Another high MBB attendance ranking

[WILDCAT]

http://www.weberstatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8600&ATCLID=211016005

For the sixth straight year, Weber State men’s basketball ranked in the top 100 in the nation in attendance. The Wildcats finished with the 75th highest attendance average in the country according to attendance number released by the NCAA.

For the 2015-16 season, Weber State averaged 6,785 fans per game for the 14 home games. A total of 94,995 fans attended Wildcat games this past season at the Dee Events Center. The national home attendance average for all Division I schools last season was 4,744 fans per game.

The Wildcats also led the Big Sky Conference in attendance for the eighth straight season, averaging more than 2,800 fans more than the next closest team in attendance. The ‘Cats have now led the conference in attendance in 13 of the last 15 years.

Weber State had the 14th highest attendance average among schools in the western United States. The Wildcats also finished with a higher attendance average than six Pac-12 schools, seven Mountain West schools nine West Coast schools and all but one Big West School.

In 10 years under head coach Randy Rahe, Weber State has posted a 127-22 (.852) record at the Dee Events Center. Rahe, WSU’s all-time leader in coaching wins, is 76-10 (.884) at home in Big Sky regular season games.

Imagine what our average attendance would look like if we could get some named schools to come play at the Dee OOC

 

[WILDCAT]

62 Western Conferences Attendance Standings from highest to lowest for all Pac 12, WCC, Big Sky, Big West, Mountain West and WAC teams. (Not Sure where the article got the 14th highest out west for Weber, according to NCAA.com, Weber has the 13th highest average)

Ranking- school- average- conference

Schools in top 100

1. BYU - 14,699- West Coast
2. Arizona- 14,526- Pac 12
3. New Mexico- 13,030- Mountain West
4. Utah- 12,997- Pac 12
5. San Diego State- 12,209- Mountain West
6. UNLV- 11,542- Mountain West
7. California- 10,182- Pac 12
8. Utah State- 8,874- Mountain West
9. Colorado- 8,540- Pac 12
10. UCLA- 8,073- Pac 12
11. Oregon- 7,466- Pac 12
12. Hawaii- 7,081- Big West
13. Weber State- 6,785- Big Sky
14. Washington- 6,784- Pac 12
15. Nevada- 6,554- Mountain West
16. Fresno State- 6,296- Mountain West
17. Boise State- 6,270- Mountain West
18. Oregon State- 6,256- Pac 12
19. Gonzaga- 6,000- West Coast
20. Arizona State- 5,806- Pac 12
21. Grand Canyon- 5,805- WAC
22. Wyoming- 5,481- Mountain West

Schools not in top 100

23. New Mexico State- 4,767- WAC
24. USC- 4,606- Pac 12
25. Stanford- 4,393- Pac 12
26. Montana- 3,955- Big Sky
27. Colorado State- 3,853- Mountain West
28. Long Beach State- 3,215- Big West
29. UC Irvine- 2,978- Big West
30. Washington State- 2,856- Pac 12
31. St. Mary's- 2,611- West Coast
32. Montana State- 2,502- Big Sky
33. Pacific- 2,406- West Coast
34. Portland- 2,385- West Coast
35. Utah Valley- 2,383- WAC
36. UC Santa Barbara- 2,362- Big West
37. Cal Poly- 2,309- Big West
38. Loyola Marymount- 2,221- West Coast
39. UC Davis- 2,111- West Coast
40. San Diego- 1,986- West Coast
41. North Dakota- 1,850- Big Sky
42. Idaho State- 1,836- Big Sky
43. Santa Clara- 1,763- West Coast
44. Eastern Washington- 1,747- Big Sky
45. Southern Utah- 1,695- Big Sky
46. Seattle- 1,675- WAC
47. Cal State Bakersfield- 1,657- WAC
48. San Jose State- 1,647- Mountain West
49. Pepperdine- 1,572- West Coast
50. Missouri Kansas City- 1,528- WAC
51. San Francisco- 1,524- West Coast
52. Air Force- 1,476- Mountain West
53. Idaho- 1,400- Big Sky
54. Northern Colorado- 1,247- Big Sky
55. Northern Arizona- 1,235- Big Sky
56. Texas Rio Grande Valley- 1,134- WAC
57. Cal St. Northridge- 1,132- Big West
58. Chicago State- 1,091- WAC
59. Cal St. Fullerton- 1,077- Big West
60. Sacramento State- 859- Big Sky
61. UC Riverside- 841- Big West
62. Portland State- 662- Big Sky (Portland State had the 11th worst average in D1 hoops)

As for Weber, we dropped 2 spots from #73 last year, an average of 44 fans, and dropped 606 total fans from last year, and we won the conference this year. Proves playing on tv and the poor home schedy hurt our attendance.

 

[n.ogdencat]

I think a good goal for athletics is to look at the number of seats at the Dee and then actually try to fill them. Imagine the difference between playing in front of 6K fans and 9K fans. The Montana game was electric. Why? The Dee was actually somewhat full.

 

[WILDCAT]

I think a good goal for athletics is to look at the number of seats at the Dee and then actually try to fill them. Imagine the difference between playing in front of 6K fans and 9K fans. The Montana game was electric. Why? The Dee was actually somewhat full.

The stakes and the fact that it's become such a heated rivalry added to it as well, Wildcat Nation represented well that night, even Griz fans were impressed.

 

[oldrunner]

I think a good goal for athletics is to look at the number of seats at the Dee and then actually try to fill them. Imagine the difference between playing in front of 6K fans and 9K fans. The Montana game was electric. Why? The Dee was actually somewhat full.

The stakes and the fact that it's become such a heated rivalry added to it as well, Wildcat Nation represented well that night, even Griz fans were impressed.

All good and valid points. I hope that they will have a plan for making significant improvement in attendance. If all that they have is business as usual, then they have no plan. Any valid plan will have a strong and varied approach to getting students involved with athletics. Students are the targeted demographic that has the most potential for rapid growth. After that, it would be local businesses and community organizations. Next would be area K - 12 schools. Each and every game should have one or more components from each of those areas. Every game, all of the target demographics, one or more promotions within each demographic target. Marketing and game operations should be going 100 miles an hour right now, lining it all up.

The other component of it, and the only way to increase season ticket sales, is to upgrade our home schedule. If coach is unable to get it done, then the task should be delegated to someone who can. No excuses!

I see no reason, with the proper effort out of everyone, that we can not get to 9K per game this season and more in years to come. With marketing properly done, we should see a steady increase in season ticket sales over the next 10 years. They just need to keep in mind that increasing season ticket sales is the hardest and slowest way to increase attendance. However, that should be the end goal for all of the other promotions.