2018-19 VU Schedule

[wh]

It doesn't matter what another men's basketball program located somewhere else draws. The city of Valparaiso (and immediate vicinity) is a stable, affluent community that has enjoyed steady, planned growth over many years. Valpo has become a small town shopping meca, the downtown has been completely revitalized, business is booming, new restaurants are popping up everywhere and nicer homes are being sold at or above asking price. Residents are shopping and eating out locally, going to the movies, using city parks and walking/jogging trails, congregating in the very cool downtown area, etc., etc. We even have a YMCA that is a dream facility benchmark. Valpo is the most vibrant community in NWI and beyond - by far. Yet, despite the fact that people have money to spend and are looking for ways to spend it, man's basketball attendance continues in a downward spiral. IMO this is just one of many examples in recent years where the university has shown an inability to connect with the community. As both a lifetime community member and longstanding university supporter, I find this situation highly disappointing.

[EddieCabot]

Check out this article about Nevada's non-conference schedule costs last year. It gives numbers for their non-D1 and D1 buy games, as well as for Nevada's participation in a Tournament in Las Vegas. From my understanding the dollar amounts and contract terms are pretty typical for college basketball right now.

https://www.rgj.com/story/sports/college/nevada/2017/10/27/why-nevada-basketballs-non-league-schedule-cost-200-000/806706001/

Relating specifically to the tournament, based on the article details, Nevada paid over $200k to "Las Vegas Tournamnt Inc." and got home games against Radford and UC Davis, and neutral site games against Southern Illinois and San Francisco. (the article breaks these payments out on a per game basis, but since the money is going to the tournament promoter and not the opposing school, it's really better to look at this collectively as payment for tournament participation, as opposed to individual "buy" games).

Really good information ... thanks for sharing. 

I may be wrong, but I assume that not all schools paid the same "participation" fee, as you call it.  In fact, I'm sure some of the $ paid by Nevada in exchange for hosting two home games found its way to Radford and UC Davis, who both played two road games before moving to the neutral site in Vegas.

Regarding the ticket guarantee money paid, that only becomes a cost to the school if their fan base doesn't step up and buy the allotted tickets.   

[crusadermoe]

Good stuff. 

I definitely agree that on balance the move to the MVC give us a FAR better home schedule.   It is just nice to look ahead to Jan-February conference games as a highlight. 

In the darker mid-con years there was very little to watch after Christmas. 

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/FatherHarry1/status/1032379875577933826

"The objective for our program is to schedule more aggressively and put ourselves in a position where we can compete for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament," said head coach Matt Lottich. "We feel like we have a schedule this year which will challenge us with a number of games against high-level opponents."

[VUGrad1314]

Teams listed by name RPI day of game attendance and number of days since last home game (Only Post-Butler data used because I plan to look at conference data later

2012-2013 26-8
Georgia Southern 264 FRI 3864
Northern Illinois 333 TUE 2445 4
Chicago State 320 FRI 2477 10
Bethune-Cookman 281 SAT 2088 1
Fort Wayne 254 WED 2179 11
IUPUI 326 THU 1644 15
Purdue-Calumet N\A SAT 1681 2
Eastern Kentucky  69 SAT 3329 7 (Bracketbuster)

2013-2014 18-16
Murray State 145 FRI 4277
North Park N\A SUN 1844 2
James Madison 239 SAT 2453 13
Central Florida 218 TUE 2381 3
Mercer 80 FRI 2574 3
Cincinnati Christian N\A SAT 1965 1
Saint Louis 31 SAT 3564 7
Loyola-Marymount 180 SAT 2548 7
Columbia 125 TUE 1663 14 (CIT game)

2014-2015 28-6
East Tennessee State 192 FRI 2912
IU-South Bend N\A WED 2051 5
New Mexico 172 SAT 4227 17
Trinity International N\A WED 1044 4
Ball State 284 SAT 3188 3
Goshen N\A SUN 1014 8

2015-2016 30-7
Fort Wayne 71 FRI 4117
IU-Kokomo N\A WED 1340 5
Trinity International N\A THU 1422 1
Belmont 95 THU  3379 14
Missouri State  235 SAT 3458 16
Texas Southern 183 TUE 2912 22 (NIT)
Florida State 83  THU 4991 2 (NIT)
St. Mary's 38  TUE 5444 5 (NIT)

