Attendance for tonight's game (SIU)

[Derjen]

Where is everyone?  It looks empty on TV...

[Letsroll1200]

Just need to hire somebody in NWA to promote the program.

[WorfHog]

Monday night blowout. It'll fill up come mid December.

[Derjen]

Monday night blowout. It'll fill up come mid December.

I hope so. When we lived in NWA, my boys and I were there for every home game.

[yraciv]

Same story as every season with people asking about attendance for a weekday game against a midmajor during football season.  Every other school in the SEC will have the same woes this time of year, minus UK. Don't worry about it because they'll show up after football and for the big games. And we'll again likely be 2nd in the SEC in attendance.  We were 12th overall in NCAA last year and that was with a mediocre squad and these same threads early in the year.

[Marshfieldhog]

Would help if we had a decent home schedule. Houston is the biggest name this year.

[Mr. Porkleone]

Won't be full. Never is even in good years. I was at game against U.K. and there were 14k.  We need to close top get concert to suites

[Letsroll1200]

Should move more basketball games to Little Rock. Central Arkansas are big time basketball and Mike Anderson fans. Games on Friday night's early in the season should be played in central Arkansas. No excuses!!

[tusksincolorado]

Where is everyone?  It looks empty on TV...

Somewhere around 5K....no excuse.

And before somebody chimes in about quality of opponents, or lack of product on the court, or I don't like the coach, or we will fold like a bad hand come conference time....bbaaaaahhhhhhhh, bbbbbaaaaaaaahhhhhhh, sheep. 

[Letsroll1200]

It has to get better. Arkansas has a stand up guy as a clash and a quality team. Get behind this team NWA.

[Atlhogfan1]

It has to get better. Arkansas has a stand up guy as a clash and a quality team. Get behind this team NWA.

I agree they deserve better. But you can't blame the fans especially on a Nov weeknight. The program really handed the fans a blah home schedule.  You can't sell these low and mid majors even though some are okay teams. I suspect the schedule will get better in terms of branding and appeal as the teams continue to get better. What happened tonight is no surprise though. We knew this was going to happen.

[rude1]

Until the product is consistently good and not just a night or a season, you might as well quit looking up attendance numbers. This thing didn't slide this far with one bad season and neither is one good season going to revive it.

[Letsroll1200]

Until the product is consistently good and not just a night or a season, you might as well quit looking up attendance numbers. This thing didn't slide this far with one bad season and neither is one good season going to revive it.

Football can sell out

[rzrbackramsfan]

CMA has a vision.  He's not freaking out at the low attendance. 

[rzrbackramsfan]

Football can sell out

Football, basketball, women's basketball, the super bowl, ncaa tennis.

[ShadowHawg]

Until the product is consistently good and not just a night or a season, you might as well quit looking up attendance numbers. This thing didn't slide this far with one bad season and neither is one good season going to revive it.

Exactly. The attendance problem was a slow bleed and as a result won't be a quick fix.

Sustained winning will bring the crowd back though.

[Wild Bill Hog]

We need that Go-fund-me guy that the women's team had - or was that all just a hoax?

[poloprince]

NWA fans would rather go watch the football team get run all over smh

[SardisHog]

https://www.facebook.com/KARK4/videos/10154855587334113/

[98hogs]

Drop the ticket prices for the mid majors. Let students in free

[SardisHog]

15 years of bad basketball has created this situation. The only thing that will fix it is winning again.

[poloprince]

15 years of bad basketball has created this situation. The only thing that will fix it is winning again.

When has the football team won anything?

[poloprince]

Drop the ticket prices for the mid majors. Let students in free

Students don't get in free or for a buck anymore??

[Little Lady Back]

CMA has a vision.  He's not freaking out at the low attendance.

This!! Winning takes care of everything, just win baby [as Nolan always said].

[Little Lady Back]

Exactly. The attendance problem was a slow bleed and as a result won't be a quick fix.

Sustained winning will bring the crowd back though.

Good post!!

[OutlawHawg]

When has the football team won anything?

When Petrino was here.

[hobhog]

Students don't get in free or for a buck anymore??

My son is a senior up there and big fan of Hogs and sports, but they just don't seem to care about basketball much. He and his room mates never know when  they are playing half the time. I went with him to first home game (he didn't know they we're playing til I said I had tickets and was coming up for it) and if it wasn't for a couple of sorority groups there I bet student section would have been completely empty. Sad.

[MountieDawg]

Arkansas is one of the few remaining schools without ticked price adjustment....  For the Non Conference not Big 5 schools tickets should be $5 to $20. Teams against perennial Top 20 teams should start $10 to $40 higher.  Tickets for Kentucky should start at $50 for the upper deck and $75 for the lower area.   You can work it out where you still get the same amount of money from the season ticket holders but make hay when the sun shines and make it easier for families to attend on the cupcakes... Heck I would even put together a promotion with Rick's bakery for free cupcakes against teams like last night.

[MountieDawg]

Heck for certain games I dont know why they dont offer tickets to the local schools for kids to purchase for $5, they will make a lot of money up just on the concession stand.

