2018-19 Attendance

As someone else said, we are only 8-7 and we are enjoying top notch attendance. Just imagine if we started making more routine appearances in the top 25 and making a few Sweet 16's. We could then start to recruit 5 star kids without being the 300 lb whale trying to nail a supermodel. We'd be John Stamos instead then.
 
Agreed on recognizing additional players.

I believe attendance is based on tickets sold not people who walk through turnstiles. There have been a few games called "Sellouts" where the upper corners at carnesecca where numerous seats were open.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=325969]As someone else said, we are only 8-7 and we are enjoying top notch attendance. Just imagine if we started making more routine appearances in the top 25 and making a few Sweet 16's. We could then start to recruit 5 star kids without being the 300 lb whale trying to nail a supermodel. We'd be John Stamos instead then.[/quote]

Creighton is top 5 in the country regardless of how they perform.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=325965]Been attending since Mullin era and must say the atmosphere at both arenas has been super & enjoyable. Winning is right tonic.

Side bar comment, as many have said, I would like to see SJU take the time to recognize presence of past players at games as often as possible. Nova btw, does excellent job in this regard and also utilizes social media equally well to do so.[/quote]

Yes instead of showing Victor Cruz show Mo Diakitie please
 
[quote="Marillac" post=325971][quote="Mike Zaun" post=325969]As someone else said, we are only 8-7 and we are enjoying top notch attendance. Just imagine if we started making more routine appearances in the top 25 and making a few Sweet 16's. We could then start to recruit 5 star kids without being the 300 lb whale trying to nail a supermodel. We'd be John Stamos instead then.[/quote]

Creighton is top 5 in the country regardless of how they perform.[/quote]

That's because the only other thing to do there is cow tipping. I know Omaha is a big city, but not anywhere near our standards. Hell, I went to Nashville last year for the first time and you could see the entire city in 1 full day. It's really just a few blocks or so. NYC is totally different...if you can draw here with all the other options, you've made it.
 
[quote="Moose" post=325972][quote="Paultzman" post=325965]Been attending since Mullin era and must say the atmosphere at both arenas has been super & enjoyable. Winning is right tonic.

Side bar comment, as many have said, I would like to see SJU take the time to recognize presence of past players at games as often as possible. Nova btw, does excellent job in this regard and also utilizes social media equally well to do so.[/quote]

Yes instead of showing Victor Cruz show Mo Diakitie please[/quote]

After sending Mike Cragg an email re this suggestion, happy to say he responded within minutes in a very positive manner. That is refreshing and reflective of his professionalism. So fortunate to have him at the helm.
 
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[quote="Mike Zaun" post=325974][quote="Marillac" post=325971][quote="Mike Zaun" post=325969]As someone else said, we are only 8-7 and we are enjoying top notch attendance. Just imagine if we started making more routine appearances in the top 25 and making a few Sweet 16's. We could then start to recruit 5 star kids without being the 300 lb whale trying to nail a supermodel. We'd be John Stamos instead then.[/quote]

Creighton is top 5 in the country regardless of how they perform.[/quote]

That's because the only other thing to do there is cow tipping. I know Omaha is a big city, but not anywhere near our standards. Hell, I went to Nashville last year for the first time and you could see the entire city in 1 full day. It's really just a few blocks or so. NYC is totally different...if you can draw here with all the other options, you've made it.[/quote]

Nashville is one of the most fun cities in the country so that was a poor example. You can see all the big spots of NYC in a day (or two) as well.

I don’t buy the only show in town excuse in 2019. Omaha has Netflix, YouTube, video games, movie theaters, the the same concerts, good restaraunts, etc. How many broadway shows do you and your buddies go to?

The chasm between the NBA and college ball is growing exponentially. I haven’t watched a regular season basketball game in years. I’ve turned down free seats multiple times over that span and can’t imagine paying to see a game. I know there are plenty of people that feel the same.
 
[quote="Paultzman" post=325965]Been attending since Mullin era and must say the atmosphere at both arenas has been super & enjoyable. Winning is right tonic.

Side bar comment, as many have said, I would like to see SJU take the time to recognize presence of past players at games as often as possible. Nova btw, does excellent job in this regard and also utilizes social media equally well to do so.[/quote]

Our CA fans, who were criticized for sitting on their hands for years - even during good seasons - have been loud all season, if not raucous. At the SHU game the crowd was heavily St. John's red despite SHU being right across the river.

