Attendance at basketball games

[Guest ***GUEST_Zippy]

Did anyone else find it a bit odd that the folks at Akron U are complaining about attendance at basketball games? Playing the non-competitive opponents at home so far this season has not inspired me to come out more than for the Cleveland State game. I really wish our athletic director would schedule games against some Big 10 and other major league opponents. We used to play at least one of these games a year until he got to Akron and now all we play are patsies. With all of the cash you have to donate to get a lower level seat the least they could do is quit scheduling Division III teams like Mount Union and Wooster. What do you gain from beating a team two levels below your own? No one is going to respect this team until they beat someone with a name and I am not going to buy season tickets when almost half the games come against dud teams. It's cheaper just to buy the individual game tickets for BG, Can't, Toledo and Miami - these are really the only games worth seeing.

[zipper]

Then don't go. But please don't show up when they play for the conference championship, either.

[Big Zip]

zipper -- I think that is pretty unfair. I think the first post was merely asking for something he/she feels is worth the money. It didn't sound like he was afraid to put out the money if they put together a worthwhile schedule. A lot of people have been complaining about the OOC schedule in basketball.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Did anyone else find it a bit odd that the folks at Akron U are complaining about attendance at basketball games? Playing the non-competitive opponents at home so far this season has not inspired me to come out more than for the Cleveland State game. I really wish our athletic director would schedule games against some Big 10 and other major league opponents. We used to play at least one of these games a year until he got to Akron and now all we play are patsies. With all of the cash you have to donate to get a lower level seat the least they could do is quit scheduling Division III teams like Mount Union and Wooster. What do you gain from beating a team two levels below your own? No one is going to respect this team until they beat someone with a name and I am not going to buy season tickets when almost half the games come against dud teams. It's cheaper just to buy the individual game tickets for BG, Can't, Toledo and Miami - these are really the only games worth seeing.

Other than the fact that I don't mind attending the games against "lesser" opponents, I agree with you.

I've seen the lower reserved section. There have been A LOT of empty seats thusfar (no more than normal, mind you). Many people have a hard time forking out $200-$400 per seat PSL to watch the level of basketball we've witnessed over the past several years coupled with the weak schedules.

There exist, however, a level of fans that WILL pay this money regardless of how terrible the team is...who the coach is...or who the opponent is. The University has made the decision that a half-full lower reserved section with people willing to pay the big $$ PSL's is better than a full lower reserved section with reduced PSL money. Hey, that's their call. It just bugs me to see all those empty seats down below. It isn't much of a home court advantage to have the court-area seating half empty and stick people in the upper level. But it probably makes the accounting books look good.

Bring in higher-caliber opponents and start competing for championships...THEN you can charge the big PSL money.

[Big Zip]

Captain if it was a PSL I would buy it -- it isn't though it is a yearly donation to athletic department and I don't own the right to sell the seat. Why not just sell chair back seats on one side and general admission on the other -- without the blue chairs though -- put them in the ends if you have to. I don't think they publicize the student section well either -- I'm sure plenty of the students sitting up high would be happy to fill the seats behind the hoops --

[Captain Kangaroo]

As an informative annex to the "Weak Scheduling" topic, I offer the MAC strength of schedule thusfar, and the present RPI:

Can't State--11 (15)

NIU--55 (70)

Toledo--61 (122)

BG--90 (71)

Miami--96 (79)

WMU--101 (87)

Buffalo--116 (109)

Ohio--126 (116)

Ball St.--159 (169)

CMU--175 (198)

Marshall--193 (222)

EMU--201 (234)

Akron--218 (192)

Good thing we played Northern Illinois already, or it would be worse!