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ArtBest23



Joined: 02 Jul 2013
Posts: 14550



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PostPosted: 11/20/17 10:22 am    ::: Attendance Reply Reply with quote

The PAC 12 website article on Sunday's Notre Dame @ Oregon St game reads in part:

The game was played before a crowd of 7,570, the largest crowd at a home Pac-12 game this season by over 3,500.


OrSt had a great, rocking crowd. That's not the part that surprised me. But I was surprised, despite it being really early in the season, to read that in the entire conference there has not been a single other game draw over 4,000. You would think somebody would have drawn more than that. UCLA, Wash, ASU, somebody.

I just found that to be disappointing.


PRballer



Joined: 18 Apr 2007
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PostPosted: 11/20/17 2:46 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

It is a bit, but that will change tomorrow when Pauley gets packed for the UConn/UCLA game. I was hoping Baylor on a Saturday would have had more than 5K but you have to consider it is Los Angeles and it still November.

Pac 12 (or Pac Ten) used to be regarded as pretty weak generally outside of Stanford, and attendance gods have never been too kind for a variety of reasons (lack of nationally known entities, sluggish results in March, LA as a tough market, volleyball as the dominant women's sport in the West, etc.)

But that's started to change...some. Quick run-down:

Arizona State has never had huge numbers - seem to average 2,500 to 3,000 per game over the years, sometimes lower. Of course they sometimes have larger games, depending on the opponent. Tennessee showed up back in the Pat days and could bring in good crowd and the 2005 Regionals were relatively well-attended but ASU was actually playing there. I believe there is an engaged women's bball fan base in Phoenix/Tempe strong participation with AAU and high schools...but the ASU attendance figures don't jump out at you. But like Charlie's teams on the court, it remains pretty consistent and not embarrassingly low.

Oregon State is doing really well at the gate. I anticipated a nice turnout for Notre Dame and Rueck has another good team this year - that program will be fun to watch and one can only imagine Corvallis will continue to love their Beavers and show up as Slocum and the incoming 6'9 Aquino hit the court. Will be pretty to see her in action with Pivec and the three-point shooters they have. The Final Four cemented the love for the team - and from colleagues who live in the area, it's a popular team to follow.

Stanford's heyday in attendance is behind them it seems, as the Bay Area and women's bball has evolved/changed, but they will sell out or get close to selling out Maples 1 or 2 times this season. When the Lady Vols came to Palo Alto, they will get a good crowd. UCLA and Cal home games should draw well, too. And assuming these freshmen and sophs pull it together, Stanford could be poised well for attendance jumps in future seasons.

Oregon will return to the attendance figures of the Runge glory days when they used to regularly (or almost) fill that old MacArthur Court. IMO it's just a matter of time and as Graves secures some bigger non conference opponents on the schedule the local community will get more behind the team. They are obviously talented now as a Top Ten program. Will be watching closely to see if they make an attendance leap in the Pac 12 season this year - in terms of hosting, they have an ESPN game against Stanford on a Sunday, Oregon State on a Sunday and UCLA on an ESPN Big Monday game - predict it will just get better as Oregon makes a name nationally and Eugene follows. Will be keen to see numbers for the PK80 when UConn, Oklahoma and Michigan State come to town. Overall, attendance should climb in Eugene, which is fantastic. See Oregon State.

Cal increased attendance figures since the improved results/recruits and the Final Four run in 2013 - and you can argue before that when Boyle took them to the Sweet 16 in 2009 and they had a tremendous local NorCal heavy class coming in. Stanford game will be a near-sell out, as it has before, unless Stanford proves to be terrible this year (I do think Dodson, Carrington and the other younger kids will pull it together and prove to be fun to watch. You can't count out Tara and now she has some athleticism). Unfortunately the Oregon schools aren't playing in Haas this year on that rotating Pac 12 series, but high 2,000s and low 3,000s is a lot better than where the program was a decade ago. I do believe Ionescu will bring in higher crowds to Berkeley when the Ducks come back to Berkeley in 18-19.

Arizona - could be a diamond rough at the gate. In Tucson, they love Adia. They also just love basketball in Tucson...and the talent is coming. I expect their fan base to dramatically grow as the wins come. And once they pass ASU, I think you can expect 5-6K per game in 2-3 years assuming it all comes together.