It's clear to everyone how I feel about Nova, but Nova even has honored Steve Lappas, who was fired to make way for Jay Wright. They are classy in just about every way, and I know this personally as well as anyone.
 
Good to hear from Beast. Go Nova, Beast; it only helps the Conference with them at the top of the heap. Maybe soon we will be there too. I wish a few more BE teams excelled this year (except The Friars and Cooley!).

I hope lots and lots of Johnny fans show up for the BET too!
 
They finally recognized Marcus Hatten at the Xavier game a few weeks ago. He has been at a few games this year and they have not recognized him once until then.

Hopefully the fans show up in full force for the Big East Tournament. Making it a home court field would be quiet helpful to their chances. And I think it would be good for recruiting and our brand if we own the building as a lot of eyes are always on the big east tournament.
 
[quote="Marillac" post=325978][quote="Mike Zaun" post=325974][quote="Marillac" post=325971][quote="Mike Zaun" post=325969]As someone else said, we are only 8-7 and we are enjoying top notch attendance. Just imagine if we started making more routine appearances in the top 25 and making a few Sweet 16's. We could then start to recruit 5 star kids without being the 300 lb whale trying to nail a supermodel. We'd be John Stamos instead then.[/quote]

Creighton is top 5 in the country regardless of how they perform.[/quote]

That's because the only other thing to do there is cow tipping. I know Omaha is a big city, but not anywhere near our standards. Hell, I went to Nashville last year for the first time and you could see the entire city in 1 full day. It's really just a few blocks or so. NYC is totally different...if you can draw here with all the other options, you've made it.[/quote]

Nashville is one of the most fun cities in the country so that was a poor example. You can see all the big spots of NYC in a day (or two) as well.

I don’t buy the only show in town excuse in 2019. Omaha has Netflix, YouTube, video games, movie theaters, the the same concerts, good restaurants, etc. How many broadway shows do you and your buddies go to?

The chasm between the NBA and college ball is growing exponentially. I haven’t watched a regular season basketball game in years. I’ve turned down free seats multiple times over that span and can’t imagine paying to see a game. I know there are plenty of people that feel the same.[/quote]

Disagree, Marillac. Omaha has limited winter sporting venues after football, and Creighton is primary with a large following relative to the population there. Omaha's population is about 450,000, and they can fill a 17,000 seat arena for Creighton basketball. Then again, on any given night what else is there to do? Think about this. At a typical Creighton game, (by population alone) one in 27 Omaha residents are at a home game. Of course they draw from a wider area, but you get the point.

My daughter's freshman roommate was a girl from south of Pittsburgh who was astounded to learn Broadway was every night and there were a large number of theatres with productions at the same time. Fairly large cities have limited cultural arts and insofar as theatre rely on national touring companies for limited run productions in one or two theatres in town. A single music concerts may be the only thing going on that night in a smaller city.

We have three hockey teams, two professional basketball teams, two baseball teams, two football teams, and many college teams playing D1 sports in the metro area. Of course, people have much greater choices.

At Creighton, fans support bad teams by still selling out. Here they won't. Even our most ardent fans sometimes don't buy tickets for mediocre SJU teams.
 
While I also love college basketball and much prefer it over the NBA (still watch the NBA sometimes), it is not accurate that the NBA is in any way becoming less popular. Attendance has held steady at about 22 million for past 4 years a bit of an increase over prior years and for 2018-2019 half the teams are drawing at 95% or more of capacity and 21 of 30 at 90% or above.
If the Knicks are lucky enough to get Zion and a couple of big free agents and become a playoff team, they will once again own NY during basketball season. Doesn't mean Johnnies couldn't continue to get great press and attendance, but NY is a pro town and don't see that changing.
Much different here in North Carolina where college basketball is king during basketball season and probably always will be.
 
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I think the figures were fueled by multiple factors. A random list, in no particular order:

- Ponds is not only an excellent player but a highly entertaining player, and a local star. Shamorie creates buzz with fans.

- The Mullin factor. This whole thing is a business for the University and Mullin was not hired because he had a tremendous coaching resume. He was hired because all things being equal (that being key) a Mullin-led team will generate more publicity and gnerate more interest than any other coach that could have been hired. A big risk, and the downside has been discussed here incessently, but the upside exists and has been on display this year. In case it was too subtle above, I will reitereate that winning will always generate more business than losing, but I firmly beleive that winning with Chris Mullin resonates with the casual NYC basketball fan more than almost anyone else who could be coaching the team.

