[logic]

I Remember this same conversation at the Firehouse. I will re-post my idea...lasers!! Some engineering or comp sci major could make this happen...You put two of those beams at each door...You'll know by the order of the beams breached if a person came in or out. You network the lasers...and at halfime, you could post the largest amount of people in the building at one time as attendance. Plus it sounds cool...Tonight's Liberty Red laser attendence is...

Who said:
All I want is some freakin evil sharks with some freakin lasers on their head"

Can I remind you what I pay you people for!!!

[jimflamesfan]

We demand you pay us, "ONE MILLION DOLLARS"!!!

[ballcoach15]

Someone needs to do some research on the 1997 season and compare it to present pertaining to attendance. That was a good year for attendance. I would like to think attendance would grow over the years , not decrease. the university has grown and is still growing. No matter how one looks at it, our attendance should be 2X or greater than what is is.

[Purple Haize]

Someone needs to do some research on the 1997 season and compare it to present pertaining to attendance. That was a good year for attendance. I would like to think attendance would grow over the years , not decrease. the university has grown and is still growing. No matter how one looks at it, our attendance should be 2X or greater than what is is.

5594 was the average attendance. In fact if. you would scroll up, I know it takes effort, you would see a year by year listing of average attendance.

[Sly Fox]

I think that is exactly what he is referencing, PH.

As for why the '96-'97 was such a hit at the box office, wasn't the time period that a certain FlameFans stalwart was on the coaching staff? That alone probably accounted for a couple grand.

[Chippy]

Someone needs to do some research on the 1997 season and compare it to present pertaining to attendance. That was a good year for attendance. I would like to think attendance would grow over the years , not decrease. the university has grown and is still growing. No matter how one looks at it, our attendance should be 2X or greater than what is is.

It SHOULD be!

[TIMSCAR20]

I think that is exactly what he is referencing, PH.

As for why the '96-'97 was such a hit at the box office, wasn't the time period that a certain FlameFans stalwart was on the coaching staff? That alone probably accounted for a couple grand.

To whom could you be referring? Your sarcasm is duely noted too . Yes those 2 years I was coaching do correspond directly with the attendance numbers that were high. I think our players back then really connected to the community. They were in the barber shops, the play ground etc and the Black community in particualar really showed up. They felt like Larry Jackson, Marcus White and Peter were their guys. They knew them personally. Plus we were really good and we had an NBA caliber Center that was a hugh draw. There has to be other factors too that I really can't put my finger on as to why there isn't the support for Liberty hoops that there should be. It seems to me like TRBC members alone could fill the Vines. Not to mention reaching out to the black community and the public school like Glass and Heritage. All the churches in Lynchburg too.

Maybe moving to 1A in football will generate more interest in men's and women's hoops. 5000 is not an unreasonable goal for men's games IMO.

[ballcoach15]

Good post. also I think LU could do a better job out in community advertising the team. Community outreach is good for any team, any sport.

[Purple Haize]

Good post. also I think LU could do a better job out in community advertising the team. Community outreach is good for any team, any sport.

Agreed. But tell me one of the 'major' sports that gets in the community, and the 'community'.

To add to SCARs post, the team was also very good and expected to go to the tournament. I believe it was 97 when the Women's team made a Cinderella run and won their 1st BSC Tourney title and the guys .....finished 2nd. Those were the years where attendance was great 'community' support and outreach was at its highest and expectations equalled ability. Then......well.....the coaching situation became very fluid for the next 15 years. RD followed by MH followed by RD followed by RM followed by DL. That's not a lot of stability. and stability has a lot t do with community support and outreach. If you don't know the coach or players, why should you care?

[ballcoach15]

I know of none. All LU sports needs an outreach program tha textends fro Lynchburg to Danville, Lynchburg to Appomattoax, Lynchburg to Bedford, Lynchburg to Amherst, and all points in between. Have a good out reach program, especially in the off seasons. Get out in communities, churches, etc. spread the word about LU sports. Saturate the out lying areas with posters, brochures, schedules.

[jimflamesfan]

I think they should do a "buy a pair of season tickets, get another pair free" promotion. Let's say someone bought two men's season tickets...they could then choose to either also get a pair of women's tickets...or two more men's tickets. The same deal would go to those buying women's tickets. In this way you'd get some crossover betwen the mens and womens programs...and other people could choose to double their tickets and use the spairs to take their friends to the game...or bring their whole family.

[Hold My Own]

Or we could just raise ticket prices....create the demand!

[Purple Haize]

Or we could just raise ticket prices....create the demand!

[jimflamesfan]

We could raise them to ONE MILLION DOLLARS, so we could pay for the evil sharks and lasers.

[logic]

Winning cures all ills, especially attendance. All the community outreach in the world means little if we don't win. Our best days are ahead of us. Have faith.

[Purple Haize]

We could raise them to ONE MILLION DOLLARS, so we could pay for the evil sharks and lasers.

And pay for our new Death Star so we can execute the new Alan Parsons Project. Then can I get a hug?

[hurricane fan]

I think some of you under-estimate the amount of other activities going on throughout campus. The rest of campus just doesnt shut down because there happens to be an athletic event scheduled.

[Sly Fox]

Welcome back, hurricane fan! Don't be such a stranger.

[NotAJerry]

I think some of you under-estimate the amount of other activities going on throughout campus. The rest of campus just doesnt shut down because there happens to be an athletic event scheduled.

Good call. If things really are as different as they appear to be from the outside, then this could be the biggest key. Being there for most of 93-98, there just wasn't much else to do on campus. I'd bet there was much less to do in the city as well. Now there seem to be so many opportunities, and I imagine there are even more than the last time I was down there in 05, that the men's hoops team is going to have to be consistently very good to build up a fanbase and become part of the expected norm on campus.

[phoenix]

I know when I was there (86-89), if there was a basketball game going on on campus and you weren't there, you were probably in the library or your room. There wasn't a lot to do then at all.

OR you were like me and hanging out at the girlfriend's house

[Chippy]

I think some of you under-estimate the amount of other activities going on throughout campus. The rest of campus just doesnt shut down because there happens to be an athletic event scheduled.

Good call. If things really are as different as they appear to be from the outside, then this could be the biggest key. Being there for most of 93-98, there just wasn't much else to do on campus. I'd bet there was much less to do in the city as well. Now there seem to be so many opportunities, and I imagine there are even more than the last time I was down there in 05, that the men's hoops team is going to have to be consistently very good to build up a fanbase and become part of the expected norm on campus.

Agreed there is a lot to do on campus vs. the old days. But there are a lot of schools size wise and geographic wise that still fill up their arenas. Once we get consistent in our winning ways we'll have people come and watch. Think about our FB team (don't get me started on the "4 quarters of fury" thing).

[Hold My Own]

That's a very good argument to make. However we had attendance struggles before Snowflex type alternatives



But the truth was stated earlier....everyone supports a winner....these things seem to work themselves out once you win.