Student Section Photo

[skyvue]

Good to see the support!

BUT

In my days living in Soonerville, 7,400 against an opponent of this high caliber would have meant there was 2 feet of snow outside. Lloyd Noble would have been totally full. I just don't understand what has happened.

The televising of every game (and the improvement of the viewing experience at home) have happened. The Thunder has happened. The internet and its various forms of entertainment have happened.

And it's not just at OU; attendance is down almost everywhere, including at many of the traditional national powers.

 

[jackson_supersooner]

You would never have seen as many Games on tv for OU as you do this year. They are always on tv and have been on ESPN almost every big 12 game. If you think about having to go to the gym would be the only way you would get to see them tons of people would be there. And then after they had been going for so long then it becomes a tradition and you would go even for the games that ARE televised! Couple that with it not being the main sport at OU and then the gym being too big and the gym not really that nice and the thunder being here and them JUST NOW becoming a regularly ranked team. It's pretty easy to undertand honestly.

 

[AdaSooner]

The televising of every game (and the improvement of the viewing experience at home) have happened. The Thunder has happened. The internet and its various forms of entertainment have happened.

And it's not just at OU; attendance is down almost everywhere, including at many of the traditional national powers.

Exactly! Anyone who believes OU is the only school to experience a decline in attendance in the last few years is not paying attention. Even the so-called elite schools don't pack their arenas anymore, except for the biggest games on their schedule. I have posted enough articles to confirm that the past couple of years, everyone should know that by now.

That is not to say that OU can't do a better job of putting butts in seats. There were 11,099 tickets sold for the ISU game, but only 7400 showed up. It doesn't take a mathematical wizard to figure out where the problem lies.

 

[DenverSooner]

My take is that prior to TV broadcasting virtually every game the hard core frugal fans would part with the money and wouldn't waste it by not attending. Now those frugal fans may watch the games on TV and save several hundred dollars. The wealthy fans have the money to burn. They don't mind paying several hundred dollars for a seat and missing several games.

With that said, I don't get why you would miss ISU. In modern history they are one of the better Big XII programs and this year they are (excluding OU) easily one of the top three if not two home games. OSU might draw more interest but ISU is a better team. If you buy a ticket to see half the games, it is hard to understand how this isn't one of the games that is a must see.

 

[Zimwillett]

There were 11,099 tickets sold for the ISU game, but only 7400 showed up. It doesn't take a mathematical wizard to figure out where the problem lies.

This is the part that perplexes me. We're not talking about an inability to attract the casual "walk up" fans. It's season ticket holders not showing up. I get why you might miss the SE Louisiana or even TCU games. But why in the world would you buy season tickets only to stay home for one of the handful of games vs. a ranked team at LNC all season? I guess it's a good thing that such a large percentage of our fan base is prosperous enough to just flush money down the drain like this.

Hopefully this team has created enough buzz that the attendance at the remaining home games vs. UT and KU (I know better than to get my hopes up for TCU) will be closer to capacity.

 

[BigTime]

I actually thought there were more there than the est attendance. Looked a lot closer to 9k than 7...

 

[Max Power]

I actually thought there were more there than the est attendance. Looked a lot closer to 9k than 7...

The top was pretty empty

 

[BigTime]

The top was pretty empty

Ahh that must of been it. It didn't come across that bad on TV (which is good).

 

[BoulderSooner]

I actually thought there were more there than the est attendance. Looked a lot closer to 9k than 7...

thats the thing OU doesn't est. the est number is tickets scanned the other number is tickets sold ..

 

[Dave4OU]

Students did a fantastic job :chestram2:

 

[Max Power]

Ahh that must of been it. It didn't come across that bad on TV (which is good).

crowd did a good job of moving down to make the lower bowl look full

 

[badger]

crowd did a good job of moving down to make the lower bowl look full

This. Maybe LNC should install entrances that let fans in at the bottom instead of the top so they're encouraged to sit closer to the court instead of grab the closest seat