MoValley John wrote:valleychamp wrote:In '07-'08, when Drake was league champ:
They were the #1 attended game at UNI.
4th highest for UE.
3rd Highest for Ill St.
#1 for In St.
#1 for MSU.
#1 at CU.
So that tells me when Drake won the league, their fans traveled well to UNI and Drake. As someone at the game, the interest in Omaha wasn't spiked because Drake was in town, the interest was spiked in Des Moines because Drake was playing only two hours away. Drake fans invaded Omaha, I was there. Drake fans invaded your little joint, we all remember that. I bet Omahan's invade your high school gym to get you to your sellout.
Everyone is upside down in their debate, the fact remains that nothing draws basketball interest in the Cedar Valley. Nothing. What fills up their gym is when a team within travel distance comes to town. It really helps when a team within 300 miles is good because those traveling fans will fill the arena that the 100,000+ potential UNI fans living in the Cedar Valley, can't.
Agreed, to a point. Usually, regardless of the opponent, a Saturday game will average better than a week day game. When a team's highest attended game is a weeknight game, it shows that people are coming out to see the visiting team, not the home team.
Valleychamp is obviously covering for the fact that UNI's home attendance sucks so bad. He takes issue with any school that has a big fanbase. Of course that's probably fair because UNI has to deal with problems that no other school in the Valley (or maybe even the world) has to deal with. I have no idea what those problems are, but I've been told by UNI fans that they exist, so I believe it unconditionally.
To the best I can tell, there are about 4100 real UNI fans. Iowa and Iowa St fans might go to a UNI game when UNi is good or when they are playing Iowa, Iowa St or Creighton. Of course, it can't be too cold, it can't be on a Wednesday night, there can't be any college football games or NFL games, and there absolutely can't be any rasslin'!