Can anyone in Cleveland update us on what they are seeing? Is there a large UK presence or anything? Any update would be helpful! Go Big Blue![/B]
UK crowd in Cleveland
- Thread starter dkentuckyk
- Start date
I am concerned that for the first time this year Big Blue Nation may be outnumbered by WVA fans. I was in Syracuse in 2010 and they outnumbered us in that Elite 8 game. They took over Columbus in the first two rounds. I hope we have enough Big Blue fans in reserve who still have some money left to travel to Cleveland. As of this morning the game was not a sell out.
I'll be honest, it's not going to be as good as we would hope for a number of reasons.
-First, West Virginia is the closest to Cleveland of all four schools.
-Second, we are the third farthest from Cleveland (only Wichita St. has to travel farther). Yes, our third seed and our 5th seed are both closer to the regional than the 1 seed. As always, excellent job, NCAA.
-Third, a LOT of our fans will be saving money and planning for the Final Four instead. The same won't be the case for fans of the other schools.
We won't have 50% of arena. There is no chance. At best we will be on par with WVU and ahead of Notre Dame.
-First, West Virginia is the closest to Cleveland of all four schools.
-Second, we are the third farthest from Cleveland (only Wichita St. has to travel farther). Yes, our third seed and our 5th seed are both closer to the regional than the 1 seed. As always, excellent job, NCAA.
-Third, a LOT of our fans will be saving money and planning for the Final Four instead. The same won't be the case for fans of the other schools.
We won't have 50% of arena. There is no chance. At best we will be on par with WVU and ahead of Notre Dame.
That's pathetic if true since our fans have known where we were going since way back when due to our regular season dominance.
How many people can afford to go to Nashville, then Louisville, then Cleveland, then Indianapolis on consecutive weekends? It just isn't realistic. For WVU, Notre Dame, and Wichita State this weekend is "the main event". That isn't so for Kentucky fans. They expect to still be playing. They hedged their bets long ago on the Final Four.
Now add in that of those trips, Cleveland is easily the farther from Lexington and it just makes it even easier to skip. I'm sure many people planned to go to Louisville since it's so close they could commute, and plan to go to Indianapolis, but are skipping this weekend.
Originally posted by UKUGA:
I have a hunch our fans bought the tickets a long time ago. With the SEC Tourney in Nasvhille, fewer fans attended that event, freeing up their money to go to Cleveland.
They had to do this, right?
You're kidding, right? There were reportedly thousands of Kentucky fans in Nashville without tickets, watching at bars. We packed Nashville and drove ticket prices sky high.[/QUOTE]
This post was edited on 3/26 2:59 PM by Seth C
I doubt they did. They couldn't have. Some might have when the brackets were unveiled, but I don't know how many Kentucky fans bought tickets to Cleveland either. I know many who have had Final Four tickets for ages, and even more who had tickets to Louisville. Cleveland? I don't know anyone in the real world who is planning to attend the games.
If we were paired with almost anyone but WVU we might still outnumber any other team, but WVU fans avidly support their basketball team and are closer to the regional than anyone else. It's a 3 hour drive. If they go and lose the first game, oh well, they can jut drive home the next morning (or even late that night, really). If they REALLY wanted they could even get to the game without skipping a day of work.
This post was edited on 3/26 3:04 PM by Seth C
Lighten up guys, and sorry for "pathetic" but we have tons and tons and tons of fans. Nashville only holds around 20,000, same with UL...so I just figured we had enough left over to go to Cleveland and have the majority of the fans.
Live just outside of Cleveland. Heard at work today that the Big Blue Mist was everywhere in the downtown casino. Going to the game tonite. Will try to post a pic or two if I can figure out how.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Where is your "real world" Seth? We knew we were going to be in Cleveland before the brackets were unveiled.
I suspect that many Kentucky fans in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), Michigan, Illinois, etc., circled this a long time ago and purchased tickets. No to mention a few thousand Kentucky residents, as well. They can always be resold if Kentucky doesn't make it.
I must admit, I'm a tad bothered to live in a "world" where thousands of fans drive to Nashville to sit in a bar and watch games on tv, but don't buy tickets to Cleveland. It doesn't make sense to me.
I'm not there, so I don't know, but I wouldn't use Syracuse 2010 to compare. Syracuse is not a car ride away for most UK fans. Cleveland is.
Plus we didn't know all season we'd be headed to Syracuse so we didn't buy those tickets early on. I feel many did do that for Cleveland this year.
