Hoya Blue - Fill the Booth!!

[lichoya68]

Please can you get some students out to verizon Please PLEASE PLEASE worst showing in years for home games. no excuses.. hope nadda none.. so be creative get them out FILL THE BOOTH .. this team is better than predicted plays hard and deserves support GO HOYAS BEAT BAMA blue ANSWER THE CALL NOW

[rosslynhoya]

There's one huge excuse: the home sked is terrible, both OOC and BE. As a result, we lost a ton of season ticket holders between last year and this and I don't think it can all be blamed on the departure of Austin, Chris, and Julian. If you want more people at these games against Podunk U., the AD should have done a better job of getting tickets into people's hands. Instead, tickets behind the Hoyas bench were going for less than face value last night. Only an absolute moron, self included, would buy a season ticket package when a la carte shopping would net you better seats at a better price over the course of the season.

[HometownHoya]

Its just too bad that Hoya Blue/no current students participate on the board...no real way for us to get the pulse of what is actually going on around campus.

Then again, any students on Hoyatalk are probably the few at the game too ;D

[DFW HOYA]

This isn't a case where the student sections are empty and every other section is full. Far from it.

Fans vote with their seats and the attendance is going to get worse, not better. NJIT? Is that the best team available on Dec. 3? How many people will come to see Howard or AU?

And next month, no home games with Syracuse, Pitt, or West Virginia, traditionally the three largest road crowds of the year (and the three schools about to leave). There's not much the ticket office can do with the teams selected, but they're not going to draw casual fan support. When prices go up and quality of opponent goes down, people will vote with their seats and stay home.

As for Hoya Blue, well, that's another story. When I informed them that the Hoya Blue sub-board was going away, I was told most of them didn't know it even existed. The organization seems to have less of the momentum it did as little as five years ago.

If Hoya Blue wants to go the way of Hoyamotion, well, they're heading that way.

[vcjack]

Nov 29, 2011 11:17:46 GMT -5 DFW HOYA said:

This isn't a case where the student sections are empty and every other section is full. Far from it.

Fans vote with their seats and the attendance is going to get worse, not better. NJIT? Is that the best team available on Dec. 3? How many people will come to see Howard or AU?

And next month, no home games with Syracuse, Pitt, or West Virginia, traditionally the three largest road crowds of the year (and the three schools about to leave). There's not much the ticket office can do with the teams selected, but they're not going to draw casual fan support. When prices go up and quality of opponent goes down, people will vote with their seats and stay home.

Attendance will get better the upcoming games will be on Saturdays and tickets can be gotten for cheap; whether through direct discounts or Groupon deals. But you are right. It is my experience that the perceived quality of the opponent is the #1 factor in determining home attendance. Some of that is that big name opponents have good traveling fans but much more is that casual fans really only care about watching big match-ups if they are going to care at all about college basketball before March.

[hoya95]

I remember listening to coach on the radio last year being asked about how hard the schedule was. He said, "Wait until next year. It'll be like Back to the Future." He was talking about the St. Leo's of the world, etc. He's got so many freshman and sophmores playing new and different roles that clearly he wanted to schedule games so that they could simply learn to play together. It's bound to hurt the attendance in the short run. But if it is what this team needed for the long run, then it probably isn't a big deal. Based on what we've seen from him, the schedule won't be like this next year.

[lichoya68]

hoya blue needs to get energized yup be involved AGAIN on the hoop club board. adn get students to games.. i agree with all the above but final point THESE ARE THERE CLASSMATES WORKING THEIR BUTTS OFF EVERY DAY TO REPRESENT them yup the student body and i dont care what the game or when THEY SHOULD SHOW UP IN GREAT NUMBERS EVERY GAME.... do we know how many student season tix were sold this year??? nuf said can blue think about this and do something creative please eat the bannana blue NOW

[HoyaSinceBirth]

In my mind students are an entirely different animal than the rest of the fans. Students are given special seats at reduced prices on the assumption they make they environment better. If they're not going to do that then they don't deserve the seats. Students have a job when they come to games much more so than the normal season ticket holder. I'm sure most students don't think of it this way, but I think Hoya Blue needs to stress that students have a responsibility to show up be loud and support the team no matter what the opponent.

[SFHoya99]

A better question for the students who care the and the athletic department is: how do you build a sustainable, rabid/strong student base that doesn't wildly fluctuate?

A lot of the "best" student sections rely on scarcity as a fundamental principle. Georgetown is actually hurt by the fact that a such a high percentage of student could get tickets.

[CAHoya07]

We actually have a pretty good student section and atmosphere for the bigger games. We also have one of the largest student sections in the country (I think 1,800-2,000, though I guess now with only one side for some games it might be half that). The problem is for the smaller games. And really what it all boils down to is that Verizon Center is just far too big for us to even come close to filling it up on a regular basis.