USC and UCLA will struggle at the gate or have flash-in-the-pan games, i.e. Connecticut home games. That's all you can ask for. Of course the cross town rivalry also draws well and if USC continues to play well this year (I think they are an NCAA team) and Trahk can recruit (he's proved he has before), then the rivalry games will be nice atmospheres on either campus.

Washington State will continue to struggle with attendance - poor June. But at least the program isn't an embarrassment anymore and it could do well barring injuries - still not sure that's enough hype to get the fans in there outside of scheduling a home game with Gonzaga? I remember seeing box scores of 800 folks in attendance when top teams come through. Pullman just hasn't shown they have the fans (and based on history, you can't blame them?)

Washington can be fine if the team is good. TBD on how the Wynn era will go but Seattle offers a ton of potential as women's bball hotbed and the Pac12 tournament has obviously been successful. Was nice to see the arena fill up for Plum and co., but there might be an unsurprising drop off now.

Colorado has a good (if not fading) fan base but the heyday was the Ceal Barry days, esp. when Shelley Sheetz suited up and they brought in good crowds for their Big Eight foe, Kansas. Think it's possible to see Boulder support their team more as JR does her thing. Saw the Buffs against UNC earlier, and not sure they have it, but they do have nice junior guards and time will tell especially as ranked Pac 12 teams come through this year.

Utah is TBD, but lackluster numbers in the stands overall. Even Elaine Elliott's best teams were never a huge draw so not sure how much national success will trickle down. Even BYU games didn't have impressive numbers in the boxscores.

Should be a very exciting year for this outstanding league and one can only hope the fans shows up.


ClayK



Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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PostPosted: 11/20/17 3:25 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Just a note on an otherwise informative summary ... though Cal draw much, much better for Stanford, it is not close to a sellout. Haas is usually about half-full for Stanford (5,000 or so) and maybe a quarter of that for other Pac-12 games.

Almost no student presence for non-Stanford games.



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patsweetpat



Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Posts: 2305
Location: Culver City, CA


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PostPosted: 11/20/17 3:27 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

PRballer wrote:
It is a bit, but that will change tomorrow when Pauley gets packed for the UConn/UCLA game. I was hoping Baylor on a Saturday would have had more than 5K but you have to consider it is Los Angeles and it still November.


It was also, FWIW, the exact same day as the UCLA/USC football game. I know a few Bruin fans who caught the 1pm WBB game and then booked it across town for the 5pm football game. But there probably were some others who may've attended the WBB game were they not tailgating in advance of the game against SC.

In any event, 3800 people did attend that Baylor game on Saturday. For a non-conference matchup in November in Pauley, 3800 is not really too terrible, certainly by historical UCLAWBB standards.


ArtBest23



Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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PostPosted: 11/20/17 3:29 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Baylor @ UCLA. November 18, 2017.
Capacity 12,819
Attendance 3,912

If you can't sell tickets for that game, what can you sell tickets for?


patsweetpat



Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Posts: 2305
Location: Culver City, CA


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PostPosted: 11/20/17 3:46 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

PRballer wrote:
USC and UCLA will struggle at the gate or have flash-in-the-pan games, i.e. Connecticut home games. That's all you can ask for.


I'm not sure that USC and UCLA should be put in quite the same category, when it comes to fan support. UCLA's attendance average last season (2,122) certainly wasn't *amazing*, but it was good enough for right about dead-center of the Pac-12. USC average attendance last season-- 989-- was less than half of UCLA's, and was 2nd-worst in the Pac, ahead of only Wazzu.


patsweetpat



Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Posts: 2305
Location: Culver City, CA


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PostPosted: 11/20/17 3:49 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

ArtBest23 wrote:
Baylor @ UCLA. November 18, 2017.
Capacity 12,819
Attendance 3,912

If you can't sell tickets for that game, what can you sell tickets for?


A game that doesn't take place the exact same day the football team faces its cross-town rival?


ArtBest23



Joined: 02 Jul 2013
Posts: 14550



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PostPosted: 11/20/17 3:55 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

patsweetpat wrote:
ArtBest23 wrote:
Baylor @ UCLA. November 18, 2017.
Capacity 12,819
Attendance 3,912

If you can't sell tickets for that game, what can you sell tickets for?


A game that doesn't take place the exact same day the football team faces its cross-town rival?


Well, there were 21,000 tickets available for the football game too.

I understand that game could have affected the basketball attendance. We were writing our posts at the same time.


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