Attendance

Eric said:
I don’t think those that are questioning the attendance would be satisfied with consistently being 12-15k. Think they are looking for 16-18k minimum.
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Yeah I think that's something -- assuming everything goes to Pitino's plan -- could only be expected in years 3-5
 
Rick has resurrected our once proud program.
Hopefully momentum was not derailed from early season losses causing lower attendance numbers. Reasonable consensus had this team gelling late Jan/early Feb. Honestly we may be ahead of schedule. This team deserves full support. It sucks that I’m 1600 miles away, but I have seen 4 games in person (3 in Charleston 😀) and watching Pitino on the sidelines alone is worth the price of admission.

Now let’s beat PC tonight!
 
Post COVID in NYC is a different world. Pre-COVID, SJU fans commuting into the city would already be in NYC and waltz over to the Garden to watch a game. Now with most people working from home, it's a struggle get up struggle with the commute into the city........especially in inclement weather. Otherwise, I think you'd see the !5K fans vs the 10K-12K.
 
paultzman said:
Last comment on attendance:

Would Nova sell out most MSG games if they were NY based program with their championships?

Interesting they moved away from playing many BE games from Wells Fargo Arena where did not always sell out to play in 7,000 seat campus arena? Not NYC, but a large city w a ton of sports fans.

Just theorizing that selling out large arenas not easy unless stellar teams like Duke, UConn, etc are in the opponent mix.
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Very valid points but when it comes to Nova going fewer times to Wells Fargo I believe the goal of that is to play regional games at Wells Fargo for the Tournament. If they play under a certain number then they can play there, and Wells Fargo I believe just started hosting recently.

Of course this made a lot more sense a few years ago when they were a one seed and not today. Having home court advantage for the NCAAT those days would've been huge, but today they struggle to make the Tournament. Maybe they revisit that.

Regardless the trend is pretty clear with moving towards smaller venues and higher ticket prices. People today have far more entertainment options than ever before and it's very difficult to get 20K to show up, especially consistently, for 99% of D1 teams.

Have to be both patient and realistic for St. John's. Even if we one day win a National Championship half the city may not notice or care, but there's still a LOT of basketball fans and dormant St. John's fans that can improve attendance significantly if we win consistently. We're not there yet, but on the right path.
 
I realize that most other big east schools dwarf SJU when it comes to attendance but nobody mentions the cost of the tickets. That may be a big part of the reason.
 
Wells Fargo arena is also 20 miles from Villanova + not much of a history of being there, so its a distinctly different commute/context than NYC to MSG. But it's an interesting point to raise.
 
dk423 said:
Wells Fargo arena is also 20 miles from Villanova + not much of a history of being there, so its a distinctly different commute/context than NYC to MSG. But it's an interesting point to raise.
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Honestly Nova to Wells Fargo Center by car is around the same trip as SJU to MSG by car/public transit. If not shorter
 
ADORAZ said:
Very valid points but when it comes to Nova going fewer times to Wells Fargo I believe the goal of that is to play regional games at Wells Fargo for the Tournament. If they play under a certain number then they can play there, and Wells Fargo I believe just started hosting recently.

Of course this made a lot more sense a few years ago when they were a one seed and not today. Having home court advantage for the NCAAT those days would've been huge, but today they struggle to make the Tournament. Maybe they revisit that.

Regardless the trend is pretty clear with moving towards smaller venues and higher ticket prices. People today have far more entertainment options than ever before and it's very difficult to get 20K to show up, especially consistently, for 99% of D1 teams.

Have to be both patient and realistic for St. John's. Even if we one day win a National Championship half the city may not notice or care, but there's still a LOT of basketball fans and dormant St. John's fans that can improve attendance significantly if we win consistently. We're not there yet, but on the right path.
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Here's the source:

The top-ranked team in the country for several weeks this season, Villanova deliberately played fewer than its usual allotment of games at Wells Fargo Center, the Philadelphia 76ers’ home court, to remain eligible to play there in a tournament regional. A Big East championship would have almost certainly handed the Wildcats a No. 1 seed and, this week, a short bus ride into Philadelphia.

