- February 14th, 2012, 12:16 pm
#380521
1) I take attendance numbers with a grain of salt. I'm convinced that in some cases, it includes anyone in the facility, whether or not they paid to attend the game and/or season ticket holders who didn't show up. I mean, I went to a VMI game a few years ago and it is impressive when the student body comes into the facility. Yet, once the game started, I noticed a number of cadets who had no interest in game whatsover (reading, doing homework.) At High Point, I've noticed over the Christmas holiday, a game at the Millis Center has good attendance, but also notice that they usually have some young dance squad do a show at halftime and part of that good attendance are the parents coming to see their daughter participate.
2) As I get older, I understand more and more there are many in the student body of the various institutions who have no concern about any of the athletic programs and if knowing that the student activity fee that is often inflated to help support the athletic programs would be reduced greatly, they would be happy to see the athletic programs de-emphasized or even in some extreme cases eliminated.
3) For some fans, they just aren't excited about supporting women's basketball. Just because Liberty or High Point or Winthrop (or Duke or UNC Chapel Hill, for that matter) have a team doesn't mean that they are interested in attending that particular sport, just as they might not be interested in attending a Liberty Baseball game or a Women's Soccer game. In my neck of the woods, for all of the issues that NC State has had in men's basketball, their attendance at an off campus facility will greatly exceed the attendance for a women's game at an on-campus facility. That's just the way it is.
4) And is it entertaining? For the hardcore fan, it may not matter, but for the casual fan or the student who has no strong desire, would I want to spend my 2 hours at a basketball game or do something else? If I'm a supporter from out of town and maybe have to drive 1 or 2 hours to the game, will I be entertained enough to give up an additional 2 to 4 hours?
I'm sure that there are things that can be done to help your attendance, but I'm not certain the Vines Center will be filled to the rafters unless maybe Liberty makes the Final Four (and I'm not certain about that.)