What's with the attendance?

[Quality Is Job 1]

This reply was meant for Bonwich.

I'd figured out what you were trying to do and merged the posts for you.

[moytoy12]

Maybe this is a new thread, but it doesn't seem to me that the product on the court is that desirable a commodity (and i have no sound basis really for asserting this since i don't get to watch the games).

[jimbofive]

Maybe this is a new thread, but it doesn't seem to me that the product on the court is that desirable a commodity (and i have no sound basis really for asserting this since i don't get to watch the games).

It's better than it was, we do dunks and 3 pointers now!

Although I'm still waiting for Tommie's first flush. A LOT.

[moytoy12]

It's better than it was, we do dunks and 3 pointers now!

Although I'm still waiting for Tommie's first flush. A LOT.

what is this new-fangled thang you call a "dunk"?

[Quality Is Job 1]

It's better than it was, we do dunks and 3 pointers now!

Although I'm still waiting for Tommie's first flush. A LOT.

The Billikens didn't dunk and hit 3-pointers before this year?

I agree with you on Liddell's dunking, but I think Majerus may have discouraged that (based on what Tom Timmerman wrote in a blog entry a while back and on what estlalumni wrote [under TDELL], that Coach doesn't want anything fancy).

[jimbofive]

The Billikens didn't dunk and hit 3-pointers before this year?

I agree with you on Liddell's dunking, but I think Majerus may have discouraged that (based on what Tom Timmerman wrote in a blog entry a while back and on what estlalumni wrote [under TDELL], what Coach doesn't want anything fancy).

Nothing more fundamental than a dunk, that's the most surefire way to put the ball in the basket (assuming one can do it, of course). Last year was fairly exciting, but before that, it seems like it's been awhile since we saw the Bills playing above the rim. The only dunks I can think of this year are Husak and Eberhardt, but I guess it's just exciting to see new guys doing it, in addition to Tommie, who we all know can sky. I guess I'm alluding to our strong offensive output thus far. 53% from the field, including 42% from 3, and 75% from the line. Offense is exciting, plain and simple. It's hard-wired: swish = smile, clank = frown. If we could get our turnovers down I'd be extremely pleased w/ what I'm seeing on the court thus far.

[Westy03]

Nothing more fundamental than a dunk, that's the most surefire way to put the ball in the basket (assuming one can do it, of course). Last year was fairly exciting, but before that, it seems like it's been awhile since we saw the Bills playing above the rim. The only dunks I can think of this year are Husak and Eberhardt, but I guess it's just exciting to see new guys doing it, in addition to Tommie, who we all know can sky. I guess I'm alluding to our strong offensive output thus far. 53% from the field, including 42% from 3, and 75% from the line. Offense is exciting, plain and simple. It's hard-wired: swish = smile, clank = frown. If we could get our turnovers down I'd be extremely pleased w/ what I'm seeing on the court thus far.

I agree, turnovers are killing this team. If we turn it over at the rate we are now against better teams, its going to be a long year no matter what our shooting percentage is. The thing is most of the turnovers ive seen are pretty much unforced so hopefully once we get the offense down a little bit more the turnovers will go down.

[billiken_roy]

I agree, turnovers are killing this team. If we turn it over at the rate we are now against better teams, its going to be a long year no matter what our shooting percentage is. The thing is most of the turnovers ive seen are pretty much unforced so hopefully once we get the offense down a little bit more the turnovers will go down.

just to put it in context, we are only averaging a half of a turnover more per game for the season as compared to last year.

that said, you cant argue with the increased shooting percentage of almost 6% while only taking 6 less shots per game. my point is that the better shooting is offsetting the very slight increase in turnovers.

[Adman]

I agree that the attendance was pretty poor Saturday. People who saw me at the game wondered why I was there. Like it or not, a national TV game for #1 spot in college football land is an outstanding entertainment event. Hard for Bills -- or anyone else in St. Louis sports -- to compete with it. The Blues were off. If they were playing at home Saturday, their attendance would have been way down, too.

