Box and Won Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 For the students out there: do you have any guesses as to how many students did not make it to the game because of the lack of transportation? There was a pretty good student turnout nonetheless. It would be nice to get that many students for games that aren't nationally televised. And for everyone: to what do you attribute the relatively small crowd? There really isn't any reason I can think of besides the fact that the university did not market the game at all. In the past we have advertised big matchups against Louisville, Mizzou, etc., but I don't recall seeing any efforts to build hype for the Arizona game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 It's not like there were 50 people there. There is a reason most colleges play in small arenas, no larger than 15,000. There are not as many college fans, especially if you are in a pro market. Even teams in say Carolina or the deep south could not fill an arena the size of Savvis. Basketball, especially college basketball does not interest as mnay people as other sports do. Football gets 100,000 fans every week in some colleges, even final fours could not get that much. Really the only way SLU has ever come close to selling out Savvis was when we were a top 25 team, playing a big conference game or regional game and we needed the other teams fans coming in large contingents to sell it out. I do think the game could have been marketed better. I didn't even see an ad for it in the paper in the preceding days. This game should have been hyped up but still 10,5k is nothing to sneeze at. There are only a handful of temas who wouldn't take that. All the critics of the game attendance I have seen and heard are coming from people who are not SLU fans. fans from other teams do not like it when SLU gets on TV and gets coverage over their teams. They will make up any excuse to critsize SLU and cut down its fans. Ask the critics this, did you come to the game? The answer always will be no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alameda bob Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 I noticed a lot of very good seats behind both benches on that side were empty for most of the game! I assume some smart folks moved down there in the second half when the ticket holders obviuosly did not show up. They missed a great game and I assume they will be warming those seats the rest of the season or pass on the tickets to someone who cares. We had 25 people over to our house yesterday and I converted a few new Bills fans, despite the poor judgement of whoever tossed his blue ball at Stoudamire. That little display of poor sportsmanship made Sports Center. I was embarrased as an alumni. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StlCardinal Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 I showed up to catch the shuttle at 11, and we waited there for 15-20 minutes before we got fed up and decided to just drive ourselves to Savvis. 2 friends that I convinced to go, but wanted to arrive later, waited at the shuttle stop until about 12:15, and then had to take the Metrolink and didn't get to the game until there was about 8 minutes left in the first half. They said that there was still a large group of students waiting when they decided to take the train. These girls don't normally go to games, and it's going to be tough to convince them to go again if it's going to be this much of a hassle. I can't believe that they did this for the biggest game of the year without telling anyone. They'd better have a damn good excuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUFAN2000 Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 There are some buildings with large capacity (Allen Fieldhouse is around 16,500, and MU's new place is gonna have somewhere from 17,000 to 19,000 depending on who you ask.) Although I agree that they're hard to fill. The tigers' attendance has been atrocious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 to be completely honest, imo the loss to west virginia killed any walkup. we win that game, we are undefeated and we probably would have gotten more media hype. speaking of media hype, we get none. we are still treated at best as the "little engine that could" at worst as pitiful. no one takes us serious. i am not saying this is a top 25 program, but there has been nothing happen to indicate we are not a top 75 program either. yet imo we are treated horrible by the st louis media. i know i am in the minority on this, but i still believe the media should be our cheerleader of any d-1 program. last, as has been commented by many now, slu just did a horrible job promoting the game. btw, i didnt get any magnetic schedule when i left. i guess you had to go out a certain door to get that. another genius move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 Attendance is a tough one and St. Louis has always SUCKED when it come to the Billikens. First and foremost they have to promote the game a lot more, like many of you have mentioned. Secondly, they need to promote it even more on campus. How bout a big pep rally on Friday or something of that nature? The bussing problem is ridiculous and hopefully will be amended. I think there needs to be more halftime promotions. It seems to me and maybe I am wrong, but there used to be more halftime things. Get the Budweiser Daredevils twice a season and run ads for that. Get the Pheonix gorilla back in here and run that on the radios. Get that mormon family of 16 that juggles everything from knives to each other and advertise that. Push to get the upper level full and offer 2 for 1 seats in the upper level a couple days before the game. Make sure season ticket holders give their tickets to someone if they can't attend! It's one thing to have 10,500, but when you have empty seats down below, that is crazy. YOu can always give your seats away. If nothing else, let this board know you won't be at the game and we can help fill those seats. Lastly, as we win we will naturally pick up people, so when we are winning and new people come we have to keep up the hostile environment and make it fun for people to come to the games. Also, how about more give aways like rally towels. Imagine the rally towels going crazy at this past game! How about those noisy tubes we can bang together. Every game, whether it's the University of Smallville or a top 5 team shoud have a crazy atmosphere. If you build it, they will come! Brad is building the program and everybody else can as well, and then they will come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 i9 am convinced st louis is the biggest warm weather bandwagon jumping town in the world. right now the billikens arent "cool". the rams are. only so many sports entertainment dollars to go around. when we were filling the keil/savvis/arena no rams to compete against. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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