where are the fans?

[clawman1]

D 1 College basketball in the inland northwest pretty much consists of EWU, WSU, and Gonzaga.
If someone was a fan of college basketball where would they go to a game?
Gonzaga- the highest profile team but good luck getting a ticket. Seeing a game in the kennel is quite unlikely
WSU - Their games do not start until 7 or 8 and are almost 100 miles away. The choices are to stay overnight or get home well after midnight and... they will probably lose.
Eastern- Easy to go to a game, tickets are readily available and cheap. The team is competitive and fun to watch.
Why is attendance so low at Eastern games? Heck, even students on campus do not walk across the street for a game hno: . Enrollment @ Eastern is about 12,500 yet there was likely less than 1% at the game last night. hno: hno:
Are there just not that many fans of college basketball in this area?

 

[allweatherfan2]

There were over 3500 fans in Missoula last night to see the Griz/Eagle women's game.

 

[marceagfan5]

D 1 College basketball in the inland northwest pretty much consists of EWU, WSU, and Gonzaga.
If someone was a fan of college basketball where would they go to a game?
Gonzaga- the highest profile team but good luck getting a ticket. Seeing a game in the kennel is quite unlikely
WSU - Their games do not start until 7 or 8 and are almost 100 miles away. The choices are to stay overnight or get home well after midnight and... they will probably lose.
Eastern- Easy to go to a game, tickets are readily available and cheap. The team is competitive and fun to watch.
Why is attendance so low at Eastern games? Heck, even students on campus do not walk across the street for a game hno: . Enrollment @ Eastern is about 12,500 yet there was likely less than 1% at the game last night. hno: hno:
Are there just not that many fans of college basketball in this area?

The zags are ranked in the top 10 right now coming off a national championship run last year. We can’t compete with that as most people would rather watch Gonzaga on TV than big sky basketball in person...

WSU doesn’t draw well either...

Not much we can do, Eastern and the Big Sky are still considered lower level in the eyes of most and it hurts our attendance. No excuse for the students tho...

 

[LDopaPDX]

The inland NW teams on the whole are awful. Washington State is dead last in the Pac-12. Gonzaga is only 89th in national attendance. Oregon is the best team in the NW at 41st in the nation; UW is 65th. Portland State's average attendance is a whopping 528, and they are putting $50mm into a new facility.

 

[marceagfan5]

The inland NW teams on the whole are awful. Washington State is dead last in the Pac-12. Gonzaga is only 89th in national attendance. Oregon is the best team in the NW at 41st in the nation; UW is 65th. Portland State's average attendance is a whopping 528, and they are putting $50mm into a new facility.

In Gonzaga’s defense they have sold out every game for something like 15 straight years...they built a smaller arena that only holds 6k, I believe their waitlist for season tickets is nearly as big as their arena capacity ...it does make for an incredible atmosphere which is what they wanted ...every game at the Spokane arena they have played the last 15 years sold out as well

 

[tomq04]

I don't know how to engage the students, to be honest when I attended I never went to a single game...but we were pretty bad those years (2007-2010). The team has some absurd 4 year home streak with only a couple losses in that period.

Having 1000+ students show up every Thursday/Saturday would be HUGE during league play.

 

[clawman1]

How about if we could even get other athletes there? ex; if the entire football team showed up as a support would be big. If ALL other athletes showed up that may pull a few others as well.
As it is if you are on scholarship the least you could is show up to support your school

 

[Rafter_Reese]

How about if we could even get other athletes there? ex; if the entire football team showed up as a support would be big. If ALL other athletes showed up that may pull a few others as well.
As it is if you are on scholarship the least you could is show up to support your school

I like that thought a lot. I see all of our basketball team at the football games. I think the big idea is that we have to create a culture of fun and excitement for our fans/students. The best programs have a culture of fun and excitement that surrounds their program. Do we do any type of "Midnight Madness" event to start the season? It wouldn't even have to start at midnight, Maybe 7:00 PM and maybe put on some sort of event at the beginning of the season where there was free dinner for any students that attended. This could be a chance for students to interact with and meet the players and maybe have a lot of contests for the student spectators themselves where they could come out on the floor to win prizes for making free throws, 3-pointers, etc. Coaches and players could also speak to the students/fans at EWU about how important it is for students to attend games and make tons of noise and create a chaotic type environment. If I was running the show out in Cheney I would be MAKING SURE that these types of events happened at the beginning of the season. I'm sure there are other creative ways to increase attendance but are we even doing the obvious things?

 

[clawman1]

How about if we could even get other athletes there? ex; if the entire football team showed up as a support would be big. If ALL other athletes showed up that may pull a few others as well.
As it is if you are on scholarship the least you could is show up to support your school

I like that thought a lot. I see all of our basketball team at the football games. I think the big idea is that we have to create a culture of fun and excitement for our fans/students. The best programs have a culture of fun and excitement that surrounds their program. Do we do any type of "Midnight Madness" event to start the season? It wouldn't even have to start at midnight, Maybe 7:00 PM and maybe put on some sort of event at the beginning of the season where there was free dinner for any students that attended. This could be a chance for students to interact with and meet the players and maybe have a lot of contests for the student spectators themselves where they could come out on the floor to win prizes for making free throws, 3-pointers, etc. Coaches and players could also speak to the students/fans at EWU about how important it is for students to attend games and make tons of noise and create a chaotic type environment. If I was running the show out in Cheney I would be MAKING SURE that these types of events happened at the beginning of the season. I'm sure there are other creative ways to increase attendance but are we even doing the obvious things?

I can see where a college student wants to go where there are other students not just a bunch of Sr. citizens. There are a LOT of ways to use their assets to promote the games. One example is using the video board to maximize its possibilities.
As it is the stupid messages like Mt Griz vs Eagles. Duh I am at the game!! I KNOW who is playing!!!
How about a message about a local restaurant and trade it out for dinner certificates, which could be prizes for "best Eagle costume" or ??? As you said Rafter, make it fun to go a game.
I hope the new AD is at least a little promotional minded. Put together a student committee to promote athletics.