC. There's a lot of things to do in NYC, but there's also 9M people. I'm not overly enthused with our fanbase at times, but in overall attendance last year, Villanova ranked #44, OU ranked #48, and St John's ranked #55. Yes, we're talking about the Villanova that won another title last year. And do you know who was one spot ahead of us at #47? Duke. Based on those numbers, I suspect we would have gotten similar attendance if our fanbase was that close to MSG.

Everybody on here complains that nobody is willing to buy a ticket, but every year we're top 50 (or very close to it) in attendance, and we've had higher attendance nearly every year than OSU for the past decade (honestly, we might be 10/10 -- I just don't want to take the time to fact check that). That's pretty good, especially when you consider that if we sold out every single game we'd still barely crack the top 30 (based off of LNC capacity). And yes, we actually have cracked the top 30 a handful of times. Sure, it's nothing compared to the football crowds, but then again, that's fairly well correlated with the success of the program.