2016-2017  24-9
Southern Utah 341 FRI 3560
Trinity International  N\A SAT 2588 1
Coppin State 336 MON 1972 2
Ball State 169 SUN 3166 13
Rhode Island 31 TUE 4149 2
Indiana State 233 SAT 2172 18
Santa Clara 125 THU 1854 5
Chicago State 317 WED 2024 6

2017-2018 15-17
North Park N\A FRI 2682
Trinity International N\A MON 2545 3
SELouisiana 150 SUN  2651 6
Samford 296 TUE 2259 2
Utah State 152 TUE 2949 7



Average Nonconference Attendance  (All games incl. Non-D1 Bracket Busters\Tournaments)
2012-2013: 2463.4
2013-2014: 2585.4
2014-2015: 2406
2015-2016: 3382.9
2016-2017: 2685.6
2017-2018: 2617.2
Average Nonconference Attendance D1 only:
2012-2013:  2575.1
2013-2014: 2780
2014-2015:  3442.3
2015-2016: 4050.2
2016-2017:  2699.6
2017-2018:  2619.7
Average nonconference Attendance  No tournaments or bracket busters:
2012-2013:  2339.7
2013-2014:  2455.1
2014-2015:  2406
2015-2016:  2743.2
2016-2017:   2685.6
2017-2018:  2617.2
Average nonconference Attendance D1 Only No tournaments or bracket busters:
2012-2013:  2449.5
2013-2014:  2966.2
2014-2015: 3442.3
2015-2016:  3651.3
2016-2017:   2699.6
2017-2018:  2619.7

Analysis\Suggestions:
Valpo has a core of approximately 2500 fans who will show up regardless of the opponent.

Team performance and the perceived quality of the opponent matter more than when the game is scheduled, amount of time between games, or even the opponent's RPI.

Home openers tend to draw well especially when the opening opponent is or is thought to be a decent D1 team, and\or there's a banner ceremony. (Georgia Southern Murray State Fort Wayne and Southern Utah)

Conference affiliation of opponents seems to matter as some of our best nonconference draws came against teams from the A10 MWC and MVC (prior to us joining) See: The numbers for New Mexico Missouri State SLU and Rhode Island

Non-P5 In-State games do not seem to move the needle much with the exception of Ball State which offers mild to moderate positive value

Strong mid-major brands like East Tennessee State,  Murray State, Utah State, and Belmont provide solid drawing power.

The NIT run was, unsurprisingly, a boon for attendance Yet lesser tournaments were not. Is it because they are new and not established or are they simply not worth playing in?

The loss of the Bracket Buster does not appear to have hurt attendance significantly, but it is impossible to ignore the effect losing a guaranteed draw of 3000+ every two years. This will be offset if the MVC\MWC Challenge continues after its planned brief hiatus or another conference challenge of similar quality can be worked out.

Non-D1s have been a significant drag on attendance until recently. If they are going to be played it is best to play them early in the season. The recent moves of offering free tickets to veterans or free\reduced price tickets to those games have no doubt boosted attendance.

Since such a drastic step had to be taken in order to produce palatable numbers for non-D1s, this analysis still calls for their relegation to the exhibition portion of the schedule. Instead, find another way to reach out charitably, which is a central core value of the university. Perhaps offer $2 off tickets to every game with a donation, or a food voucher for one free item (ice cream, cookie, candy, hot dog, pretzel, nachos, or soda) for anyone who donates an item. Limit one per person.

Another idea is to have everyone who donates leave their name and contact information so that they can be eligible for a  prize drawing or spin a prize wheel. (Season tickets premium game tickets, free tickets to a later game of their choosing, free Valpo gear, free food, or partner with community organizations for prizes.

As for what should be donated, that's up to the department. They can have a yearlong cause (such as a food\supply\toy drive for the homeless or for shelter pets) or partner with a different charity every home game. Furthermore, free or reduced price tickets could be offered to people who work for or are served by these charities. Doing so would help to strengthen the bond between the university and the community, and create many new fans, some of whom will return and buy tickets in the future .

