(06-21-2016 08:39 AM)CajunAmos Wrote:  

(06-20-2016 10:29 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(06-20-2016 11:39 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  

(06-19-2016 02:23 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Attendance at Hot Springs was far higher than what it is in New Orleaans.

We also had WKU and MTSU in the league then, and Hot Springs was closer to both. It's not really a fair comparison.

Average attendance by game at the conference tournament over the last 15 years:

New Orleans:
2016 - 1,226
2015 - 1,355
2014 - 1,909
2002 - 4,040

Hot Springs:
2013 - 3,333
2012 - 4,027
2011 - 4,101
2010 - 4,295
2009 - 2,621

Mobile:
2008 - 3,890

Lafayette:
2007 - 1,530

Murfreesboro:
2006 - 2,576

Denton:
2005 - 2,226

Bowling Green:
2004 - 4,179
2003 - 5,882

The numbers for New Orleans are appalling. Around a 1500 average, compared to Hot Springs having an average of almost 4000. I really didn't realize how big the difference was. What makes it worse is that we are filling 15% of Lakefront arena, compared to 2/3 of the Hot Springs Convention Center. The former is not a good look for TV.

You did have a couple of teams who traveled very well in close proximity to Hot Springs that are no longer in the league that probably affected the numbers as well.

Yup. I stated that in my original post. According to strictly numbers we'd have the tournament in Kentucky every year... But WKU isn't in the league anymore.

Somebody refresh my memory, wasn't their 2 courts in hot springs? Something just doesn't add up with those numbers. Averaging 4000?? Meaning you should have some 5 or 6k crowds to average out the lower attended games... Im not buying that. Something is skewing the numbers.

I don't get it...New Orleans is a destination city, it has gaming, a world class zoo and aquarium, tons of places for the family to eat, and tons of hotel options. It should be an ideal place for fans to want to go to see a championship. What gives with attendance?

(06-21-2016 08:55 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Somebody refresh my memory, wasn't their 2 courts in hot springs? Something just doesn't add up with those numbers. Averaging 4000?? Meaning you should have some 5 or 6k crowds to average out the lower attended games... Im not buying that. Something is skewing the numbers.

I agree. I'm not sure how the attendance is reported but some games were a ghost town. I'm guessing they counted sold tickets?

Something else to consider is the tourney was trimmed down to the top 8 teams when it moved to Nola. Some fans that might have watched other games or order all session tickets might not have even made it to New Orleans depending on if one or both of their teams made it or not.

(06-21-2016 08:55 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Somebody refresh my memory, wasn't their 2 courts in hot springs? Something just doesn't add up with those numbers. Averaging 4000?? Meaning you should have some 5 or 6k crowds to average out the lower attended games... Im not buying that. Something is skewing the numbers.

Yes, there were two courts and I agree there's no way that place averaged 4,000.

(06-21-2016 09:06 AM)bluephi1914 Wrote:  I don't get it...New Orleans is a destination city, it has gaming, a world class zoo and aquarium, tons of places for the family to eat, and tons of hotel options. It should be an ideal place for fans to want to go to see a championship. What gives with attendance?

Because the venue is not in the area of town with any of those things.

(06-21-2016 09:06 AM)bluephi1914 Wrote:  I don't get it...New Orleans is a destination city, it has gaming, a world class zoo and aquarium, tons of places for the family to eat, and tons of hotel options. It should be an ideal place for fans to want to go to see a championship. What gives with attendance?

I think some of the stated items were hotel room availability and pricing which depending on conventions can be pricey if you're looking to be near the French Quarter. The area where UNO is located is in an area that is a decent run from downtown and while not "bad" is still recovering from Katrina tens years later.

I grew up just outside New Orleans so while being in the downtown quarter area is convenient it's not a "must" for me as I know where to park if I want to visit that area. For a foodie, there are a number of the top rated restaurants that are actually outside of the quarter so there may be some different lodging options if that's what you're looking to experience.

What the league needs to do is set up some discounted rates with hotels in different areas of the city. JMO

Sorry, I'll add a neighborhood map for the city.

NO Neighborhood Map

Never realized how awful our attendance was for the championship game. It all starts with success, basketball is getting better, the addition of Coastal will help as well. Just need to keep winning games in March and it will go up.

Basketball is the one area that can really elevate a conference, and quickly. Football takes a long time to build, and we have alot of barriers to true success thanks to the P5/bowl structure.

Basketball success is something all schools should be putting a large emphasis into.

(06-21-2016 09:51 AM)BirdofParadise Wrote:  

(06-21-2016 08:55 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Somebody refresh my memory, wasn't their 2 courts in hot springs? Something just doesn't add up with those numbers. Averaging 4000?? Meaning you should have some 5 or 6k crowds to average out the lower attended games... Im not buying that. Something is skewing the numbers.

Yes, there were two courts and I agree there's no way that place averaged 4,000.

The two courts were a great bonus and I still think Hot Springs was an ideal site. But, I agree there is no way the tourney averaged 4000. Sure there were 4000+ for the championship game, when we were in it (LR), but no where close for most games. The extra court had, at most, 1500 seats.

