Crowd at Indiana St Game

[Knucklehank1]

I’m not sure what the attendance was but there sure felt like more energy in the crowd last night. There was more buzz walking into the arena and that carried over into the Yum Center. It was nice to see the student section full and lively. I hope this becomes the norm. Some possible explanations:

- excitement about the team/expectations
- 8pm start
- a feeling of normalcy about the program again
- increased efforts to engage student fanbase

 

[CardsFirst]

I’m not sure what the attendance was but there sure felt like more energy in the crowd last night. There was more buzz walking into the arena and that carried over into the Yum Center. It was nice to see the student section full and lively. I hope this becomes the norm. Some possible explanations:

- excitement about the team/expectations
- 8pm start
- a feeling of normalcy about the program again
- increased efforts to engage student fanbase

I think it will take several years to get back to the atmosphere prior to the scandals, but we’re heading in the right direction. I was in Section 110 last night and the student section was lively for sure. Lots of energy throughout the arena.

 

[ShortCreek]

When we schedule bums on a work night it’s always gonna be tough.

 

[nccardfan]

What was the upper deck area like? Couldn’t tell from the broadcast.

 

[Cue Card]

Loved the crowd chant close to the end of the game last night.

"We're not UK". A reference to UK losing as a 25 point favorite the night before. It was a LOL moment.

 

[Knucklehank1]

What was the upper deck area like? Couldn’t tell from the broadcast.

Not many folks in the upper arena. Pretty similar to the last few years. The energy was much, much better though.

 

[KerryRhodes]

I was listening live and the crowd got extremely loud at points.

 

[Sawyer_rivals136976]

I’m not sure what the attendance was but there sure felt like more energy in the crowd last night. There was more buzz walking into the arena and that carried over into the Yum Center. It was nice to see the student section full and lively. I hope this becomes the norm. Some possible explanations:

- excitement about the team/expectations
- 8pm start
- a feeling of normalcy about the program again
- increased efforts to engage student fanbase

I agree, especially with the 8:00 tip-off time. So much easier getting downtown in time to grab dinner before a game. Totally enjoying the ACC Network. I even like Mark Packer, a hell of a lot more than Billy. Wes Durham seems to be a great guy.
Really feel much more connected with the ACC, especially with Katie, Luke and Eric playing such great roles in the ACC Network. Things seem to back to normal again, maybe even a little more genuine than before. I think we getting much more respect.

 

[zipp_rivals]

I sit in the lower arena every game. And I seldom pay more than $10 for a ticket. Just got free tix--for the 2nd time this year--to Wednesday's game.

Don't assume the lower bowl atmosphere means anything but a fun time and more of a home court advantage than 14,000+ fans spread out across 22K seats...

 

[Knucklehank1]

I sit in the lower arena every game. And I seldom pay more than $10 for a ticket. Just got free tix--for the 2nd time this year--to Wednesday's game.

Don't assume the lower bowl atmosphere means anything but a fun time and more of a home court advantage than 14,000+ fans spread out across 22K seats...

Glad you are having fun again and moving forward. The scandals and subsequent transitions no doubt affected us all. Good times are upon us again!

 

[Sawyer_rivals136976]

I sit in the lower arena every game. And I seldom pay more than $10 for a ticket. Just got free tix--for the 2nd time this year--to Wednesday's game.

Don't assume the lower bowl atmosphere means anything but a fun time and more of a home court advantage than 14,000+ fans spread out across 22K seats...

Attendance numbers are down everywhere these days. The cost of tickets and your favorite beverage plus donations is a killer for retired and soon to be retired boomers. Millennials are millennials. Give credit to Kenny Klein and the creative te@m he has for putting on the best pregame intro program and during game updates, promos, etc., in college basketball. The Yum Center is the best!

 

[zipp_rivals]

Glad you are having fun again and moving forward...

I'll speak for myself, thanks. I've never stopped enjoying games, and the experience has nothing to do with who's hijacked the administrative functions.

Take a stab at rewording that to your liking...

