Attendance 2012-13 season

[valporun]

I agree with wh, I hope the OOC is MUCH better than the last few years, but going to hope the schedule brings out the fans, because we don't know enough about the depth of our roster, in terms of starters vs. first guy(s) off the bench, and how certain players will adapt to new roles in scoring, defense, position, plus the transfers that we don't know enough about in Chadwick and Carter in terms of what they can do after a year away from the court, and when Carter becomes eligible where he'll fit into the rotation. Like I said, I hope the schedule influences the November/December attendance, as we have too many question marks to be certain that this team will bring out the fans right away.

[a3uge]

Actually, there seems to be reason for some optimism here.  Last season's conference regular season avg. was the 2nd highest since we joined the HL, and that was without Butler to inflate the numbers. This tells me that fan interest is there when we're competitive and the games are meaningful.  It was the OOC attendance average that was dreadful, which makes sense when you consider how really bad our home OOC home line-up was. With this year's OOC home schedule projected to be MUCH better, hopefully OOC attendance will follow suit.

I totally 100% agree with you, and this isn't something I found out until I started crunching these numbers. Our top attended OOC games was Georgia Southern last year. This year Valpo might finish .500 in conference, but I bet the attendance records will be better coming off a NCAA tourney birth, even with regular season games. Since we entered the Horizon, the previous years finishes have predicted an increase or decrease in attendance. When the finish is worse than the previous year, the attendance gets worse the NEXT year. When the finish is better than the previous year, the attendance gets better the NEXT year. Replacing Loyola with Oakland should also help slightly, since I bet a lot of people will want to see the new team coming in (this happened with other HL teams in 2007-2008 season when Valpo joined).

[valporun]

a3uge, not only will be the Oakland game have big attendance numbers because they are a new HL team, but a lot of the alums will remember our games against them in the Mid-Con, plus they like Greg Kampe as a person and a coach. Just ask STLVUfan about Greg Kampe.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Thanks for crunching those numbers, a3.  good to see.

[bbtds]

Anytime I've seen Calihan Hall, whether on tv or HLN, it seemed that no one was really sitting floor level either. Even the game against Valpo at Calihan Hall didn't have a ton of fans sitting at floor level, or it's how the camera angle is positioned there that skews the look, but it just seems that Calihan Hall is a problem that Detroit needs to consider fixing, maybe ala Loyola or Chicago State arena setups?

Calihan Hall is fine for the purposes of the Titans and the Horizon League. I've attended 2 games at Calihan and sat in the seating on the floor twice. They just don't attract a lot of fans whatever the reason may be.

[blackpantheruwm]

Uh, we have almost always had weak OOC home games...I remember Belmont several times (before they were good), UNC-Wilmington during a poor season for them, UW-Milwaukee, etc.  The only decent home game we had in my time at VU was the Purdue game where Berdiel tripped over himself to effectively end the game.

Ummm, if you're thinking of the 2004-05 season when we came down there, that was the year we went to the Sweet Sixteen.

[blackpantheruwm]

Anytime I've seen Calihan Hall, whether on tv or HLN, it seemed that no one was really sitting floor level either. Even the game against Valpo at Calihan Hall didn't have a ton of fans sitting at floor level, or it's how the camera angle is positioned there that skews the look, but it just seems that Calihan Hall is a problem that Detroit needs to consider fixing, maybe ala Loyola or Chicago State arena setups?

Calihan Hall is fine for the purposes of the Titans and the Horizon League. I've attended 2 games at Calihan and sat in the seating on the floor twice. They just don't attract a lot of fans whatever the reason may be.

Roughly 90% of college sports fans are white. Once you know that fact, you realize that the unfortunate truth is a lot of Greater Detroit's white college basketball fans are probably too nervous to attend Detroit Titans games.

[vu72]

Anytime I've seen Calihan Hall, whether on tv or HLN, it seemed that no one was really sitting floor level either. Even the game against Valpo at Calihan Hall didn't have a ton of fans sitting at floor level, or it's how the camera angle is positioned there that skews the look, but it just seems that Calihan Hall is a problem that Detroit needs to consider fixing, maybe ala Loyola or Chicago State arena setups?

Calihan Hall is fine for the purposes of the Titans and the Horizon League. I've attended 2 games at Calihan and sat in the seating on the floor twice. They just don't attract a lot of fans whatever the reason may be.

Roughly 90% of college sports fans are white. Once you know that fact, you realize that the unfortunate truth is a lot of Greater Detroit's white college basketball fans are probably too nervous to attend Detroit Titans games.

is it in a bad part of town?  How bad?

[Big D]

is it in a bad part of town?  How bad?

It's a dump.  That is the main reason Detroit fans are so worried about Oakland.  Oakland is located in the nice suburbs while Detroit is located just outside of some pretty sketchy areas.

[valpotx]

Uh, we have almost always had weak OOC home games...I remember Belmont several times (before they were good), UNC-Wilmington during a poor season for them, UW-Milwaukee, etc.  The only decent home game we had in my time at VU was the Purdue game where Berdiel tripped over himself to effectively end the game.

Ummm, if you're thinking of the 2004-05 season when we came down there, that was the year we went to the Sweet Sixteen.

I was at Valpo from 1999-2000 to 2003-2004.  The game I am remembering we won 82-69 in 2001-2002.  The past schedules say that we also played you at home in 2003-2004, losing 86-82.  Regardless, my point was that UW-Milwaukee was not a draw at the box office, yet we still filled the stands for each game.

[valpo64]

Never been to the UDM  campus but I can tell you that the Oakland campus is beautiful.  It wasn't too many years ago that OU was a community school but next year they will open several new dorms that will house  several thousand students .   Now they also  have a new medical school.  I believe  they also have one or two golf courses, one of which just held a Michigan state wide tournament.  It is quite a large school.  I'm sure it will put a lot of pressure on UDM in many different ways, in both areas of sports and academics, and finances to support those programs.

[vu72]

Interesting in that I wonder how UD will survive givern the situation.  US News reprts their endowment at only $25 million.  Not much staying power.  Their former President is now a VP at Valpo.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I wonder how UD will survive givern the situation.

the same way they always do!!! (it's ok because i'm a native of The D:)

The Office - I declare bankruptcy! Michael Scott

[valpospartan]

Never been to the UDM  campus but I can tell you that the Oakland campus is beautiful.  It wasn't too many years ago that OU was a community school but next year they will open several new dorms that will house  several thousand students .   Now they also  have a new medical school.  I believe  they also have one or two golf courses, one of which just held a Michigan state wide tournament.  It is quite a large school.  I'm sure it will put a lot of pressure on UDM in many different ways, in both areas of sports and academics, and finances to support those programs.

Actually,Oakland started out as Michigan State-Oakland in 1959.

[agibson]

Wild.  I'd forgotten they were even public.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_University