That said, I haven't really watched a single home game on TV yet so far this season, so what do I know. I don't really know how bad it's been so far.

But honestly, it's to be expected. We're coming off some disappointing finishes to seasons. The current students know nothing but postseason disappointment. But hopefully the team keeps playing well and the students will come.

P.S. If you want to tell Hoya Blue how you feel, feel free to send them an e-mail at [e-mail]. I should know - I was the one in charge of responding to those e-mails for a year and a half...

[Coast2CoastHoya]

The factors that contribute to student attendance are: perception of how well the team is doing, perceived quality/name recognition of opponent, timing (date/time, taking holidays and exams into consideration), and weather.

LIke CAHoya said, current students have a post-season disappointment issue and the past season's home schedule (& this season's non-holiday OOC home schedule) was so-so, which adds to the problem.

We're not going to see the factors line up until probably -- get this -- the UConn game on Feb 1!

[Cambridge]

Meh, the students don't know what post-season disappointment is in the least. Entitled doesn't even begin to describe such a sentiment. Punishing a whole new generation of players for the perceived failures of the last is beyond fair weather fan status.

[lichoya68]

AGAIN these student athletes are all CLASSMATES who work their butt off every day for their FELLOW STUDENTS. NUF SAID thats why blue should work hard to FILL THE BOOTH for ALL games. kinda feel disappointed in the students and blue if the only game they show up for is the UCONN game .. just my humble opinion. Hear too many excuses--- maybe correct FACTS ----but excuses still.

[BubbleVisionBiff]

Speaking of ticket sales--

bit.ly/sNjMAF

Don't cry for me Argentina, surely. But interesting to see that a coach notices what some boosters do with their seats.

[TBird41]

Nov 30, 2011 9:13:35 GMT -5 Cambridge said:

Meh, the students don't know what post-season disappointment is in the least. Entitled doesn't even begin to describe such a sentiment. Punishing a whole new generation of players for the perceived failures of the last is beyond fair weather fan status.

Once Hoya Blue and the students were freed from the iron fist of GUHoyas2007 it was all over. Everyone knows the only way we're going to get a good student section is if the undergraduates fear the Hoya Blue President and his secret police dorm captains

[SDHoya]

Frankly the student section has been embarrassing this year. I know that IUPUI is not the biggest draw in college bball, but these crowds have been Eshrickian.

[thebin]

Digression Alert: IUPUI is more in need of re-branding than any institution on this planet. Impossible to say or remember? Check. Sounds like the red-headed ba$tard step-child of two other schools? Check. Could easily have be renamed University of Indianapolis (or U Indy) and capitalize on the name of only major city in the state most known for basketball passion? Check.

[CTHoya08]

But it's a palindrome!

[SoCal Hoya85]

Nov 29, 2011 11:23:49 GMT -5 vcjack said:

Nov 29, 2011 11:17:46 GMT -5 DFW HOYA said:

This isn't a case where the student sections are empty and every other section is full. Far from it.

Fans vote with their seats and the attendance is going to get worse, not better. NJIT? Is that the best team available on Dec. 3? How many people will come to see Howard or AU?

And next month, no home games with Syracuse, Pitt, or West Virginia, traditionally the three largest road crowds of the year (and the three schools about to leave). There's not much the ticket office can do with the teams selected, but they're not going to draw casual fan support. When prices go up and quality of opponent goes down, people will vote with their seats and stay home.

Attendance will get better the upcoming games will be on Saturdays and tickets can be gotten for cheap; whether through direct discounts or Groupon deals. But you are right. It is my experience that the perceived quality of the opponent is the #1 factor in determining home attendance. Some of that is that big name opponents have good traveling fans but much more is that casual fans really only care about watching big match-ups if they are going to care at all about college basketball before March.

The perceived quality of the opponent and time of the game are likely the biggest factors for student attendance but that doesn't mean the AD, student groups, and HB can't make an impact.

I was involved with HB from 06-08 and there was a lot of effort put into promoting basketball. Winning was obviously the biggest factor in the attendance jump, but Georgetown expanded to two student sections before the Duke game.

I am probably bias, but I would like to think the tables HB set up outside of freshman dorms during move in to sell season tickets, tabeling in Red Square through November, the midnight madness countdown (the baby of GUHoyas2007) and other wacky promotions had some impact.

Now that it appears some creative promotional effort could help with attendance, I hope the current HB organization or other groups of motivated students look to get more involved.

[lichoya68]

bring back the dorm captains if they arent there FILL THE BOOTH period FILLTHEBOOTHNOW