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MVC First Exhibition Attendance

ISU on the other hand is a public school which costs less to attend so the administration does not have to fight to keep a steady enrollment, I'm sure the women at this point out number the men (pure guess), women tend to not follow sports as rabid as men and BN probably does not have as many ISU alumnus as Peoria has Bradley alumnus. Two total different cultures in central Illinois and that is why I'm glad to be on the BU's side of the fence.
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Some of what you say is true, but I would note that Bradley now has more females than male students, too. That was always true at ISU, but has only been true at Bradley for the last few years.
And there are many more ISU grads in the central Illinois area than there are Bradley grads. Most BU students are not from the Peoria area, and thus they are more likely to leave the area after they graduate. But a much larger percentage of ISU students are from the central Illinois area, and coupled with the fact that attendance at ISU is more than 3 times what it is at Bradley, a far larger number of ISU students stay in this area after graduation.

There are probably many other factors that affect attendance. But suffice to say that Bradley gets better fan support than ISU, outdraws them every year, and has a much more loyal fan base. That could change, but as long as Bradley fields a quality team, it isn't likely to.

In general, college sports are seeing a decline in attendance at live events. It has to do with a lot of factors such as the quantity and variety of available sports on TV, other entertainment options available to young fans, the economy, the fact that the population is so much more mobile that it was a generation ago.
 
SanFranciscoPete said:
It just maybe a different priority from their students. At Bradley there is a lot of emphasis and social gatherings around our basketball team. Our President attends these games and participates at a high level. We are a private school, our cost are higher and so we have to use our program in order to market our school.

ISU on the other hand is a public school which costs less to attend so the administration does not have to fight to keep a steady enrollment, I'm sure the women at this point out number the men (pure guess), women tend to not follow sports as rabid as men and BN probably does not have as many ISU alumnus as Peoria has Bradley alumnus. Two total different cultures in central Illinois and that is why I'm glad to be on the BU's side of the fence.
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SFP, I'm glad that I'm on this side of the fence too...but your argument still doesn't hold water for me. I'm willing to wager that ISU has more of those 'rabid" males enrolled than BU has students. Mix in the few female anomolies and the fact that they still can't pull more fans just boggles my mind.

BU asks for considerably more effort from its student fan base than ISU. I'd be interested to know how many students drive themselves or take fan buses down to Carver to see games in comparison with the students that walk across campus to get to Redbird Arena.

You can play devils advocate and make excuses for them SFP...I still think we'd have WAY more fans at an on campus arena.
 
Setting the attendance discussion aside, I'm still curious why BU didn't include the exhibition among season tix? Does anybody know? Is it just because they never have before?
 
I believe it is simply related to the fact that they have always had 1 exhibition game on campus, and probably will resume that next year. This year, because of the demolition of the Fieldhouse, it was held at the Civic Center. But because of this, it's not feasable to include it in the season-ticket package, since the seat assignments that season-ticket holders have, would not work for the on-campus venue.
 
DoubleJayAlum said:
Setting the attendance discussion aside, I'm still curious why BU didn't include the exhibition among season tix? Does anybody know? Is it just because they never have before?
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My guess and it is only a guess the first exhibition was generally played on an on campus facility. That facility was torn down so they played the game at Carver. Like so many institutions their sales and marketing group did not make the necessary adjustments to take that into affect thus a low attendance. It was also on a Monday night which probably did not help matters.
 
DJ-- the answer is really quite simple.....and most BU fans probably already know........
..at the time the season ticket package is put together, BU counts only the games that they KNOW will be at the Civic Center...because that's where the seats are....and that's where the games that are part of the package have always been played.
Historically one of the early exhibition games has always been held elsewhere- always at the Fieldhouse and so it wasn't part of the season ticket package.

That was going to be the same this year...BU wasn't sure they'd be able to secure an opponent AND have the Civic Center available for a mutually agreeable date, and it still wasn't even certain where that exhibition game was going to be held, as BU was also contemplating the ICC gym, and other local HS gyms.

In the end BU did get it set at the Civic Center, but not until after all the season ticket packages were said and done.
The re-upping of season tickets occurs in late April through June, and so BU has to lock in on certain dates at the Civic Center then....but the finalizing of the Lewis game -- which initially looked like it might get held at ICC or Central HS, didn't take place until September -- but did get finalized at the Civic Center......so how could it have been added to the season ticket plan at that late time?? impossible....
 
LG, it isn't feasable to have an on campus arena. Parking would be a major problem, as the majority of ticket holders aren't students who could walk to the game. The Civic Center is only about a mile further from campus than the bars on Farmington Rd, so being downtown should be no excuse for failure to attend games.
 