 

[zipp_rivals]

Attendance numbers are down everywhere these days...

Our average is down 6,000+ in a little over two years. That's a small arena overflowing with people...

 

[Knucklehank1]

I'll speak for myself, thanks. I've never stopped enjoying games, and the experience has nothing to do with who's hijacked the administrative functions.

Take a stab at rewording that to your liking...

Happy that when you go to the games you can set aside your petty grievances against the administration that was tasked with cleaning up scandals and difficult contracts and yet you still enjoy the experience!! This seems like positive growth.

 

[Steelers2012_rivals379029]

Upper level at Rupp Arena last night (note 7:43 left on the clock with the game very much in doubt). Declining attendance is simply a nationwide trend in college football and basketball.

 

[zipp_rivals]

Happy that when you go to the games you can set aside your petty grievances against the administration that was tasked with cleaning up scandals and difficult contracts and yet you still enjoy the experience!! This seems like positive growth.

I also enjoy the experience of interacting with other fans so that I can enlighten them on the truth behind their athletic department. (Kinda like why I'm here.)

Keep trying...

 

[Knucklehank1]

I also enjoy the experience of interacting with other fans so that I can enlighten them on the truth behind their athletic department. (Kinda like why I'm here.)

Keep trying...

Hope your in-person interactions are as equally ineffective as the losses you generally take on here.

 

[zipp_rivals]

Hope your in-person interactions are as equally ineffective as the losses you generally take on here.

And maybe the best thing about attending games is escaping the delusion and fantasy that too often permeates this space from guys like you.

 

[Knucklehank1]

LOL. Some of your dire predictions lately have been pretty off base. Is Pitino really not gonna get $40M? Anyways I digress. Glad you find solace at the games. Clearly we have tickets in different areas of the arena. I’ll make sure to avoid the area that embraces your strange viewpoints.

 

[Juelz502]

Good luck with that. I'm everywhere.

And did you predict Pitino would drop his lawsuit? Odd, I don't recall that...

“i’m everywhere” lol

you’re an all time great poster zipp. wittiest i’ve ever seen, don’t ever stop.

 

[birdie king]

“i’m everywhere” lol

you’re an all time great poster zipp. wittiest i’ve ever seen, don’t ever stop.

You are sick !

 

[Knucklehank1]

Attendance numbers are down everywhere these days. The cost of tickets and your favorite beverage plus donations is a killer for retired and soon to be retired boomers. Millennials are millennials. Give credit to Kenny Klein and the creative te@m he has for putting on the best pregame intro program and during game updates, promos, etc., in college basketball. The Yum Center is the best!

The marketing team has definitely upped their game. I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed these early season beat down matchups as much as this year.

 

[nccardfan]

I personally am not happy. In the past few years I have been able to buy a package with my pick of at least 6 games. They called me again this year and the prices have gone up. Now for the prices I have been paying and sitting floor level, I now would have to sit upper level. I will never sit upper level again. My wife doesn’t like the heights and I just feel too far away from the action. Now I won’t go as far as buying upper level and sneaking in to sit in the lower level. I’m resolved to trying to find reasonable stubhub deals. In fact I’m going to tonight’s game, paying $75 for 2 tickets lower level corner.

 

[PHCARD]

I personally am not happy. In the past few years I have been able to buy a package with my pick of at least 6 games. They called me again this year and the prices have gone up. Now for the prices I have been paying and sitting floor level, I now would have to sit upper level. I will never sit upper level again. My wife doesn’t like the heights and I just feel too far away from the action. Now I won’t go as far as buying upper level and sneaking in to sit in the lower level. I’m resolved to trying to find reasonable stubhub deals. In fact I’m going to tonight’s game, paying $75 for 2 tickets lower level corner.

We also flat out refuse to sit in the upper bowl for games or concerts. We did it for 7 years before retiring from season tickets. I'm a rule follower and would never go down to lower bowl unless I had a seat.