I'm not too worried about Bills attendance or Rick's ability to charm. In the days of Spoonball, the U was in the TOP 5 in all college basketball attendance, averaging around 16,000. That was for a team in the top 35-45 range and no recent basketball heritage to speak of. While the U ran a nice Spoonball campaign, the basketball product put butts in seats. Exciting, partially home-grown, in the NCAAs, etc. Charlie's image helped it. Our market is large. There is no NBA team. A lot of local alums. But it is the product that's important.

While not as smooth as Charlie, Rick is a very engaging speaker. His passion and humor hits you in the face. His speech at the MAC a few months back was outstanding and very funny. His speech for the Alums at Busch Center was passionate if not quite as funny. Seemed a little tired, honestly.

Joe, you mentioned the good job the Blues are doing. Right you are. The key difference is that the Blues invested in product/players that could have an immediate impact. Once they did that, the "Whatever It Takes" campaign became credible...and provided lots of customer-friendly areas for in-game events, ticket promotions, etc. Without the product, a campaign like that would have been DOA.

But the important thing is to get the Billiken product fixed. That's what Rick is busy doing. Around the time the U gets around to hiring an AD and the staff has the money and bandwidth to actually think about marketing, Rick will be well on his way to fixing the product.

Then you'll see our Chaifetz Arena was built too small.

[NH]

What was the pregame like. I have been to Detroit UMSL and Furman and th pregame has been terrible for all. The Music "Crank That" travis barker remix is terrib;e to pump you up for a game. Also I liked the dim lights last year. Thoughts?

[drkelsey55]

They have to do something about the lights and the ad light banner around the perimeter of the arena. very distracting during play when the light brightens suddenly.

[papal]

Both of those numbers are guesses.

Here's a good number for you: 5

That's the number of Blue Crew members at the game. And apparently it was the same five who attended games in Pittsburgh and Springfield. So those people should be commended.

I have been a season ticket holder since the early 1970's. I have not intentionally`missed a game since that time-until the "Pacific" game; Our home season package of games is the most unattractive schedule I can recall. I definitely prefered to enjoy the miz-zou -kansas game (I did however give my tickets to someone who wanted to see the game,so the seats were used). Hopefully we can have a motr entertaining home schedule in future seasons.

[Band Legend]

I have been a season ticket holder since the early 1970's. I have not intentionally`missed a game since that time-until the "Pacific" game; Our home season package of games is the most unattractive schedule I can recall. I definitely prefered to enjoy the miz-zou -kansas game (I did however give my tickets to someone who wanted to see the game,so the seats were used). Hopefully we can have a motr entertaining home schedule in future seasons.

Everyone needs to quit with the gnashing of teeth and all about Saturday night's attendance. I never miss a game if I have our season tickets; (I share them with my sister) until last Saturday that is. Like it or not, we don't have a football team, so my total college football allegiance goes to Mizzou. I have been rooting for them since I was six, and I don't remember them ever playing for #1 before. That's historic stuff, people! Their lofty perch is making my Billikens myopia start a little bit later this year, even with Coach Majerus in charge. My decision this Saturday is made easier by the fact that I'll be in Memphis, throwing down some coldies after running in the St. Jude Marathon. My wife will be pissed that our romantic evening dining at Chez Phillipe at the Peabody has been changed into me getting pissed watching the game at the Flying Saucer.

[kevinfootes]

I have not had a chance to get to a game yet, so maybe I'm part of the problem, if there even is a problem. I have tix for SIU, Dayton, Xavier and UMass. I hope to make a few more if my schedule allows. But just look around college bball at some of the attendance figures for these early season nonconference games. Mizzou got around 5,000 for their first two home games. I saw where Texas A&M got around 6,000 for a home game. Oregon is #11 in the country got 7,000 on Saturday. Clemson #22 in the country got 6,300 at home.

Now if we have bad crowds for SIU and Xavier, I would be concerned. If we are playing well in February and getting bad crowds, I would be worried, but not yet. Our attendance figures so far seem in-line with a lot of places around the country.