[Atlhogfan1]

If ticket prices were lowered for non conf mid to low major games, the entire non conference home schedule would be discounted. 

It isn't prices.  You couldn't have gotten many more people to go for free.  Perhaps offer some freebies like a minor league team.  Basically bribe fans to show up for these.

It is a combination.

Apathy to college basketball
College basketball more than a week before Thanksgiving - (ridiculous IMO but this is what we do as Americans, take something good and overdo it)
Apathy to the program built up over years of mediocrity
A little bit of a spoiled fan base as some still remember what it once was and it is hard for them to get excited now
Weeknight
Poor home scheduling from an appeal standpoint

Has nothing to do with the quality of the team, their entertainment value, coaching etc.  They deserve better but I understand why fans aren't going.


We could have had this discussion months ago.  It was predictable. 

Heck for certain games I dont know why they dont offer tickets to the local schools for kids to purchase for $5, they will make a lot of money up just on the concession stand.

Give them the tickets and some tshirts or something.  Build up the goodwill and interest for the next generation.

[McKdaddy]

Work was my issue and wouldn't be able to arrive in time from Tulsa.

[hoglady]

Should offer some sort of special package on these non-conference games to up attendance.
Looks like they are going to have to actually market the product.

[Letsroll1200]

The administration or whomever is in charge of promoting the program must become creative. We have the preseason SEC player of the year in basketball and two very good players from Arkansas (Macon, Hannah) that are in the Arkansas starting line up.

I would be all over that to get fans back in the seats. They should look into lowering prices for students and ticket prices for general admission during the non-conference games. I know we want home court advantage but early in the season move two games to Little Rock. I can guarantee that you will  have 10,000 fans in the seats in central Arkansas.

[The Hogfather]

Pathetic.

[Hawg Red]

When has the football team won anything?

Doesn't have to. It's football. Many may argue that Arkansas is really a basketball school, but Arkansas is a football state. Simply more people care about football in the state of Arkansas.

[hogsanity]

Football has 5-7 games per season on campus. Football games on on Saturday's when most people are off work, there are not many school events on Saturdays that kids have to be at, you can make an entire day of it so people come in from much farther away.

Basketball games, especially weeknight games start at 7pm which means if you come from farther than an hour drive you are getting back home between 10:30 & 11. The games are usually not very good early in the season. Can't do much except leave work, maybe go home and change, and head to the game. $25 per ticket is pretty stout for a family to attend many games, and with every game on tv/internet it just makes it real easy to stay home. 

[Atlhogfan1]

Doesn't have to. It's football. Many may argue that Arkansas is really a basketball school, but Arkansas is a football state. Simply more people care about football in the state of Arkansas.

I'm going to avoid the no win Arkansas football - basketball discussion as it shouldn't be a comparison discussion.

College football, football in general, has left college basketball behind in terms of interest except for March and April.  College football is a regular season driven entity.  No matter how much some are wanting to diminish it.  College basketball is an NCAAT driven entity.  And you certainly aren't going to get interest in November.

[yraciv]

When has the football team won anything?

The football team wouldn't sell out if they played Southern Illinois on a Monday. Unfair to compare the 2 when one has many home games, while the other has 6 a year on Saturday.

[yraciv]

If ticket prices were lowered for non conf mid to low major games, the entire non conference home schedule would be discounted. 

It isn't prices.  You couldn't have gotten many more people to go for free.  Perhaps offer some freebies like a minor league team.  Basically bribe fans to show up for these.

It is a combination.

Apathy to college basketball
College basketball more than a week before Thanksgiving - (ridiculous IMO but this is what we do as Americans, take something good and overdo it)
Apathy to the program built up over years of mediocrity
A little bit of a spoiled fan base as some still remember what it once was and it is hard for them to get excited now
Weeknight
Poor home scheduling from an appeal standpoint

Has nothing to do with the quality of the team, their entertainment value, coaching etc.  They deserve better but I understand why fans aren't going.


We could have had this discussion months ago.  It was predictable. 


Give them the tickets and some tshirts or something.  Build up the goodwill and interest for the next generation.

Same story every year! Great post on the reasons! An arena this big is never going to look not empty for a midweek game against a midmajor.  Maybe get a Top 25 team in there, reasonable goal, and it will start to fill up.

[MountieDawg]

Doesn't have to. It's football. Many may argue that Arkansas is really a basketball school, but Arkansas is a football state. Simply more people care about football in the state of Arkansas.

To be honest, football is on Saturdays and 50% are go more for the tailgating and social aspect than going crazy for football.  Basketball doesn't have tailgating and you have many weeknight games.   If half the football games were during the week attendance would be cut by 75%. 

[HognitiveDissonance]

People...stop making this complicated. It's not.
If people are excited, they'll be there.
I was there in 1994 when there were 20,000 people there...for practice.
Winning cures all.
If people are excited about basketball, they'll show up. Much of that will be carryover from preceding years one way or the other.
Winning cures all.

