Poor Attendance 👎🏻

[CauseThatsMyDJ]

3 minutes ago, FW_Hoosier said:

I never got anywhere close to that from 2012-2017, and no one else I knew did either.  Says that “the quantity is subject to change depending on the number of tickets purchased,” so I would bet the website is overstating things to entice people to buy.

That makes not showing up for the games you actually get even more ridiculous.

[rico]

Just now, CauseThatsMyDJ said:

Just not an excuse for the students.

No it is not.

[Guest]

The solution might be in another renovation of AH and reducing the number of seats. Think Cameron Indoor.

 The problem is that the football program has to start filling the stadium to make up for the lost basketball revenue.

I have read about several football programs are reducing the capacity of their stadiums for exactly the reasons we are discussing here 

[Hoosier82]

10 minutes ago, Jerry Lundergaard said:

The solution might be in another renovation of AH and reducing the number of seats. Think Cameron Indoor.

 The problem is that the football program has to start filling the stadium to make up for the lost basketball revenue.

I have read about several football programs are reducing the capacity of their stadiums for exactly the reasons we are discussing here 

Fewer seats wont help. We need to win..simple as that. Next year I'm sure will be much different. Really, if not for the nightmare games against ISU and IUFW this would be a much different season in of itself and we'd be firmly on the bubble with plenty of opportunity to go dancing. This isn't the 80's and 90's where this is the only show/thing to do in town...kids now have plenty of things to do with their free time other than watch an NIT team play....that being said, if it were me I'd be at every game regardless.

[CauseThatsMyDJ]

3 minutes ago, Hoosier82 said:

Fewer seats wont help. We need to win..simple as that. Next year I'm sure will be much different. Really, if not for the nightmare games against ISU and IUFW this would be a much different season in of itself and we'd be firmly on the bubble with plenty of opportunity to go dancing. This isn't the 80's and 90's where this is the only show/thing to do in town...kids now have plenty of things to do with their free time other than watch an NIT team play....that being said, if it were me I'd be at every game regardless.

What does Bloomington offer the students now that it didn't 10 years ago?

[Hoosier82]

9 minutes ago, CauseThatsMyDJ said:

What does Bloomington offer the students now that it didn't 10 years ago?

It's not about "Bloomington", kids have 60" LCD TV's in their dorm rooms, bars that have 10x the same, they have PS4s in their rooms to game away the night or one of the 20 social/professional clubs they belong to because they think it'll boost their social life/resume after college. Going to the game isn't going to be a priority unless the team is in the top 25, competing for BigTen championships and NCAA tournament runs.

What would help this situation is a way for the ticket office to set dynamic pricing for unused tickets. Making it easy for season ticket holders to sell back their seats so that IU can then turn them onto the open market at discounted prices that keep dropping until game time. People will go if it's cheap. Eliminating GA for students until the demand necessitates it will help in that process and they can even take large chunks of unused student tickets to give away to local boys and girls clubs, VA affairs, etc. The truth is there are plenty of people in/around town who would like to go to the games but don't have the access to the tickets because they are too expensive on stubhub or holders are too lazy to sell them. Students however, are only going to want to go if the team is good.

[cohete15]

Here’s my solution for the student section...

Tickets go on sale at AH box office 24 hours before the game. Released online 22 hours before the game. First come, first served. No need to camp out unless you want the premium seats. Remaining seats become open to the public 8 hours before the game. This allows groups of friends to sit together and it fills the seats with passionate fans. It creates concession and apparel revenue. It makes our program better in every way. 

[Hoosierhoopster]

When IU is winning big and looking like a contending team again the attendance will jump. 
 

[cohete15]

1 minute ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

When IU is winning big and looking like a contending team again the attendance will jump. 
 

That likely goes for any/every school in that situation. 

I don’t expect sell outs for this years IU team against this years ILL. But I do expect at least half of the student section to fill. I don’t expect to have embarrassing attendance in conference.

Let’s not forget, this team isn’t sitting in 11th place and playing bad basketball. This team is coming together and building momentum in to the important part of the season. We have students with dirt cheap, good tickets playing patty cakes and candy crush in their dorm rooms. 

[MrsStoller]

One thing I noticed while at the Maryland game in Feb. was the empty balcony. Not totally empty, because some people had balcony tickets and that’s where they were sitting. How about if, at least at halftime, let those fans come down to the main level and fill some empty seats? There were many seats in the non-student section that were empty (main level behind the team benches).  Let the balcony fans fill those seats.

