Outside the box ( and the country ):

Bahamas or Cuba?

This past season for USA was the lowest-ever attendance average in the Mitchell Center and third lowest attendance average of all time (with the two lowest coming during our brief stint in Jaguar Gymnasium). But when your marquee out of conference home game is MTSU, you have a problem. This was the worst home schedule for USA that I've ever seen. Combine that with a bad team and you get what you saw from USA. It can't get much worse for us. Next season should be better, but I need to see our home schedule before making any promises!

(07-09-2015 11:32 AM)chrisattsu Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 04:37 PM)StanMolsonMan Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 04:15 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  Just not sold on New Orleans as the host site of tourney.

I wouldn't mind Biloxi, Southaven, MS(Memphis) or Pensacola.

OMG.. EVERYBODY LOOK. THE EASTERN TEAMS ARE TRYING TO MOVE LEAGUE FURTHER EAST!!!! #TinFoilHat #TheConspiracyIsReal

Haha. The league has already been moved further east with the addition of 3 teams in the eastern time zone. The Belt hasn't had more than 2 at any one time since 1991. It did max out at 6 though in 1991.

And technically, Southaven is further west than New Orleans.

(07-08-2015 12:54 PM)Usajags Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 12:39 PM)StanMolsonMan Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 10:37 AM)CajunFanatico Wrote:  Included in the conference’s attendance figures was the league tournament, which drew just 1,355 per session. It was the second-lowest average among Division I conference tournaments, beating only the Northeast Conference’s.

Yowza

Would be interesting to know how other conferences handle their tournaments. Location and format.

Big Sky has done it at Regular Season Champs home court - works for attendance as long as host team stays in it. This year, at Montana, average attendance was 4500. And only top 8 made it.

Next year, Big Sky is going to everybody in tourney at a neutral site - Reno.

(07-09-2015 12:56 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 12:54 PM)Usajags Wrote:  Would be interesting to know how other conferences handle their tournaments. Location and format.

Big Sky has done it at Regular Season Champs home court - works for attendance as long as host team stays in it. This year, at Montana, average attendance was 4500. And only top 8 made it.

Next year, Big Sky is going to everybody in tourney at a neutral site - Reno.

Almost became a semi-embarrassment for Big Sky.

Sacramento State almost won the conference but would have had to host in the student gym:



I think the 'destination site' thing works better for a conference as a whole.

(07-09-2015 01:10 PM)DoubleAggie Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 12:56 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 12:54 PM)Usajags Wrote:  Would be interesting to know how other conferences handle their tournaments. Location and format.

Big Sky has done it at Regular Season Champs home court - works for attendance as long as host team stays in it. This year, at Montana, average attendance was 4500. And only top 8 made it.

Next year, Big Sky is going to everybody in tourney at a neutral site - Reno.

Almost became a semi-embarrassment for Big Sky.

Sacramento State almost won the conference but would have had to host in the student gym:



I think the 'destination site' thing works better for a conference as a whole.

Yeah, that would have sucked. And Sac St's gym is an embarrassment overall.

(07-09-2015 12:03 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  This past season for USA was the lowest-ever attendance average in the Mitchell Center and third lowest attendance average of all time (with the two lowest coming during our brief stint in Jaguar Gymnasium). But when your marquee out of conference home game is MTSU, you have a problem. This was the worst home schedule for USA that I've ever seen. Combine that with a bad team and you get what you saw from USA. It can't get much worse for us. Next season should be better, but I need to see our home schedule before making any promises!

losing WKU hurt a little, too. fans came out to watch that game, we were always around 5k~ for them.

(07-09-2015 08:47 AM)LUSportsFan Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 07:23 AM)runamuck Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 07:09 AM)panama Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 10:37 AM)CajunFanatico Wrote:  

Quote:The NCAA released its attendance figures from the 2014-15 basketball season Monday, and the Louisiana-Lafayette men finished as the Sun Belt’s top team.




An average of 3,987 fans attended the Cajuns’ 16 home contests last season, according to the report, nearly double that of Louisiana-Monroe, which drew the second-highest SBC average at 2,064. The Cajuns’ figure was good for third in the state behind LSU (8,897) and Louisiana Tech (4,243).

The SBC did not draw particularly well in 2014-15. Of the 32 Division I conferences ranked, the SBC checked in at No. 23, averaging 2,039 fans per game. That figure is 499 fewer than last season’s total and was the third-largest drop in the nation.

Included in the conference’s attendance figures was the league tournament, which drew just 1,355 per session. It was the second-lowest average among Division I conference tournaments, beating only the Northeast Conference’s.

New Orleans has hosted the SBC tournament each of the past two seasons. With the contract between the Sun Belt and Lakefront Arena set to expire after this season, the conference could explore other options.



