The official attendance was only 1075 for tonight's game. I guess we need to close dining halls and offer free food to get them to come to the games. I'm hopeful that we will have over 2000 for the double header on Saturday but, with an 18 home gain winning streak, it should really be a whole lot more.

I was scanning through the seasons stats and our 3 point shooting has really tailed off in BW play. In preseason, most games we were around 40% from beyond the arc. One or two games near 20%, but pretty solid the rest of the games.

In BW play? 23, 33, 22, 60(LB), 15, 10. So, one outstanding and one decent, the rest pretty bad. Maybe if we can pound it inside, we can create some open looks outside. Even shooting 33% would be huge. 3-10 last night and we cover the spread ( no, I don’t bet these games!)

Part of that is the familiarity between players and coaches. Big West coaches know each other's tendencies as do the players and might be quicker to make adjustments than teams in our OOC schedule.

Yes awful attendance last night, I wouldn't be surprised if the real number was 800 or so. If you read about this home win streak, you would assume it's because of packed crowds and a hostile environment. It's truly amazing that they keep winning at home with negligible home support!

I brought a couple of friends to the game last night, they aren't huge sports fans. They thought the $14 for GA tickets was a bit high. Do you think more folks would show up if the tickets were a bit cheaper? I'm not sure how much prices affect attendance. For example, if the game was free do you think it would be full?

I've always thought that ticket prices were a barrier to the average family. I used to bring the kids, so for 3 of us, GA tickets (with a break for the kids depending on the age), parking, and maybe a snack or two, you're talking at least $30 for the night. Of course, students are free, so that's not an excuse for them. And I do think, if you look for it, you can find some discounts. I got in last night for $4.30 (via a discount I saw on Twitter), $8 for this saturday's doubleheader, and free for a game coming up on the next home-stand (and free parking on the weekends if you don't mind walking a bit). But you really have to watch for the discounts, you can't just show up at game time.

So how do you find these discounts?

Anyone know the actual attendance at the game? I a mystified why the students are not showing up for a team that is a proven winner. Most times, when a team has made school history by getting to the NCAAs then their coach does a truly outstanding job in reshaping a squad who lost 4 starters, you'd think the fans would come. When I was there, we used to pack Hickey Jim, SRO. Also, I was glad to see Chima come back from a poor outing in Hawaii. Did CSUN try to pack a zone around him like Hawaii did?

The official attendance was 1075 but there were a lot less at the start of the game as a lot of fans came late. It's sad that our attendance is generally as poor as it is given how good Aggie basketball has become and the winning basketball culture that Jim Les and Jen Gross have built. I hate to say it but the students and the Davis community are just not avid sports fans even though we are winning with true scholar athletes which should debunk their fear that going D1 would build a "dumb jock" sports culture at UCD. We've got smart, high character kids getting it done in the classroom and on the floor. What more could they want?

CSUN played man defense the whole game last night which, quite frankly, surprised me. They didn't pack it in as much as many teams have against us. We scored 46 points in the paint and that shows you how successful we were inside. Shorts, Hennings, and Schneider were all looking to penetrate and go to the bucket or dish it off inside. We had open looks from the outside but were cold as ice again for anything outside of the paint. That just has to get better.

My guess.

1. Millenial / smartphone generation.
2. Changing demographics.., soccer, protests, and women's issues increase in relevance.
3. Increased international students, different cultures.
4. Northridge not a "name".
5. Midterms?
6. It seems like more kids drive today, some live outside Davis or travel home on weekends.
7. The Aggie no longer timely on PR.
8. We haven't filled our Marketing position yet.
9. AggiePack?

I'd guess we still will get solud crowds for TV games.

I saw the twitter one on the UCDMB twitter feed. The other two have to do with work (local area teachers for one and staff for the other). I know those aren't available for everyone, although you don't have to have proof of your affiliation, you just need to find the correct promo code. Maybe they should reduce prices for mid-week games that are lower draws (dynamic pricing).

You'd think $14 GA tickets for a team that has won almost 20 in a row at home wouldn't be a large hurdle to overcome...