- The 12-0 start. The schedule has been discussed plenty here, and as this forum is made up of hardcore SJU supporters who follow college basketball very closely the start was mostly waved off as a big nothingburger. As someone who posts here but has not relocated, I can't rememeber the last time I had friends asking me about SJU basketball (as they know I am a big fan) this much over the Holiday season. Twenty years? The undefeated November and December might not have any bearing on the NCAA tournament process but it got folks attention in NYC and early enough to focus them on buying tickets for games the rest of the way. This is not a defense of the schedule, as a season ticket holder I was personally disappointed that there was not at least one more marque OOC game at MSG. But since the team did run the table, and most people are not checking opponents NET rankings daily I think it was a happy accident that helped with attendence this time. I'm pleased Cragg is working on making the schedule better in the future as I don't think it is the way to go on an annual basis.

- Less games at MSG. It stands to reason that there are plenty of fans who do not want to attend on campus for reasons that get stated here all the time. With only five MSG games those fans had less games to pick from which helps the per-game average. This years MSG games were also all weekend games this year. Not advocating for an annual limit of five, but I do think there is a balance that the school needs to monitor, based on the ongoing level of success of the program.

- Cragg. There is plenty of evidence he is working hard. A real AD matters.
 
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[quote="IDRAFT" post=325997]I think the figures were fueled by multiple factors. A random list, in no particular order:

- Ponds is not only an excellent player but a highly entertaining player, and a local star. Shamorie creates buzz with fans.

- The Mullin factor. This whole thing is a business for the University and Mullin was not hired because he had a tremendous coaching resume. He was hired because all things being equal (that being key) a Mullin-led team will generate more publicity and gnerate more interest than any other coach that could have been hired. A big risk, and the downside has been discussed here incessently, but the upside exists and has been on display this year. In case it was too subtle above, I will reitereate that winning will always generate more business than losing, but I firmly beleive that winning with Chris Mullin resonates with the casual NYC basketball fan more than almost anyone else who could be coaching the team.

- The 12-0 start. The schedule has been discussed plenty here, and as this forum is made up of hardcore SJU supporters who follow college basketball very closely the start was mostly waved off as a big nothingburger. As someone who posts here but has not relocated, I can't rememeber the last time I had friends asking me about SJU basketball (as they know I am a big fan) this much over the Holiday season. Twenty years? The undefeated November and December might not have any bearing on the NCAA tournament process but it got folks attention in NYC and early enough to focus them on buying tickets for games the rest of the way. This is not a defense of the schedule, as a season ticket holder I was personally disappointed that there was not at least one more marque OOC game at MSG. But since the team did run the table, and most people are not checking opponents NET rankings daily I think it was a happy accident that helped with attendence this time. I'm pleased Cragg is working on making the schedule better in the future as I don't think it is the way to go on an annual basis.

- Less games at MSG. It stands to reason that there are plenty of fans who do not want to attend on campus for reasons that get stated here all the time. With only five MSG games those fans had less games to pick from which helps the per-game average. This years MSG games were also all weekend games this year. Not advocating for an annual limit of five, but I do think there is a balance that the school needs to monitor, based on the ongoing level of success of the program.

- Cragg. There is plenty of evidence he is working hard. A real AD matters.[/quote]

1. Ponds IS exciting to watch, electric at times.

2. Mullin was hired largely because we tried everything else - the loyal assistant, the gym rat who pisses people off, the distinguished (first for us) minority coach (who turned out to be a rat), the smooth talking nice guy (who was a gigantic mistake from the get go), and the silver tongued high priced guy with a stained resume. Mullin was not considered a PR move, but moreso a guy we could count on to do his best personally, who had no other career aspirations, and a guy universally revered here. If it works out it's a home run without all the baggage others brought.

3. OOC - negligible impact. If anything weaker opponents draw worse and do not pad attendance

4. MSG - weekend games do draw well, but so do 7 pm starts. The LIRR was jammed on game days going home. The 830 MSG starts are a killer. No one wants to hang in the city waiting for one, and then taking an 1140 pm train home.

