Empty seats at NCAAs.

[61sooner]

It seems that at most of the games I have seen on TV there are a lot of empty seats. I realize for most schools basketball fans don't travel like football fans but perhaps the host cities are merchandising the toruney very well. I take into account that 2nd round games of each weekend are going to have fewer seats filled due to losing teams fans going back home.
There are usually a lot of tickets for cheap prices at those 2nd day of games.
Also the NIT attendance figures are sometimes horrendous. Like 1,600 at the Miami game Monday night. Would think being in the NIT is a losing deal money-wise for most schools and if you're good enough to win on the road it's a cheaper way to go. Course if you can win on the road you's be in the NCAAs.

 

[Shooterms]

I think there were nearly 16,000 in both of the night sessions in Tulsa. Albeit, most of those were jayhawk fans.

 

[WTSooner]

Too many teams getting post season bids. That doesn't completely explain the NCAA empty seats, but certainly would explain, in part, those at the NIT/CBI/CIT.

 

[Sooner04]

A lot of it has to do with the pod system, in my opinion. You have a lot of "speculation" buying by fans of the teams who stand a good chance to get a bid in those geographically close spots. If they speculate correctly, then you've got fans who give a flip about only two of the three sessions and two of the six games.

The first time I went to the NCAAs was in 1998 in Oklahoma City. The upper bowl of the Myriad was full for every game because those fans were going to come to the games regardless of who was playing. The lower bowl would be shifty because you'd have fans from each school coming and going with the times of their games.

When the NCAAs came back to OKC in 2003 I went to the opening session and the first game was a ghost town. Why? Because OU played in the second game of the first session and 90% of that crowd showed up 30 minutes before the OU game tipped off. They saw a fantastic finish because that Cal/NC State ending was nuts, but they missed nearly the entire game.

The point is, the amount of tickets sold is probably still the same, but the attendance throughout each session is down because you're getting more people buying tickets just to see their team and not just the games.

 

[boksooner]

Attendance is down, overall, for the first two rounds. Arena's are depending too much on out of town fans to fill the games. They need to do a better job of promoting locally. Memphis and Kansas traveled really well to Tulsa. The rest of the teams were a disappointment, especially Texas. I know from a personal standpoint, it was difficult to obtain lower level seats through the box office, I don't know if that was because the lower level seats were offered through the team athletic departments.

 

[Sooner04]

At the NCAAs you'll be sitting in either the 200 or 300 level if you try and buy tickets through that organization UNLESS you don't mind sitting behind the goals. Last year in OKC we chose the 200 level and got seats straight up from the free-throw line. Our option in the lower level was right behind the goal and it's just a terrible sight line.

 

[Shooterms]

Attendance is down, overall, for the first two rounds. Arena's are depending too much on out of town fans to fill the games. They need to do a better job of promoting locally. Memphis and Kansas traveled really well to Tulsa. The rest of the teams were a disappointment, especially Texas. I know from a personal standpoint, it was difficult to obtain lower level seats through the box office, I don't know if that was because the lower level seats were offered through the team athletic departments.

Texas representation was terrible. I think there were more Arizona fans than Texas fans.

 

[OUHoops]

It could get really ugly in San Antonio this weekend:

Already, the lower-profile field appears to be having an effect.

One online ticket service, stubhub.com, was offering some tickets at more than 50 percent below face value — $70 seats for $31 — five days before the opening tip-off.

Michael Sawaya, the city's director of Convention, Sports and Entertainment Facilities, said overall ticket sales had topped 17,000.

The Alamodome will be configured to seat 30,000, he said.

Maybe they'll stop having regionals in domes. That 17,000 would look a lot better where the Spurs play than the Alamodome.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/...la-regional-could-hurt-box-office-1247132.php

 

[coolm]

as nice as it is to see all the games on TV (I happen to love it), it is killing college basketball.

BOK was 100% on about the locals promoting the heck out of their games locally. That's the only way these sites will sell-out. People have figured out that their couch has the best seats for games if watching the game is really what you enjoy. I know it's exciting to be at the games, but you can't see the action from tip to buzzer nearly as well as you can on the boob tube.

very sad.

 

[Sooner04]

Maybe they'll stop having regionals in domes. That 17,000 would look a lot better where the Spurs play than the Alamodome.

The OU women played there in the 2006 Regionals. Stanford smoked them.

I'm not exaggerating a bit here when I say this: that was the crappiest "new" arena I've ever had the misfortune of walking through. The house the citizens of Springfield built Ned Flanders after the tornado was handled with more care than whatever you call that festering turd of a home for the San Antonio Spurs. I absolutely could not believe the pitifulness of that arena.

 

[boksooner]

Of course, none of this would have mattered if OU, OSU, TU or even Arkansas had been at the Tulsa site. It would have been an easy sell out. To bad we all suck.

 

[oSuJeff97]

There was a story in the Tulsa World today about this, lamenting Tulsa's turnout - which was an average of 14,275 for all sessions.

(The session high was the Sunday night KU/Illinois game, which had just under 17K)

I actually think Tulsa did pretty well. Tulsa drew far more fans than the only city of comparable size, Tucson, which drew just over 10,500.

Tulsa was within 2,000 of Tampa/St. Pete, a MUCH larger metro area (2 million+), which drew just barely over 16K.

And I'm not trying to turn this into Tulsa vs. OKC, but Tulsa also beat what OKC drew last year. And OKC wasn't hampered by having the Texas "we don't travel for basketball" Longhorns.

But attendance is down across the board, and it's easy to see why. The tickets are just ridiculously too expensive. Paying $79 for a single-session ticket is just going to price a bunch of people out of buying them. Think about it. A family of four has to shell out $300+ on tickets and then get taken to the cleaners on parking, concessions, etc. And that's just to watch two first-round games of teams you may or may not be fans of.