Reminds me in late 90s when football interest had ebbed due to a long run of 3-4 win teams. They were trying to come up with all sorts of 'marketing' gimmicks to get people interested. 'hey, come have some Jennings Osborne bar-be-que at the tailgating'...'hey, come listen to our new P.A. announcer Craig O'Neill'...just all sorts of nonsense. I couldn't believe it. Just put a better product on the field and it all takes care of itself! And in the later 90s, the program perked up and the fans came back.

Has nothing to do with marketing, or Central Ark vs NWA and the same tired old arguments.

Just win.

[Ironhawg]

I had a family thing last night and couldn't go.  Sorry guys, attendance was all my fault.

[Atlhogfan1]

Same story every year! Great post on the reasons! An arena this big is never going to look not empty for a midweek game against a midmajor.  Maybe get a Top 25 team in there, reasonable goal, and it will start to fill up.

I think this team will be ranked because of the record they are about to run up.  And starting with Florida, attendance will be good mostly.  I would have to go back and look at the tip times but you can guess how attendance will be with 6PM vs 8PM weeknights vs weekend games.  Houston will draw a good crowd - familiar name, history with us, Penders. good team and fans only chance to see a somewhat known team before SEC play in BWA.   

[HawgNthaWater]

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKARK4%2Fvideos%2F10154855587334113%2F&show_text=0&width=560"

[Hawg Red]

To be honest, football is on Saturdays and 50% are go more for the tailgating and social aspect than going crazy for football.  Basketball doesn't have tailgating and you have many weeknight games.   If half the football games were during the week attendance would be cut by 75%.

Sure, all of those things are true (to some degree). But there is no truer fact than football being more popular in the state of Arkansas. Period. Would football attendance be down if games were during the week? Sure. Would it be down 75%? Not a chance. But it doesn't matter because football is on Saturday and the team plays once a week. My response was to question of has the football team won anything, not all these weeknight/weekend variables. Quite obviously, to my point, it does not matter that the football team hasn't won big because football is king. Now more so than ever before. A lot of Hog fans will come around to basketball only when football is done (thus it is secondary). There is not equal interest in the men's basketball team and the football team.

[phadedhawg]

We need to decrease seating in Bud Walton.  It's just too big for the sport these days.  Turn the top into suites and try to get some atmosphere back. 

Right now it's quieter than church on Sunday morning.  It's not a party atmosphere.  If there were less people but sitting together it would make for a more fun environment.  We aren't the only school who's playing in a facility that needs to be downsized a bit.

[k.c.hawg]

Drop the ticket prices for the mid majors. Let students in free

If ticket prices were lowered for non conf mid to low major games, the entire non conference home schedule would be discounted. 

It isn't prices.  You couldn't have gotten many more people to go for free.  Perhaps offer some freebies like a minor league team.  Basically bribe fans to show up for these.

It is a combination.

Apathy to college basketball
College basketball more than a week before Thanksgiving - (ridiculous IMO but this is what we do as Americans, take something good and overdo it)
Apathy to the program built up over years of mediocrity
A little bit of a spoiled fan base as some still remember what it once was and it is hard for them to get excited now
Weeknight
Poor home scheduling from an appeal standpoint

Has nothing to do with the quality of the team, their entertainment value, coaching etc.  They deserve better but I understand why fans aren't going.


We could have had this discussion months ago.  It was predictable. 


Give them the tickets and some tshirts or something.  Build up the goodwill and interest for the next generation.

Arkansas is one of the few remaining schools without ticked price adjustment....  For the Non Conference not Big 5 schools tickets should be $5 to $20. Teams against perennial Top 20 teams should start $10 to $40 higher.  Tickets for Kentucky should start at $50 for the upper deck and $75 for the lower area.   You can work it out where you still get the same amount of money from the season ticket holders but make hay when the sun shines and make it easier for families to attend on the cupcakes... Heck I would even put together a promotion with Rick's bakery for free cupcakes against teams like last night.

WTH am I missing??? They have been advertising an electronic ticket to all 18 games for $159 for 2 weeks now. Sure they text you your ticket and you move game to game but less than $9 a ticket!!  And they say they will accommodate up to 6 tickets together. More than that might be seated separately.

[TexArkHogFan]

Actual attendance was 4,270.

[hogsanity]

Sure, all of those things are true (to some degree). But there is no truer fact than football being more popular in the state of Arkansas. Period. Would football attendance be down if games were during the week? Sure. Would it be down 75%? Not a chance. But it doesn't matter because football is on Saturday and the team plays once a week. My response was to question of has the football team won anything, not all these weeknight/weekend variables. Quite obviously, to my point, it does not matter that the football team hasn't won big because football is king. Now more so than ever before. A lot of Hog fans will come around to basketball only when football is done (thus it is secondary). There is not equal interest in the men's basketball team and the football team.

The football team has not won big is different than they have not won. Plus, you can not take out the weekend variable or the fact they only play 12 games total when talking about WHY football is so popular. It is so popular because it is played on Saturdays. It is so popular because of the limited supply. It is so popular because of the party atmosphere.

[PorkRinds]

I'm sure everyone he's seen the video of the other team's coach scolding hog fans to get their butts in the seats.  If not, you should check it out.