5. Cragg . no way. I love the guy but he came in too late to impact attendance. Many fans have no idea who he is. He appears to be a fantastic hire who will make a huge impact, but aside from being a great comunicator and initiating feasibility studies on CA expansion, I can't really point to a huge accomplishment just yet. The mere fact that we have a competent AD is overwhelming to us, but let's not get carried away and think any inititative of his has put fannies in seats.
 
[quote="IDRAFT" post=325997]I think the figures were fueled by multiple factors. A random list, in no particular order:

- Ponds is not only an excellent player but a highly entertaining player, and a local star. Shamorie creates buzz with fans.

- The Mullin factor. This whole thing is a business for the University and Mullin was not hired because he had a tremendous coaching resume. He was hired because all things being equal (that being key) a Mullin-led team will generate more publicity and gnerate more interest than any other coach that could have been hired. A big risk, and the downside has been discussed here incessently, but the upside exists and has been on display this year. In case it was too subtle above, I will reitereate that winning will always generate more business than losing, but I firmly beleive that winning with Chris Mullin resonates with the casual NYC basketball fan more than almost anyone else who could be coaching the team.

- The 12-0 start. The schedule has been discussed plenty here, and as this forum is made up of hardcore SJU supporters who follow college basketball very closely the start was mostly waved off as a big nothingburger. As someone who posts here but has not relocated, I can't rememeber the last time I had friends asking me about SJU basketball (as they know I am a big fan) this much over the Holiday season. Twenty years? The undefeated November and December might not have any bearing on the NCAA tournament process but it got folks attention in NYC and early enough to focus them on buying tickets for games the rest of the way. This is not a defense of the schedule, as a season ticket holder I was personally disappointed that there was not at least one more marque OOC game at MSG. But since the team did run the table, and most people are not checking opponents NET rankings daily I think it was a happy accident that helped with attendence this time. I'm pleased Cragg is working on making the schedule better in the future as I don't think it is the way to go on an annual basis.

- Less games at MSG. It stands to reason that there are plenty of fans who do not want to attend on campus for reasons that get stated here all the time. With only five MSG games those fans had less games to pick from which helps the per-game average. This years MSG games were also all weekend games this year. Not advocating for an annual limit of five, but I do think there is a balance that the school needs to monitor, based on the ongoing level of success of the program.

- Cragg. There is plenty of evidence he is working hard. A real AD matters.[/quote]

I mostly agree. While MSG attendance is excellent, it should be noted that all games have been on weekends, and also we limited our number of games there. Still, I went back and looked at MSG attendance during Lavin's first and last seasons and this year is FAR above either of those two seasons. That includes weekend games. Also, this is the first year in a while where we didn't play an OOC team like Duke or Syracuse at MSG, so that will negatively impact attendance.

I'll just add to your list:
- Providence, Seton Hall, and Villanova significantly raising their profiles since the Lavin years. During the Lavin era, beating Villanova wasn't as big a deal since they hadn't won their two most recent championship yet. Providence and Seton Hall were just starting to return to relevance. Also, Georgetown has raised their profile relative to 2-3 years ago. These teams have managed to replace former rivals like UConn, Pitt and Syracuse in just a few short years.
 
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[quote="Beast of the East" post=326010][quote="IDRAFT" post=325997]I think the figures were fueled by multiple factors. A random list, in no particular order:

- Ponds is not only an excellent player but a highly entertaining player, and a local star. Shamorie creates buzz with fans.

- The Mullin factor. This whole thing is a business for the University and Mullin was not hired because he had a tremendous coaching resume. He was hired because all things being equal (that being key) a Mullin-led team will generate more publicity and gnerate more interest than any other coach that could have been hired. A big risk, and the downside has been discussed here incessently, but the upside exists and has been on display this year. In case it was too subtle above, I will reitereate that winning will always generate more business than losing, but I firmly beleive that winning with Chris Mullin resonates with the casual NYC basketball fan more than almost anyone else who could be coaching the team.

- The 12-0 start. The schedule has been discussed plenty here, and as this forum is made up of hardcore SJU supporters who follow college basketball very closely the start was mostly waved off as a big nothingburger. As someone who posts here but has not relocated, I can't rememeber the last time I had friends asking me about SJU basketball (as they know I am a big fan) this much over the Holiday season. Twenty years? The undefeated November and December might not have any bearing on the NCAA tournament process but it got folks attention in NYC and early enough to focus them on buying tickets for games the rest of the way. This is not a defense of the schedule, as a season ticket holder I was personally disappointed that there was not at least one more marque OOC game at MSG. But since the team did run the table, and most people are not checking opponents NET rankings daily I think it was a happy accident that helped with attendence this time. I'm pleased Cragg is working on making the schedule better in the future as I don't think it is the way to go on an annual basis.