The TW did a story earlier in the week that had the ticket prices for the last time the NCAA Tournament was in Tulsa... back in 1983 (I think) at the Mabee Center. If you adjusted the single-session ticket prices at the Mabee Center for inflation, the 2011 price was something like $25. Think about that. Inflation-adjusted, a ticket to the NCAA tournament in 2011 costs 300% more than it did back in the early 1980s.

That's going to turn a lot of people away.

 

[Sooner04]

Coupled with the fact that the product is so much worse than it was 10-15 years ago you can see why support, at least in regards to butts in the seats, is down.

I was very surprised by the number of empty seats there were in OKC last year, especially considering how well those sessions were attended in 1994, 1998, 2003 and 2005.

 

[IndySooner]

Coupled with the fact that the product is so much worse than it was 10-15 years ago you can see why support, at least in regards to butts in the seats, is down.

I was very surprised by the number of empty seats there were in OKC last year, especially considering how well those sessions were attended in 1994, 1998, 2003 and 2005.

I think the product is the biggest issue. College basketball has gone downhill. I hope it's just a down cycle, but I'm afraid the college kids and coaches have employed the NBA mentality without the NBA talent.

 

[realdallassooner]

I don't think the product on the court has anything to do with it. I can sit at home, watch every game on my big screen for free. You used to couldn't do that. Plus if you don't have a dog in the fight you don't really have a reason to attend if you are just a regular fan.

I went and watched the regional in Dallas a few years ago and was bored to death because, I wished on the big screen they would have shown other games from around the country during halftime, between games, etc. It was pretty boring, besides when the game itself was going on.

 

[Sooner04]

I'm just the opposite. I go BECAUSE of the excitement, regardless of whether I have a dog in the fight. That mindset has put me in the stands for the following:

1998 - Bryce Drew buzzer beater for Valparaiso beats Ole Miss.
1998 - Rhode Island beats Kansas.
2005 - Bucknell beats Kansas.
2010 - Jimmer Fredette goes off for BYU in double OT win over Florida.
2010 - Northern Iowa beats Kansas.

 

[campbest]

It's not just the price of the ticket...airfare, lodging, etc play a big part in the overall expenditure for a group to attend. You have to promote locally in order to get that extra couple thousand in the house, otherwise there are going to be a lot of empty seats.

Bottom line is college basketball (and many sporting events) have fewer fans in attendance than years ago. Just a sign of the times when I can sit at home and watch any game I want on our 60" flat screen.

Will say, however, that the BYU/San Diego State Mountain West Final in Vegas was one of the most intense college basketball environments I have ever been in. Very cool atmosphere. Made me really wish we had linked up with the Pac-10 and held our conference tournament out there...would go every year.

 

[oSuJeff97]

I was very surprised by the number of empty seats there were in OKC last year, especially considering how well those sessions were attended in 1994, 1998, 2003 and 2005.

Well, it didn't hurt that there was major local representation in at least 4 of those 5 previous years.

1994: OKC had both OSU and Tulsa (they crushed UCLA and then beat OSU on a last-second three)
2003: OKC had a top 10/15 OU team (right? or do I have the year wrong?)
2005: OKC had a top 10/15 OSU team

I'm not sure about 1998. I know OSU was in the tournament that year, but we were an 8/9 seed - not in OKC. Don't remember about OU, but don't recall them being in OKC that year.

 

[Big Old Booger]

A lot of it has to do with the pod system, in my opinion. You have a lot of "speculation" buying by fans of the teams who stand a good chance to get a bid in those geographically close spots. If they speculate correctly, then you've got fans who give a flip about only two of the three sessions and two of the six games.

The first time I went to the NCAAs was in 1998 in Oklahoma City. The upper bowl of the Myriad was full for every game because those fans were going to come to the games regardless of who was playing. The lower bowl would be shifty because you'd have fans from each school coming and going with the times of their games.

When the NCAAs came back to OKC in 2003 I went to the opening session and the first game was a ghost town. Why? Because OU played in the second game of the first session and 90% of that crowd showed up 30 minutes before the OU game tipped off. They saw a fantastic finish because that Cal/NC State ending was nuts, but they missed nearly the entire game.

The point is, the amount of tickets sold is probably still the same, but the attendance throughout each session is down because you're getting more people buying tickets just to see their team and not just the games.

Was it 1998 that was in OKC?

I won tickets from KATT (I think) to a regional in OKC in the 90's. I think it was either 94, 95, or 96. Arkansas was ranked #1 and they brought a bunch of fans. I watched them play NC A&T and Georgetown vs somebody else.

 

[Sooner04]

I'm not sure about 1998. I know OSU was in the tournament that year, but we were an 8/9 seed - not in OKC. Don't remember about OU, but don't recall them being in OKC that year.

Only "local" teams in OKC in 1998 were Kansas and TCU, which was the Lee Nailon team for Billy Tubbs that went undefeated in the WAC.

I won tickets from KATT (I think) to a regional in OKC in the 90's. I think it was either 94, 95, or 96. Arkansas was ranked #1 and they brought a bunch of fans. I watched them play NC A&T and Georgetown vs somebody else.

That was 1994, the year Tulsa beat O-State in the round of 32. Arkansas went on to win the national championship. Regional Finals were in Dallas, if memory serves....


I will also say that I'm not a real big fan of the pod system. I enjoyed seeing all eight teams coming to town as part of the same regional, and knowing that the two teams who survived would be playing against each other in the Regional Finals the next week. 1998 was wild because the two teams to come out of OKC were Valpo and Rhode Island, and they played a classic the next weekend in St. Louis.