Report: Wichita State has contacted Mountain West

[UEACES80]

Another thing that I haven't seen recently if at all mentioned is outside factors on attendance.

ESPN, Big10 Network, SEC Network etc... all have greatly changed the way fans watch sports. It used to be (many years ago) that you got a few games on TV here and there, whereas now the channels are full of games. Which I like with Fox Sports Midwest and ESPN3 carrying the MVC so I get to see the Aces while I live in Houston.

Consider Loyola does a Rambler fan go out in the Chicago winter to see the Ramblers live or stay home and watch the UI Illini, Northwestern Wildcats, ND Irish (Drunken Leprechauns) or any other P5 games on TV as well the NBA Bulls or NHL Blackhawks. Evansville deals with the situation of many fans who are also big fans of the Hoosiers, Boliermakers, Illini, Louisville Cardinals and UK Wildcats.

Wichita while likely having many Jayhawk and K-State fans doesn't deal with as much competition for the attendance as Loyola or UE. I know all MVC schools have some of this to deal with but I think Loyola has the most and UE likely 2nd. Before UNI fans jump in I know you likely have many Iowa, Iowa State and even Minnesota fans but that is just two P5 conferences on your doorsteps whereas UE has a fan base that follows Big10, SEC and ACC.

Just saying it isn't the easiest thing to get fans out for Loyola and Evansville games due to TV competition but it is the world we sports fan created by desiring more and more.

[Cdizzle]

Fans aren't avoiding Loyola games because there is a Bears game on. They are avoiding Loyola games because there are no fans.

And fans aren't avoiding Evansville games because and Indiana game is on. They are avoiding Evansville games because after 8 years of the same Simmons crap they would rather do literally anything else. If you have a fan base that places watching/attending 17 other schools above your school, you should stop calling it a fan base.

[havoc]

Fans aren't avoiding Loyola games because there is a Bears game on. They are avoiding Loyola games because there are no fans.

And fans aren't avoiding Evansville games because and Indiana game is on. They are avoiding Evansville games because after 8 years of the same Simmons crap they would rather do literally anything else. If you have a fan base that places watching/attending 17 other schools above your school, you should stop calling it a fan base.

Attendance is down throughout Division 1. The national average per game attendance has gone down almost 11% from 2008 to 2016.

Oversaturation is certainly real. In 2008 there were 5,093 D1 games played amongst 328 teams; both being records at the time. Last year there were 5,542 games play amongst 346 teams. Sure, the diehards are going to games no matter what, but there are scarce few programs in the country with enough diehards to fill their arenas on a weekly basis. The average Joe with a wife and three kids might just be inclinded to stay home and watch a game or 5 on a cold Tuesday night in February rather than packing up the family and heading to campus. That's just the world we live in and thinking otherwise is ignoring the facts.

[Cdizzle]

If you have a fan base, some of them will make it out to games. The family of 4 may not make it out to every home game, but they'll get to a couple. And in the giant market that is Chicago, that adds up to more than 200 people on any given night. Quoting macros and stats is great, but when an 11% decline represents 15 people, the point is completely irrelevant.

[UEACES80]

Here's a hypothetical but place Wichita on a map where Valpo is located and Wichita (even as good as they are) would be drawing 5K. Indiana, Purdue and Notre Dame TV games will take butts out of the seats at Valpo (or Loyola, Evansville, insert any non P-5 school). The schools get TV $ which is nice but I preferred the days when Evansville drew 9K + on a regular basis.

As appealing as a great MVC game is between any of the schools they are going to be people who stay home to watch Indiana / MIchigan State or Kansas / Iowa State or in the Valpo hypothetical Notre Dame / Duke.

[havoc]

If you have a fan base, some of them will make it out to games. The family of 4 may not make it out to every home game, but they'll get to a couple. And in the giant market that is Chicago, that adds up to more than 200 people on any given night. Quoting macros and stats is great, but when an 11% decline represents 15 people, the point is completely irrelevant.

Actually it represents about 400 people per game. Spread out over a 14 game home schedule is over 5000 people in a season. Shrinking the sample size, the MVC lost about 600 fans per game from 2008 to 2013 with the same membership.

As far as the Chicago market, yes it is huge, but that also means Loyola basketball probably isn't in the top 50 things to do for 99% of the market

[musiccitybulldog]

Are the crowds larger now at the Ford Center or about the same at Evansville as when the team played at Roberts Arena? I enjoyed going to Roberts, it always looked full and fans active. We like going to the restaurant northwest of the Ford Center, usually talk basketball with the fans there. Then head across the street for the game.

We have fun going to all these places over the years, driven through our share of cold weather snow and ice.
I could definitely see where the weather could hurt some crowds.

[SubGod22]

Love the excuses for shyte attendance.

There is some validity to it, but that says more about your "fan base" than anything else.