Syracuse led the nation in attendance with an average of 23,854 fans per game, its second straight year leading the NCAA. Kentucky, which led the country for eight straight years before Syracuse’s run, was second.

The NCAA also released its women’s basketball attendance figures Monday. Georgia Southern led the SBC with an average of 1,949 fans — a nearly 500 percent increase from the year before, when it averaged 407.

The Cajuns women played in front of 787 on average, ranking eighth in the conference. Only Troy (659), Georgia State (619) and Appalachian State (412) drew fewer.

The SBC stacked up to other conferences much better in women’s basketball than it did in men’s basketball, ranking 11th in attendance out of the 32 Division I conferences ranked.

South Carolina (12,293) had the nation’s highest average attendance, the first time since 1994 that a team other than Tennessee or Connecticut led the way. The Lady Volunteers had led the nation for 11 consecutive years.



Social Suite to return

The SBC announced Monday that the Social Suite would return for its second year, in addition to two hours of commercial-free coverage online at ESPN3 during SBC football media day July 20.

The Social Suite is hosted by Sun Belt Network reporter Danielle Jenkins and offers fans a chance to pose their own questions to coaches and athletes via social media. The Social Suite will have two separate two-hour sessions — 10 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 3 p.m. — and fans can ask questions via Twitter using the hashtag #SunBeltMediaDay.

The ESPN3 broadcast will air from 1 to 3 p.m. and will feature interviews with all 11 coaches as well as SBC Commissioner Karl Benson.

SUN BELT ATTENDANCE FIGURES



Men’s basketball (average fans per home game)

Louisiana-Lafayette: 3,987

Louisiana-Monroe: 2,064

Texas-Arlington: 2,051

Texas State: 2,009

Georgia Southern: 1,966

Georgia State: 1,869

Arkansas State: 1,856

Troy: 1,850

South Alabama: 1,704

Appalachian State: 1,619

UALR: 1,408

Women’s basketball (average fans per home game)

Georgia Southern: 1,949

Texas State: 1,901

Louisiana-Monroe: 1,735

Arkansas State: 1,472

UALR: 1,438

South Alabama: 1,433

Texas-Arlington: 1,031

Louisiana-Lafayette: 787

Troy: 659

Georgia State: 619

Appalachian State: 412

Basketball....in the South...heh...who knew?

the tournament should be held in a basketball friendly town where there is at least some local knowledge of the sbc. atlanta may not be too bad. easy to get to and a pretty good town for basketball. the kiss of death would be having it somewhere like san antonio where nobody has ever heard of the schools in the conference. the slc has theirs in merrill center on the edge of houston and almost nobody shows up to watch it but a few of the players family. it is a dismal scene and not near anything fun to do in houston.

That was true for the first years, but attendance has picked up at the Merrill the last few years. The Merrill Center has a max capacity of 7,200. There were 5,016 in attendance for the men's championship game and around 3,300 for the semi-final games. Based on my observations of the games I attended, those numbers appeared to be actual butts in the seats.

The women's attendance was lower with only 968 for the championship game and 1,596 for the semi-final games.

That location is good for me since I live about 15 minutes away. The Katy Freeway project and three toll roads make it a whole lot easier to get around to and from that area. It's less than a 30 minute drive to downtown Houston now.

------------------

Back to the Sun Belt, I don't know what the problem with Lakefront Arena is. The arena is not in the French Quarter, but it's about 6 miles away and a 15 minute drive according to Google Maps. That's not ideal, but it's still not too bad. It's fairly centrally located for the conference with four universities within 300 miles.

(07-09-2015 05:09 PM)runamuck Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 08:47 AM)LUSportsFan Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 07:23 AM)runamuck Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 07:09 AM)panama Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 10:37 AM)CajunFanatico Wrote:  

Basketball....in the South...heh...who knew?

the tournament should be held in a basketball friendly town where there is at least some local knowledge of the sbc. atlanta may not be too bad. easy to get to and a pretty good town for basketball. the kiss of death would be having it somewhere like san antonio where nobody has ever heard of the schools in the conference. the slc has theirs in merrill center on the edge of houston and almost nobody shows up to watch it but a few of the players family. it is a dismal scene and not near anything fun to do in houston.

That was true for the first years, but attendance has picked up at the Merrill the last few years. The Merrill Center has a max capacity of 7,200. There were 5,016 in attendance for the men's championship game and around 3,300 for the semi-final games. Based on my observations of the games I attended, those numbers appeared to be actual butts in the seats.

The women's attendance was lower with only 968 for the championship game and 1,596 for the semi-final games.

That location is good for me since I live about 15 minutes away. The Katy Freeway project and three toll roads make it a whole lot easier to get around to and from that area. It's less than a 30 minute drive to downtown Houston now.

