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Men's Basketball Attendance

N

nwhoops44

Active member
It is really sad how many people show up to watch the Viking men's basketball team. To not average 1,000 fans per game is totally sad.

Even when the team is not its best, 1,000 should be the low point. University of Portland has increased their attendance greatly, why not the Vikings.

1. The high schools and middle schools needed to be contacted and get them down to Stott.

2. There needs to be a new marketing plan, I realize money is at a premium, but thinking outside the box always helps.

3. The parking issue needs to be addressed and taken head on.

I make this post in hopes there will be some real brainstorming and constructive comments. It is a great brand of basketball and more people need to be made aware of how much fun it is.

I will look forward to reading some great comments.

Thank you
 
The new student housing project, College Station, will add nearly 1,000 to the student populace living downtown. That should help buoy the numbers upwards.

If those who came to the game had parking privileges in the Parking III Structure, that would serve as an invitation to come to the game for more people. I see a glaring lack of incentives to reward those who hassle their way to attend a game, things the university can offer for free and at no cost to itself.

We need a new arena. The gym is not sufficiently exciting a venue, although it looks more like an appointed college basketball venue these days. It is ridiculous that a university with an enrollment the size of PSU should be playing in a gym with room for only 1500.

Wins bring the fans in. When Blake and Funn were here, we had sold-out nights. When Jeremiah and Morrison were here, we had sold-out nights. Ours is a team-in-progress, building again.
 
Broadway:

Thanks for getting the ball rolling, we need to get this brainstorming going, I agree winning helps lots, but to not even draw 1,000 average with an average team is mind boggling.

Glad you took your valuable time to write in and I hope you and others will continue and hopefully somebody is reading.
 
ATTENDANCE:

Let's call it like it is.

Portland State has the best:

Assistant Athletic Director/Media Relations person in the business, in Mike Lund, lots of schools would like to have him in that position, he does an awesome job

Broadcaster: Tom Hewitt has so much passion and works his tail off on the broadcasts.

What PSU does not have is a marketing plan to get people in the building. I am sure they have a good staff, Mr. Chisholm is a marketing specialist, but whatever the plan is, it is not working.

To be addressed in my view and to be positive:

Parking
Cost of Tickets
Promotions
Hand Outs When Leaving Games
More Marketing Training

There is no reason not to fill the building each and every night. Heck 1,500 people show up for what color bike lanes should be painted.

Comments would be great and I write this only as a person cares, perhaps, I am just one of a handful.
 
I always take public transportation to games, so parking has never been a factor for me personally when I go to games. However, making it hard to get to games for people who can't take Tri-Met doesn't exactly boost attendance. On the flip side, they shouldn't go and build a new parking garage just for this reason.

About promotions, that would be a big bonus. I always like going to games where there is some extra incentive to go, such as a theme night or giveaway. They did this during football season, so do it during basketball season as well.

Price of tickets: Maybe a bit cheaper for GA, but that side geenrally fills up quite a bit. It's the reserved seating that needs to be a bigger draw for every game. Having more GA seating would help attendance, but since almost half of Stott is reserved, this won't happen anytime soon.

New Arena: Yes, it would definitely be nice to have a new arena. Looking at smaller schools and seeing that their arenas seat over 5,000 people while ours has room for only 1,500 is ridiculous. However, where would it be placed? Unlike U of P, PSU is boxed in by its location, and thus any changes would amost have to be made through rennovating Stott and adding seats/balconies to increase seating. Something like this could be done, but would take a while, and the teams need somewhere to play during that time.

The other problem is that the student population that DOES show up to a game doesn't really care about what's going on on the court until the very end of the game. There is a lack of intensity in the crowd (especially the student section), and this is usually where opposing fans can easily make the game feel more like a road game instead of the home game that it is. When the band is the only one actually bringing energy in the audience, the games feel rather dull instead of a raucous atmosphere you see on TV games. Everyone needs a reason to care, and there are a lot of things that need to be done for that to happen.
 
