FLHoya
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Post by FLHoya on Dec 31, 2013 22:47:10 GMT -5
We should have given free tickets to increase the attendance numbers (something I think used to be done). We gave away a toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn of tickets to this game and the FIU game. The announced attendance today was 7,823. Between the Hoya Kids Club promotions (seriously--ask someone who was at Verizon how weird it was during timeouts when they'd play music and like a thousand kids would be up dancing all over the place), church groups, basketball teams, and the Anacostia Band, I wouldn't be shocked if at least 2K, probably 3K of the people at the game today were comped somehow. Related: it is hi-freaking-larious passing by the scalpers outside the Metro station this season. Related #2: The AAC is the freaking best.... scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400496942
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Jan 1, 2014 0:38:19 GMT -5
It is tough for Gtown to have student representation during the break but why do we not have a local following? At all the other games the atmosphere has been fantastic. We should have given free tickets to increase the attendance numbers (something I think used to be done). 1. Demographics: Just 3% of the Georgetown student body and about a quarter of alumni hail from the DC area, so the local interest is always going to be limited compared to the alumni bases at Maryland or Virginia or VPI. There are probably even more Penn State alumni in DC than from Georgetown. By contrast, if you're at Creighton, chances are good you live in or arnound Omaha, or that a lot of Marquette students and alumni are from Wisconsin or, at a distance, Chicago. 2. Culture: Georgetown has consistently done a very poor job communicating the need (and more importantly, the value) to be loyal to Georgetown through sports. Many alumni (even some on this board) take a very patrician attitude towards athletic support and feel it is beneath them to support teams that aren't winning and/or teams that aren't playing at Verizon Center. Duke didn't get that big crowd at the former Peach Bowl tonight versus Texas A&M just from men's basketball season ticket holders, they as a group do a better job with a broader reach of fan support of all their teams. How many of you would go to a lacrosse final four if Georgetown was in it? Or a football game if the Hoyas were in the national playoffs? How about the Women's Final Four or the College World Series? Heck, Georgetown can't fill its allotment to play some Big East games with 40 years of national success. This school has a very insular fan base. 3. Supply & Demand. Excepting Duke and the last game with Syracuse, there's no problem getting tickets to a Georgetown game. That, and a favorable TV contract, makes the stay at home fan a very comfortable one.
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blueandgray
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Post by blueandgray on Jan 1, 2014 0:42:27 GMT -5
By the way, this Villanova-Butler game is great, going down to the wire. Anyone who thought Butler was going to be a pushover this year was way off the mark, they look right now like they could contend for the title. This game killed me. It was tough watching frosh Jason Hart and Elijah Brown hit big shot after big shot....when we could have had either guy. Ouch!!
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GIGAFAN99
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Post by GIGAFAN99 on Jan 1, 2014 11:26:19 GMT -5
One takeaway from opening day for me is most of these offenses are pretty terrible. There's going to be a lot of ugly games in this conference and a lot of blowouts where one team is off from three and the other on. So in some ways, our game against DePaul didn't seem like an outlier. All the more reason to focus on one-and-done possessions on D and doing the little things like making free throws.
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Jan 1, 2014 12:20:02 GMT -5
A 5 PM game...on a weekday...in an off campus pro/arena...during a time in which the students are still away on holiday...against an opponent that neither casual or hardcore college basketball fans care about at this moment, nor is not a true rival...is unfortunately not going to lead to a big turnout. Not when the "home" team itself isn't ranked, isn't generating much excitement and, if we're honest, is in a bit of a rut as the result of its reputation being hurt because of all the quick post season exits (something that has become a bit of a national joke). When you add on the bonus that the team historically under III has not played the most exciting brand of ball, well, you are going to have plenty of games in which the arena is half full and half dead (and if people don't think that has an effect on the energy the players show throughout much of the game they have their heads burried in the sand).
Obviously the student participation is a problem from time to time. But what Gtown must really do is build the fanbase within the DC area community. I think the program/school does a good job with all of the promotions you come across on Metro buses and in Metro stations. And obviously the price for tickets are very affordable and family friendly. But to get that extra 2000 to 5000 to appear every game the team has to put not just a winning product on the floor (which it has), but an exciting product out there too. The Hoyas are competing for consumer dollars after all and last time I checked the DC area had a lot of options for those dollars; including a growing number of options in the downtown area which the Verizon Center resides.
Also going forward Gtown must try its best to have two Main Event non-conference games at Verizon each season. Yes, it is difficult considering the Hoyas have to wait until the Caps and Wizards have set their schedules but it has to be done nonetheless. No more of this "well next season Kansas will be playing in DC' to explain why there aren't any such big out of conference home games on the current slate. If the Hoyas are playing at a Kansas during a season, it should be playing a UCLA or a UNC or a Louisville at Verizon during the same season. And pay attention to my use of Louisville as an example. With all those elite teams leaving the Big East, the Hoyas now have an even larger pool of schools to choose from when scheduling home-and-home matchups. Many of those teams would love to get back to playing a big game in DC, which means they will either do so against the Hoyas or the Terps.
