[ballcoach15]

I just don't see any fascination with ODU at all, unless we need a 12th game on the schedule down the road.

[ballcoach15]

I have confirmed there is no GA seating in the new arena. Y’all better pony up for flames club if you want good seats.

There goes the Ole Men's Club

Ballcoach, most of the Old Men's Club are Flames Club members and season ticket holders.

I have been coached up

[ATrain]

I just don't see any fascination with ODU at all, unless we need a 12th game on the schedule down the road.

If you would get your glasses adjusted, you'd see the fascination. ODU has a huge following in the 757 (which includes VA Beach, Chesapeake, etc...), had a great rivalry w/ VCU before football and changing conferences, and was known as a powerhouse in women's basketball, which is the most successful sport on the mountain outside of T&F/CC.

[chris leedlelee]

I personally find ODU to be a very natural rival, at least for the time being. The fact that we massacred them last time we played in football definitely works to stoke the flames of the rivalry. Developing our schedule with local teams such as UVA, Tech, and ODU will only help to elevate our local status.

[Jonathan Carone]

Why do we always talk about creating rivalries? It's nearly impossible to create a non-conference rival that sticks and lasts year over year.

[olldflame]

Why do we always talk about creating rivalries? It's nearly impossible to create a non-conference rival that sticks and lasts year over year.

Because rivalries are fun, and we are not in a conference?

[Ill flame]

Why do we always talk about creating rivalries? It's nearly impossible to create a non-conference rival that sticks and lasts year over year.

It's alot easier to do in a sport like basketball but it's definitely very difficult to do in football. You would need a strong reason to use 1 of your 4 non conference games on the same team every single year.

[Jonathan Carone]

Why do we always talk about creating rivalries? It's nearly impossible to create a non-conference rival that sticks and lasts year over year.

Because rivalries are fun, and we are not in a conference?

Part of going independent is the inherent acceptance you're unlikely to create rivalries.

[Ill flame]

Including postseason our average attendance is now roughly 4,727 through 18 games.

This is up roughly 1,742 from our attendance last season when it was 2,985 per game.

[Class of 20Something]

The valuable question is how many of those are going to be allocated to paying fans and how many will be student section?

[ballcoach15]

Yesterday proved we'll never sellout Vines Center.

[ATrain]

Yesterday proved we'll never sellout Vines Center.

I agree with this. When there were only 5,000 students on campus in 2004, we managed to get 8,515 to show up for the championship game against High Point, which isn't fully sold out but definitely close. Granted, High Point is closer to Lynchburg than Nashville is and they did bring more fans than Lipscomb, but not 800 more. 2004 was also when we knew we were going to get a 16 seed and likely lose in the first round, not a 12 - 13 seed that actually has a shot at winning.

[Jonathan Carone]

I obviously wasn’t there in 2004, but it’s hard to compare those numbers because of the way attendance was reported pre-Ian. There were a ton of people there, but those might have been Baptist numbers.

[ATrain]

I obviously wasn’t there in 2004, but it’s hard to compare those numbers because of the way attendance was reported pre-Ian. There were a ton of people there, but those might have been Baptist numbers.

I was there, and I agree its hard to compare numbers down to the last person due to different reporting methods (turn stiles v. apps that scan tickets), but the Vines just did not seem as full (or quite as energetic) as the 04 game.

[thepostman]

The Vines did have a larger seating capacity back then as well. That was before they replaced all of the blue seats.

If you go back and look at video and pictures from both games it looks pretty similar in numbers. But it is really impossible to tell.

[A Sea of Red]

Not sure how many were at both the 04 game and Sunday. I know there are several. I was at both. I think it was pretty similar in terms of number of people there. Yesterday had people hanging out in the concourse and seats appeared to all be full. to think the 04 number was inflated by about 800 is not a stretch.

[VarsityLu]

There used to be a list of the top ten highest attended games at the Vines Center on the LU website, but it looks like it has disappeared. Does anyone have that list or perhaps we can reconstruct it here? I know the following games are in the top ten:

January 23, 1997 vs VT: 9,003
January 28, 1995 vs VT: 8,547
March 6, 2004 vs High Point: 8,515
March 2, 1995 vs UNCG: 8,173
November 17, 2009 vs Clemson: 8,143

The other five games are mostly from the mid 90s, but I don't have them in front of me.

[ballcoach15]

My radar screen tells me that attendance was better back then, because of Dr. Falwell's love for sports.

[thepostman]

I'm sure that had something to do with it. Lots of free tickets. That was before our program completely went to the crapper. Also, we inflated numbers.

[VarsityLu]

Well, I was at the Tech games in 95 & 97 as well as the UNCG game in 95. You had a tough time finding an empty seat, so I doubt the numbers on those games were inflated. I agree with you on the free tickets definitely helped attendance. Purchased with Jerry bucks as we used to say.

[rogers3]

A Vines Center sellout could happen easily... You just need the right opponent. There rub would be that a third of the crowd would be rooting for the opposition.
I really don't think there is any perfect size arena. Both sizes can work, and we'll be lucky to put 3000 in the new arena over breaks. Get VT or another P5 and have the game on CFAW and Vines might not have enough capacity. It would be interesting to see if a second deck that was relatively steep could add additional seating for big games. Instead of using curtains, lower the ceiling. Maybe that will be in our next arena that we build... Maybe 10-15 years out?

[jack_sparrow81]

From what I remember, didnt we get knocked out by Radford in 2003 semis at the vines. From what I remember that was close to the High Point game

[alabama24]

I really don't think there is any perfect size arena.

I think I mentioned this earlier, but Gonzaga is in a much larger metro area than we are and their arena isn't much larger than what we will be building. We could only hope to become a Gonzaga like school.... but I think HC RM is the man to do it! (praying he doesn't land a better gig!)