Sooners are headed for worst home attendance in the Lon Kruger era

Ugh that makes me sad. Obviously the performance on the court goes a long way in determining attendance, but it is very telling that Jordan Woodard's parents have noticed how little marketing effort is being done.
 
Football school with a NBA team down the road, bad season all adds up to smaller crowds. No real answer that I can see..only so much money and time people have to give
 
they have never marketed basketball that much
 
Marketing picked up at the beginning of the Kruger era in response to what Lon was asking the department to do. It has definitely slowed down in the last few months.

Makes me wonder if the decision was made to write this season off and invest the money and time on a new start next year? If so, that's actually not a bad marketing strategy.
 
Give it a chance. When I first started going to basketball games, it was quieter in the field house than in the library, and I had a lot of study time in a silent gym.
 
They've already started promoting next year's season tickets so I think the promotions for next year will pick up soon.
 
AdaSooner said:
Marketing picked up at the beginning of the Kruger era in response to what Lon was asking the department to do. It has definitely slowed down in the last few months.

Makes me wonder if the decision was made to write this season off and invest the money and time on a new start next year? If so, that's actually not a bad marketing strategy.
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With apologies to Dean, I believe there's an 88 percent chance that you hit the nail squarely on the head. :ez-laugh:

Seriously, that was a good observation, Ada.
 
Why would it be a surprise that our attendance is down this season, of all seasons? I know it's the student paper, but sheesh, talk about a non-story.
 
OU has never had great fan support for basketball, very good in some years, but not great. We only averaged 7,900 last year??? Out of 12,000 seats and POY and Final 4 year? Of course, most of the seats are sold (as is the case this year) and the ones with those no-show tickets expend no energy to get rid of them.

There are about 14-15 home games a year. Norman has 120,000 people, OKC area has 1.4 million and we can't get 10,000 per game??? Sad. OU fans can come up with more excuses to NOT go to the games than anyone I've seen. LNC seats are too far, LNC has no food I like, I have to go to bed early on weeknights (6 or 7 nights out of 365 days), the seats are ORANGE!, if we'd play on campus, I would go (2 or 3 thousand attended McCasland FH games-out of 4 or 5 thousand seats), blah. blah. blah.

I think you can blame EVERY SINGLE GAME on TV and almost EVERYONE has a big screen HD TV for recent (8-10 years) decline, not only here but all across the country (few exceptions). I don't think Thunder has much to do with decline. It's also not going to change. Team winning will increase crowds but it's apparent we're going to have a couple thousand empty seats for sellouts! That's a given! We could build state-of-the-art on-campus arena and after new wore off (maybe a year) there would be empty seats.

It always makes for great discussion but it is what it is.
 
I don't know what all has been built up around the LNC but I think it's just more academic buildings. I think if there were actually dining and drinking options close by, that would help. Imagine eating and drinking and walking over to LNC. But, attendance has always been a problem. I was a student during the John Blake tenure an even with Najera and all, they just couldn't really pack the LNC. This just isn't a true college basketball state. It will never change.
 
the seats didn't used to be orange. they were red (not crimson)....but even plastic fades.

not going to happen, but i wish OU would just accept that they more than got their money's worth with the lloyd noble center....built 40 years ago as a cookie cutter multi-use arena....so Foghat could play Norman in the era of arena rock and OU played basketball.

i think an optimal hoops arena is about 8,000.

everyone is complaining about attendance these days except KU, UK, UNC, etc.

(even if): OU built a hoops only old timey-new amenities gym let's say where the Fieldhouse is now. rocking awesome facility. everyone would complain about getting in and out of town to highway 9 or I-35.
 
Yeah...just dont think OU will ever do that. Mich state is under .500, not as bad as us...but they had a full house the other night..think against indiana...

Just not there for OU. Now, I'd b at every game if i lived there...lol.
 
Soonerinkc said:
Yeah...just dont think OU will ever do that. Mich state is under .500, not as bad as us...but they had a full house the other night..think against indiana...

Just not there for OU. Now, I'd b at every game if i lived there...lol.
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Much. St is under .500? Sounds like fake news.
 
First, I have been going to OU games since the Alvin Adams years. It is true that we have always struggled to fill a gym.

Second, the gym sucks and it would help if we had a decent basketball gym. I am a basketball junky and routinely go to Mabee and Donrey to watch games. Both venues are fun to watch a game at. I hate Noble. JMO. I know others disagree. I agree however a new gym might not completely solve the problem. There are other issues. This being said, Michigan had a gym identical to LN and couldn't ever get anyone to go to the games. They built a basketball arena and routinely sell out their games now. So, who knows.