[vu84v2]

VUGrad1314: Thanks.

Your conclusions are similar to the academic study that looked at the same issue at a similar university. That study, however, also found that giveaways and promotions had little impact on attendance at college basketball games.

One question that I have is, what is the source of the attendance numbers? Is it tickets sold, people actually in attendance, or something else? I am skeptical as to whether, for instance, there were 2545 people actually in attendance for the Trinity International game last season on a Monday night.

[VUGrad1314]

I pulled the numbers right off the athletic department's website. Whatever and however they calculated\reported, those are the numbers I used. Maybe someone can shed some light on how those numbers are derived.

[vu84v2]

It doesn't matter what another men's basketball program located somewhere else draws. The city of Valparaiso (and immediate vicinity) is a stable, affluent community that has enjoyed steady, planned growth over many years. Valpo has become a small town shopping meca, the downtown has been completely revitalized, business is booming, new restaurants are popping up everywhere and nicer homes are being sold at or above asking price. Residents are shopping and eating out locally, going to the movies, using city parks and walking/jogging trails, congregating in the very cool downtown area, etc., etc. We even have a YMCA that is a dream facility benchmark. Valpo is the most vibrant community in NWI and beyond - by far. Yet, despite the fact that people have money to spend and are looking for ways to spend it, man's basketball attendance continues in a downward spiral. IMO this is just one of many examples in recent years where the university has shown an inability to connect with the community. As both a lifetime community member and longstanding university supporter, I find this situation highly disappointing.

I recently heard this same sentiment made by a faculty member. Admittedly, I don't live there - but I know that the university has a vast array of activities, ranging from plays, concerts, speakers, etc. - as well as basketball and other D1 college sports, in which the university seems to welcome anyone from the community. While I think that interest and attendance in men's basketball is strongly driven by the perceived quality of the team and opponents (plus possible personal connections if there is a local player), I am interested as to why you feel the university is not able to connect with the community.

[VUGrad1314]

Some factors I did not control for: Weather, Parking, Effect of streaming service availability, and the effect the switch from a  free platform to a paid subscription platform will have. I will explore that question more thoroughly when I look at conference data soon. I will use only post-Butler HL data because the intensity of that rivalry would skew the data.

[VU2014]

It doesn't matter what another men's basketball program located somewhere else draws. The city of Valparaiso (and immediate vicinity) is a stable, affluent community that has enjoyed steady, planned growth over many years. Valpo has become a small town shopping meca, the downtown has been completely revitalized, business is booming, new restaurants are popping up everywhere and nicer homes are being sold at or above asking price. Residents are shopping and eating out locally, going to the movies, using city parks and walking/jogging trails, congregating in the very cool downtown area, etc., etc. We even have a YMCA that is a dream facility benchmark. Valpo is the most vibrant community in NWI and beyond - by far. Yet, despite the fact that people have money to spend and are looking for ways to spend it, man's basketball attendance continues in a downward spiral. IMO this is just one of many examples in recent years where the university has shown an inability to connect with the community. As both a lifetime community member and longstanding university supporter, I find this situation highly disappointing.

I recently heard this same sentiment made by a faculty member. Admittedly, I don't live there - but I know that the university has a vast array of activities, ranging from plays, concerts, speakers, etc. - as well as basketball and other D1 college sports, in which the university seems to welcome anyone from the community. While I think that interest and attendance in men's basketball is strongly driven by the perceived quality of the team and opponents (plus possible personal connections if there is a local player), I am interested as to why you feel the university is not able to connect with the community.

VU is a tough sell for some locals who tend to be diehard IU, Purdue or ND fans. There are so many large Universities in the area and it's close to Chicago which is predominant pro sports town. We're competing for entertainment dollars (even though a Valpo Basketball game is a great bang for buck***, imo) and attention. It's tough to "breakthrough" and create new fans.

The quality of opponent and quality of Valpo's team that year seems to play the biggest role in attendance, but you also need to factor in things like weather and what other major events are happening at the same time (Bears game, Colts game, or Local HS sports games).