------------------

Back to the Sun Belt, I don't know what the problem with Lakefront Arena is. The arena is not in the French Quarter, but it's about 6 miles away and a 15 minute drive according to Google Maps. That's not ideal, but it's still not too bad. It's fairly centrally located for the conference with four universities within 300 miles.

I dont know where those numbers come from. I have watched some of the slc games from there over the years and there has never been very many fans in there. I was just there a few weeks ago for Cinco Ranch graduation and they only would give out 5,000 tickets and the place was full to the brim. BTW..a traffic nightmare getting in and out

(07-09-2015 05:09 PM)runamuck Wrote:  Back to the Sun Belt, I don't know what the problem with Lakefront Arena is. The arena is not in the French Quarter, but it's about 6 miles away and a 15 minute drive according to Google Maps. That's not ideal, but it's still not too bad. It's fairly centrally located for the conference with four universities within 300 miles.

Well, should NMSU ever get the nod, I'd definitely make the trip to NO.

But with all the other destination possibilities in the Sun Belt footprint, mentioned above,
I'd think rotating sites would make sense.

That probably helps spread the publicity and awareness of the conference and the schools.

(07-09-2015 05:12 PM)runamuck Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 05:09 PM)runamuck Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 08:47 AM)LUSportsFan Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 07:23 AM)runamuck Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 07:09 AM)panama Wrote:  Basketball....in the South...heh...who knew?

the tournament should be held in a basketball friendly town where there is at least some local knowledge of the sbc. atlanta may not be too bad. easy to get to and a pretty good town for basketball. the kiss of death would be having it somewhere like san antonio where nobody has ever heard of the schools in the conference. the slc has theirs in merrill center on the edge of houston and almost nobody shows up to watch it but a few of the players family. it is a dismal scene and not near anything fun to do in houston.

That was true for the first years, but attendance has picked up at the Merrill the last few years. The Merrill Center has a max capacity of 7,200. There were 5,016 in attendance for the men's championship game and around 3,300 for the semi-final games. Based on my observations of the games I attended, those numbers appeared to be actual butts in the seats.

The women's attendance was lower with only 968 for the championship game and 1,596 for the semi-final games.

That location is good for me since I live about 15 minutes away. The Katy Freeway project and three toll roads make it a whole lot easier to get around to and from that area. It's less than a 30 minute drive to downtown Houston now.

------------------

Back to the Sun Belt, I don't know what the problem with Lakefront Arena is. The arena is not in the French Quarter, but it's about 6 miles away and a 15 minute drive according to Google Maps. That's not ideal, but it's still not too bad. It's fairly centrally located for the conference with four universities within 300 miles.

I dont know where those numbers come from. I have watched some of the slc games from there over the years and there has never been very many fans in there. I was just there a few weeks ago for Cinco Ranch graduation and they only would give out 5,000 tickets and the place was full to the brim. BTW..a traffic nightmare getting in and out

If the question about numbers refers to Merrell Center capacity, I got those from the Wikipedia page, but I believe that includes floor seating. According to the architectural firm, PBK, the Merrell Center stadium seating capacity is 5,794 so the championship game was within 800 of a sellout. (I just made an edit to the Merrell Center Wikipedia page to clarify capacity.) Below is a link to PBK's Merrell Center page.

http://www.pbk.com/?id=308&ft=Arenas&gid=70

As I noted, tournament attendance at the Merrell Center wasn't good in the early years and the official attendance records bear that out, but attendance has picked up in recent years. The Merrell Center has been the conference tournament site since 2008 and will be the home at least through 2017. 9,737 (9,100 seats in basketball configuration) Ford Arena in Beaumont lost out to the Merrell in the last round. (Lamar didn't even try with its 10,746/10,080 seat Montagne Center.) Having the same site each year may be having a positive effect on attendance.

If referring to tournament attendance, Stephen F. Austin was in the final game both years. With two outstanding years in a row with a 2013-14 season record of 32-3 and a 2014-15 season record of 29-5, the Lumberjacks traveled well, but there was good representation from Northwestern State, Houston Baptist and other conference teams making the tournament. Walk up attendance might have been higher because SFA and SHSU were in the tournament finals. Their 2014 football game at NRG (formerly known as Reliant) Stadium drew 26,788. The first two tournament rounds might bear out a possible SFA/SHSU attendance influence. The first two days had attendance of 1,029 and 1,213. Both SFA and SHSU had byes into the semi-finals when attendance picked up. On the other hand, it might just be mid week games vs weekend games.

--------------------
To bring this back to the Sun Belt, there may be a few things at play.

1. Good venue where a lot of the conference alumni live.
2. Build up a history for the venue to help walk up attendance.
3. Good fan support from the conference members...don't count on the walk up crowd because it will probably be small.