I think attendance is tied into performance as well as overall culture of today. Romeo is doing a great job of filling high school gyms again just by playing amazing basketball. There are some other kids filling gyms, too (saw an article about a player and his grandfather coach at Blackford High School who are bringing some Indiana hs b-ball magic back).  Bring back the magic through solid play and the seats will get filled.

I’ve got a vision of Field of Dreams interspersed with Hickory High School in my head...  if you build it, they’ll come.

[CauseThatsMyDJ]

The performance argument is fine and dandy if we are accepting that IU is just like every other fan base now. Back in Crean's first year, we were packing the Hall and everyone was lauding us for showing up even when our team stunk. Guess that's not who we are anymore.

[HoosierCPA]

If I were an IU student, I would rather not go than sit in the balcony seats.  Those seats are awful.  I would much rather go to Nick's to watch the game with some friends and drink beer.  Good food, don't have to worry about getting seats together, beer and don't need binoculars to see the game.  With that said, there's no excuse for students to not be filling all the seats that were empty in that picture.

[Stlboiler23]

3 minutes ago, HoosierCPA said:

If I were an IU student, I would rather not go than sit in the balcony seats.  Those seats are awful.  I would much rather go to Nick's to watch the game with some friends and drink beer.  Good food, don't have to worry about getting seats together, beer and don't need binoculars to see the game.  With that said, there's no excuse for students to not be filling all the seats that were empty in that picture.

Will they ever redesign the arena to make the balcony seats not so terrible? I’ve sat up there before and they’re terrible for watching a game. 

[Hoosier82]

35 minutes ago, Stlboiler23 said:

Will they ever redesign the arena to make the balcony seats not so terrible? I’ve sat up there before and they’re terrible for watching a game. 

If there was a solution I'm sure they would have implemented it by now. Everyone knows those seats suck but outside of not having a balcony all together I doubt there's  a way to fix it without starting over from scratch with a new arena. I think, when full (especially of students) it's what creates the wow factor of the noise and energy because they are so close to to ceiling and those seats essentially hover over the court. Taking them away would take away from the atmosphere of AH., sometimes people have to sacrifice and sit up there to create/participate in the electric atmosphere that is Assembly Hall.

[Hoosierhoopster]

1 hour ago, cohete15 said:

That likely goes for any/every school in that situation. 

I don’t expect sell outs for this years IU team against this years ILL. But I do expect at least half of the student section to fill. I don’t expect to have embarrassing attendance in conference.

Let’s not forget, this team isn’t sitting in 11th place and playing bad basketball. This team is coming together and building momentum in to the important part of the season. We have students with dirt cheap, good tickets playing patty cakes and candy crush in their dorm rooms. 

I get your thoughts, but as things go, with IU losing this year to the likes of FW and so on, and pretty clearly not a tourney team (still a chance but a major uphill climb), and following on the heels of a terrible year, attendance is going to be down. Like you, I'd of course like to see better, but I think this is simply where we are. 

[ArchieBall13]

Was back in the Hall for the first time last Friday for the Minny game since leaving campus in '13 and was disappointed without turnout. My first year at school coincided with Crean's first year at IU...comparing his and Archie's first years for fan support it is interesting seeing their styles and how it may translate some to fan attendance. Crean's salesmanship and "pump up" speeches pregame might be a part of the reason why Crean was able to get fan interest better than Archie off the bat comparatively. 

Archie's not a flashy guy (which I like) so it may take more in the W column to get the buzz back for the non "die-hard" fans...but I believe Archie is on his way to getting the W's rolling for the long haul. Don't need much convincing people to get the games if/when we get there. 

[Hoosierhoopster]

9 hours ago, ArchieBall13 said:

Was back in the Hall for the first time last Friday for the Minny game since leaving campus in '13 and was disappointed without turnout. My first year at school coincided with Crean's first year at IU...comparing his and Archie's first years for fan support it is interesting seeing their styles and how it may translate some to fan attendance. Crean's salesmanship and "pump up" speeches pregame might be a part of the reason why Crean was able to get fan interest better than Archie off the bat comparatively. 