***depending on the opponent. Non-D1s definitely don't qualify for bang for your buck status. Nobody gets excited to see VU beat the pulp out of a non-d1, even our veteran teams don't even get up for those games (ex: VU vs Trinity 1st half 2 years ago).

[VUGrad1314]

Conference Attendance (All games Since Joining HL)

22-14 3910.5
9-22 3136.8
15-17 2743.7
23-12 3234.1
22-12 3715.4 9 (HL Champs) Butler's Last Year
26-8 3741.5 (HL Champs) First year Post Butler Loyola Leaves Broekhoff Senior Year
18-16 3081.4  First Year Post Loyola Oakland Formally Joins
28-6 3462.7 (HL Champs) Last year of campus site games
30-7 3830.8 (NIT Year HL Champs Northern Kentucky Formally Joins)
24-9 3443.6 (Peters Senior Year HL Co-Champs) Valpo Leaves for MVC
15-17 2780.6 First Year MVC

RS Only:
4136.6
3136.8
2909.1
3460
3543.9
3709.1
3329.3
3285.6
3830.8
3443.6
2780.6



RS Only (no Butler)
3974.6
2936.8
2614.5
3213.5
3332.3
3709.1
3329.3
3285.6
3830.8
3443.6
2780.6

At first blush, the first year MVC total (2780.6) looks really bad, and considering that we beat that number every year we were in the Horizon except 09-10 (and our  regular season numbers do beat that mark with Butler's help) it's not great but consider the following: Our attendance for conference games fell within 20% of the Year 1 MVC mark 4 times in 10 years. Moreover, the numbers through 2011-2012 are juiced by an established rival that provided a guaranteed 4500+ fans once a year. Take that away, and the number of years within 20% of the MVC mark climbs to 6. Since we started winning titles our fifth year, and our highest numbers reflect some of the best years in program history, this indicates that team performance is a major factor in attendance, even for conference games. Games valuable for positioning and games aired on TV also tended to have higher attendance. Furthermore, while many old rivals call the MVC home, many of the teams in the MVC are teams that we haven't played consistently since at least the 70s or 80s if not earlier. That means, many fans weren't born or were very young the last time Valpo and these teams consistently played. The lack of an established go-to rival or rivals probably had a suppressing effect on attendance. There is plenty of reason to believe that  as the conference continues to improve, as Valpo fans become more familiar with the teams in the MVC, and Valpo's performance within the conference continues to improve, a rival will emerge and  attendance will rise. 

[elephtheria47]

I'm not sure it is specific to the university. A lot of people just dont like the city of valpo just like people dont like munster. I do think there are some thoughts of elitism/entitlement regarding the views towards the university (and the city?)...id guess the majority of people in nwi probably couldn't make it into the university. there are similar feelings in south bend and Lafayette too, but both of their alumni and city numbers are larger than valpos so it's not (as) noticeable

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/nwipreps/status/1032743492261498881

MEN'S BASKETBALL: West Virginia, Texas A&M highlight Valparaiso's non-conference schedule
Paul Oren Times Correspondent
Aug 22, 2018

https://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/college/west-virginia-texas-a-m-highlight-valparaiso-s-non-conference/article_c6deaa44-3a77-5c8a-a6f5-680093065d48.html

[EddieCabot]

id guess the majority of people in nwi probably couldn't make it into the university.

This is 100% true.

I do think there are some thoughts of elitism/entitlement regarding the views towards the university

I don't know where this comes from.

[FieldGoodie05]

Conference Attendance (All games Since Joining HL)

22-14 3910.5
9-22 3136.8
15-17 2743.7
23-12 3234.1
22-12 3715.4 9 (HL Champs) Butler's Last Year
26-8 3741.5 (HL Champs) First year Post Butler Loyola Leaves Broekhoff Senior Year
18-16 3081.4  First Year Post Loyola Oakland Formally Joins
28-6 3462.7 (HL Champs) Last year of campus site games
30-7 3830.8 (NIT Year HL Champs Northern Kentucky Formally Joins)
24-9 3443.6 (Peters Senior Year HL Co-Champs) Valpo Leaves for MVC
15-17 2780.6 First Year MVC

RS Only:
4136.6
3136.8
2909.1
3460
3543.9
3709.1
3329.3
3285.6
3830.8
3443.6
2780.6



