Attendance

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

I think Southern will have a good crowd tonight for Evansville. There might be a few purple folks in the crowd and the students are back in town today. I heard the other night, the SIU radio guy said that there has been a "strong pre-sale" for the Murray St. game next Tuesday. Southern has 2 weekend games left (MoState and Bradley), both of them on Sunday afternoon. Luckily, neither of them are going up against the NFL.

Really sucks that the MVC only gave us 1 Saturday night home game during the main conference season. Not sure what that was about.

[third rail]

I think Southern will have a good crowd tonight for Evansville. There might be a few purple folks in the crowd and the students are back in town today. I heard the other night, the SIU radio guy said that there has been a "strong pre-sale" for the Murray St. game next Tuesday. Southern has 2 weekend games left (MoState and Bradley), both of them on Sunday afternoon. Luckily, neither of them are going up against the NFL.

Really sucks that the MVC only gave us 1 Saturday night home game during the main conference season. Not sure what that was about.

The MVC scheduling is horrible. I really hate that you are finished playing some teams before you have even played others.

Anyway, look for about 7,500 in Carbondale for that Murray game.

[Saluki 4 Life]

I think Southern will have a good crowd tonight for Evansville. There might be a few purple folks in the crowd and the students are back in town today. I heard the other night, the SIU radio guy said that there has been a "strong pre-sale" for the Murray St. game next Tuesday. Southern has 2 weekend games left (MoState and Bradley), both of them on Sunday afternoon. Luckily, neither of them are going up against the NFL.

Really sucks that the MVC only gave us 1 Saturday night home game during the main conference season. Not sure what that was about.

The MVC scheduling is horrible. I really hate that you are finished playing some teams before you have even played others.

Anyway, look for about 7,500 in Carbondale for that Murray game.

Should be but the weather does not look great. Hopefully it holds off, because Banterra should be rocking.

[Salukimadness86]

Winter weather should not be an issue. Game should be over by 9:00 - 9:15ish. Latest forecast says nothing happening until 3:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. Salukis by 10! Let's Go!

[Kyle_Saluki_17]

I think Southern will have a good crowd tonight for Evansville. There might be a few purple folks in the crowd and the students are back in town today. I heard the other night, the SIU radio guy said that there has been a "strong pre-sale" for the Murray St. game next Tuesday. Southern has 2 weekend games left (MoState and Bradley), both of them on Sunday afternoon. Luckily, neither of them are going up against the NFL.

Really sucks that the MVC only gave us 1 Saturday night home game during the main conference season. Not sure what that was about.

The MVC scheduling is horrible. I really hate that you are finished playing some teams before you have even played others.

Anyway, look for about 7,500 in Carbondale for that Murray game.

I sure hope you’re right! Personally I’d guess that it’ll be around 6500-7000 range in attendance but this team definitely deserves a full house. I check in on tickets sold a few times a day right now, and I’m not seeing much more these last few days. Hope I’m wrong! It’ll be a great crowd regardless!

[E-Villan]

The MVC scheduling is horrible. I really hate that you are finished playing some teams before you have even played others.

Anyway, look for about 7,500 in Carbondale for that Murray game.

The scheduling could definitely be improved. There needs to be a focus on giving weekend games to schools that can send fans back and forth. For example, I assist with fan buses for UE. There are 4 teams we can get a bus to that are close enough to only require 1 driver. SIU, Indiana State, Belmont and Murray. Of those 4, only Murray is a weekend game for us. Conversely, of those 4 schools, the only one we hosted this year on a weekend was Murray on New Year's. The other 3 are all on a Wednesday night. SIU and Indiana State fans have consistently shown up in the past, and I am sure we wouldn't mind a few extra ticket sales. I am sure they wouldn't mind as well. I don't think any of us are selling our arenas out.

[BCPanther]

The MVC scheduling is horrible. I really hate that you are finished playing some teams before you have even played others.

Anyway, look for about 7,500 in Carbondale for that Murray game.

The scheduling could definitely be improved. There needs to be a focus on giving weekend games to schools that can send fans back and forth. For example, I assist with fan buses for UE. There are 4 teams we can get a bus to that are close enough to only require 1 driver. SIU, Indiana State, Belmont and Murray. Of those 4, only Murray is a weekend game for us. Conversely, of those 4 schools, the only one we hosted this year on a weekend was Murray on New Year's. The other 3 are all on a Wednesday night. SIU and Indiana State fans have consistently shown up in the past, and I am sure we wouldn't mind a few extra ticket sales. I am sure they wouldn't mind as well. I don't think any of us are selling our arenas out.

We contract with the same guy (Kevin Pauga) that does all the scheduling for the Big 12 and others. He's the liaison to the TV networks to set up the schedule for them and to get the best games into slots that are going to mean the most. The league has a pretty good track record of having important games in the right spots.

There are also schools that don't have full control of the scheduling of their buildings (Bradley, Evansville, Belmont, UIC) and schools that have annual events in their buildings that have to be worked around. There's also the 5 weekend/5 mid-week rule that has to be followed.

It's not as easy as 'we should see everybody once before we see anybody twice' or 'let's make it easy to send a bus'. I'll guarantee that Drake and UNI aren't thrilled that both of their games are mid-weeks, I'm sure that Bradley and Illinois State would prefer to play each other on weekends but the reality is that the league does as good a job as any in getting fair schedules out that satisfy TV partners. If you want an awful schedule, go take a look at what the Big Ten throws out there year after year.

[Salukimadness86]

Agree that MVC Scheduling needs improvement. For example, SIU vs Murray should be played on a Saturday/Sunday based on proximity and history of playing each other. Larger crowds IMO. Same thought would apply to Drake/UNI, Bradley/ISU, Ind. St/Evansville etc. I understand that there's only so many Saturdays and Sundays available, but most schools play each other twice so could be done more often, with the occasional Tuesday/Wednesday game.
Was happy to see SIU vs ISUr last year on a Saturday evening. 2-hour drive from Chicagoland area, so both SIU Alumni and ISUr Alumni can make the down and back fairly easily. This year we'll head down for the Sunday afternoon game but will stay overnight at the super close Normal Marriott.

[Bulldog2323]

Drake eclipsed 4,000 for second best attendance of the year and had its best student section in three seasons Tuesday night.

[Majik45]

Bradley listed over 6,000 in attendance last night for the rivalry game. I hate that the MVC continues to schedule BU/ISU games on Wednesday nights.