- Less games at MSG. It stands to reason that there are plenty of fans who do not want to attend on campus for reasons that get stated here all the time. With only five MSG games those fans had less games to pick from which helps the per-game average. This years MSG games were also all weekend games this year. Not advocating for an annual limit of five, but I do think there is a balance that the school needs to monitor, based on the ongoing level of success of the program.

- Cragg. There is plenty of evidence he is working hard. A real AD matters.[/quote]

1. Ponds IS exciting to watch, electric at times.

2. Mullin was hired largely because we tried everything else - the loyal assistant, the gym rat who pisses people off, the distinguished (first for us) minority coach (who turned out to be a rat), the smooth talking nice guy (who was a gigantic mistake from the get go), and the silver tongued high priced guy with a stained resume. Mullin was not considered a PR move, but moreso a guy we could count on to do his best personally, who had no other career aspirations, and a guy universally revered here. If it works out it's a home run without all the baggage others brought.

3. OOC - negligible impact. If anything weaker opponents draw worse and do not pad attendance

4. MSG - weekend games do draw well, but so do 7 pm starts. The LIRR was jammed on game days going home. The 830 MSG starts are a killer. No one wants to hang in the city waiting for one, and then taking an 1140 pm train home.

5. Cragg . no way. I love the guy but he came in too late to impact attendance. Many fans have no idea who he is. He appears to be a fantastic hire who will make a huge impact, but aside from being a great comunicator and initiating feasibility studies on CA expansion, I can't really point to a huge accomplishment just yet. The mere fact that we have a competent AD is overwhelming to us, but let's not get carried away and think any inititative of his has put fannies in seats.[/quote]

The only thing I'll say about Cragg is, I give him credit for getting us more press this year than I can remember. Maybe I'm misplacing credit, but I've seen coverage of St John's in outlets I haven't previously seen.
 
With very few exceptions, I've only attended the MSG games over the past few years and the atmosphere has been just fantastic this year. One thing that really stood out to me is that for the Georgetown and Nova games, the number of SJU fans seemed to completely overwhelm theirs. No more Hoya Saxa chants! In years past, that was not the case.

From a selfish point of view, I'd love to have all games played at MSG, but that is probably not realistic at this point in the program's trajectory--especially for weekday starts after 7 pm.. I recall going to weekday Xavier and Butler games at MSG in years past, with poor crowds. If we become a consistent Top 25 team and make a deep run in the NCAA Tourney, that could change. Knicks games are an expensive proposition, especially for families. A competitive SJU team offers great value to sports fans. Win and they will come!
 
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[quote="Room112" post=326033][quote="Beast of the East" post=326010]

5. Cragg . no way. I love the guy but he came in too late to impact attendance. Many fans have no idea who he is. He appears to be a fantastic hire who will make a huge impact, but aside from being a great comunicator and initiating feasibility studies on CA expansion, I can't really point to a huge accomplishment just yet. The mere fact that we have a competent AD is overwhelming to us, but let's not get carried away and think any inititative of his has put fannies in seats.[/quote]

The only thing I'll say about Cragg is, I give him credit for getting us more press this year than I can remember. Maybe I'm misplacing credit, but I've seen coverage of St John's in outlets I haven't previously seen.[/quote]

I think that the attendance is directly related to the new ticket distribution strategy that says a (highly) discounted or even FOC attendee is better than an empty seat and I have no doubt that this is a Cragg initiative. Even if he didn't invent it, and I have no recollection of us discussing it in the past, he definitely seems to be emphasizing and growing it. It has nothing to do with who Cragg is and who knows he exists.
 
PS Sell outs have to do with tickets sold. Attendance are folks through the door. Separate figures. Attendance is what shows in the box score.
 
[quote="austour" post=326036]PS Sell outs have to do with tickets sold. Attendance are folks through the door. Separate figures. Attendance is what shows in the box score.[/quote]
That's not an accurate statement. The box score shows 5602 for all of our sellouts but there are large pockets of seats open in the upper deck corners at CA this year. It is not possible.
 
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