Sodie-ball slowly eroded the fan base. Rick will give us a winner and the fans will come back. I'm more concerned about things like which two jucos will Majerus land in the spring, then I am about game presentation, promotions and all of that. I'll let others on the board dissect that stuff.

I don't believe that A&M, Oregon, or Clemson hired Rick Majerus this past offseason. I think that's the difference. There was quite a bit of hype when RM was hired, and we heard reports that season ticket orders had increased. The result after three games looks to be the same or even worse than this point last year. It's certainly not the end of the world, and we'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

As has been clearly stated on here, RM hasn't been Mr. Personality thus far and the leaderless athletic department has done little to help promote the team.

And as I've mentioned already, it will take some wins to bring in the crowds...RM will make it happen. It just isn't happening as quickly as I thought.

[neenee6083]

I am a SLU alum living back East and whenever I am in town I always attend SLU games and always travel to see SLU games whenever possible and I was in town this past weekend for the holidays. The crowd on Saturday was the most pathetic I have possibly ever seen. I was in section 119 and there was almost nobody in my section with the exception of a couple there with their newborn twins and they hardly ever clapped or anything. It was just dead in there and it was close to an embarrassment in my opinion.

Dear jzstldc,

I would agree with you that the attendance to the game was rather poor, but considering the number of factors already discussed I will leave that point alone.

I would however like to discuss your critique of the couple with newborn twins:

First, I think that you should limit your criticisms about attendance to people that were not at the game.

Second, maybe next time you could come over and offer to hold one of the twins so that maybe my wife or I would be able clap a little more.

Thanks.

[ACE]

The difference is A&M, Oregon and Clemson are either currently in the Top 25 or in the case of A&M been an NCAA Tourney team recently. We haven't been to the Tourney in 7 years. Also, Missouri plays in an on-campus arena, play in a BCS conference and are drawing less than us. Our early season attendance is in-line with a lot of other comparable or better programs. It's really a non-issue at this point.

I thought I read somewhere that we picked up about 1,000 new season tickets after the Majerus hire. That's progress. This is a transition year on and off the court. Next year will be the more crucial year with the Fab 5 coming in and the move to the new Arena. As for this year, Majerus will have to try to squeeze as much as he can out of Sodie's roster.

[jimbofive]

Majerus will have to try to squeeze as much as he can out of Sodie's roster.

...squeeze Sodie's roster...

hahahaha, this just got me laughing because i got to thinking about Majerus trying to squeeze a bratwurst out of a pig's stomach or something. him just sweating profusely, salivating and going "don't worry, almost got it!"

LOLOLOL

[MusicCityBilliken]

...squeeze Sodie's roster...

hahahaha, this just got me laughing because i got to thinking about Majerus trying to squeeze a bratwurst out of a pig's stomach or something. him just sweating profusely, salivating and going "don't worry, almost got it!"

LOLOLOL

I was looking at previous coaches listed attendances as compared to RM's first 3 games>

BS average was about 2 to 3,000 more

Romer's average was about 4 to 5,000 more

and Spoon's was 9 to 10,000 more.

Reasons for this could be the schedule:

This year's schedule is about as poor schedule I have seen since Spoon arrived. Usual schedule always included a marque opponent like a UNC, Kansas, Illinois, MO (I listed them because of the crowd appeal), or Gonzaga. Also remember scheduling a Arizona and UCLA immediately following a national championship. Several mid-level BCS schools also usually populated the schedule with the likes of Kansas State, Iowa, Mississippi, etc.. This years schedule has none of these. Infact, we don't have one ranked OOC opponent coming to the Scottrade Center this year. I hope with a new AD and RM using his contacts this can change. I have heard him mention about getting a Memphis and a ND to be a home and away game.

or>>>

Not being from St Louis, are the old-time Bills fans still coming (you know that wine and cheese group that sits on their hands, our base)? The students unfortunately have never been much of a base. Are they buying into RM's act? Maybe reclusive behavior is having some ramifications. Like closed practices, no midnight madness, and limited media exposure. If this is the case, the only cure for this is winning.