DustRunner said:
The other problem is that the student population that DOES show up to a game doesn't really care about what's going on on the court until the very end of the game. There is a lack of intensity in the crowd (especially the student section), and this is usually where opposing fans can easily make the game feel more like a road game instead of the home game that it is. When the band is the only one actually bringing energy in the audience, the games feel rather dull instead of a raucous atmosphere you see on TV games. Everyone needs a reason to care, and there are a lot of things that need to be done for that to happen.
Click to expand...

The student section is TERRIBLE. Even when we had a packed student section two nights in a row for the women's tournament, there was nothing going on. You should have seen Claire Faucher trying to get the crowd to stand up - it was like pulling teeth! I just don't get it. It's so lame!!! Argh. However, the student section for the majority of the season had just a lousy turn out. Normally it's decent for men's games, although quiet and disengaged.
 
Great comments and so thoughtful.

As funny as it might seem, the student attendance might be the easiest fix. This to me and in evaluating other schools, likes directly on the responsibility of the marketing dept.

With today's social media, it seems pretty simple to establish maybe three to four "captains" in the student population and enlist them to get the students out. Sounds like a good marketing class study as well. As well, have the promotions for the students, instead of those "silly'" ones that take place now, i.e., free pizza, free books. free kindles and a free laptop.

I fully realize there is not a lot of dollars, but conversely, there is not a lot of creative thinking. Very nice comment on a theme promotion every night.

KEEP UP THE GREAT BRAINSTORMING AND THOUGHTS AND SOMEONE IS READING.
 
AND NEVER GET RID OF THE BAND, THE ATMOSPHERE THEY CREATE IS GREAT AND THEY HAVE LOTS OF FUN AND DO AN OUTSTANDING JOB.
 
When I attended basketball games at the University of Oregon, it was as if Oregon's identity were as scrappy underdogs. They weren't the greatest players but would find among themselves great players emerging. Then their level of play would challenge the blue-chip teams head-on with an in-your-face attitude. This gave the team (and the university) a sense of power and political identity.

Fuel for fighting.

Our university somehow seems to lack that ingredient right now. It needs to stand up politically. This is the Brass Key. What political face can we have toward an opponent like Oregon, for example, that will give us the biggest bang-for-the-buck in terms of being effectual against them while staving off retaliations or increased hostilities from them? Right now, our university lacks its "political manhood."

It needs to man-up and get on the political offensive. It needs to look directly into the eyes of our opponents like an offensive-minded boxer does before the bout. "We challenge and defy you. So, up-against the wall, fascists. We're moving in on you."

What is all this needless "political static" whenever we play Oregon or OSU? Just pretend you're from the Midwest and you've never even heard of them. Play them like they're nobody special. You've got political teeth of your own. It's like the bell curve--go out to an optimal point, but just don't go beyond it.
 
Parking will always be seen as an issue since the mighty stott center is tucked away on campus, away from everything. I personally don't see it as an issue (same as PGE Park, er, Jeld Wen Field), but it's probably because season tickets come with parking passes. I noticed that the proposed 25 year plan calls for probably removing parking structures 1 & 2, so the perceived parking issues may get worse in the future.

On a nightly basis, the stott center isn't even close to the atmosphere of division I college basketball. The only time that it recently got that sort of an atmosphere was when we played Boise State in that bracketbuster game a few years back. If we could have that sort of an atmosphere every night, we'd be like a junior McKeon Pavilion. I guess it's the chicken and egg theory, but first and foremost you need butts in the seats. As previously stated, GA is usually pretty full. Either start getting reserved sales up, or open up some of the reserved for GA.

Oh, and lastly, one more way to boost attendance. To quote Mr Charlie Sheen, 'Duh, Winning!'
 
MARTYMOOSE:

Thank you for contributing and comments, very well done.

