Basketball attendance

[rem101]

Someone posted this in one of KV's blogs for average attendance. It's pretty sad if these numbers are true. We have a upper tier sec team, and only beat out auburn for attendance.

SEC home attendance so far in 2009-10:

24048 Kentucky
18593 Tennessee
13084 Vanderbilt
13036 Arkansas
10665 Florida
10655 South Carolina
10232 Alabama
8421 LSU
5893 Ole Miss
5474 Georgia
5359 Mississippi State
5126 Auburn</p>

 

[rem101]

Someone posted this in one of KV's blogs for average attendance. It's pretty sad if these numbers are true. We have a upper tier sec team, and only beat out auburn for attendance.

SEC home attendance so far in 2009-10:

24048 Kentucky
18593 Tennessee
13084 Vanderbilt
13036 Arkansas
10665 Florida
10655 South Carolina
10232 Alabama
8421 LSU
5893 Ole Miss
5474 Georgia
5359 Mississippi State
5126 Auburn</p>

 

[ArmyDawg]

*sigh*

 

[ckDOG]

That blame goes on both the students and the season ticket holders. There's no nice way to spin it really. I understand that people have extenuating circumstances that prevent them from going to every game. I have no problem with that. However, I don't care how much money you've donated to the University over your lifetime; if you possess and a ticket that you can not use, you have a responsibility to get that ticket in the hands of somebody who can.

I understand the logistics problem with Starkville in that there simply isn't a huge MSU population base within a close radius to the University. Many SEC Universities aren't behind the eight ball like we are in that respect. But, given our success over the last decade and the demand there is for tickets, there is no reason we shouldn't have that place filled up at least 80% for even the crappy non-conference teams.

 

[squirldawg]

We are an upper tier winning program under Stansbury in the SEC, with lower tier SEC resources and support.

 

[titus.sixpack]

I would work it up, but am staying away from math this week.

 

[missouridawg]

I think some of those schools are using paid attendance figures... and not actual attendance.

I remember someone posting some pictures from a few Arkansas games and in the background there were PLENTY of empty seats.

 

[Hanmudog]

We don't lack financial support because most of our seats are sold out every game. The issue is people actually going to the games. The number of tickets actually sold would make that list look much different. That being said, I have been to every home game and have wondered what happened to our fans. No one cheers much and the place is not as full as it should be. For the life of me, I don't see why students are not going to the games. We used to have to wait in line to get in the Hump.

 

[ckDOG]

That's really no excuse for us having a low actual attendance rate. Whatever Arkansas (or whoever else that has a low utilization rate) is doing shouldn't be a benchmark for us. I'm glad we are actually advertising the actual attendance since its not masking the problem that actually exists. Most SEC fans are generally apathetic about basketball right now since most haven't had anything to be excited about in recent years. We shouldn't compare ourselves to those programs.

Bottom line: If there's enough demand to actually sell all the tickets, there shouldn't be any issues with getting the seats filled on a regular basis - especially since we are only talking 10,500.

 

[mstatefan88]

The attendance recorded by ESPN for the Arkansas game was 8,339. The attendance for the Georgia game was 7,682. Add those up, divide by 2, and you get 8,010.5 That number is what the average home attendance number is, not that 5,000 and whatever number. We have filled up on average about 4/5 of the Hump, which is probably better than most of the other schools on there.

 

[saltslugs]

I'm guessing it's due to our ****** OOC schedule. In addition, most students are not from nearby, so making it back for a winter break game is more difficult that say, LSU which has a higher city population and thus more in-city students.

 

[ckDOG]

There's only one legit theory I could come up with: Our fans are starved for a decent post season. Whether it's merited or not, I think our fans have grown tired of what we've come to know as a typical bball season - great regular season success/lackluster NCAAT performance. I'm not trying to discount our achievements over the past 10 years or so, but I think our fans have become bored with what we have been experiencing lately. If we ever get over the Sweet 16 hump, the masses will be rejuvenated.

****PLEASE DO NOT HIJACK THIS AND TURN IT INTO A PRO or ANTI STANS ARGUMENT - JUST STATING WHY I THINK THE INTEREST IS LACKING****

 

[pDigital32Dawg]

nm

 

[rem101]

The rest were on the road or neutral sites.

 

[rem101]

5 of which were before Christmas break.

 

[sleepy dawg]

Knowing we are sold out, I can't find a ticket to any game. I have tried on here and many other sites for a month to find 2 tickets to any game from here on out. The only place that has tickets is stub hub, and those prices are ridiculous... I'm not paying $200 to sit in the top corner of the hump.

