Jump to content

Semi OT - Attendance Down at Kentucky


kappy96

Recommended Posts

Saw this in the Sports Business Daily and thought it was interesting and relevant enough to share. Lot of similar topics/concerns have been discussed on this board frequently.

Univ. Of Kentucky Continues To See Decline In Attendance For Men's Basketball

Published December 13, 2013

Attendance at Rupp Arena for the Univ. of Kentucky men's basketball team's first seven games has dropped for "the fourth consecutive year," according to John Clay of the LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER. Average attendance has "gone from 23,868 through the first seven home games" of '09, John Calipari's first season as the UK coach, "to 21,799 this season." Most of the empty seats this year are "upper-level seats reserved for students," and the team has played a "weak home schedule." UK's "three most interesting matchups this season have been neutral-site games -- Michigan State in Chicago; Providence in Brooklyn and Baylor in Dallas." The prevalence of these "made-for-TV, big-ticket affairs has all but turned the home-and-home series into an antique."Also UK and Indiana "canceled their home-and-home series." Additionally, there may be "a creeping one-and-done fatigue" among UK fans "wistful for the good old days when you got to know players over an extended period." Also, the Rupp Arena experience has "turned stale," with the introductions video "the only noticeable in-game change." The venue's lower level "has always lacked enthusiasm, while the upper level remains cramped and uncomfortable with a poor view of the action"
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its not related to UK per se, but attendance seems to be down most places. I caught parts of Xavier squeaking out wins over Bowling Green and Evansville this past week and their arena was half empty for each game. Just looked it up and the box scores report that there were 9k+ for each game. No freaking way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"It's the economy stupid". as they used to say.

but really ever since the crash few years back I've noticed shitload of seats empty at everything. NASCAR is dropping, college football and basketball at most of the mid and lower levels schools have ton of empty seats. Wait till you see all the seat colored fans when the meaningless bowl games are upon us. Perfect storm of rising ticket prices, economy and ability to see on the tube or pc is causing dramatic drop in sport ticket sales. As is human nature fingers pointing everywhere but fact is the main reason attendance is dropping is lack of disposable income.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Altman is right - attendance is down in many sports and places - the Post had an article about the Blues being behind so far this year. The economy has something to do with it but then again Missouri football had a big year at the gate. Winning or not winning has to be factored in along with weak schedules adding to the problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...