Instead, they lost the conference tournament final to Seton Hall and were slotted into the South Region.

www.nytimes.com

Potent From Long Distances, Villanova Takes a Big Step (Published 2016)

Ryan Arcidiacono and Kris Jenkins each scored 21 points, and the Wildcats made 10 3-pointers to rout Miami and clinch their first appearance in a regional final since 2009.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Still doesn't take away from teams moving into smaller values and raising ticket prices, and clearly Nova believes the lost ticket revenue from fewer Wells Fargo games isn't too important. Not as important as gambling for home court advantage in the NCAAT- a very tough task to achieve.
 
There was a great student section for the Michigan game. Under both baskets with overflow into the adjoining sections. The kids will come. Bar hop and head inside. They won’t be there early, but they show up
 
paultzman said:
Reaching casual fans in NYC area is key as you noted.

I chuckle when there is aggressive posting here about attending games. Blowing off steam is fine, but many RM posters do attend, many live in other states and our total readers and posters is not huge enough number to move needle anyway.

“No excuses” mantra seems flawed and better applied to financial support of the program. Just my two cents and realize the basis of exhorting fans to attend games is steeped in good intention.
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Agree completely on exhorting fans to attend, it is the tenor of some of those posts that I, for one, obviously take umbrage with; i.e. the inference one needs to validate being a “diehard” by attending, but especially the “no excuses” nonsense.
But, full disclosure, I just hate when people feel they can tell other people what they should be doing, regardless of subject; a flaw or strength in my personality, depending on how you look at it.
 
I don’t have access today but will post the link to every program in the country tomorrow. I don’t think there were 15 programs out of 351 that averaged over 15,000. Unverified comments that all the other Big East programs sell out all the time does not match the data. And some that do play in Arenas of about 10,000.

The year that SJU went to the Final Four they played a total of two home games at MSG. Georgetown and Syracuse. And yes both were sellouts. SJU also was at MSG for the Holiday Festival and I’m sure they sold plenty of tickets but I am also sure the other teams did. And as someone who attended those two games guess what? Georgetown and Syracuse sold plenty of tickets to those games. In other words, as someone who never set foot on the campus until 1990, MSG games were special events against premier programs. Who also sold tickets. Not a slate of solid games. I’m sure the UConn game will sell.

If Pitino gets the SJU brand to a point where there is a sea of red in a 19,000 seat arena eight to ten times a year it will be historic. Because I go back to the mid-70s and it has never occurred.

It would be cool if he did but not something I’m stressing about either.
 
I looked just now. St. John's @ Creighton is not sold out. Their non-resale price cheap ticket to get in is $22, and their cheapest resale price to get in is $6. Obviously Omaha is very different expenses-wise, but that's a huge difference.
 
IDRAFT said:
I don’t have access today but will post the link to every program in the country tomorrow. I don’t think there were 15 programs out of 351 that averaged over 15,000. Unverified comments that all the other Big East programs sell out all the time does not match the data. And some that do play in Arenas of about 10,000.

The year that SJU went to the Final Four they played a total of two home games at MSG. Georgetown and Syracuse. And yes both were sellouts. SJU also was at MSG for the Holiday Festival and I’m sure they sold plenty of tickets but I am also sure the other teams did. And as someone who attended those two games guess what? Georgetown and Syracuse sold plenty of tickets to those games. In other words, as someone who never set foot on the campus until 1990, MSG games were special events against premier programs. Who also sold tickets. Not a slate of solid games. I’m sure the UConn game will sell.

If Pitino gets the SJU brand to a point where there is a sea of red in a 19,000 seat arena eight to ten times a year it will be historic. Because I go back to the mid-70s and it has never occurred.

It would be cool if he did but not something I’m stressing about either.
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Brilliant post
 
monte said:
I think 12-15k for the PC type teams, and 15-18k for the UCONNs and Novas is a reasonable expectation.
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Although right after the nova win I posted let’s get 15-17 k for this game, I agree with your numbers overall.
 
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