[slu72 fan]

I was looking at previous coaches listed attendances as compared to RM's first 3 games>

BS average was about 2 to 3,000 more

Romer's average was about 4 to 5,000 more

and Spoon's was 9 to 10,000 more.

Reasons for this could be the schedule:

This year's schedule is about as poor schedule I have seen since Spoon arrived. Usual schedule always included a marque opponent like a UNC, Kansas, Illinois, MO (I listed them because of the crowd appeal), or Gonzaga. Also remember scheduling a Arizona and UCLA immediately following a national championship. Several mid-level BCS schools also usually populated the schedule with the likes of Kansas State, Iowa, Mississippi, etc.. This years schedule has none of these. Infact, we don't have one ranked OOC opponent coming to the Scottrade Center this year. I hope with a new AD and RM using his contacts this can change. I have heard him mention about getting a Memphis and a ND to be a home and away game.

or>>>

Not being from St Louis, are the old-time Bills fans still coming (you know that wine and cheese group that sits on their hands, our base)? The students unfortunately have never been much of a base. Are they buying into RM's act? Maybe reclusive behavior is having some ramifications. Like closed practices, no midnight madness, and limited media exposure. If this is the case, the only cure for this is winning.

The schedule was changed by RM to give him time to install his systems. I believe this is fairly routine for a new coach.

Seems to me that the majority of the people are giving the new staff the benefit of the doubt as it pertains to selling the program. RM has made it clear he doesn't want to be a part of that, but over time maybe his position will soften. The regulars are attending the games, but there's not much excitement. The team plays a very vanilla brand of basketball. Hopefully, with increased familiarity with the RM system and an influx of new talent, this will evolve into a more viewer friendly type of game.

[slufanskip]

Dear jzstldc,

I would agree with you that the attendance to the game was rather poor, but considering the number of factors already discussed I will leave that point alone.

I would however like to discuss your critique of the couple with newborn twins:

First, I think that you should limit your criticisms about attendance to people that were not at the game.

Second, maybe next time you could come over and offer to hold one of the twins so that maybe my wife or I would be able clap a little more.

Thanks.

nice!!!! that right there just made my day.

[Billiken Rich]

Dear jzstldc,

I would agree with you that the attendance to the game was rather poor, but considering the number of factors already discussed I will leave that point alone.

I would however like to discuss your critique of the couple with newborn twins:

First, I think that you should limit your criticisms about attendance to people that were not at the game.

Second, maybe next time you could come over and offer to hold one of the twins so that maybe my wife or I would be able clap a little more.

Thanks.

No kidding!

It's hard to get rowdy with twins or in my case with a single six month old.

For the record, I was in Atlanta for the game in question. The yahoo I gave my tix to, didn't make it to the game. Last time for him........

[kevinfootes]

The difference is A&M, Oregon and Clemson are either currently in the Top 25 or in the case of A&M been an NCAA Tourney team recently. We haven't been to the Tourney in 7 years. Also, Missouri plays in an on-campus arena, play in a BCS conference and are drawing less than us. Our early season attendance is in-line with a lot of other comparable or better programs. It's really a non-issue at this point.

I thought I read somewhere that we picked up about 1,000 new season tickets after the Majerus hire. That's progress. This is a transition year on and off the court. Next year will be the more crucial year with the Fab 5 coming in and the move to the new Arena. As for this year, Majerus will have to try to squeeze as much as he can out of Sodie's roster.

I don't think that A&M, Oregon, and Clemson have a fairly recent history of averaging more than 15K per game either. That's my basis of comparison, not random programs that also have low attendance thus far. My point is that I thought RM would create enough of a buzz to put butts in the seats. So far, he's created about as much excitement as Fred Thompson. With no effort from the athletic department and RM not seeming interested in generating excitement, we'll have to wait for the wins to come before people start to show up. The good news is that I'm confident RM will deliver.