RS Only (no Butler)
3974.6
2936.8
2614.5
3213.5
3332.3
3709.1
3329.3
3285.6
3830.8
3443.6
2780.6

At first blush, the first year MVC total (2780.6) looks really bad, and considering that we beat that number every year we were in the Horizon except 09-10 (and our  regular season numbers do beat that mark with Butler's help) it's not great but consider the following: Our attendance for conference games fell within 20% of the Year 1 MVC mark 4 times in 10 years. Moreover, the numbers through 2011-2012 are juiced by an established rival that provided a guaranteed 4500+ fans once a year. Take that away, and the number of years within 20% of the MVC mark climbs to 6. Since we started winning titles our fifth year, and our highest numbers reflect some of the best years in program history, this indicates that team performance is a major factor in attendance, even for conference games. Games valuable for positioning and games aired on TV also tended to have higher attendance. Furthermore, while many old rivals call the MVC home, many of the teams in the MVC are teams that we haven't played consistently since at least the 70s or 80s if not earlier. That means, many fans weren't born or were very young the last time Valpo and these teams consistently played. The lack of an established go-to rival or rivals probably had a suppressing effect on attendance. There is plenty of reason to believe that  as the conference continues to improve, as Valpo fans become more familiar with the teams in the MVC, and Valpo's performance within the conference continues to improve, a rival will emerge and  attendance will rise.

Great research, thanks for sharing. 

Overall attendance in FBS football (king of college sports) can't sustain attendance levels either.  They are dropping at historic levels according to NCAA numbers

https://www.athleticbusiness.com/programming/college-football-attendance-continues-decline.html

Combine that with a millennial generation that is just not as engaged with the college experience and you have a recipe for lower attendance averages.  I think this is just the new standard that we have to deal with.  We can expect annual basketball game attendance anywhere from 2,700 to 3,300 fans moving forward.  The tide rises and lowers all ships, we will get the same relatively low engagement from the community and students despite all our best efforts otherwise.

I suppose the biggest unknown is just how much engagement did we really have (as %) of the community and students during the HL and now MVC years?  If that engagement was relatively low (say 10%) then we have room to get back to 3,700/game.  If that engagement was already fairly high for our audience, then get used to 2,700.

Either way, filling up the student bleacher section is a must and I applaud the team for getting after them this year. Go VU! Getting excited for fall/winter sports . . . the sports world is right again!

[FieldGoodie05]

id guess the majority of people in nwi probably couldn't make it into the university.

This is 100% true.

I do think there are some thoughts of elitism/entitlement regarding the views towards the university

I don't know where this comes from.

Better article from CBS displaying attendance trends by P5 conference and what years saw the largest drop in attendance.  Quite a few since 2011, national trend?  How aggressive should we be in fighting this?

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-heads-in-wrong-direction-with-largest-attendance-drop-in-34-years/

[wh]

I'm fuzzy on the details, but didn't the university recently sign on with a nationally  renowned sports marketing company? If so, presumably, one of the primary objectives would be some sort of community outreach marketing campaign to improve attendance at men's basketball games. Does anyone recall any details?  Are they underway? Etc.?

[vusupporter]

I'm fuzzy on the details, but didn't the university recently sign on with a nationally  renowned sports marketing company? If so, presumably, one of the primary objectives would be some sort of community outreach marketing campaign to improve attendance at men's basketball games. Does anyone recall any details?  Are they underway? Etc.?

From the athletic department's release announcing the partnership with Van Wagner:

"In addition to selling and managing Valpo's local broadcast and digital media assets, VWSE will negotiate and execute corporate partnerships around properties including the Crusaders' in-venue signage, gameday promotions, rights to athletic marks and in-venue hospitality packages."

[VULB#62]

Minimally, that has got to contribute to an improvement of the game day experience.

[vu72]

I'm fuzzy on the details, but didn't the university recently sign on with a nationally  renowned sports marketing company? If so, presumably, one of the primary objectives would be some sort of community outreach marketing campaign to improve attendance at men's basketball games. Does anyone recall any details?  Are they underway? Etc.?