Wow, nc a price increase for mini pkgs. They must have reasoned that they could get more money from folks because the pre-season ranking was so high and the loaded team? Looks like a huge mistake YTD. I hope it gets better as the season heats up with great competition.

 

[Louis III]

“i’m everywhere” lol

you’re an all time great poster zipp. wittiest i’ve ever seen, don’t ever stop.

You need to get out more.....

 

[nccardfan]

We also flat out refuse to sit in the upper bowl for games or concerts. We did it for 7 years before retiring from season tickets. I'm a rule follower and would never go down to lower bowl unless I had a seat.

Wow, nc a price increase for mini pkgs. They must have reasoned that they could get more money from folks because the pre-season ranking was so high and the loaded team? Looks like a huge mistake YTD. I hope it gets better as the season heats up with great competition.

I don’t think Zipp is the only one doing it and I can fully understand why they do it. Attendance last night was poor. I understand Wed night during the week but it was like Christmas break or something. So after the lower section not filling up, you could almost see a migration of people coming from somewhere and I know people weren’t coming 45 minutes late. I started thinking, I paid $75 for 2 seats and these people coming down to sit beside me paid less than $20?

 

[WhatMeWorry]

I don’t think Zipp is the only one doing it and I can fully understand why they do it. Attendance last night was poor. I understand Wed night during the week but it was like Christmas break or something. So after the lower section not filling up, you could almost see a migration of people coming from somewhere and I know people weren’t coming 45 minutes late. I started thinking, I paid $75 for 2 seats and these people coming down to sit beside me paid less than $20?

So, you would rather that seat stay empty, rather than be occupied by, in your mind, an undeserving fellow Cards fan looking for a better game experience than they could normally enjoy. Actually, these seat fillers provide the valuable benefits of providing TV viewers the impression of a full house (you never see the upper deck), and a louder crowd surrounding the court. The last point ignores the tendency of the folks sitting in these seats to just sit in their seats and watch the game like they are home on the couch. Thinking back to last years NIT games when much of the lower bowl was filled with the unwashed masses, the atmosphere was electric from the introductions, and a point of discussion at the time.

 

[nccardfan]

So, you would rather that seat stay empty, rather than be occupied by, in your mind, an undeserving fellow Cards fan looking for a better game experience than they could normally enjoy. Actually, these seat fillers provide the valuable benefits of providing TV viewers the impression of a full house (you never see the upper deck), and a louder crowd surrounding the court. The last point ignores the tendency of the folks sitting in these seats to just sit in their seats and watch the game like they are home on the couch. Thinking back to last years NIT games when much of the lower bowl was filled with the unwashed masses, the atmosphere was electric from the introductions, and a point of discussion at the time.

Just pointing out the issues. If a fan pays for an upper deck seat, he should sit there. If he pays the extra money to sit in the lower level he should be entitled to those seats. Maybe ushers should strictly check tickets but maybe after halftime allow people to move. What your implying is that the University is all for people buying cheaper seats so they can move down lower to give the impression of a full arena? I really don’t think so.

 

[zipp_rivals]

This is the issue U of L faces... They want people in the lower bowl to create more of a crowd atmosphere and look better on TV. Ideally, people pay for those seats, but that's not happening. And people figure things out. Guys like nccardfan ask reasonable questions when they do pay up and will eventually stop paying if they don't get the right answers.

My wife is a pretty good example of what's happened. She never likes sitting where she hasn't bought a ticket for the uncertainty and embarrassment factors. (Opposites attract...) But as much as she likes going to games, she's learned to get over that. And she now leads the parade into the student section or wherever else we wanna sit. Picture how many other people have learned to do that.

Which offers no good solution for nccardfan unless he wants to join that parade or regard his ticket cost as something of a donation, which it is.

Something sl. off topic where you can gauge the situation... At the weekly coaches' shows, Paul Rogers is now giving away large numbers of tickets as prizes, as many as 20 per show. It indicates how low the market value a U of L game ticket has really become...

