GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

[91jack]

Re: GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

6,000 seats in a (non-Sioux Falls) arena in South Dakota seems like plenty to me. With all the other entertainment options, people just don't seem that interested in going to local college games. I've heard that "winning will fix that" for a decade now. What do we have, 3 recent NCAA trips for the MBB team and 7 for the women - too many 20-win seasons to count? Similarly, USD's women had a fantastic run in the WNIT and I heard their hardcore fans say over and over "this will carry over to big crowds next year". Wrong - it's like it never happened, even with a new arena. It is what it is, and I definitely agree with FeaRed that 6,000 seats that sell out once or twice a season is a better situation than a bigger place that is an empty echo chamber 90% of the time.

I think that a 6,000 seat arena seems like a decent size arena to me too. I always think it has to do with $$. Back in the DII days, you could go and watch 2 games for about half of the price(a guess) of a single USD game of the DI era. I know that all things go up but some people just can't afford that. If you can stay home or watch the game on TV with some friends, why take a family of 4 to a game and pay about $100? I heard there is no break for kids. I know a seat is a seat but will it really be worth spending $20 for a seat to take a 4 year old to a game? It costed $8 to watch a Augie football game and it's around $30 for a SDSU game. It is a better product but is the product really 4 times better then the Augie game? I know for some people the price isn't a big deal and others will say that you have to make priorities but some families just don't do that.

[Southeast]

Re: GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

I think that a 6,000 seat arena seems like a decent size arena to me too. I always think it has to do with $$. Back in the DII days, you could go and watch 2 games for about half of the price(a guess) of a single USD game of the DI era. I know that all things go up but some people just can't afford that. If you can stay home or watch the game on TV with some friends, why take a family of 4 to a game and pay about $100? I heard there is no break for kids. I know a seat is a seat but will it really be worth spending $20 for a seat to take a 4 year old to a game? It costed $8 to watch a Augie football game and it's around $30 for a SDSU game. It is a better product but is the product really 4 times better then the Augie game? I know for some people the price isn't a big deal and others will say that you have to make priorities but some families just don't do that.

I bought my son and a friend "child" tickets to the recent doubleheader for $12 each. That price appears to be good for any school-aged kid.

I agree about the tv coverage. I love it, but I'd probably make the trip to Brookings several more times per year without it. Fargo is more evidence of what the local basketball market can support. They have a rebuilt arena, do plenty of winning and have a huge local population base - yet they barely outdraw us. What more do they have to do? Give me a quality 5,000 seat arena and I'm more than fine.

[bigticket1]

Re: GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

The misleading thing about announcing actual attendance is not knowing how many more tickets were sold but were not used. I purchased tickets in the upstairs reserved section along the baseline for the USD/ORU doubleheader about three weeks before the games. At that point there were only about 30-40 seats available upstairs in the sections from baseline to baseline. Yet on game day there were all kinds of open seats in those sections. The same is true nearly every game for the lower sections on the scorer's table side. The announced attendance for the men's game that day was 3900, but there had to be considerably more tickets sold.

[UWMandSDSU]

Re: GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

I bought my son and a friend "child" tickets to the recent doubleheader for $12 each. That price appears to be good for any school-aged kid.

You can buy $6 student general admission tickets (half of what it cost for adult tickets) to the Men's IUPUI game on Wednesday.

[OldHare]

Re: GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

You can buy $6 student general admission tickets (half of what it cost for adult tickets) to the Men's IUPUI game on Wednesday.

Also, preschoolers are free admission.

[91jack]

Re: GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

I bought my son and a friend "child" tickets to the recent doubleheader for $12 each. That price appears to be good for any school-aged kid.

I agree about the tv coverage. I love it, but I'd probably make the trip to Brookings several more times per year without it. Fargo is more evidence of what the local basketball market can support. They have a rebuilt arena, do plenty of winning and have a huge local population base - yet they barely outdraw us. What more do they have to do? Give me a quality 5,000 seat arena and I'm more than fine.

Oops! That was what I heard but I guess I heard wrong. Thank you for correcting me.
Next time, I might have to check things out better. I put might because I am too lazy most of the time.

[UWMandSDSU]

Re: GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

Oops! That was what I heard but I guess I heard wrong. Thank you for correcting me.
Next time, I might have to check things out better. I put might because I am too lazy most of the time.

Reserved seating is the same price regardless if adult or student. Maybe that is what you heard?

[OldHare]

Re: GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

I see the MBB tweet that now has tickets 2 for $10 billed as Valentine Special.

[yote4life]

Re: GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

I think the combination of much higher ticket prices, along with a majority of the high profile games now being televised, and just more entertainment options available to people in general, will keep attendance from ever consistently reaching the DII levels again.

I've been trying to figure out why we haven't been able to draw as many fans as we did in the DII days. I have felt like a big reason USD is drawing less is because we don't have any SD players on the team. A lot of people that I have talked to about why they don't go to the games they mention that they don't know any of the players. They used to go to the games because they had followed those players in high school and they wanted to see how they did in college.
Obviously that can't be the only reason. I agree with the games being on TV has probably hurt attendance as well. It used to be if you wanted to see the game you had to go to the game.
When I first heard we were building a 6,000 seat arena I was thinking they might have to move the State game to the Dome to accommodate all the fans. I mean damn, if we can get 8K at a $hitty place to watch basketball, certainly a 6K seat stadium, that is great for watching basketball, isn't going to be enough. Sadly it appears 6K is plenty.

[GoJacks2010]

Re: GDT: @ Vermillion, Home of the Coyotes

Yote - the day will come when 6k will certainly sell out for State/U games. You don't build a church for Easter. There is nothing wrong with a sellout and turning people away. Attendance for other games will always be more challenging.

I've been trying to figure out why we haven't been able to draw as many fans as we did in the DII days. I have felt like a big reason USD is drawing less is because we don't have any SD players on the team. A lot of people that I have talked to about why they don't go to the games they mention that they don't know any of the players. They used to go to the games because they had followed those players in high school and they wanted to see how they did in college.
Obviously that can't be the only reason. I agree with the games being on TV has probably hurt attendance as well. It used to be if you wanted to see the game you had to go to the game.
When I first heard we were building a 6,000 seat arena I was thinking they might have to move the State game to the Dome to accommodate all the fans. I mean damn, if we can get 8K at a $hitty place to watch basketball, certainly a 6K seat stadium, that is great for watching basketball, isn't going to be enough. Sadly it appears 6K is plenty.