From the athletic department's release announcing the partnership with Van Wagner:

"In addition to selling and managing Valpo's local broadcast and digital media assets, VWSE will negotiate and execute corporate partnerships around properties including the Crusaders' in-venue signage, gameday promotions, rights to athletic marks and in-venue hospitality packages."

Don't forget about the hiring of this guy.

http://valpoathletics.com/athletics/staff/10330/david-kay/

He replaced a women who had this responsibility for several years.  Don't recall her name.

[FieldGoodie05]

I'm fuzzy on the details, but didn't the university recently sign on with a nationally  renowned sports marketing company? If so, presumably, one of the primary objectives would be some sort of community outreach marketing campaign to improve attendance at men's basketball games. Does anyone recall any details?  Are they underway? Etc.?

From the athletic department's release announcing the partnership with Van Wagner:

"In addition to selling and managing Valpo's local broadcast and digital media assets, VWSE will negotiate and execute corporate partnerships around properties including the Crusaders' in-venue signage, gameday promotions, rights to athletic marks and in-venue hospitality packages."

Don't forget about the hiring of this guy.

http://valpoathletics.com/athletics/staff/10330/david-kay/

He replaced a women who had this responsibility for several years.  Don't recall her name.

It reads like David Kay was hired by Van Wagner to handle the Valpo account.  So I think we have officially outsourced the scheduling and directional decisions on PR and butts in the seats.

[wh]

I'm fuzzy on the details, but didn't the university recently sign on with a nationally  renowned sports marketing company? If so, presumably, one of the primary objectives would be some sort of community outreach marketing campaign to improve attendance at men's basketball games. Does anyone recall any details?  Are they underway? Etc.?

From the athletic department's release announcing the partnership with Van Wagner:

"In addition to selling and managing Valpo's local broadcast and digital media assets, VWSE will negotiate and execute corporate partnerships around properties including the Crusaders' in-venue signage, gameday promotions, rights to athletic marks and in-venue hospitality packages."

Don't forget about the hiring of this guy.

http://valpoathletics.com/athletics/staff/10330/david-kay/

He replaced a women who had this responsibility for several years.  Don't recall her name.

It reads like David Kay was hired by Van Wagner to handle the Valpo account.  So I think we have officially outsourced the scheduling and directional decisions on PR and butts in the seats.

I should have given this new arrangement more thought when it was first announced.  This is actually an important development, especially given that a representative has been assigned exclusively to Valpo and will be accountable for driving results. I don't expect any instant miracles, but it will be interesting to see how this impacts things over time. Kudos to Mark L. and staff. 

[VU2014]

A gif to describe Paul's latest podcast when talking about the schedule lol.



I highly encourage anyone who was angry or disappointed about the schedule to give it a listen. He may convince some people to get off the ledge. He made me feel a little better about the home schedule even though it's still pretty bad. It's important to remember we have an awesome conference schedule that will provide very competitive games.

[vu84v2]

A gif to describe Paul's latest podcast when talking about the schedule lol.



I highly encourage anyone who was angry or disappointed about the schedule to give it a listen. He may convince some people to get off the ledge. He made me feel a little better about the home schedule even though it's still pretty bad. It's important to remember we have an awesome conference schedule that will provide very competitive games.

How much work and effort was required to develop the conference schedule?  Answer: None.
What teams did Valpo agree to home and home agreements with for the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 non-conference schedules? Answer: SIUE and UC-Riverside - two of the worst D1 teams in the country.
How many non-Division 1 opponents are on the non-conference home schedule, with an expectation that season ticket holders will pay money for those 'valuable' tickets and somehow interest in the team will increase? Answer: Two (two more than are acceptable)

As I said previously, the people in the basketball program do a great job in many aspects of their job. I am not arguing that they need to be fired or that fans should intentionally not attend these games. But home scheduling in the last two seasons - which should be measured solely on the non-conference home schedule, since the conference schedule is given - has been awful and they have completely failed in this aspect of their job.

[VUGrad1314]

I disagreed with so much in this edition. I also didn't appreciate the shots he took at the fanbase.