If I had to guess I'd say it'll be something like this:
UK - 40%
WV - 25%
ND - 10%
WSU - 10%
Neutral - 15%
Now if my projections are correct, 10% of the fans aren't going to care after the first game and likely just go back to their hotel or out on the town for the night. The other 10% from the first game are going to be ferociously behind the Mountaineers......just as ferociously as WVU's own fans.
The 15% neutral crowd will go almost certainly just about all for the Mountaineers.
So while I believe we will have quiet a few more fans there, we will still be outnumbered when it comes to who is pulling for us.
Plus we didn't know all season we'd be headed to Syracuse so we didn't buy those tickets early on. I feel many did do that for Cleveland this year.
If I had to guess I'd say it'll be something like this:
UK - 40%
WV - 25%
ND - 10%
WSU - 10%
Neutral - 15%
Now if my projections are correct, 10% of the fans aren't going to care after the first game and likely just go back to their hotel or out on the town for the night. The other 10% from the first game are going to be ferociously behind the Mountaineers......just as ferociously as WVU's own fans.
The 15% neutral crowd will go almost certainly just about all for the Mountaineers.
So while I believe we will have quiet a few more fans there, we will still be outnumbered when it comes to who is pulling for us.
To the people in Cleveland....Post Some pics!!! Show us the big blue mist!! lol thanks in advance
This post was edited on 3/26 4:04 PM by dkentuckyk
This post was edited on 3/26 4:04 PM by dkentuckyk
We're here in the suburb of Beachwood and have seen about 10 groups of UK fans. Everybody is excited and ready to cheer on the CATS! Taking Uber to downtown in about an hour. Haven't seen any fans of any other schools other than OSU. UK gear starts lots of conversations.
My world is Lexington. I have friends online attending the games in Cleveland, but none I know personally. I also certainly don't know anyone who drove down to Nashville just to sit in a bar, but it was widely reported that it happened. I think a lot of people got down there without tickets and then couldn't get them or couldn't afford the prices being asked.
It will be good, but not as good as people think (and obviously nothing like Louisville).
Cleveland sold out before the brackets were even announced. That lends me to believe a lot of UK fans knew where we'd be going and bought tickets.
Cleveland sold out before the brackets were even announced. That lends me to believe a lot of UK fans knew where we'd be going and bought tickets.
From KSR's Drew Franklin -
I did do a lap around the mall and casino a little earlier and saw plenty of blue moving into the hotels. However, I also saw plenty of Mountaineer blue and gold so it may not be the lopsided crowds we saw in Nashville and Louisville the past two weekends. The UK fans here in Cleveland need to bring the noise tonight.
I did do a lap around the mall and casino a little earlier and saw plenty of blue moving into the hotels. However, I also saw plenty of Mountaineer blue and gold so it may not be the lopsided crowds we saw in Nashville and Louisville the past two weekends. The UK fans here in Cleveland need to bring the noise tonight.
Anyone would have to brain dead to expect the lopsidedness we had in Nashville & Louisville. Those places were each 90%+ blue.
This post was edited on 3/26 2:59 PM by Seth C[/QUOTE] We as fans are using the platoon system up until Final Four when we will all be there if the Cats are, we send blue platoon to one event white platoon to one event mercy platoon to another event.
I expect the BBN will have a good showing, but we're not going to dominate the crowd. WVU and ND will definitely have a lot of fans, and I wouldn't be surprised if WSU doesn't as well. I'd guess UK fans will number about 1/3 of the overall crowd. All in all it should make for a great Sweet 16 setting. For Saturday's game though I think UK fans will dominate the crowd.
7m7 minutes ago
Walking around Cleveland, starting to see a lot of Blue...but also a lot of other teams as well. Will be a very mixed crowd tonight
Walking around Cleveland, starting to see a lot of Blue...but also a lot of other teams as well. Will be a very mixed crowd tonight
West Virginia dominated Columbus? Haha. The Dayton Flyers had at least 15K of the 18K for the Sunday games. I was also there on Friday for the WVU/Buffalo game and sat in the WVU section. They had maybe 2K.
They were represented, but "dominated" in fan support? No.
They were represented, but "dominated" in fan support? No.
I live about 25 miles south of Medina. I heard the same story.......UK fans were everywhere.
I also have a home in Lexington, it takes me 4.5 hours to get there, not that far and Interstate all the way. UK fans will dominate the Q even with the other fans "banding" together to cheer for WVU. Really......this should be the least of our worries.
To those that are there, thanks for the updates and please keep them coming until we can see for our selves. FCC.