Chico said:
LG, it isn't feasable to have an on campus arena. Parking would be a major problem, as the majority of ticket holders aren't students who could walk to the game. The Civic Center is only about a mile further from campus than the bars on Farmington Rd, so being downtown should be no excuse for failure to attend games.
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Parking isn't an unsolvable problem... and it may or may not remain unfeasible to afford an on-campus arena. I believe it should always remain "on the radar," so to speak. PCC is a good venue, but a purpose-built on-campus stadium would be preferable I think.
 
thefish7 said:
Parking isn't an unsolvable problem... and it may or may not remain unfeasible to afford an on-campus arena. I believe it should always remain "on the radar," so to speak. PCC is a good venue, but a purpose-built on-campus stadium would be preferable I think.
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I think an on campus arena would be sweet, but BU would pretty much have to remove the Arbor sub-division to do that, which would be very expensive. Plus no alcohol at an on-campus arena, and it isn't real close to all the downtown attractions. Maybe something will happen when the PCC gets way too outdated and something has to happen.
 
thefish7 said:
Parking isn't an unsolvable problem... and it may or may not remain unfeasible to afford an on-campus arena. I believe it should always remain "on the radar," so to speak. PCC is a good venue, but a purpose-built on-campus stadium would be preferable I think.
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I agree but we are years and I mean years away from leaving Carver. Carver besides the ice rink issue is a nice venue. I wish we had some type of scheduling mandate but the BU's administration I am sure are quite happy with the financial status around it. An on campus arena right now would be unfeasible due to all the other projects we are working on. Also you could not serve beers on an on campus venue.

Chico on the students getting to Carver. It has been since the beginning, a sore subject for the students having to make their way down the hill. It is only a mile yes but during the middle of winter it may as well be in Chicago if the students had to walk there. The shuttle is great and what they should do though (they may already do this) is have services from both ends of the campus not just from the middle. Driving down there should be greatly discouraged. I know I made it down there with a few to many to be legally driving when I was a student.
 
cpacmel said:
Enrollment of students has little to do with overall attendance at games.


Hogwash.....do you think BU would draw more students if it was on-campus? I do. And IF we had an on-campus arena and 3 times as many students as we do now I bet attendance would be increased to the extent tickets would be hard to get.
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I think you CAN serve Beer on-campus but BU chooses not to. I don't think its against NCAA "rules"...anyone know for sure? This has been a life long discussion and I have never seen solid proof one way or the other.
 
SFP, as anyone who knows me would tell you I like my beer also, but I'm sure on cold Winter nights the students don't walk down to Farmington Rd. Can't believe anyone thinks it possible to ever have an arena on campus with most of the attending fans living off campus. If the students don't want to walk a mile to the Civic Center, why would non students want to walk a mile to an on campus event.
 
Agree with SFP's sentiments. I'm not in any hurry, and think Carver is fine-- but think an on-campus arena has to be a goal for the program, even if a distant one.

Chico, don't understand your last post? I would bet very VERY few non-student Bradley fans live within a mile of the civic center. I feel like I live pretty close, but guess my driving distance is 5 or 6 miles. The non-students fans would be able to get to an on-campus venue as easily as they get to the PCC... The point here is that you will get more students to games if they're on campus, not sure where the non-student fans come into play.

Also SFP, I can't help but think that the current location of Campustown wouldn't be a decent spot for an arena.
 
It was discussed last year at length when the new facilities were announced, that Bradley's relationship with the Civic Center will continue indefinatley.

The Civic Center and Carver Arena were constructed with Bradley Basketball being it's signature tenant. There has been a lot of money poured into the Civic Center in recent years to keep it upgraded. The Peoria community has demonstrated that it is committed to doing all that it can to keep Bradley Basketball downtown.

I can envision an on campus arena and I think it would be great for the university, but the issues above along with the parking/campus space issue were cited as the primary reasons for moving forward with the setup we'll have with the Markin Center and the New Women's sports and basketball practice facility.

It was a fun debate when there was the possiblity for an on campus facility. Last year our administration put that all to rest.
 
Thanks for the answers to my question.

As many of you know, Creighton plays at a non campus arena too. Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Small private schools may not have the funds to build or maintain their own arena; and if they do, the campus arena certainly wouldn't have all the bells and whistles of a community funded arena (not to mention beer).

I also think there is a greater bonding opportunity with the community when schools play in off campus arenas. Sure it may make it more difficult for students to attend games off campus, but it allows for easier access to the community residents. Sometimes small, private schools operate as a bit of an enclave within their towns/cities. As a result, it may be harder for the typical community resident to feel involved with the school if the school didn't play in a community facility.

P.S. - I'm considering a trip to BU for the CU-BU game this year. I've never been to Peoria or BU and would like to check it out. If I can clear my calendar to attend, I might be requesting advice regarding accommodations and eating establishments from you guys...
 
There appeared to be a temp beer stand in the lobby of the Fieldhouse during last year's Red/White. I think the public alcohol sales ban must be more of a state facility issue.
The only real solution: I suppose if you wanted to build your own private stadium across the street from Bradley, you may find you can get a long term lease tennant...
 
ph said:
There appeared to be a temp beer stand in the lobby of the Fieldhouse during last year's Red/White. I think the public alcohol sales ban must be more of a state facility issue.
The only real solution: I suppose if you wanted to build your own private stadium across the street from Bradley, you may find you can get a long term lease tennant...
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I spoke with someone about the beer in the Fieldhouse foyer last year. They said that it was allowed because it was considered a "special event," rather than a game.

I don't know what that meant, but I enjoyed the beer:).
 
Notify me if I am wrong here. Alcohol is not served at on-campus facilities when an official NCAA sporting event is taking place. I am pretty sure this is for basketball, idk about football.
 
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