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6 MVC games Wednesday, Jan. 10

Interesting Murray State is now 4-1 after a terrible non-con record. However, in looking further they beat the same three teams as us (the bottom three teams in the league right now), and lost to Illinois State. Of course they also beat us. Seems like Murray State will end up more middle part of the MVC still.
 
I said it when I saw them in person and I'll say it again - simply not a bad a team, as much as everyone wanted to paint them that way. And unfortunately for us, they were/are a matchup problem because they have a bunch of bruisers that pushed us around and made 20 FTs. Are we better than them? Sure, but winning on the road in the Valley is tough. We're probably going to lose one of the next two games, even though I think we're better than both of the Illinois schools, but that's just the Valley. A prediction of middle of the pack is appropriate.
 
Attendance at the Murray State-Missouri State game was 2,109.

That is believed to be the lowest attendance in the history of the Great Southern Bank Arena (formerly the JQH Arena), since it opened in 2008 (not counting the Covid season of 2020-21). It may also be the lowest attendance for decades prior to 2008, as well.

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​
Missouri State has lost their last 2 games by large margins- 86-60 to Bradley last Saturday, and 77-53 at home to Murray State tonight.
The Athletic Director of Missouri State, Kyle Moats, released this statement after tonight's loss-

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Ouch! Not the kind of show of support you'd like to see from the AD. :roll:
 
I watched some of the UIC @ UNI game and there couldn't have been more than 1500 people. They did have a big snow storm a couple of days earlier but it looked pathetic.
 
braves16 said:
I watched some of the UIC @ UNI game and there couldn't have been more than 1500 people. They did have a big snow storm a couple of days earlier but it looked pathetic.
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It is pretty sad how far MVC attendance has fallen over the past 15 years (Even accounting for Wichita and Creighton leaving). I'm sure some of it is a generational thing with younger people just not into live venues as much, but also the type of people attending colleges these days. College attendance has shifted much further towards women and away from men, who are usually the more avid sports fans. In addition social and political atmospheres among the college aged demographic appear to be less sports focused these days as well. I wonder where things will end up from here.
 
The official attendance at the UIC-UNI game in Cedar Falls last night was 2,922, but there were probably quite a few no-shows that made it appear there were a lot fewer at the game.


Bradley's relatively low attendance last night (4,093) has dropped Bradley's average attendance from #1 in the MVC down to #3.
Bradley's average is now 4,937, behind Missouri State (5,003) and SIU (4,998 ).
Those 2 schools get a lot of students in attendance, but they also draw very well from their communities.

MVC attendance-
attendance1.png
 
Stryker said:
It is pretty sad how far MVC attendance has fallen over the past 15 years (Even accounting for Wichita and Creighton leaving). I'm sure some of it is a generational thing with younger people just not into live venues as much, but also the type of people attending colleges these days. College attendance has shifted much further towards women and away from men, who are usually the more avid sports fans. In addition social and political atmospheres among the college aged demographic appear to be less sports focused these days as well. I wonder where things will end up from here.
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100%. All of those are major factors, and the biggest factor might be the smartphone hoarding everyone's attention -- which became mainstream exactly 15 years ago when sporting attendance peaked.

Wichita St drew 5500 to their AAC opener last week against a top-100 North Texas team. This is a problem almost everywhere.
 
BravesWinINStyle said:
100%. All of those are major factors, and the biggest factor might be the smartphone hoarding everyone's attention -- which became mainstream exactly 15 years ago when sporting attendance peaked.

Wichita St drew 5500 to their AAC opener last week against a top-100 North Texas team. This is a problem almost everywhere.
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Wow knew things weren't great at Wichita but that is really low for their program imo.
 
Da Coach said:
MVC attendance-
attendance1.png
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The 3 teams in the MVC with the lowest average attendance are all located in the largest population areas- Valpo, UIC, and Belmont.
Belmont is hard to understand. They average only 2,210 per game, despite having had many years of success in the Ohio Valley and Atlantic Sun conferences, they have a nice, relatively newer arena in a beautiful, upscale, safe part of Nashville, and have had appealing teams and NBA players in recent years. I realize there are a lot of other things to do in Nashville, but there is a metropolitan population of over 2 million people.

By the way, Wichita State is not the only ex-MVC team struggling to draw fans. Their average attendance this season is 6,090. For decades in the MVC they sold out every seat in their 10,500 seat Koch Arena/Leavitt Arena while they were part of the MVC. But just as many here predicted, their attendance has suffered now in the AAC playing against schools that have never been historical rivals, coupled with a dropoff in their level of success. They finished 8th in the AAC last season, and they are 5-11 this season and 1-3 in this year's weakened AAC.

Former MVC member Loyola is also struggling with attendance. They are averaging 2,573 spectators per game, which would rank lower than every MVC team except Valpo, UIC, and Belmont. Their last season in the MVC (2021-22) they averaged 3,267 per game, so they have had a big drop since leaving the MVC and joining the A-10. Some of that might be because they have become a weak A-10 team (finished in 15th place last season), after having national success and a Final Four run while in the MVC. Couldn't happen to a nicer fan base.
 
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