Annual "complain about the crowd" thread

[jonpierre]

The crowd tonight is pitiful, and frankly embarrassing. A match-up of two top 25 teams, national tv, with the gators ranked in top 10, and we can't even put butts in the upper tier? I'd be shocked if there were more than 8,000 people there. What gives?

[BengermanV]

Like I said in the game thread, what did people expect when it is still football season?

[Jonas]

Originally Posted by BengermanV

Like I said in the game thread, what did people expect when it is still football season?

I don't think that's necessarily true. When OSU came two years ago in November, the dome was completely full. Guess Wisconsin wasn't exciting enough for most people.

[GatorPlanet]

Originally Posted by BengermanV

Like I said in the game thread, what did people expect when it is still football season?

No one goes to the football games either.

[BLING]

Originally Posted by BengermanV

Like I said in the game thread, what did people expect when it is still football season?

I really don't think that's it...

I've noticed the crowd getting thinner and thinner every year. Now obviously Florida has a mixed history in basketball so I'm sure in the distant past crowds were even worse. But in the Donovan era Florida had really been building up a solid fanbase. But there's no doubt that the last few years have been hitting new lows (for the Donovan era) almost every year. 10-15 years ago when Billy D brought excitement to Florida basketball, we would have PACKED THE HOUSE for a ranked Big 10 team... football season or not. Ironically I first started noticing our crowds slightly starting to thin out a little bit when we were in the midst of our back-to-back championship run (made no sense, but I saw it with my own eyes). It's seemingly gotten a little bit worse every year since then...

Like I said in the game-thread, this is a phenomenon that is happening in pretty much every sport - MLB, NFL, Nascar, NBA, NCAA BB, NCAA football (even UF football shows some chinks in the armor the last couple of years). Some programs are being hit even worse than UF. But that doesn't make it any less embarassing, because there are also some programs that are seemingly immune from it (Kentucky). I guess with everything being televised people get used to sitting at home and watching on their HDTV, but there is probably something else going on as well (economy, ticket prices, etc).

[akaGatorhoops]

I will never be able to understand how we can't get more students to basketball games. It is a mystery I baffled by.

[BLING]

Originally Posted by GatorPlanet

No one goes to the football games either.

LOL. Yeah this season has set new "modern era" lows for our football program as well. Which goes to show my point this is happening almost everywhere. Last year, on some various Pac 10, Big East, ACC, etc home basketball games I was noticing some early out of conference matchups that looked like a Florida Marlins baseball game broke out, i.e. with barely a few thousand people there and open seats everywhere even at court level. However that is still no excuse for today, UF should pack the house for a top 25 Big 10 Team... PERIOD.

UF had a long ass football sellout streak broken just last year, now we've seen a few games with probably 10,000+ unsold tickets (and multiples of that in terms of empty seats).

Of course there are programs that seem to be immune from these issues, Nebraska football, Kentucky basketball, Ohio State football, Boston Red-Sox, Kansas basketball and I'm sure some other notables. UF is not necessily one of the worst, but our fan support is not living up to the program we have. I'm pretty sure Wisconsin will pack the house when we play them.

[gogators73]

Originally Posted by GatorPlanet

No one goes to the football games either.

Quote for truth.

I'm already cringing about walking into the Swamp on Saturday and seeing how empty it will be.

[GatorPlanet]

Originally Posted by gogators73

Quote for truth.

I'm already cringing about walking into the Swamp on Saturday and seeing how empty it will be.

Mr. Foley may not realize it yet, but he has a crisis brewing. You can't watch the fan base shrink each season and try to make up the difference by annually raising ticket prices, but that seems to be the approach.

[gatordavisl]

Originally Posted by BLING

LOL. Yeah this season has set new "modern era" lows for our football program as well. Which goes to show my point this is happening almost everywhere. Last year, on some various Pac 10, Big East, ACC, etc home basketball games I was noticing some early out of conference matchups that looked like a Florida Marlins baseball game broke out, i.e. with barely a few thousand people there and open seats everywhere even at court level. However that is still no excuse for today, UF should pack the house for a top 25 Big 10 Team... PERIOD.

UF had a long ass football sellout streak broken just last year, now we've seen a few games with probably 10,000+ unsold tickets (and multiples of that in terms of empty seats).

Of course there are programs that seem to be immune from these issues, Nebraska football, Kentucky basketball, Ohio State football, Boston Red-Sox, Kansas basketball and I'm sure some other notables. UF is not necessily one of the worst, but our fan support is not living up to the program we have. I'm pretty sure Wisconsin will pack the house when we play them.

The bubble has burst. In 1997 I purchased season tickets for the Tampa Bay Bucs when they opened the new stadium. The purchase required a deposit, kind of like the Gators football tickets require a donation, thought the deposit was refunded during a 10-year span. Season ticket prices escalated each year until the point that there were 80k on the waiting list . . . then the bubble burst and they can't fill that stadium. It's economics (not just the economy) and is evidenced in sporting venues throughout the nation. If the trend continues, even the Rupps of the world will be affected.

[HALLGATOR]

I have been saying for a long time that eventually sports events would price themselves out of their market. I wonder if that is not what is happening now.

[WESGATORS]

Give me crowd energy over crowd numbers any day and every day. Crowd was fine. Student lower level was full. Just curious, those of you complaining about the attendance, how frequently do you sit in the upper level?

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

[akaGatorhoops]

Originally Posted by WESGATORS

Give me crowd energy over crowd numbers any day and every day. Crowd was fine. Student lower level was full. Just curious, those of you complaining about the attendance, how frequently do you sit in the upper level?

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

I have be fortunate to have access to better seats in recent years, but as a student and even after. . . I watched many games from high above the court. And I was happy to be there.

[HALLGATOR]

All my games in the O-Dome, right after it was built, were high up. Seems there were poles that used to block your view from a certain angle up there.

[WESGATORS]

Originally Posted by akaGatorhoops

I have be fortunate to have access to better seats in recent years, but as a student and even after. . . I watched many games from high above the court. And I was happy to be there.

For $2 a pop, right?

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

[jeffphillips21]

Originally Posted by WESGATORS

For $2 a pop, right?

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

exactly! I remember season tickets costing $32 (for ~16 home games). What does it cost per game for students now? alumni? That must be a least part of the problem...you can't expect to raise ticket prices annually during the Great Recession and not see attendance fall...

[GatorLurker]

Those that were there (me included) were fine.

The corners of Level 3 were pretty empty.

A fair amount of this falls on the students. It seems like if they don't get into the RR section they don't bother.

[Angaza]

Originally Posted by GatorLurker

The corners of Level 3 were pretty empty.

I feel like the go-to explanation for all attendance issues is to blame students (which is certainly true in football). But by all accounts there were plenty of students at the O'Dome and noticeably less alumni and non-student fans.

[WESGATORS]

In the 90's, games were rarely witnessed on tv; now it seems that every single game is available on television or online. Combine that with the improvements in production cameras and televisions, and it is a much tougher sell to expect people to sit at the top of the building for anything more than a bag of potato chips. It does not hurt the program, because the television revenue all comes back to the UNIVERSITY. The SEC still has one of the best contracts if I'm not mistaken. Ticket sales on top of that television revenue is gravy.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

[SwampKing1]

We drove up from Lakeland for the game tonight thanks to a friend's excellent tickets!! Great game and environment, but a small crowd by comparison.. It appears you could walk up and purchase a second tier seat with no problem.. I agree it's amazing two top 20 teams in an early season match-up with barely 8,000 seats taken.. Sign of the times?? Hope not..