Also, do you really think an on-campus arena will have a significant impact on student attendance in the long run? Will we get 12 to show up instead of 6 or 7? Seriously, the arena can't hurt, but I'm not sure that alone will make it happen. If RM gets the team rolling, the students would come anyway.

[billiken_roy]

My point is that I thought RM would create enough of a buzz to put butts in the seats. So far, he's created about as much excitement as Fred Thompson. With no effort from the athletic department and RM not seeming interested in generating excitement, we'll have to wait for the wins to come before people start to show up. The good news is that I'm confident RM will deliver.

you know i have thought about this for awhile now. how could this high profile rock star coach be so not what we thought he would be off the court?

i think the answer is that we only saw the clips and minutes on leno and the analysis shots on espn and never saw the all season long body of work that those in salt lake city or muncie indiana did. i.e. this is what majerus is. the real majerus. a dedicated true basketball coach that is just personable enough but more concerned with winning basketball games than being a rock star.

that persona we thought we were getting was created by beating north carolina in the final four with a brilliant coaching performance and going against kentucky with a team that by all accounts had no business being there. the media took that great story and blew it up. and after it was over, majerus, who is a very good story teller and spellbinder yoda for basketball, made it all that much more credible when he wanted to play to that crowd. he then retires for health reasons and as most legends go, grows exponentially thereafter. annually fueled by the spring coach hunt, and then the short servings at espn, it was easy to believe that from a basketball evangelist standpoint, that majerus was more than what he wanted to be and would be.

i can deal with that. we know he is a superb coach. and if he wins games and puts us in the tourney every year, i dont care if he is whitey herzog or vern rapp. i would rather have rick majerus the hall of fame coach as opposed to barry hinson the spectacular banquet speaker coach.

[ACE]

Well said Roy. If you read the Majerus book, you will know he is a coach first and foremost. While he has a quirky personality, he's not into being a celebrity in the same way some coaches are. He is obsessed with xs and os and recruiting. He's always talking about upgrading the roster. He has already gotten results with recruiting and he's continuing to push it. I get a kick out of the chicken little crowd about the attendance. The Riverfront Times article from a few months ago said there was already more than 700 new season tickets sold and I later read that number had grown to around 1,000, so Majerus has already created a significant impact in fan interest. I'm not interested in RM working on schmoozing boosters and developing his standup comedy routine. He is working on the important things that will build a winner and that's what will continue to grow the fan base even more. Everybody loves a winner. The new arena has already helped attract a better caliber recruit. Several of the recruits cited that. As for student turnout. Students tend to be lazy, but also susceptable to jumping on trends. I'm not saying Chaifetz will develop into Cameron Indoor Stadium, but more of the next generation of SLU students will start showing up because it is something new and if we start winning, they will keep coming and more will show up. If the students still don't show up, then local basketball fans will fill those empty seats. Winning takes care of everything.

[bluecrewprez]

Sodie-ball slowly eroded the fan base. Rick will give us a winner and the fans will come back. I'm more concerned about things like which two jucos will Majerus land in the spring, then I am about game presentation, promotions and all of that. I'll let others on the board dissect that stuff.

I couldn't DISAGREE with you more. Soderberg's years had the best consistent student turn-out in years. When I was a freshman (2003-2004), there were 60 people in Blue Crew, 125 the next year, 250 the year after, and 400 members when I graduated this past May. The Coach has nothing to do with student turn out if the students don't know who he is. The Bills could win all they want and be the best team in the nation, but SLU students wouldn't know the difference if someone didn't TELL them (even their parents telling them how good we are is a type of promotion). That's how I convinced a lot of kids into joining Blue Crew my first year as President of Blue Crew: I told them that we were the biggest, best, and coolest organization on campus and they were all about joining....even though we weren't exactly quite yet, but after they joined, we were.

Promotion is 100% the reason kids come to games....how else can you explain how we got over 1000 people to come to the 1st Billiken Madness coming off of a 9-21 season??