If it had been 12k, it would have been national news. Rupp would have been nearly half empty.
Empty seats sending UK a message?
- Thread starter rick64
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I agree with you on some of the things. I'm just not so sure attendance is really one of them. If I look at NCAA basketball as a whole the last time the sport had an increase in attendance was 2008. It's actually been declining since the early 90s.
I think it's a bigger issue with the sport itself vs a UK issue. If the sport itself is struggling, it's only natural to see the teams that draw well (UK, Syracuse, UNC etc) to see a decline as well.
But if UK is drawing 18K against the likes to Bob Morris and St Marys........yeah I dunno. I think there's bigger things to be concerned with here IMO.
People are terrible at judging things like this.
There was no way there was only 12K at that game.
Like I said in my follow up post ... attendance figures listed were 18k. Someone there said there couldn't have been more than 12k butts in the seats Tuesday night.
Maybe ... but I'd bet there also wasn't anywhere near 18k. Settle on 15k. Still significant. 18k would still look relatively full.
Agree. I'm glad these young men have an interest in things outside of basketball. Have concerns. That's good.
Like you said, Cal could have gotten leaders from the community and state together to meet with these young men. Have a real discussion. They could still do public protests or march if they so choose. But be informed before you act.
Politics is a very ugly business. Getting political is a bad move that can lead to backlash. Cal knew this or he should have. Fans are fans of the sport and the team. They don't want political messaging forced on them or that they should be expected to accept a view just because it comes from the team they are so passionate about.
I know I am replying but what is the point of this thread?
Like what is the end game?
Is it just another bash on Cal thread? Yay...
Like what is the end game?
Is it just another bash on Cal thread? Yay...
what's the end game to any thread on a message board?
We don't really have to settle tho. 18K was the official attendance figure. That's the figure the NCAA uses when they determine how many people are at these events.
On this board? With most threads it turns into an argument about Cal. Some posters try to actually provide relevant discussion.
It isn't rocket science that there are a variety of reasons people don't go to sporting events, even at UK.
its a value proposition
the product on the floor isn't worth the cost associated with it.
But....
if we were playing North Carolina at Rupp, it would be a sell out with every seat filled.
I get that we can't schedule highly ranked teams to play at Rupp for every game.
But there is no reason why we can't schedule games of interest to fans.
This is just an example of teams that I associate with being strong basketball programs but not powerhouses , I'm sure there are others -give me a schedule where we see Murray St, Indiana, Notre Dame, Creighton and St. Johns. Every team I just mentioned, a good UK team should beat, yet fans would be excited to see (and yea, I'm sure someone will say I don't give a you know what about seeing them play whoever I listed) but you don't have to schedule powerhouses, just teams that people can identify with. Certainly you can schedule a handful of Mt. Saint Mary types in the mix.
UK fans aren't proud of the idea their team has to schedule no name programs in order to rack up wins and learn to play ball. That isn't what UK basketball is about and if that is all you're getting, its a recipe for fan disinterest.
Another thing is I don't think we should ever compare college football to college basketball.
Football has always been way more popular.
The fact that UK is selling out football now is just a testament to Stoops and the success that team has had in recent years when for so long they were absolutely awful.
It doesn't surprise me attendance for UK football is taking off.
Football has always been way more popular.
The fact that UK is selling out football now is just a testament to Stoops and the success that team has had in recent years when for so long they were absolutely awful.
It doesn't surprise me attendance for UK football is taking off.
Yet I'd bet the house nearly all of them are watching on TV. So they aren't disinterested, they just don't feel like going, don't have the time for it, money, etc. People's heads are buried in devices now. The experience of going to events like a UK game on Tuesday night isn't what it once was.
I can tell you this, if I lived in Lex I would have season tickets and go to every game I could.
Also, sans a handful of seasons our OOC Rupp schedule has never been some juggernaut.
Yeah I agree with this. This is the one gripe I have with the schedule.
You don't even need to schedule Kansas, Duke, Gonzaga etc etc. Maybe a home and home with two big time schools. TBF tho we did have something with Michigan that got shelved. But have home games that are somewhat interesting. Instead of teams in the 200s, schedule some interesting teams in the 100s. Honestly........even Ohio for that matter. That might not excite people but it's a fringe top 100 team. We should still win the game but it's definitely more exciting than say Mt St Marys or Robert Morris.
The scheduling of the 200s/300s ranked teams doesn't nothing to excite a fanbase and also does very little in helping our NET figures and helping our seeding. It only benefits the little schools coming into Rupp and getting a nice payday from it.
your avatar doesn't lead me to believe you're serious about providing relevant discussion
Not sure how you replied to Cawood. My avatar is a joke....the term "sunshine pumper" might be the stupidest thing ever...thought it was fitting.
Tubby actually did a nice job scheduling some more mid-level (not sub-200s) teams for the home schedule. It's one of the reasons Tubby's teams were almost always so highly regarded by the RPI.
To me tho this is always going to be balancing act between pleasing the fans and doing what is best for the team going foward.
Fans obviously want big time matches at Rupp.
The tournament is played on a neutral floor. Playing tough neutral site games has importance as well I believe.
It's about balancing the two.
Fans obviously want big time matches at Rupp.
The tournament is played on a neutral floor. Playing tough neutral site games has importance as well I believe.
It's about balancing the two.