Parking: I agree, but the word needs to get out, perception is greater than reality with sports fans and the perception is parking is horrible. It needs to be taken head on by athletics and now is the time to take these projects on, not three weeks before the start of the season.

This is not like most message boards, the thoughts and brainstorming here are provoking some energy.

Let's keep it going and hoping the marketing end of athletics is at least reading.
 
The promotions being done now are OK in moderation, because people like raffles and winning stuff. However, they cannot be the main focus of the night like they seem to be now. People are more likely to go to a game where there is a variety of different things to see/take part in than something where the events are static and are present at every game. Something needs to be done to increase the interest in going to games. What that is, I'm not sure, but almost anything would be an improvement.
 
DR:

Great comments, I think if enough people get to thinking on this it can make a difference, I do not have all the answers, but wanted to get the ball rolling.

I made another post today, about a marketing plan, take a look and would love your feedback.

Thank you
 
I feel like the main problem is that the public and the media don't see PSU as the big-time collegiate program that it is. This is a Division 1 basketball program! I can't count how many times I've been asked "Why do you go to the PSU games, you didn't go to school there?" It's strange to a lot of people that I would support the Viks just because they're from my town. Nobody thinks it's strange for someone to be an OSU or UofO fan if they didn't go to school there. Somehow that perception needs to change before this athletic dept. goes big-time.

You can sit court-side for $10 or $15 at a D1 hoops game. Not a bad seat in the house. I can't see why you wouldn't want to go see that.
 
I agree completely. People just have this problem with PSU even existing, like it's on a separate level from the other state universities. That needs to be rectified for people to become interested in PSU athletics instead of caring about universities 100 miles away instead of the one in their own backyard.
 
You are both right, but in Portland, Oregon, you just can't ring your hands and hope they come in the door.

I actually think the media does a good job of covering Portland State, attributed to the talents of Mike Lund, but once again where is the marketing plan?

The ones in the past have not worked and it can be done on a small budget, money helps, but it does not solve all the problems, people solve problems.

Thank for your thoughtful insight.
 
Ever since 1955, when Portland State College began its first year, Oregon and OSU have been leary of a public university in Portland taking away hegemony from them. The president at Oregon lobbied aggressively and shackled PSU's natural course of development for nearly a half-century.

img_wilson.jpg

Owen Meredith Wilson - University of Oregon President who shackled Portland State University growth for nearly 50 years

In the earliest days, Oregon and Oregon State had what were considered stout, robust athletics. Then, in the 1970s, the wheels came off of OSU's football program. In 1975, Oregon lost Steve Prefontaine and both universities went into depressive funks athletically. OSU and UO still had basketball but could not do much at the national level.

Oregon's comeback began in 1982 and was established in 1994 when they went to the Rose Bowl. OSU emerged later with the hiring of Mike Reilly.

When Oregon and Oregon State were especially weak, I believe Oregonians by-and-large perceived Portland State University as an interloper, a threat to Oregon and Oregon State, a sword-of-Damacles ready to fall upon them, a harmful influence against Oregon's oldest and most-storied universities. So they did what they could to try to turn PSU into an unwanted basterd child of the higher ed system.

Now that Oregon and OSU are strong again, Oregonians need to see Portland State not as a threat, but as a needed third university because of population increases. I would love to see PSU & OHSU merge and become a new hybrid mega-university for Portland, like UW is for Seattle. The OUS can rename it University of the Northwest or some other appropriate name. Then all this flack about PSU will probably come to an end. What needs to live on is the name Vikings.
 
I'm not sure I understand the parking issue. I started attending games a couple years ago, and like the
free garage paking and easy exit too. The only time I had to pay was for an early Saturday game last year.
Seems close enugh to the venue too. On the other hand I think Pilot parking sucks, try exiting that cluster
at games end with any kind of crowd there.
 
Hopefully attendance will be boosted this year. Athletics has hired a sales force team of a dozen people to actively sell football and basketball tickets, primarily season and group seats.
 
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