I agree, if you have a ticket, and aren't going to the game, it is a responsibility as a state fan to get that ticket to another state fan, without trying to make a huge profit... Do it for the team.

 

[AssEndDawg]

Bama is counting actual attendance and averaging over 10k. That list is complete crap.

 

[mstatefan88]

If its ALL home games, then I would believe that total and not care because we never have good attendance for those garbage teams we play. But for SEC home games we have a pretty decent attendance count so far. 4/5 of the coliseum is not where I think we should be, but its not too bad compared to the rest of the SEC. Once the SEC gets deeper and the overall strength gets better, you will see those numbers go up.

 

[mstatefan88]

Guess that would include OOC games. Well I don't care about attendance during that period. We have a month of Christmas break, and we played ****** teams. Until we play decent teams at home, like when we played Clemson and Missouri a few years ago, we won't have good attendance during non conference.

 

[ckDOG]

That's not too good. The Saturday game had even less people than the Thursday game. I don't care if it was UGA and ARK - and SEC game is an SEC game. The Hump should be full.

 

[pDigital32Dawg]

Mississippi State Home Games

Game ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Attendance
=======================================
Rider ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 7241
southeastern louisiana ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 4544
bethune-cookman ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 3721
texas-pan american |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 3214
st. bonaventure ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 3344
wright state ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 4721
mississippi valley state ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 5421
arkansas |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 8339
georgia ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 7682

Total games = 8
Total attendance = 48,227
Average Attendance = 6,028

 

[8dog]

we play nobody. In order to get big crowds, you have to get the Jackson crowd and its not worth a 2 hour drive to see us play Alabama State.

If you want to go to a game, you can get a ticket outside the stadium. Its pretty easy. But there aren't 1,000 people not going to the Alabama State game or whoever b/c they think they can't get in.

 

[coleman62]

how many people will the hump hold at max capacity?

 

[Fdawg.sixpack]

try it

 

[bluelightstar]

Some students didn't stay for the past weekend, so that may have influenced the student seating, but there were still more students than expected.

 

[MSUCostanza]

I think most of the problem is that many of our season ticket holders do not live in the Starkville area, and it is extremely difficult to get to Starkville on a weeknight if you live even an hour away, especially if you have kids, etc. I think if you broke attendance down by day of week, you'd see that the Saturday games are much closer to capacity than Wednesday or Thursday games.

 

[alabamadog]

I am a student so I have no idea what prices they are selling them at, but it can't be that bad.

 

[alabamadog]

there is no way they count actual attendance.</p>

 

[saltslugs]

Only getting 4300 or so in an ESPN2 game against Wright State shows how hard it is to get students to stay in Starkville. *sorry for the errant reply

 

[ckDOG]

there isn't much variance between weekend and weekday games. Here's the last 10 SEC home games played at the Hump along with the dates played and attendances:

<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 322pt;" width="428" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <col style="width: 48pt;" width="64" span="2"> <col style="width: 54pt;" width="72"> <col style="width: 55pt;" width="73"> <col style="width: 20pt;" width="26"> <col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"> <col style="width: 49pt;" width="65"> <tbody> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td class="xl28" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 48pt; font-weight: bold;" width="64" height="17">Team</td> <td class="xl28" style="width: 48pt; font-weight: bold;" width="64">Date</td> <td class="xl28" style="width: 54pt; font-weight: bold;" width="72">Day Type</td> <td class="xl28" style="width: 55pt; font-weight: bold;" width="73">Attendance</td> <td style="width: 20pt; font-style: italic;" width="26">
</td> <td class="xl29" style="width: 48pt; font-style: italic;" width="64">Total</td> <td class="xl25" style="width: 49pt;" width="65"><span style=""> </span> 90,048</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Alabama</td> <td class="xl24" align="right">1/14/2009</td> <td>Weekday</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 10,299</td> <td style="font-style: italic;">
</td> <td style="font-style: italic;" class="xl29">Average</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 9,005</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Vandy</td> <td class="xl24" align="right">1/17/2009</td> <td>Weekend</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 9,268</td> <td style="font-style: italic;">
</td> <td style="font-style: italic;" class="xl29">Fill Rate</td> <td class="xl26" align="right">86%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Ole Miss</td> <td class="xl24" align="right">1/31/2009</td> <td>Weekend</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 10,412</td> <td style="font-style: italic;">
</td> <td style="font-style: italic;" class="xl29">
</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Arkansas</td> <td class="xl24" align="right">2/7/2009</td> <td>Weekend</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 8,891</td> <td style="font-style: italic;">
</td> <td style="font-style: italic;" class="xl29">Weekday</td> <td class="xl27"><span style=""> </span> 44,460</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">LSU</td> <td class="xl24" align="right">2/11/2009</td> <td>Weekday</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 9,226</td> <td style="font-style: italic;">
</td> <td style="font-style: italic;" class="xl29">Average</td> <td class="xl27"><span style=""> </span> 8,892</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">USC</td> <td class="xl24" align="right">2/18/2009</td> <td>Weekday</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 7,369</td> <td style="font-style: italic;">
</td> <td style="font-style: italic;" class="xl29">Fill Rate</td> <td class="xl26" align="right">85%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Auburn</td> <td class="xl24" align="right">2/28/2009</td> <td>Weekend</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 9,335</td> <td style="font-style: italic;">
</td> <td style="font-style: italic;" class="xl29">
</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Florida</td> <td class="xl24" align="right">3/4/2009</td> <td>Weekday</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 9,227</td> <td style="font-style: italic;">
</td> <td style="font-style: italic;" class="xl29">Weekend</td> <td class="xl27"><span style=""> </span> 45,588</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Arkansas</td> <td class="xl24" align="right">1/14/2010</td> <td>Weekday</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 8,339</td> <td style="font-style: italic;">
</td> <td style="font-style: italic;" class="xl29">Average</td> <td class="xl27"><span style=""> </span> 9,118</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;"> <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">UGA</td> <td class="xl24" align="right">1/16/2009</td> <td>Weekend</td> <td class="xl25"><span style=""> </span> 7,682</td> <td style="font-style: italic;">
</td> <td style="font-style: italic;" class="xl29">Fill Rate</td> <td class="xl26" align="right">87%</td> </tr> </tbody> </col></col></col></col></col></col></table>
The total fill rates aren't as bad as I thought, but they could use improvement. Since we are operating as "sold out" - roughly 15 out of every 100 tickets sold are going completely to waste when it most counts.

Since there is little variance between the two types of SEC home games, I'm going to assume it's for the following reasons: 1) Season ticket holders aren't showing up on the weekdays (tough to get to town during middle of week as you said) and 2) Students are skipping the weekend games (going home, hung over, studying, etc.). I could be wrong in this assumption, but it sounds the most likely to me. The lack of attendance in one demographic or the other is roughly offsetting the other in either situation.

At any rate, I certainly wouldn't call out a season ticket holder for not showing up. We all have our reasons for not being able to attend sporting events. I understand that. But, the "lazy" comment is directed to the fact that we do have a significant number of seats left unused. The season tickets <span style="font-style: italic;">should</span> find their way into the hands of folks that would like to see a game or two but can't. The reason this doesn't happen can only be due to the ticket holder not caring about crowd presence or simply not having a reasonable forum to dump their ticket (ticket exchange). In either case, it's an empty seat that shouldn't be empty. Additionally, assuming they aren't utilizing their allotment, the "lazy" comment is also directed at the students in general. We are pushing 20k students now; I don't care about exams, holidays, etc. etc., we should always max out our student presence regardless of timing and especially during SEC play.

I normally wouldn't care about any of this. But, seeing that the stadium only sits 10,500 and we "sell it out" for the season, I think our fill rates should be higher than what we've been seeing lately. It would be different if we had a 20k stadium or if we had single game tickets available every game. But, we don't. Excess demand + empty seats = problem.

ETA: my "lazy" explanation wasn't necessarily in response to you, Costanza...just used this post to expand on a point I posted earlier.

 

[00Dawg]

replace the number listed with the capacity of the Hump. Those are almost all paid numbers, while ours is actual. As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago the last time someone brought this up, our actual attendance is right on par with the last few seasons.

 

[TaleofTwoDogs]

pDigital32Dawg wrote:

Mississippi State Home Games

Game ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Attendance
=======================================
Rider ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 7241
southeastern louisiana ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 4544
bethune-cookman ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 3721
texas-pan american |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 3214
st. bonaventure ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 3344
wright state ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 4721
mississippi valley state ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 5421
arkansas |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 8339
georgia ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| - 7682

Total games = <span style="text-decoration:line-through">8</span> 9 ------ There I fixed it for you
Total attendance = 48,227
Average Attendance = <span style="text-decoration:line-through">6,028</span> 5359

You're welcome

 

[pDigital32Dawg]

What an embarrassment that is.

 

[BCash]

Hell, the place wasn't even 100% against TN from what I saw on TV.</p>