(06-21-2016 08:55 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Somebody refresh my memory, wasn't their 2 courts in hot springs? Something just doesn't add up with those numbers. Averaging 4000?? Meaning you should have some 5 or 6k crowds to average out the lower attended games... Im not buying that. Something is skewing the numbers.

Sun Belt only counted that attendance by the session. They never actually counted the attendance on court 2 because it was in the same building as court 1. They scanned your ticket when you walked in, and then you were free to attend a game on any court you wanted.

Also, the conference was usually pretty good about moving the games involving the higher drawing teams to the larger arena

Often times we had about 2000 watching on the main court, and 500 or so watching on the 2nd court.

(06-21-2016 09:06 AM)bluephi1914 Wrote:  I don't get it...New Orleans is a destination city, it has gaming, a world class zoo and aquarium, tons of places for the family to eat, and tons of hotel options. It should be an ideal place for fans to want to go to see a championship. What gives with attendance?

That's because New Orleans doesn't appeal to the average fan that's going to attenda conference tournament.

We've had this discussion before, but it is extremely rare for a young family to attend a basketball tournament. Generally speaking many of those games happen when people have work and kids are in school, and families simply are not going to take 4 days off to go watch a basketball tournament when their own team could be eliminated Day 1.

The average group that attends the SBC Tournament are retirees. People who no longer have jobs to be at, or kids to take care of, and are generally on their own. Those are the types that would travel to watch a long basketball tournament. Those people have different interests to the family. An aquarium seems like a great idea to a young family with kids for instance, but for a retiree? They just want a nice hotel, some places to eat nearby, and to watch basketball. They likely aren't going to find themselves in Harrah's Casino playing roulette. The SBC Has to get out of this idea that they can attract their younger fans to a tournament, when statistically speaking, younger fans are far less likely to attend something like this.

The league needs to think like a retiree, and move this to a smaller city, with a few attractions to appeal to the people of that age group. Either that, or move back to host sites and hope the home team does well.

(06-21-2016 03:37 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-21-2016 09:06 AM)bluephi1914 Wrote:  I don't get it...New Orleans is a destination city, it has gaming, a world class zoo and aquarium, tons of places for the family to eat, and tons of hotel options. It should be an ideal place for fans to want to go to see a championship. What gives with attendance?

That's because New Orleans doesn't appeal to the average fan that's going to attenda conference tournament.

We've had this discussion before, but it is extremely rare for a young family to attend a basketball tournament. Generally speaking many of those games happen when people have work and kids are in school, and families simply are not going to take 4 days off to go watch a basketball tournament when their own team could be eliminated Day 1.

The average group that attends the SBC Tournament are retirees. People who no longer have jobs to be at, or kids to take care of, and are generally on their own. Those are the types that would travel to watch a long basketball tournament. Those people have different interests to the family. An aquarium seems like a great idea to a young family with kids for instance, but for a retiree? They just want a nice hotel, some places to eat nearby, and to watch basketball. They likely aren't going to find themselves in Harrah's Casino playing roulette. The SBC Has to get out of this idea that they can attract their younger fans to a tournament, when statistically speaking, younger fans are far less likely to attend something like this.

The league needs to think like a retiree, and move this to a smaller city, with a few attractions to appeal to the people of that age group. Either that, or move back to host sites and hope the home team does well.

g5 schools dont have generations of rabid fans like the flagship schools and in few cases do they have a large widely scattered alumni base to draw from..so you are looking at the few that are interested and can take off a few days. for example, uta has 200,000 alumni but 130-150,000 probably dont live far from the dfw metro area..

(06-21-2016 03:37 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-21-2016 09:06 AM)bluephi1914 Wrote:  I don't get it...New Orleans is a destination city, it has gaming, a world class zoo and aquarium, tons of places for the family to eat, and tons of hotel options. It should be an ideal place for fans to want to go to see a championship. What gives with attendance?

That's because New Orleans doesn't appeal to the average fan that's going to attenda conference tournament.

We've had this discussion before, but it is extremely rare for a young family to attend a basketball tournament. Generally speaking many of those games happen when people have work and kids are in school, and families simply are not going to take 4 days off to go watch a basketball tournament when their own team could be eliminated Day 1.

The average group that attends the SBC Tournament are retirees. People who no longer have jobs to be at, or kids to take care of, and are generally on their own. Those are the types that would travel to watch a long basketball tournament. Those people have different interests to the family. An aquarium seems like a great idea to a young family with kids for instance, but for a retiree? They just want a nice hotel, some places to eat nearby, and to watch basketball. They likely aren't going to find themselves in Harrah's Casino playing roulette. The SBC Has to get out of this idea that they can attract their younger fans to a tournament, when statistically speaking, younger fans are far less likely to attend something like this.

The league needs to think like a retiree, and move this to a smaller city, with a few attractions to appeal to the people of that age group. Either that, or move back to host sites and hope the home team does well.

The conference needs to change its thinking that there will be great turnouts at any neutral site. The only exception would be if Cajuns or jags are in the finals in Nola... Perfect scenario against each other. Atlanta if the georgia schools were in it or in Texas if uta and TXST were in it... That's the only way. Our conference doesn't really support basketball at home much less at a neutral site. Stop worrying about attendance at the tourney and worry about fixing the fact that our 30 win champion might have been left out the NCAA if they didn't win the tourney.