 

[nccardfan]

This is the issue U of L faces... They want people in the lower bowl to create more of a crowd atmosphere and look better on TV. Ideally, people pay for those seats, but that's not happening. And people figure things out. Guys like nccardfan ask reasonable questions when they do pay up and will eventually stop paying if they don't get the right answers.

My wife is a pretty good example of what's happened. She never likes sitting where she hasn't bought a ticket for the uncertainty and embarrassment factors. (Opposites attract...) But as much as she likes going to games, she's learned to get over that. And she now leads the parade into the student section or wherever else we wanna sit. Picture how many other people have learned to do that.

Which offers no good solution for nccardfan unless he wants to join that parade or regard his ticket cost as something of a donation, which it is.

Something sl. off topic where you can gauge the situation... At the weekly coaches' shows, Paul Rogers is now giving away large numbers of tickets as prizes, as many as 20 per show. It indicates how low the market value a U of L game ticket has really become...

Which gets to the point. How are you going to put more butts in the seats if you keep raising prices?

 

[PHCARD]

For 2 seasons after we gave up our season tickets, we received texts from UofL/Ticketmaster to buy lower levels seats for about $25 a seat.

We took advantage of this many times in Nov & Dec. We communicated with UofL we did not leave BB because of scandal but due to change in our life with retirement/Florida snowbirds. We also refused to attend any upper bowl seats because we had paid out for that for 30 yrs and those days were over.

Those opportunities/texts stopped this year. Season ticket holders were complaining about the big monies they were spending to sit in the lower arena and here was all these folks getting to sit beside them for pennies in comparison.

I completely understood their complaint. But we were giving the university monies instead of giving to a third party.

There’s got to be a way to settle this situation. I’m sure there is more “Snowbird” folks to help our attendance in Nov & Dec.

 

[zipp_rivals]

...Those opportunities/texts stopped this year. Season ticket holders were complaining about the big monies they were spending to sit in the lower arena and here was all these folks getting to sit beside them for pennies in comparison...

First I had heard that, but it makes sense. My wife doesn't get those offers anymore either.

Saw you at the game last nite...nice seats. As I said, I'm everywhere...

 

[PHCARD]

First I had heard that, but it makes sense. My wife doesn't get those offers anymore either.

Saw you at the game last nite...nice seats. As I said, I'm everywhere...

Yes, silent auction with monies donated to the non-venue sports gets you up close. Good cause. I miss BB.

What are you a stalker? Were you the dude with binoculars?

 

[WhatMeWorry]

Just pointing out the issues. If a fan pays for an upper deck seat, he should sit there. If he pays the extra money to sit in the lower level he should be entitled to those seats. Maybe ushers should strictly check tickets but maybe after halftime allow people to move. What your implying is that the University is all for people buying cheaper seats so they can move down lower to give the impression of a full arena? I really don’t think so.

No, what I am saying is if people choose to stay home and not use their seat, that they probably don't care if someone with a crappy seat in the upper deck uses it. If the seat owner's butt is in the seat, it isn't an option.

 

[zipp_rivals]

Yes, silent auction with monies donated to the non-venue sports gets you up close. Good cause. I miss BB.

What are you a stalker? Were you the dude with binoculars?

My wife keeps those lenses trained more on the crowd than she does the game. And she told me you were the lucky winner...congrats!

My advice FWIW is write a personal check to the head coach in any sport you want to contribute to. That way, you can be more certain that the money goes to the sport you want and maybe not deducted from other funding it would get anyway.

That's the problem with earmarking donations through the university. It's easy for U of L to simply offset that money using unrestricted funds...

 

[PHCARD]

My wife keeps those lenses trained more on the crowd than she does the game. And she told me you were the lucky winner...congrats!

My advice FWIW is write a personal check to the head coach in any sport you want to contribute to. That way, you can be more certain that the money goes to the sport you want and maybe not deducted from other funding it would get anyway.

That's the problem with earmarking donations through the university. It's easy for U of L to simply offset that money using unrestricted funds...

