[Jonathan Carone]

There's a lot of talk on here and on Twitter about attendance. One thing that isn't talked about is what our expectations should be.

In your mind, what should our attendance be in the following situations:

1) What's should our base average Division I game attendance be?

2) What should our attendance be for big games?

[LUGrad2000]

Lipscomb. Hopefully we will have about 5-6k.
All other ASUN games: 3-4K.

[Class of 20Something]

Lipscomb. Hopefully we will have about 5-6k.
All other ASUN games: 3-4K.

This.

Also. Ian needs to tarp the top half of every section until we(the fans) earn them.

[thepostman]

I dont see a reason our team should not be drawing 6,000 a game. 4,000 students and 2000 locals/faculty/staff seems very doable for weekend games. 1,000 less than that for weeknight games.

But since our new arena will have a capacity of 4500 maybe roping seats off wouldn't be a bad idea to get everybody closer to the action and prep for when only 4500 seats are available.

[thepostman]

I just realized I didnt answer your questions

1. 5000

2. 6000+

When we move to the new building it should be close to full every game except for winter break.

Anything less for this current program is an embarrassment.

[Jonathan Carone]

I dont see a reason our team should not be drawing 6,000 a game. 4,000 students and 2000 locals/faculty/staff seems very doable for weekend games. 1,000 less than that for weeknight games.

But since our new arena will have a capacity of 4500 maybe roping seats off wouldn't be a bad idea to get everybody closer to the action and prep for when only 4500 seats are available.

This explains a lot of your frustrations. I think your expectations are vastly exaggerated.

If you look at comparable schools to us, here's what their 2018 averages were:

Belmont - 2408
College of Charleston - 3855
Charlotte - 4008
Davidson - 4276
FGCU - 3655
George Mason - 4087
Hampton - 4204
JMU - 2664
Marshall - 5485
Mercer - 3054
ODU - 6346
William & Mary - 3507

That's an average of 3962.

I'd argue our average should be 3000-4000 with the big games being 4500-6000.

[olldflame]

A bit surprised at a couple of those numbers. Belmont has had a ton of success in recent years and is not half filling a really nice 5000+ seat venue. Hampton on the other hand has a mediocre program and draws over 4000 to their 7200 seat convocation center. I would think what we are hoping for in the new building is something along the lines of what Davidson has done. Averaging 4300 in a 5300 seat facility, which I'm sure includes some small crowds during semester break, so they are no doubt selling out most of their conference games.

With the announced plan to move "big" games to the Vines, I hope they don't jump the gun too soon on those. IMHO we need to be pretty sure we will get 6000 plus to make it worthwhile. A jam packed crowd of close to 5000 (assuming some standing room) will provide a much better game atmosphere than a few hundred more in the Vines, and it's not really a bad thing that now and then there might not be a seat for some people who want to go. It would establish a seat at a Liberty basketball game as a precious commodity.

[Jonathan Carone]

I posted the numbers because it shows how hard it is to get people to games. It’s not just Liberty.

[thepostman]

I dont see a reason our team should not be drawing 6,000 a game. 4,000 students and 2000 locals/faculty/staff seems very doable for weekend games. 1,000 less than that for weeknight games.

But since our new arena will have a capacity of 4500 maybe roping seats off wouldn't be a bad idea to get everybody closer to the action and prep for when only 4500 seats are available.

This explains a lot of your frustrations. I think your expectations are vastly exaggerated.

If you look at comparable schools to us, here's what their 2018 averages were:

Belmont - 2408
College of Charleston - 3855
Charlotte - 4008
Davidson - 4276
FGCU - 3655
George Mason - 4087
Hampton - 4204
JMU - 2664
Marshall - 5485
Mercer - 3054
ODU - 6346
William & Mary - 3507

That's an average of 3962.

I'd argue our average should be 3000-4000 with the big games being 4500-6000.

6,000 on most weekend games and 5,000 during the weeknight games doesn't seem to be an unreachable goal.