Playing such huge games against powerhouse non-conference teams at Verizon may also have a less obvious bonus. If the casual fans or fair weather Hoya fans check out such a game at Verizon and it was competitive AND EXCITING, it may lead them to coming back for more. Even if the Hoyas lose, as long as the Gtown team was fun to watch and/or they became excited over particular players, many of those fans might pop in again for more random conference games, such as ones against a team like DePaul. An exciting style of play not only helps with recruiting, it can play a big part in attracting more people to turn up at games. Georgetown isn't Maryland (duh); it isn't some large state university that can count on a large nearby alumni to fill its arenas. It can't rely on a large body of students to fill up an arena either because its arena is not on campus. An argument can be made that the program has ALWAYS needed great players and an exciting style of play to fill the arenas it used for home games. Those Patrick Ewing teams filled the Capital Center not just because they were relevant and successful, but because they were Must See in terms of stimulating entertainment. Iverson's teams, although much less successful, were also often electrifying. Can you imagine if Iverson's teams had played in downtown DC rather than Landover? Scalpers would have been swimming in money.
Ewings and Iversons don't grow on trees, nonetheless you don't have to have such elite, once-in-a-generation players to put on an exciting brand of basketball. I look at a guy like Bowen and I think that if he had developed quicker and had been a starter and was making at least one great highlight move a game, that the more reluctant ticket buyer may just fork over the cash or plastic to catch a game live in person that he/she otherwise could have caught on TV or ignored altogether. In other words you have people becoming Gtown gans or followers because they were excited about a particular guy on the roster. Yeah, that type of fan is not very loyal and may never end up becming loyal. But that type of fan, if there are enough, can make the difference between an arena with no energy or an arena with some serious electricity. It's a buisness. III not only has to win and make sure players go to class, he has to put butts in seats too. All part of the game. To III's credit I think this year's team has been trying to be more uptempo and less predictable. The pieces may not be in place entirely to do so at this moment.
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Jan 1, 2014 13:17:11 GMT -5
A 5 PM game...on a weekday...in an off campus pro/arena...during a time in which the students are still away on holiday...against an opponent that neither casual or hardcore college basketball fans care about at this moment, nor is not a true rival...is unfortunately not going to lead to a big turnout. Except that just one year ago, a 2pm start on Dec. 31 versus Providence drew 11,834. Or three years ago, a 1pm start on Jan. 1 versus DePaul drew 11,718. What's changed? Georgetown lost a lot of season ticket holders and the basketball office did a lackluster job of securing compelling non-conference games. When the closest non-conference home opponent to Georgetown is in Burlington, NC, it's worth asking why. Forget about Syracuse or Maryland, where is a game with George Mason or George Washington? Towson? Old Dominion? Or even Virginia Tech? The ticket office can only work with what they have, but fans vote with their feet. Georgetown is on track to reach its lowest average attendance since JT III's first year, and it's not about Otto Porter or Florida Gulf Coast.
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FLHoya
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Post by FLHoya on Jan 1, 2014 16:24:17 GMT -5
One thing the Big East did right yesterday--and it was almost certainly deliberate--was give home games during the NYE marathon to the three new schools. All three places came across very well on TV.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Jan 2, 2014 17:23:31 GMT -5
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This Just In
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Post by This Just In on Jan 2, 2014 18:21:53 GMT -5
A 5 PM game...on a weekday...in an off campus pro/arena...during a time in which the students are still away on holiday...against an opponent that neither casual or hardcore college basketball fans care about at this moment, nor is not a true rival...is unfortunately not going to lead to a big turnout. Except that just one year ago, a 2pm start on Dec. 31 versus Providence drew 11,834. Or three years ago, a 1pm start on Jan. 1 versus DePaul drew 11,718. What's changed? Georgetown lost a lot of season ticket holders and the basketball office did a lackluster job of securing compelling non-conference games. When the closest non-conference home opponent to Georgetown is in Burlington, NC, it's worth asking why. Forget about Syracuse or Maryland, where is a game with George Mason or George Washington? Towson? Old Dominion? Or even Virginia Tech? The ticket office can only work with what they have, but fans vote with their feet. Georgetown is on track to reach its lowest average attendance since JT III's first year, and it's not about Otto Porter or Florida Gulf Coast. What was the attendance of the Depaul game??
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HometownHoya
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Post by HometownHoya on Jan 2, 2014 19:01:56 GMT -5
Except that just one year ago, a 2pm start on Dec. 31 versus Providence drew 11,834. Or three years ago, a 1pm start on Jan. 1 versus DePaul drew 11,718. What's changed? Georgetown lost a lot of season ticket holders and the basketball office did a lackluster job of securing compelling non-conference games. When the closest non-conference home opponent to Georgetown is in Burlington, NC, it's worth asking why. Forget about Syracuse or Maryland, where is a game with George Mason or George Washington? Towson? Old Dominion? Or even Virginia Tech? The ticket office can only work with what they have, but fans vote with their feet. Georgetown is on track to reach its lowest average attendance since JT III's first year, and it's not about Otto Porter or Florida Gulf Coast. What was the attendance of the Depaul game?? 7,823
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