Crowd Size in Fargo

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

Based on my experience with NDSU fans, my guess that the average crowd size in Fargo would be a 48 inch waist.

[propar80]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

Based on my experience with NDSU fans, my guess that the average crowd size in Fargo would be a 48 inch waist.

You're talking about the female co-eds right?? Sorry for the SMACK, I just couldn't resist.


Go Jacks!!

[Hammersmith]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

Personally, I'll be surprised if the game is a sellout. I expect the crowd will be in the 5000-5500 range. Bison basketball doesn't have quite the excitement of the last couple of years, and the SDSU crowds were only around 4000-4500 even then. The Colorado State game this year only brought in 5100, and that was also the return of Tim Miles. All that being said, I wouldn't base my plans on driving to Fargo and only then buying the ticket.

As for the new arena, it's still not a sure thing and the earliest it could be ready is the 2010-11 season. If it does happen, it will actually be a bit smaller than the BSA(~6000 vs. ~6500), but with expansion capabilities down the road.

[Just in the crowd]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

I've got 4 tickets for the games, I sure wish that we would get the crowds that the Bison get. It is hard to look at all the open seats at Frost. The Bison aren't doing much better than us, yet they get 3-5 thousand per game?

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

I've got 4 tickets for the games, I sure wish that we would get the crowds that the Bison get. It is hard to look at all the open seats at Frost. The Bison aren't doing much better than us, yet they get 3-5 thousand per game?

Fargo is also about 3-4 times bigger than Brookings.

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

I've got 4 tickets for the games, I sure wish that we would get the crowds that the Bison get. It is hard to look at all the open seats at Frost. The Bison aren't doing much better than us, yet they get 3-5 thousand per game?

They're not averaging 3-5 thousand. Granted, their attendance has been better than ours in bball this year. I would guess they're averaging 2-3 thousand so far this year.

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

They're not averaging 3-5 thousand. Granted, their attendance has been better than ours in bball this year. I would guess they're averaging 2-3 thousand so far this year.

I did some checking. NDSU is averaging 2,849 so far this year. We're averaging 1,946. We really need to improve that number. I've got a pretty good feeling that this bunch of kids is good enough to start winning games and entertaining enough to bring the fans back. We'll be up to 3,000 again by the time Kai is a senior.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

I've got 4 tickets for the games, I sure wish that we would get the crowds that the Bison get. It is hard to look at all the open seats at Frost. The Bison aren't doing much better than us, yet they get 3-5 thousand per game?

They also just had about 900 fans for one of their women's games, a team that is struggling in a similar fashion to our men. While our numbers are sad, I don't think our attendance has dipped below 1000 yet this year for either of our bball teams.

[propar80]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

Let's also not forget the location of NDSU. The Fargo "area" is probably even bigger than SF metro, and NDSU is main attraction up there. This is a huge advantage for NDSU in all sports.
Once the fellas start winning even at a moderate level and people get familiar with the conference teams, that average will rise significantly IMO and hopefully some of the SF sports crowd will take notice and start making the drive, especially the SDSU SF alum that haven't made many trips since they've graduated.

The only thing that worries me a little, is the fact that the women's team has had a good year and came off as good a year in it's history, and the attendence doesn't seem as good as I would've hoped entering this season.

Go Jacks!!

[BTownJack]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

The only thing that worries me a little, is the fact that the women's team has had a good year and came off as good a year in it's history, and the attendence doesn't seem as good as I would've hoped entering this season.

This thought has crossed my mind as well. I had heard the season tickets sales were up this year. I would hope a lot of that is due to the success of the women's team last year and also because it was hard to get good tickets for the WNIT games last year. If you remember, season tickets holders got first pick and by the time they were done, most reserved seating was already sold out. The 2nd WNIT game sold out just a few hours after going on sale to the public.

So obviously our "casual fan" is not influenced much by previous success since our overall attendance has not risen significantly. It has likely gone down from last year but I can't say that for sure. Hopefully with the remaining conference games and the girls in the hunt for the conference title/WNIT bid, it will get people in the seats!

[jackmd]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

I've got 4 tickets for the games, I sure wish that we would get the crowds that the Bison get. It is hard to look at all the open seats at Frost. The Bison aren't doing much better than us, yet they get 3-5 thousand per game?

During our successful years in DII and the NCC we always lead the league in attendance and often lead the nation in attendance. The NCC always lead the nation at the DII level as far as attendance was concerned. Check the link for yourself, just scroll down to DII. Start in 2004 and go back from there. We're usually #1 and never below #3.

http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_basketba...nce/index.html

The fans want to return, their just waiting for a compelling reason to do so. That reason is different for different fans but winning always helps.

Fred and others in the AD knew what they were doing when they "remodeled" Frost arena. As soon as we get the program on track you are going to see days when its hard to get a ticket into Frost for any game, not just WNIT, NIT or "special" circumstances.

What I'm trying to say is buy your season tickets now, even if you aren't excited about where we are at with the program at the present time, you won't regret it in the near future, I'm pretty sure about that.

I for one will never aspire to be like NDSU's basketball program. I expect them to continue to aspire to be like SDSU. Their relative success early in DI doesn't trump what we accomplished previous to the decision to move up. When things get back on track you'll see we are right where we want to be, I'm darn sure of that.

[FargoBison]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

I agree that the size of the Fargo metro area gives NDSU an advantage but don't forget we aren't exactly playing in a place like Frost Arena. The BSA is probably one of the worst arena's in DI, I won't even go into all the problems the place has. The new arena can't come soon enough, just having it will probably add a thousand more fans a game.

[NorCalJack]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

Well since we are talking about crowd size, I thought I would tabulate the attendance figures for the Summit League. This is for Men's Basketball home attendance.

                                       Total Ave.    Ave. Conference

               Rank     School        Attendance      Attendance
Oral Roberts                   5,530                5,562
NDSU                            2,849                2,970
Southern Utah                2,279                2,162
SDSU                            1,946                2,469
Oakland Univ.                 1,689*              1,793
IPFW                            1,659                1,772
UMKC                           1,531                1,775
Centenary                     1,188                 794
IUPUI                             817                  929
Western Illinois                537                  470

*Oakland had a "Home" game against Oregon at Auburn Hills in Detroit. The game had 22,076 people and I did not add this as a "Home" game since it would skew the average

Go State!!!

[SDHoops]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

Well since we are talking about crowd size, I thought I would tabulate the attendance figures for the Summit League. This is for Men's Basketball home attendance.

                                       Total Ave.    Ave. Conference

               Rank     School        Attendance      Attendance
Oral Roberts                   5,530                5,562
NDSU                            2,849                2,970
Southern Utah                2,279                2,162
SDSU                            1,946                2,469
Oakland Univ.                 1,689*              1,793
IPFW                            1,659                1,772
UMKC                           1,531                1,775
Centenary                     1,188                 794
IUPUI                             817                  929
Western Illinois                537                  470

*Oakland had a "Home" game against Oregon at Auburn Hills in Detroit. The game had 22,076 people and I did not add this as a "Home" game since it would skew the average

Go State!!!

Wow, many high school teams in SD average more than Western Illinois

[SUPERBUNNY]

Re: Crowd Size in Fargo

I found the IUPUI total to be interesting. They've got a hell of a team and they are averaging under a 1,000.

If SDSU had a team doing that well, what do you think we would draw? 4,000 average? 5,000?

With numbers like that in the conference, Frost Arena coulld become the toughest arena in the league when the team gets back to its winning ways!

SUPERBUNNY