We are playing very good basketball and have improved every year since RM has returned but the attendance has been very slow to bounce back.

I understand where you are coming from but I don't think those numbers are out of the realm of possibility.

But it doesn't matter we are shifting to a smaller arena soon and it will change everything.

[Jonathan Carone]

I don’t think that number is unreachable but it’s unrealistic to think it’ll be hit any time soon.

[ballcoach15]

I agree with Postman.

[thepostman]

Ugh, ballcoach agrees with me. I'll have to reevaluate

[Cider Jim]

Having hockey games the same night at basketball games has hurt our basketball attendance, I think. Maybe it's just a northern thing, but I've never understood the fascination of club sport hockey over varsity basketball at LU.

[ballcoach15]

With 15,000 students on campus, plus adults ,we should get 5,000 every game.

[thepostman]

Having hockey games the same night at basketball games has hurt our basketball attendance, I think. Maybe it's just a northern thing, but I've never understood the fascination of club sport hockey over varsity basketball at LU.

They established a reputation that it was the it place to be. The crazy thing is students have to pay. Unless that has changed.

The Roanoke days were fantastic. Some of the best memories i have is late night trips to hockey games. I ran my mouth a lot more then I do now and got nyself into trouble. Good times.

Once it moved to the ice rink some of the appeal disappeared but they have developed a winning culture. The men's team is now turning the corner so hopefully support for them continues to improve.

That is really all I can ask for, improvement in support. I think things are getting there.

[Jonathan Carone]

Having hockey games the same night at basketball games has hurt our basketball attendance, I think. Maybe it's just a northern thing, but I've never understood the fascination of club sport hockey over varsity basketball at LU.

Liberty markets its club sports as equal to the varsity sports so the average student doesn’t know the difference. Add in that ignorance with a better atmosphere and more winning and it’s easy to see why a lot of students choose hockey. That’s a battle we will always face.

[thepostman]

yeah it is crazy how many students think that the hockey team is a legit D1 program. Or at least that use to be the case. I am sure it still is.

[Class of 20Something]

yeah it is crazy how many students think that the hockey team is a legit D1 program. Or at least that use to be the case. I am sure it still is.

I was under the impression that the elites of ACHA and NCAA weren't terribly far apart. I know they're not NCAA, but I thought their accomplishments meant more than those of other "club" organizations.

[ballcoach15]

I know nothing about hockey, but "why are we not a real D1 program ?

[cruzan_flame13]

I know nothing about hockey, but "why are we not a real D1 program ?

Title IX and LU's location.

[Class of 20Something]

I know nothing about hockey, but "why are we not a real D1 program ?

They aren't an NCAA team. They play in the American Collegiate Hockey Association. There are division breakdowns within ACHA, to account for talent gaps, but they are still a "club" sport.

An NCAA team would be free for students to attend and be able to give out a full allotment of 18 scholarships.

[Ewglenn]

Realistic expectations for me:


3000 for regular games + 500 on weekends
4000 for big games +1000 on weekends.

[alabama24]

I've never understood the fascination of club sport hockey over varsity basketball at LU.

Why go to a BORING game where Liberty will LOSE, when you could go to a FUN game where we will WIN!

Thankfully, McKay has turned that around a bit. Hopefully it continues in that direction.

[Class of 20Something]

ACHA D1 top 25 is pretty much on par with NCAA D3 hockey top 25.

For those who don’t know, there isn’t really NCAA D2 hockey anymore.

For anything more in depth, there are some threads and posts about this stuff in the hockey forum.

I am sure having hockey and basketball at the same time hurts attendance for both. They’ve worked it out so they don’t play at the same time as football, maybe that can be worked out for basketball in the future as well.

So how would the top 5 ACHA fare in NCAA D1? Thanks for taking the time to help us get this straight.

[thepostman]

They'd compete with the bottom half, maybe.

Duke would be a much better source on this topic so it'll be interesting to see how he answers.