HL attendance numbers

[oklahomamick]

The NCAA attendance figures came out yesterday.  Here's how the HL breaks down. 

Wright St = 4,355
Valpo = 3,572
UIC = 3,166
Oakland = 3,097
Green Bay = 3,029
Milwaukee = 2,667
Northern Ky = 2,296
Detroit = 2,121
YSU = 2,013
CSU = 1,911

www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2016-06-07/mens-basketball-attendance-tops-32-million-10th-straight-year


Valpo is a tough place to play when it's packed.  Ask the NIT guys.

[M]

That's pretty impressive considering the population of our little Mayberry town.

[agibson]

Valpo = 3,572

Which includes all home games, but not the NIT MSG games (or other "neutral" or road games).

Horizon in 13th as a conference.

Not bad for Valpo, hopefully can grow a bit next season, or by a good step if we start well.

Overall, a little disappointing that 3,500 can be second in conference.

[VULB#62]

Interesting that UIC, with a dismal record, outdrew both GB and UWM, which had winning records and GB is the only game in that town.

Also interesting that in its first year in the HL (which should have been an exciting thing for fans) NKU's fairly new 9,000 seat, on campus arena pulled in only ~2,300 per game.

Begs the question of whether upgrading our facilities will make a difference in increased attendance, no?  Perhaps our #2 slot in conference attendance is one reason little has been done to upgrade the ARC (i.e., if it ain't broke, why fit it?)  Just throwing that out..........

[oklahomamick]

I bet if we black topped it and add some LED's we would increase attendance.   

[DMvalpo18]

Valpo = 3,572

Which includes all home games, but not the NIT MSG games (or other "neutral" or road games).

Horizon in 13th as a conference.

Not bad for Valpo, hopefully can grow a bit next season, or by a good step if we start well.

Overall, a little disappointing that 3,500 can be second in conference.

Well consider that 3,500 is a much higher percentage of seats being occupied than Wright State's number. So by percentage, our gym is the most full of any horizon league team each game.

[agibson]

Well consider that 3,500 is a much higher percentage of seats being occupied than Wright State's number. So by percentage, our gym is the most full of any horizon league team each game.

Maybe Oakland beats us on percentage of seats. But, their numbers probably include some non-O'Rena "home" games, so a little hard to say.

We probably look OK in "attendance / population of home town". Not sure about "attendance / population of media market" or similar.

[covufan]

The NCAA attendance figures came out yesterday.  Here's how the HL breaks down. 

Wright St = 4,355
Valpo = 3,572
UIC = 3,166
Oakland = 3,097
Green Bay = 3,029
Milwaukee = 2,667
Northern Ky = 2,296
Detroit = 2,121
YSU = 2,013
CSU = 1,911

www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2016-06-07/mens-basketball-attendance-tops-32-million-10th-straight-year


Valpo is a tough place to play when it's packed.  Ask the NIT guys.

Wright St   4355     10449   41.68%
Valpo    3572      5000   71.44%
UIC            3166      6958   45.50%
Oakland    3097      4005   77.33%
Green Bay    3029      9729   31.13%
Milwaukee    2667    10783   24.73%
No Ky    2296      9400   24.43%
Detroit    2121      8295   25.57%
YSU            2013      6300   31.95%
CSU            1911    13610   14.04%

[agibson]

I wonder what the story is for the O'Rena. Oakland lists it, at least some places (websites, game notes, etc.), at 3,000. Wikipedia has 4,005 on their basketball team entry, but 3,000 on the arena entry. And, they obviously exceed 3,000 for some games.

[DMvalpo18]

Interesting. So I guess we are just behind Oakland then.

[Vale O. Paradise]

Ticket sales are what other conferences probably care most about, so stadium capacity and capacity utilization are important stats. But let's also consider the "enthusiasm factor" -- that is how much support the teams drum up. That must be a factor. I've included a list of schools that show average attendance against student body population. Of course, non-student/staff support (surrounding community) is significant, but it's harder to measure. This is a starting point, at least.

                 attend.     students      %
Wright St    4,355   17,074         26%
Valpo          3,572   4,500          79%
UIC             3,166   27,580        11%
Oakland      3,097    20,519        15%
Green Bay    3,029   6,549           46%
Milwaukee    2,667   30,502          9%
Northern Ky 2,296   15,405          15%
Detroit        2,121   5,700            37%
YSU            2,013   15,058         13%
CSU            1,911   16,418         12%

[oklahomamick]

Valpo    3572      5000   71.44%

Commuter campus, commuter campus, commuter campus

The institutions who we are grouped with and compete against athletically (don't think we compete academically as most in the HL are research universities not liberal arts?) have a lot of adults seeking degrees.  Most adults are there to earn the degree and often have a family at home.  They are not as interested in the campus experience.  I would bet we have a higher percentage of our students involved in Greek live and clubs than our HL partners.  Valpo ranked #1 in one poll for community service.  Also, a higher percentage of our students are athletes and they often support eachother.  All these variables are reasons for a higher participation % by valpo students attending bball games when compared to other HL schools.   

[M]

And to be fair, not all of the 3500 fans in the stands are students.