Thanks, I keep forgetting that little tidbit. But I've been told that "non-revenue" donations means non-revenue. So I will ask the questions again.

 

[nccardfan]

For 2 seasons after we gave up our season tickets, we received texts from UofL/Ticketmaster to buy lower levels seats for about $25 a seat.

We took advantage of this many times in Nov & Dec. We communicated with UofL we did not leave BB because of scandal but due to change in our life with retirement/Florida snowbirds. We also refused to attend any upper bowl seats because we had paid out for that for 30 yrs and those days were over.

Those opportunities/texts stopped this year. Season ticket holders were complaining about the big monies they were spending to sit in the lower arena and here was all these folks getting to sit beside them for pennies in comparison.

I completely understood their complaint. But we were giving the university monies instead of giving to a third party.

There’s got to be a way to settle this situation. I’m sure there is more “Snowbird” folks to help our attendance in Nov & Dec.

That kind of describes what we have been doing lately. I had wondered why it changed. I also noticed that for the $75 I paid through stubhub, the price on each ticket was $53.50. So I guess I got a bargain, although like you said I was getting them for about $25.

 

[zipp_rivals]

Thanks, I keep forgetting that little tidbit. But I've been told that "non-revenue" donations means non-revenue. So I will ask the questions again.

That's probably the answer you'll still get. But budgeting unrestricted funds is the mechanism that essentially defeats it. Let's use your example...

You wanna earmark $100 to nonrevenue sports, and you send U of L athletics a check. U of L previously decided it wants to budget $1,000 for nonrevenue sports, and that money obviously comes from the sports that produce surplus revenue. Then your check comes in the mail, and U of L allocates it to nonrevenue sports as you prescribe. They now need to take only $900 from the revenue sports to maintain their budget. Nothing really changed except that the overall budget has your extra $100 to work with. And that's really the same as giving U of L athletics a $100 donation to use any way it wants.

I used to work for a large company that was a major United Way contributor in another community. And that's my understanding of the way earmarked contributions actually work when there are a multitude of recipients internally. How much recipients get proportionally only changes if a large number of donors move in a particular direction. In your example, if everyone was giving money to nonrevenue sports, U of L might start to increase their relative funding. So you need a lotta friends doing the same thing.

Thus far, I've never had a head coach tell me that he/she can't take receipt of a personal check. And if you think about, it's in their interest (their programs') to try to keep the money we give them for themselves if they can pull that off. They understand the above process, and they want to see their own programs benefit...

 

[PHCARD]

@zipp, so if I send CDM a check for $100, he then can use that money as he sees fit for his team and it won't go into the athletic fund pot? I had a CFA person tell me at a suite invite two years ago, after we gave up MBB (they wanted us back).....if I wanted to help support student athletes in other ways, there is accounts set up for that. Ex: a student athlete hasn't been able to fly home across the ocean for 2 years to see their family due to monies and they need to fly home for a death in the family. They said they have funds for situations like that?

 

[zipp_rivals]

@zipp, so if I send CDM a check for $100, he then can use that money as he sees fit for his team and it won't go into the athletic fund pot? I had a CFA person tell me at a suite invite two years ago, after we gave up MBB (they wanted us back).....if I wanted to help support student athletes in other ways, there is accounts set up for that. Ex: a student athlete hasn't been able to fly home across the ocean for 2 years to see their family due to monies and they need to fly home for a death in the family. They said they have funds for situations like that?

I don't know their finances at that level of detail. Like it or not, U of L is still largely a black box. You can see how it's wrapped, shake it a little, and only guess what's inside.

Most of these coaches are very entrepreneurial and have blinders on. They operate as kings and queens of their little empires. Where you and I probably differ is that, personally, I don't care if Jeff Walz takes a check I make out to him and puts it in his own bank account. At least HE is benefiting from the money. I doubt he'd do that, and I prefer that the women's team benefits.

But I don't want it going to U of L athletics overhead. At the moment, that looks like a big drain on revenues. I want the athletes and coaches to benefit from any money I give. See if these charts make sense to you...