Third, the Thunder aren't "the problem" but they have had a significant effect on attendance at both OSU and OU, boys and girls. I know a couple of OKC families that used to have season tickets to both OU boys and girls programs that have switched to the Thunder. In both cases they say costs and time prohibit doing both. So, again, this is a factor

Fourth, Tycat is correct. People are tending to watch on TV instead of going to games, more and more. Not sure how to deal with this.

Fifth, Indian casinos are eating up people's time and money and having a dramatic effect on all other activities, including basketball. I go to most home games at OU, and I would bet that there are at least 10,000 people wearing OU gear in area casinos that if they didn't have the option of pulling a one arm bandit would go games just to have something to do outside the house.

In the end and regardless of whether we can fix the attendance problem, I would like to see a new gym, just so I can enjoy the games I go to. A major TU donor I know told me that when they were talking about a new gym at Tulsa, they were told that gyms with 9000 seats or less can be built for $20mil or less, and that when you starting putting more seats than that, you are talking about spending more than $100 mil. If this is true, then lets build a new gym ( I don't have a problem with the current site) that seats whatever we can build in the lower category/price range.
 
cowboysooner said:
In the end and regardless of whether we can fix the attendance problem, I would like to see a new gym, just so I can enjoy the games I go to. A major TU donor I know told me that when they were talking about a new gym at Tulsa, they were told that gyms with 9000 seats or less can be built for $20mil or less, and that when you starting putting more seats than that, you are talking about spending more than $100 mil. If this is true, then lets build a new gym ( I don't have a problem with the current site) that seats whatever we can build in the lower category/price range.
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agreed completely.

The KEY is students. A solid, solid base of students supplemented by a sprinkling of donors and those who recently graduated.

8,500-9,000 seats ON CAMPUS. You MUST go all-in on atmosphere first and thats how you create it. Not some sterile, multi-purpose facility that will soon be hauling out the court to prep the stage for Huey Lewis (to show how dated I am).

If you create the atmosphere then the rest will follow.
 
tycat947 said:
OU has never had great fan support for basketball, very good in some years, but not great. We only averaged 7,900 last year??? Out of 12,000 seats and POY and Final 4 year? Of course, most of the seats are sold (as is the case this year) and the ones with those no-show tickets expend no energy to get rid of them.

There are about 14-15 home games a year. Norman has 120,000 people, OKC area has 1.4 million and we can't get 10,000 per game??? Sad. OU fans can come up with more excuses to NOT go to the games than anyone I've seen. LNC seats are too far, LNC has no food I like, I have to go to bed early on weeknights (6 or 7 nights out of 365 days), the seats are ORANGE!, if we'd play on campus, I would go (2 or 3 thousand attended McCasland FH games-out of 4 or 5 thousand seats), blah. blah. blah.

I think you can blame EVERY SINGLE GAME on TV and almost EVERYONE has a big screen HD TV for recent (8-10 years) decline, not only here but all across the country (few exceptions). I don't think Thunder has much to do with decline. It's also not going to change. Team winning will increase crowds but it's apparent we're going to have a couple thousand empty seats for sellouts! That's a given! We could build state-of-the-art on-campus arena and after new wore off (maybe a year) there would be empty seats.

It always makes for great discussion but it is what it is.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that the fact that all the games are on TV have a negative effect on attendance. It's possible, but I'm not sure it's true. Attendance isn't down at Kansas and all their games are on TV. Same with other schools. Attendance at college basketball games is up, not down and there have never been more games on TV. Now, it's possible that the TV boom affects schools differently. For example, maybe it has no effect on "elite" basketball schools who sell out every game regardless but it does negatively affect schools who aren't KU, UK, Duke, UNC, etc. Possible but I think there needs to be a lot more data to be able to say that's true definitively.

Regardless, the athletic department needs to do a better job of getting fans to attend. That's a big part of its job.
 
sanguinetti said:
the seats didn't used to be orange. they were red (not crimson)....but even plastic fades.

not going to happen, but i wish OU would just accept that they more than got their money's worth with the lloyd noble center....built 40 years ago as a cookie cutter multi-use arena....so Foghat could play Norman in the era of arena rock and OU played basketball.

i think an optimal hoops arena is about 8,000.

everyone is complaining about attendance these days except KU, UK, UNC, etc.

(even if): OU built a hoops only old timey-new amenities gym let's say where the Fieldhouse is now. rocking awesome facility. everyone would complain about getting in and out of town to highway 9 or I-35.
Click to expand...

we sell more than 8k tickets for most of the games

if you want an 8k building you would have a half empty 8k building ... those that buy tickets and don't show up now .. will still buy tickets and not show up then ..


the lnc is a great place to watch a basketball game there is not a bad seat (sightlines) in the building ...

with the upcoming renovation it will be an even better facility ..



go sit in the upper deck of GIA and tell me it is a good place to watch a game ... it is not it is horrible ..
 
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