(07-09-2015 08:47 AM)LUSportsFan Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 07:23 AM)runamuck Wrote:  

(07-09-2015 07:09 AM)panama Wrote:  

(07-08-2015 10:37 AM)CajunFanatico Wrote:  

Quote:The NCAA released its attendance figures from the 2014-15 basketball season Monday, and the Louisiana-Lafayette men finished as the Sun Belt’s top team.




An average of 3,987 fans attended the Cajuns’ 16 home contests last season, according to the report, nearly double that of Louisiana-Monroe, which drew the second-highest SBC average at 2,064. The Cajuns’ figure was good for third in the state behind LSU (8,897) and Louisiana Tech (4,243).

The SBC did not draw particularly well in 2014-15. Of the 32 Division I conferences ranked, the SBC checked in at No. 23, averaging 2,039 fans per game. That figure is 499 fewer than last season’s total and was the third-largest drop in the nation.

Included in the conference’s attendance figures was the league tournament, which drew just 1,355 per session. It was the second-lowest average among Division I conference tournaments, beating only the Northeast Conference’s.

New Orleans has hosted the SBC tournament each of the past two seasons. With the contract between the Sun Belt and Lakefront Arena set to expire after this season, the conference could explore other options.



Syracuse led the nation in attendance with an average of 23,854 fans per game, its second straight year leading the NCAA. Kentucky, which led the country for eight straight years before Syracuse’s run, was second.

The NCAA also released its women’s basketball attendance figures Monday. Georgia Southern led the SBC with an average of 1,949 fans — a nearly 500 percent increase from the year before, when it averaged 407.

The Cajuns women played in front of 787 on average, ranking eighth in the conference. Only Troy (659), Georgia State (619) and Appalachian State (412) drew fewer.

The SBC stacked up to other conferences much better in women’s basketball than it did in men’s basketball, ranking 11th in attendance out of the 32 Division I conferences ranked.

South Carolina (12,293) had the nation’s highest average attendance, the first time since 1994 that a team other than Tennessee or Connecticut led the way. The Lady Volunteers had led the nation for 11 consecutive years.



Social Suite to return

The SBC announced Monday that the Social Suite would return for its second year, in addition to two hours of commercial-free coverage online at ESPN3 during SBC football media day July 20.

The Social Suite is hosted by Sun Belt Network reporter Danielle Jenkins and offers fans a chance to pose their own questions to coaches and athletes via social media. The Social Suite will have two separate two-hour sessions — 10 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 3 p.m. — and fans can ask questions via Twitter using the hashtag #SunBeltMediaDay.

The ESPN3 broadcast will air from 1 to 3 p.m. and will feature interviews with all 11 coaches as well as SBC Commissioner Karl Benson.

SUN BELT ATTENDANCE FIGURES



Men’s basketball (average fans per home game)

Louisiana-Lafayette: 3,987

Louisiana-Monroe: 2,064

Texas-Arlington: 2,051

Texas State: 2,009

Georgia Southern: 1,966

Georgia State: 1,869

Arkansas State: 1,856

Troy: 1,850

South Alabama: 1,704

Appalachian State: 1,619

UALR: 1,408

Women’s basketball (average fans per home game)

Georgia Southern: 1,949

Texas State: 1,901

Louisiana-Monroe: 1,735

Arkansas State: 1,472

UALR: 1,438

South Alabama: 1,433

Texas-Arlington: 1,031

Louisiana-Lafayette: 787

Troy: 659

Georgia State: 619

Appalachian State: 412

Basketball....in the South...heh...who knew?

the tournament should be held in a basketball friendly town where there is at least some local knowledge of the sbc. atlanta may not be too bad. easy to get to and a pretty good town for basketball. the kiss of death would be having it somewhere like san antonio where nobody has ever heard of the schools in the conference. the slc has theirs in merrill center on the edge of houston and almost nobody shows up to watch it but a few of the players family. it is a dismal scene and not near anything fun to do in houston.

That was true for the first years, but attendance has picked up at the Merrill the last few years. The Merrill Center has a max capacity of 7,200. There were 5,016 in attendance for the men's championship game and around 3,300 for the semi-final games. Based on my observations of the games I attended, those numbers appeared to be actual butts in the seats.

The women's attendance was lower with only 968 for the championship game and 1,596 for the semi-final games.

That location is good for me since I live about 15 minutes away. The Katy Freeway project and three toll roads make it a whole lot easier to get around to and from that area. It's less than a 30 minute drive to downtown Houston now.

------------------

Back to the Sun Belt, I don't know what the problem with Lakefront Arena is. The arena is not in the French Quarter, but it's about 6 miles away and a 15 minute drive according to Google Maps. That's not ideal, but it's still not too bad. It's fairly centrally located for the conference with four universities within 300 miles.

Felt like it was an isolated suburb with nothing to do.