So, for those that want to have discussions about what makes the bball world go around, why LSU can't afford to pay Brady what Billy D gets paid, and why Brady is trying so hard to increase the athletic department's commitment to basketball, I came across a very informative article on the state of affairs of the basketball programs at LSU. http://www.lsureveille.com/vnews/display.v?TARGET=printable&article_id=441918d047842 It's eye-opening. On the salaries discussion, the reason why we spend around half of what Florida spends, why we're a football school, what it's like to play basketball at a football first school, etc. It's stuff I think most folks would suspect, but it's good to see the raw data. Bottomline, it makes you feel a little sad. The coaches, Pokey and Brady, recruit good players, compete at the highest level, and win SEC championships, but... the programs struggle to make money. The LSU women strive to be like Tennessee, and the LSU men strive to be like Kentucky. Why? Because their fans show up and pay ticket revenue. Because they are on TV. I think Brady understands this, and that's why I think Skip's actually got a tougher decision. Does he move more money from profitable football, into basketball (and women's basketball at that) and make an "investment." More $ into facilities, leads to better recruiting, better players leads to more excitement, more excitement leads to more fans, more winning leads to more TV revenue. I think that primary LSU goals should be to figure out how to get the Tigers on TV more. The final four should help, but to me, that's where all the money is. Glen Davis staying in school would help. Who wouldn't love watching Big Baby on TV? :hihi: :geauxtige :bball: :champs: LSU IS A BASKETBALL SCHOOL. RESTORE THE FAITH.
The investment comes after it is marketed correctly. Now that LSU has had success it will bring some fans in. LSU and Brady need to capitlize on that. Don't raise prices initially but sell the hell out of season tickets. Putting more butts in the seats will make more money than raising prices. Go to large corporations and get them to buy blocks of seats for their employees for a discount. More people at the games means more concession sales and more dollars. Students need to get involved...I mean alot more involve. We used to pack the student section and was LOUD the entire game. Sometimes you can hear a pin drop in that place now. The student section can drive the emotion of the crowd and make it just that much more of an exciting experience. Get people excited about LSU Basketball again and it will reap great rewards in the future.
I think the AD killed themselves in the student dept. Moving the students up to the rafters will make them rather not come, and if they do, why stand and make noise? No one can see or hear you, so let's sit down. I wait for 2 to 3 hours ahead of time to get into the bottom section. Not everyone wants to do that, understandably, but they were spoiled from before. There was one or two games where the students completely filled up their sections, I believe it was Georgia or Alabama; we kept winning, but the attendance went down.... Why? This is the opposite trend of normal LSU Basketball. My theory is that those students who would normally fill in the middle-to-upper sections that were at least CONNECTED to the bottom group and would stand and cheer realized after those two games that by getting there later than 2 hours ahead of time, they may as well not show up, because those sections certainly don't make noise. How to fix this? The T-shirt game is ALWAYS a good idea, but when 75% of the "student section" doesn't participate in it, what's the point? Good fanbases start with good, fun student sections. They start cheers, they are loud, they make it fun and exciting. My early prediction is that we sell-out (and FILL) no more than 4 games next year, courtesy of the crappy student section.
Part of this problem this past year was they split up the student section. They had the "elitist" Maravich Maniacs (which could sometimes be the Maravich Modestly Interested) who sat in the spot right near the bottom of the court that was closed off from everything else, and then the rest of the students that they put up in the nosebleed seats behind one of the goals. Last year and the year before the student section was all encompassing on the side of the court which got the students more into the game because they were closer to the action. I know a bunch of students that were pissed cause they were forced to sit up in the rafters that only went to a few games because of how we were treated. When you take away a few thousand crazy students that are concentrated into one section and replace them with a few hundred students who (some of) are only there because they came with their boyfriends and are more worried about how their hair looks then the Tigers winning and a bunch of old people (no offense you old guys :yelwink2: ) that sit on their butts the whole game, you just aren't going to get the crazed volume that we used to.
until cjb is no longer the head coach there will be apathy in the pmac. bemoan it, whine about it, cry etc. but it's the truth. final four or not. also TGer... quit whining about fan attendance. i don't see you driving the 8 hours from austin to attend LSU games. people have stuff they need to do and in a football-first town when poor people put a thousand bucks down for football every year, basketball takes a back seat.
If you feel the need to make it personal, so be it. But, I'm not the one advocating that people from out of town drive in to make the games--is that going to make a difference to you? That's not going be the core fanbase for any school. You saying that Tennessee has more fans because folks from afar drive into Knoxville? My beef is that in a city with what 600K people in it, you can't get 13K to show up for a basketball game? When cities like Gainesville, Knoxville, Lexington that are smaller fill their arenas? That's a mark against the fanbase. You can blame Brady, though I think he'll always be the basher's excuse. I don't buy the crap about ticket prices and the o' so poor folks in BR. There are plenty of fans that prefer basketball over football. If I lived in BR, I would get season tickets in hoops over football. So, don't throw that red herring out there... Bottomline, I think that fan support of basketball in Baton Rouge is an interesting problem, given the objective comparisons to other schools. I do think the students posting above offer some interesting reasons. I generally agree, more fun student sections and into it crowds, do help. Perhaps its something that should be rethought by Skip. :geauxtige :bball: :champs: LSU IS A BASKETBALL SCHOOL. RESTORE THE FAITH. P.S. Rondo announces that he's going pro... http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/sports/colleges/university_of_kentucky/14257377.htm
First off, they don't market the LSU basketball games as well as they do for other sports. Personally, I'm interested in every sport game LSU has to offer, but when i hear about a game 40 minutes before tipoff..it really doesn't help. Another thing, the guys who posted about the student section are 100% corrrrrect. Look at other basketball programs and see how their sections are. Duke has student sections encompassing at least 25% of the stadium and a lot of it being in the middle/courtside portion where you'll see kids jumping up and down for lengthy periods of time. But me? Hell i'm put in the rafters where birds are flying around. I have friends who attend wake forrest, unc, duke, and georgetown. They all tailgate before games, they all wait outside for 10 hours to get tickets, they all have student run organizations that support the team and bring unity to the games (i.e. everyone wearing the SAME tshirt, screaming the SAME chants, and backing up their team). I hope the Maravich Maniacs get a true organizational leader and get the ball rolling so we can fill the PMAC next year for both women's and men's. Also, if you read that article, it doesn't say JACK about concession sales, which is the true heart and sole of ANY sport. Not going to make much on parking/ticket sales when students get in for free half the time and parking is free almost anywhere you look. So please cry me a river about that one, its their own fault. Just so you know, after doing calculations, i've probably spent about $1,000 at all of the games I went to this past year (football, basketball, baseball) on concessions ALONE.
Finally I saw someone say something about LSU basketball and TV. I've been talking to people for a while on the state of the SEC TV deal. Did anyone here realize that the SEC basketball TV deal is the worst of the major conferences? I didn't but it is. The format, the money paid to the league. It's the last of the major conferences to get in HD.....they are paid the least of the major conferences and it is pretty much a laughing stock. Nothing has changed with the broadcasts of SEC games since like 83. Larry Connely is still there......etc etc. We do not have a deal with any network......like Wednesday night SEC basketball on ESPN. It sucks.
The games are more fun when the students sit courtside. How do you throw newspapers from the rafters? The cheering and crowd noise is infectious, and helps the perception on TV as well. It is quite a bit more intimidating to play within feet of loud student section. During the later Brown years (when I was in school), the students quit going en masse. But guess what? So did everyone else - the games were terrible. I'm no longer a student, but I will always argue for better student seating. They are our future lifeblood for alumni support. Screwing with them makes no sense.