And so is mine. My avatar is a joke. I provide plenty of relevant detail to this board besides griping about our program.
I like the neutral site games too, just not at the expense of the home schedule. Honestly for me it would just take one more really good home and home on the schedule along with replacing some of the 200+ level teams with 75-125 level teams.
And then you have the added fact that NET plays a role in seeding now and the neutral/road games should you get victories in them count more than a home win vs those same teams.
So that incites schools to schedule more neutral site games naturally.
So that incites schools to schedule more neutral site games naturally.
So is every team in America at every sport watering down their schedule? Sure you would have a few games with full house if you play the marquee games like mentioned. Attendance is down everywhere.
How much has it helped our seeding in the last 5 years? shrug
" learn to play ball " a sad accurate observation of just not UK hoops but college hoops in general. Its starting to be a mediocre product. The officials suck , too many players are just wanting to cash in . The good ole days are gone . Like when team meant something , the name on the front of the jersey actually meant everything. Blast me . obviously I dont care .
and the scheduling wasn't justified in "this is what it takes to get to the final four"
it was actually the opposite, we aren't getting to the final four, we need an easier schedule
and it hasn't resulted in a Final Four in March, only disinterested fans in December
I don't know. I mean in 17 and 19 we were 2 seeds. We were a projected 3 or 4 in 2020.
The bottom line with that is if your not good then there's no amount of scheduling that's going to help. We didn't have a good team in 2018. Last year same obviously.
But yeah I mean I totally get it. I'm about 2 hrs and a half from Lexington. I go to maybe 2 or 3 games a year along with BBM and Blue White game. Would I love to see more big time matchups at Rupp? Of course. Would I go more? Sure.
I do understand it from the team's perspective as well tho.
Okay. You think we couldn't have gotten 2 seeds or a 3/4 seed if we had another good home game in there? I guess my point is that sounds good on paper(what you said about how it affects seeding), but I don't believe it has for us. It's not like we've been out there stacking up 1 seeds lately.
I would ask, was Alabama, Indiana, Boston College, Oklahoma - selling out games 10 years ago?
Yea, I guess its valid to talk about sport attendance being down across many colleges, but 98% of those colleges weren't selling out year after year to begin with.
We're talking about a program that had waiting lists for tickets to games and now has reduced the size of its arena and has to talk about ticket sales versus butts in seats to promote higher numbers.
I fully expect fan attendance to be relatively strong (compared to really I don't know what) as long as this team is thumping on cupcakes. A few close games or an embarrassing loss and that attendance becomes much riskier
and I don't think I'm suggesting marquee games, I'm just suggesting games the fans would have interest in.
I think most people will agree, the key to higher attendance at Rupp is better opponents. The question is why isn't that happening.
Who knows. What if that game was a home game instead of a neutral game and we lost it? Or even if we won it, it wouldn't have counted as much as if it had been on the road or neutral court
In the grand scheme of things would it have moved us down a seed line? Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows.
But based on what people are saying.........it's not just "another good home game in there"...........it seems to be way more than that.
I don't know the good balance between the two. I just know having 100% of the big games at home isn't good and having 100% of them on neutral courts isn't good either. Is it 50/50.........is it 75/25 one way or the other......I dunno.
This year we have I'd argue five big OOC games..........Duke, Kansas, Notre Dame, Ohio St and UL. One of those is home, two away and two on a neutral court. The following year we'd have I guess two of those big games at home.
Another thing we have to remember is some of this stuff isn't in our control. The Champions Classic will always be on a neutral court. The CBS event with UNC and Ohio St will always be neutral court. The SEC/Big 12 challenge will always alternate home/away. You got UL already locked in. So there's also a little bit of room for even scheduling these home and home series. We had plans with Michigan which would have been another big home game down the line
There's also the factor of the increased number of games being played in the conference. So we only have 13 OOC games scheduled. If all of the above are locked in..........well they aren't going to schedule 10 of 13 games vs say power conference schools either
I would keep playing the CC, then get UNC back on the home and home schedule. I wouldn't care if that meant getting out of the CBS thing. How many years are left on it?
Yeah I would like that. Just go back to the home/home with UNC and do away with that event. That would certainly help. Maybe make sure that the time we have UL away that we have UNC at home to balance things out a bit.
I'd say keep the Champions Classic. The SEC/Big 12 thing I'm not anyone can do anything about that. Tho who knows in the future what the Big 12 is even going to look like so maybe that opens things up.
Although it doesn't interest me as much as some others maybe renew the IU series and have another home/home. I'd personally like to us play some teams we haven't seen and played in awhile.
That is the big difference with the schedule imo. I do miss that game and could care less about CBS deal.
Anyone that chooses to do so, can look back and review this thread. You reference kneeling several times. It is the theme to many of your posts in most threads. You are like Michael Scott of The Office, "you just start talking and dont know where you are going" and dont remember what was said..
You say, " do not assume you know things about me".
The only thing I know about you is that you talk about kneeling a lot and you do not like Cal. That about covers it. I dont care to know more. You are not very interesting.
certainly drumming up local interest would help
UC, Dayton, Eastern Ky, NKU, , I said Murray St, already, Belmont....
I always wanted a 4 team invitational with UC/UL/IU and Notre Dame
UC, Dayton, Eastern Ky, NKU, , I said Murray St, already, Belmont....
I always wanted a 4 team invitational with UC/UL/IU and Notre Dame