1. We DO NOT  expect to play Kansas and Kentucky every year. We DO expect to play decent programs from decent conferences that actually test our team and help them compete. Illinois State has FGCU BYU SDSU, Mississippi,AND a top-flight  MTE with Belmont and UCF already committed to next year. Southern Illinois has Murray State SLU Winthrop and Buffalo we have two non-D1s and Ball State. One of these things is not like the others. I know next year is going to be better but two years of bad non-con home schedules is very hard to stomach. I understand that MTEs complicate things when it comes to finding dates, and you should NEVER pull out of a good MTE for ANY reason, but you have to think we could have done better. I hope we will next year. Everytime I hear "we tried" it reminds me of those old Avis commercials that show what their business would be like if they didn't go the extra mile to serve their customers. For those who don't remember those commercials, it's not pretty and it doesn't curry much favor with fans who are eager to see the team compete for titles and at-large bids. Bad  home schedules that don't adequately prepare the team for conference play has contributed to attendance decline at many schools and  was the very pitfall that befell Marty Simmons at Evansville. It is the reason Barry Hinson hasn't sniffed the tournament in all these years. It has also hurt Illinois State in the past before Muller stepped it up

2. Lack of nonconference home games does alienate your fanbase but so does the lack of QUALITY nonconference home games. My research on nonconference attendance confirms this. While RPI isn't that significant a factor perception is. Playing teams like IUPUI Chicago State and non-D1s doesn't work because we know those teams. Teams like  High Point Samford Omaha ORU South Dakota and SE Louisiana are great tune up games because they at least come with a chance to be halfway decent while being eminently winnable.

3. Securing meaningless wins against bad competition to gain confidence does nothing to improve your fortunes especially in a league like the MVC. See: The Evansville and SIU examples in #1.  All the confidence in the world didn't save our season last year in fact I think we were harmed by our soft nonconference slate. I don't even buy that it gives the team a chance to implement something tactically. Just because it works against Southern Indiana Southern Utah or Southern University  does not mean it will work against Southern Illinois. There isn't much to be learned or gained by beating bad teams there is however much to be gained by playing teams around or above your level. Even the Texas Southern analogy is flawed. They get pounded in the nonconference but dominate the SWAC. I don't believe for an instant that that's an accident.

4. While I understand the importance of coming out and supporting the team and attending for the sake of the team, that's hard to do when you're buying multiple tickets. Is it really worth spending $50+ food to take your family of four to see a game that should be over by halftime if Valpo is good and that won't really inform you much about the team's prospects for a given year? Ball State has value George Washington has value an old rival like ORU has value New Mexico SLU and URI have value, Belmont Murray State and East Tennessee State have value as shown by the attendance at those games. By contrast,  PNW Concordia wherever Trinity and teams that are perennially bad in low major conferences do not. $12\game is a great value but in a world where midweek schedules are hectic, football and movies are popular, the weather is cold and potentially bad, and all events can be accessed for just $5\month, more value needs to be created in the nonconference home schedule to compel and command attendance. The MVC schedule is amazing and people NEED to be coming out for those games, so, yes the season-long home schedule is great, but the home portion of the nonconference schedule has left much to be desired over the past two years especially. Again, on balance it's a great schedule. The road\neutral and the conference slate are incredible  but we'd like to be thrown some reasons to get excited in the early season too if possible.

5. I really do not appreciate you appearing to question  the loyalty of fans who voice these concerns and frustrations, especially in light of your being so adamantly against the move to the MVC--a move that has unquestionably moved the program forward and been in its best interests-- for selfish reasons like wanting to get paid to go home to Milwaukee and other big cities where it's obvious that few care about those teams. We are attending FOR Valpo, we want to see Valpo respected and lifted up. Playing and winning against tough opponents will do that far more than pounding on creampuffs. I know there are a bunch of people just waiting to give Valpo their money, give them good games throughout the year and they will. A program that has beaten  Oregon State Alabama Florida State East Tennessee State  Murray State multiple times  St Mary's Belmont BYU twice Rhode Island twice  Missouri State multiple times Illinois State Southern Illinois and  Bradley as a probably incomplete list since 2011 isn't going to be intimidated by a schedule full of similar teams. Respect where we are embrace where we are and schedule for where we are. That's all we're asking for  and it isn't disloyal in the slightest  to do so.