Archie's not a flashy guy (which I like) so it may take more in the W column to get the buzz back for the non "die-hard" fans...but I believe Archie is on his way to getting the W's rolling for the long haul. Don't need much convincing people to get the games if/when we get there. 

The other aspect to Crean's first year is that it was a resurrection. It was a completely different situation. As a university, we had just gone through the mess that Sampson left behind, with major infractions cast on IU by the NCAA and a recruiting "scandal."

Crean's "pump up" was about galvanizing the fanbase again. It was necessary, we needed to be picked back up. CAM's first season is in no way comparable. After disappointment and a failed season, the U fired Crean, who had recently taken IU to our second B1G championship but couldn't win consistently at the level the IU fanbase seeks. 

Then the team, with multiple ranked players, comes out losing to FW etc., with early projections of a bottom finish to the B1G. A rebuilding year, but not at all like what Crean's situation was coming in. 

The idea that the students should just show up in waves is just not realistic, seriously. We're fans on a message board, as in major fans of the program. We're not students, and their level of interest is going to be driven by how the program looks.

To me this is much ado about nothing. The students will come in waves when IU is winning, and I think CAM will get us there.

[cohete15]

14 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

The students will come in waves when IU is winning, and I think CAM will get us there.

This is actually why people are upset. Virginia Tech's students come in waves when they're winning. There's no doubt CAM will get us there. But look at the picture I posted. It is actually embarrassing. I was going to take a friend of mine that went to Illinois (he had prior commitments), and I am glad he couldn't make it. I feel really sorry for anyone who had their first AH experience at the Illinois game.

[Proud2BAHoosier]

54 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

The other aspect to Crean's first year is that it was a resurrection. It was a completely different situation. As a university, we had just gone through the mess that Sampson left behind, with major infractions cast on IU by the NCAA and a recruiting "scandal."

Crean's "pump up" was about galvanizing the fanbase again. It was necessary, we needed to be picked back up. CAM's first season is in no way comparable. After disappointment and a failed season, the U fired Crean, who had recently taken IU to our second B1G championship but couldn't win consistently at the level the IU fanbase seeks. 

Then the team, with multiple ranked players, comes out losing to FW etc., with early projections of a bottom finish to the B1G. A rebuilding year, but not at all like what Crean's situation was coming in. 

The idea that the students should just show up in waves is just not realistic, seriously. We're fans on a message board, as in major fans of the program. We're not students, and their level of interest is going to be driven by how the program looks.

To me this is much ado about nothing. The students will come in waves when IU is winning, and I think CAM will get us there.

All good points HH.....

[FW_Hoosier]

Assembly Hall is still Assembly Hall.  The students have packed the house for every big game this season (and have been rewarded with 0 wins in those games, which may be contributing to the weaker attendance in games against bad teams).  Like HH said, the situation just isn’t the same as it was during Crean’s first couple years.  And even with that, I can remember plenty of games against bad teams that weren’t very packed when I was at IU and we weren’t very good in 2013, 2014, and 2016.  The sky isn’t falling.

[ArchieBall13]

1 hour ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

The other aspect to Crean's first year is that it was a resurrection. It was a completely different situation. As a university, we had just gone through the mess that Sampson left behind, with major infractions cast on IU by the NCAA and a recruiting "scandal."

Crean's "pump up" was about galvanizing the fanbase again. It was necessary, we needed to be picked back up. CAM's first season is in no way comparable. After disappointment and a failed season, the U fired Crean, who had recently taken IU to our second B1G championship but couldn't win consistently at the level the IU fanbase seeks. 

Then the team, with multiple ranked players, comes out losing to FW etc., with early projections of a bottom finish to the B1G. A rebuilding year, but not at all like what Crean's situation was coming in. 

The idea that the students should just show up in waves is just not realistic, seriously. We're fans on a message board, as in major fans of the program. We're not students, and their level of interest is going to be driven by how the program looks.

To me this is much ado about nothing. The students will come in waves when IU is winning, and I think CAM will get us there.

Yea, pretty much agree with all your points...think there could be multiple things driving the perceived dip in attendance. All things equal, I still do think Crean was a great "pump-up" ra-ra kind of guy (better than Archie in this particular area)...I know i got pretty jacked with some of the pre-game speeches. Having said all that, obviously I take the better basketball coach every day of the week (hoping Archie is that answer) and like you said it will all be a moot point when the big W's start rolling like we think they will.