"LSU hot, too bad the Maravich Center was half empty with just 7,530 in attendance"

Yes, I understand it was a big game (I was here in Houston, but watched the live feed online at the computer), but let's keep things in perspective here.

The story itself mentions that it was "a beautiful day" outside, which, coupled with the fact that a baseball game started nearby the same afternoon, may have caused people available to go to either to choose the baseball game instead.

I trust the PMAC will be packed tomorrow night, even though the game is on ESPN.

 

first of all, with only 7,500 in attendance, it make me wonder why there aren't more students attending the games. if there are 30,000 students with 5,000 being graduate students (let's discount them as they are either studying or less interested in the bb program), that leaves about 25,000 undergrads currently enrolled at LSU. there seems to be a signficant gap in the amount of students that actually go to the games as I believe at least 7,500 in attendance should be students. the student base is the center of the fan base so attendance figures tell me that there's some serious apathy within the program on campus. I'm sure this is not a suprise to most but something must be done. When I attended LSU during the mid through early 90's, almost everyone I knew attended the games. granted, the teams back then had superstar lure with CJ and Shaq to name a couple. I just think there needs to be more students pushing other students to attend these games. maybe the marketing dept isn't doing enough to lure people to the PMAC. maybe, in this time of low attendance, they need to be more like the NBA teams and have giveaways and gimmicky half time shows. I don't know because I live in NYC, is the marketing weak? this is really emabarrasing considering we are on the verge of an NCAA bid and playing on ESPN against a rival that made a nice run last year at the title.

 

The student section was actually pretty full. I hadn't seen the student section that full since the 2001 season.

 

I can't even begin to imagine that we rationalize that somehow since it's a nice day then this team doesn't deserve us to show up. I know that's not what TejasTiger was implying but I kind of see it like this. We can't have it both ways....We can't blame Brady on the fact that OUR FANS DON'T SHOW UP BUT WE CONSIDER OURSELVES "NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP" FANS!!!! We like to think that we Tiger supporters are the best... ARE WE? It's easy to criticize, I do it myself A LOT... It's not easy to show up and give our support. It's kind of like being pregnant...either you are or aren't....When will we support this team? I know it's easy for me to say being 600 miles away, but these men deserve more than a half-packed, half-hearted PMAC. Sorry about the ranting, and I know I don't have the time in on this board that most of you do, but these men have been busting their tails for us. The least ewe can do is watch them in person.

 

Anybody think price has anything to do with it?

I'm not sure what the prices are for other SEC schools for BBall games. I went Saturday and really enjoyed myself, and also plan on going tomorrow night. But to buy in person is $12 per person, to buy online in advance is about 17.50 per person after all the surcharges. It's not alot of money for somebody who loves going, but if you don't really like bball all that much, the price is not going to draw the average fan into the building. How much do other SEC schools charge?

 

Not the game in Houston...they were terrible.

 

I posted this is another thread about the Bama game but I think it's more appropriate here:

"One other thing, it seems to me that they always announce actual attendance for men's basketball, yet for other sports the paid attendance gets released. I know that for the women's game vs. Tennessee there definitely wasn't 15K+ actually there. The nonconference patsy football games never have # of people released actually there. LSU baseball games often have no shows, but the paid attendance is the one that shows up in the paper.

I think that this may have something to do with the lack of attendance. Who wants to go to a game where only 7500 showed up? It's alot more exciting to be there for large crowds and I think if paid attendance was announced, people would be more likely to go be a part of the crowd. Winning helps but if LSU would only release the paid figures I think attendance would be higher.

Am I crazy here?"

 

In the mean time the Atletics department was awarded...

2005 Gold ADDY at the Annual ADDY Awards show for an advertising campaign promoting the LSU Basketball team.

The ADDY Awards is the world's largest advertising competition. LSU's entry was awarded in the local Baton Rouge competition sponsored by The Advertising Federation of Greater Baton Rouge (AFGBR) on Saturday night.

The campaign, which was entered in the mixed media category, focused on LSU basketball players using outdoor billboards and newspaper advertisements. Each piece used a portrait photo of current basketball players Xavier Whipple, Brandon Bass, Darrel Mitchell, Antonio Hudson, Glen Davis, Ross Neltner, Darnell Lazare and Tack Minor.

 

Re: "LSU hot, too bad the Maravich Center was half empty with just 7,530 in attendanc

LSU needs to be more consistent with reporting attendance for all sports. If you report both paid and actual for one sport, you should do it for all sports.

The box scores on LSUSports.net reports both paid and actual for men's basketball and baseball, but only gives one attendance figure (and it doesn't say if it's paid or actual, but I assume it's paid) for women's basketball, softball and football.

Personally, I like seeing both paid and actual numbers...

 

Re: "LSU hot, too bad the Maravich Center was half empty with just 7,530 in attendanc

I responded to that in the other thread - In reference to the Tennessee game in particular. It would be nice if it were true that the actual attendance was not 15k+. It would bolster your argument.

However, the place was packed. The student section was even overflowing. There were students standing against the wall around the *entire* arena between the middle and upper levels. There were barely any empty seats anywhere.

I have no idea about any of the other games' attendance but I can say very confidently that the Tn. game was standing room only. Too bad I can't say the same thing about their game this past week against Kentucky. What a small and boring crowd.. yawn...