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Attendance


ajgareri

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Let me be specific here. I'm not criticizing or chastising the Rowdies. I'm offering suggestions, merely because there are some people that read and/or post on these forums who are active or affiliated with the group. There's a lot of posts here brainstorming and offering ideas to fix a problem that's perceived by almost all fans. To the average fan it looks like the Zips aren't drawing the 150 students necessary to fill those seats. I don't think it's the case, but rather its a communication breakdown. The group needs to make an effort to let ALL students know those lower level seats are available.

Also...I wonder if anyone of our posters could come across some numbers of student attendance for basketball. The IDs are scanned, there should be a record somewhere, right?

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Hopefully no one is taking these as insults or anything but suggestions. I've mentioned the "clique" thing before but it just got everyone po'd so I didn't wanna be the one that mentioned it lol. The perception, at least, is that it's been the same 15 or so people sitting near the band for the past like 5 years. Don't they have to graduate at some point?

Anyway, there's definitely enough students at every game to fill those seats, so something needs to happen. When they were all together for the Can't game (albeit, the highest student turnout of the year) it was a great atmosphere.

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Does anyone know why students have to enter via the backdoor???? Let them in the front door and the back door. The idea isn't to make enter difficult/inconvenient is it? If we have side doors, let them in those as well.

I like the band located where they are; I like the fact there is room for students at both ends of the court. I just wish there would be a need to EXPAND student seating on the floor because the DEMAND was/is so strong. Drop the pettiness and show up in so many numbers that the powers that be are forced to expand the availability of room down there. The team and coaches want as many loud supportive students as close to the court as possible just like the soccer team and coaches love the student presence at their games.

Get it done.

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Does anyone know why students have to enter via the backdoor???? Let them in the front door and the back door. The idea isn't to make enter difficult/inconvenient is it? If we have side doors, let them in those as well.

The reason why they moved the students to the back door is because paying customers were upset at the language and behavior that some students displayed. Allegedly.

Also, what did you guys think about today huh????? Student Section= SELL OUT.

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Since all four Northeast Ohio schools are having solid-to-very good seasons, I decided to look up the average home attendance numbers of the four for comparison.

Right now, it's:

1. Akron - 3437

2. Can't - 3321

3. Cleveland State - 3082

4. Youngstown State - 2522

The overall average of 3437 is a little disappointing considering the Hiram game drew 3292, so basically that was Akron's "average" crowd. Still, being No. 1 in Northeast Ohio is encouraging. Plus, the Valpo weekend fiasco and subsequent rash of suspensions didn't help early season attendance.

However, when looking a little deeper, Akron has been doing very well in conference play. Just considering each team's league games, the attendance figures look like:

1. Akron - 4312

2. Cleveland State - 3496

3. Can't - 3176

4. Youngstown State - 3138

Interesting that Can't (though they still have home dates against OU and Akron which will boost the number) has a lower attendance in league play than OOC play. Akron is doing very well. I didn't look it up, but I imagine Akron's league attendance is No. 2 in the MAC behind Ohio (which is far and away the leader). And considering the average attendance so far has basically been tonight's Northern Illinois game, I suspect the remaining three home games will each draw more than 5,000. If 5,000 average happens, Akron will draw more than 56,000 people to its 15 home games (3749 per game overall) this year. In league play, the average would bump to 4570 per game.

In league play, the JAR would average 83 percent capacity. Not too shabby.

For those who argue that a new arena isn't necessary until the Zips can consistently sell out the JAR may reconsider that after next year. It's dangerous to look too far in advance, but on paper, next year's team will be even more equipped to make a run than this year's team. Let's say the team finishes strong this year and lives up to the hype next year. That will build up excitement, which means games against Florida A&M, NC A&T, Ark. Pine Bluff (games like that will always be on the schedule) could approach closer to 4,000 rather than the 2,000-2,500 this year). Plus, next year we'll see Cleveland State at home (should be a sell-out) and a potentially marquee bracket-buster game (sell-out). Get a couple more solid mid-majors at home (Marshall, Duquense for example), and we could approach two more sellouts OOC.

In conference, based off of this year's attendance, the Can't and Ohio games will definitely sell out. And if the remaining three East home games this year draw 5,000, it's safe to say all three would also sell out next year. I don't think the three West games will sell out, but if 4,200-4,400 hundred are coming out for EMU and NIU this year, no reason to think those West games won't close in on 5,000 next year.

If things go as planned (which it would take under my projections), the JAR could average upward of 90-plus percent capacity. Once you reach that level, looking to upgrade the facility is a no-brainer.

BTW, I've been impressed by crowds at the EMU and NIU games. Those are games that fans really had no incentive to go to, and both times, drew more than 4,000. TV and the fact that the Cavs were playing the Mavericks at the same time Akron was playing Toledo kept attendance down. If not for those factors, I imagine that game also draws 4,000-plus.

Overall, just something to think about.

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I hope any newbies had fun & were made to feel like part of the group.

I took it upon myself to ensure to shake every newbie hand. Plus I had people on the other side saying hello to people also. We Rowdies are committed to opening up the flood gates.

There was some complaining that the new students were not chanting and raving during the game. I say take it one step at a time. The fact that the home side looked like a student section last night was awesome.

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I took it upon myself to ensure to shake every newbie hand. Plus I had people on the other side saying hello to people also. We Rowdies are committed to opening up the flood gates.

There was some complaining that the new students were not chanting and raving during the game. I say take it one step at a time. The fact that the home side looked like a student section last night was awesome.

Good man. :thumb:

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I took it upon myself to ensure to shake every newbie hand. Plus I had people on the other side saying hello to people also. We Rowdies are committed to opening up the flood gates.

There was some complaining that the new students were not chanting and raving during the game. I say take it one step at a time. The fact that the home side looked like a student section last night was awesome.

The north side welcomed most of them...minus the kid wearing an Ohio State shirt. We gave him hell 'til he took it off.

But overall it was good to have the section full, just hope they get a little more into it next time. They were awful for most of the game.

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The north side welcomed most of them...minus the kid wearing an Ohio State shirt. We gave him hell 'til he took it off.

But overall it was good to have the section full, just hope they get a little more into it next time. They were awful for most of the game.

They got a nice view of Tree's epic put-back dunk!

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I took it upon myself to ensure to shake every newbie hand. Plus I had people on the other side saying hello to people also. We Rowdies are committed to opening up the flood gates.

There was some complaining that the new students were not chanting and raving during the game. I say take it one step at a time. The fact that the home side looked like a student section last night was awesome.

You guys should start with something simple. Get back to the "Z-I"...."P-S!" That's easy to pick up for the newbs.

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You guys should start with something simple. Get back to the "Z-I"...."P-S!" That's easy to pick up for the newbs.

The ZI-PS chant isn't something that can be used very often each game.

Is "Defense" or "Let's go Zips!" to difficult? :D Picking up the chants will come with time. They really are much easier than our soccer chants.

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And something else to keep in mind wadzip, yesterday was a winter storm emergency. It was pretty bad out there. Yet they still pulled in 4,000+ for NIU. things are... :rolleyes: (looking up)

The storm elevated the number of no-shows in the lower sections quite a bit. I know there's nothing we can do about it, but it it was a quiet crowd considering what it could have been with the number of tickets that were sold.

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The storm elevated the number of no-shows in the lower sections quite a bit. I know there's nothing we can do about it, but it it was a quiet crowd considering what it could have been with the number of tickets that were sold.

I actually thought the exact same thing...the only thing that remotely brought signs of life to the crowd was Tree's putback dunk. Granted...it was a boring style game. Zips really never got their best working...yet still won by 24.

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