Maybe they're on Tindr... Tindr Meetup at the Pavilion?

You're absolutely right. It's good family entertainment.

In terms of attendance, marketing needs to think outside the box to draw fans. I like the interviews at Woodstocks. Definitely a positive step. But perhaps something that will resonate with the demographics of the Davis community: recognizing professors/ projects, pro- environment nights showcasing our university’s green efforts, maybe even going after a wider geographic footprint: Sac, Woodland, etc. what more can the team do? 18 straight wins. Any other ideas?

Does anyone have a rough estimate of what our attendance should be when compared to our peers in the Big West and other mid-major conferences? I guess this would be hard to figure out since I think different institutions calculate attendance differently.

We should have themed nights for the majority of home games. Take a page out of the River Cats playbook. I'm not a fan of discounting tickets to entice attendance, especially when the team has a winning record and hasn't lost at home in almost 20 games.

Davis has turned into an apathetic sports town. What about Fortnite? A concert after the game for students and fans? Celebrating Chinese/Korean/Irish/Filipino etc heritage? Competition with local schools to see who can get the most students/faculty/staff to a game? Winner gets a prize that could be paired up with a local restaurant.

The problem is these events take time to plan out and if done wrong (Food Truck Fiasco, BBQ cook off at the football game) it turns people away.

I looked on the Big West's website and there isn't a league-wide category for attendance. Bummer. We'd have to go school by school.

Christian night, Jihad night, Antifa night...opps... how about Frat nights? Sigma Nu courtside...

They need to do something, drawing barely 1,000 for a team that has a good overall record and has a long home winning streak is just crazy. In terms of the Big West, the Aggies should be at or near the top in attendance due to the win streak and being a residential campus.

I do agree marketing is lacking. If anything they should be cranking up the ad spend, they have a good team and should be harnessing the opportunity. I'm really concerned, if they are drawing so poorly in a good year, what would the attendance be if they were 6-15?

Maybe the AD and or coach Les should hit all of the fraternities/sororities/clubs and personally encourage them to come to the games. How about giving out some free tickets to schools in Davis/Woodland/Dixon. Then you could pass out $7/off coupons at the end of the game so that people would have an incentive to come back to another game.

Clearly the food deal brought more students out, maybe they should do that a couple more times.

Whatever they are doing is clearly not working, I think having a dynamic student section is key to creating the atmosphere in the gym. That will definitely help get the general fans to come out.

The other factor to me is recruiting, to land higher quality recruits you need to have a better atmosphere. UCD should be like UCSB in the 80's-90's when the Thunderdome was rocking. The opportunity is there to be THE program in the Big West. The team is doing its part, now the athletic department and fans have to come out and make it happen.

I have an idea! Let’s have a throwback game at Hickey! Just for the fun of it. When the students see how hard it is and was to get into a game there back in the day, they might appreciate the games more. Just joking off course. (And yes, with the old unis as well!)

I fear it’s in the campus and community DNA that athletics is just not going to be a big deal (unless it’s in TV!). In the golden days, we didn’t need PR to get folks to the games.

I do like the idea of dynamic pricing on the weekday games. The idea, of course, is that folks have a great time and come back. Kind of like giving free food, then beating up a solid team brings them back. Oh wait, that didn’t work

Ok, I have to turn the topic briefly back to streetwalking because I thought of some good puns. You can blame movielover and 69aggie (for the 69) for putting my mind in the gutter:D

Ok, it just occurred to me when I saw streetwalker and naughty movies at drive- ins being mentioned that there probably is a naughty parody of Star Wars (Star W****s?) out there. It would star the following characters among others:

Anaked Streetwalker (later Dark Vader for diversity purposes)

Princess Lay- ya

Hand Solo (doesn't see much action).

Lol. Ok, I got it out of my system now :D That sounds like something Hand Solo might say.

Toomey wasn't full all season... big games and playoffs!

LOL ... seriously.

How about Chew - backa?

I agree. I don’t remember any full houses during my time. No playoffs during that time .

I saw packed houses versus Chico State each year. The women's team used to regularly draw more than the men's team does now. Of course they were piggybacking on the attendance for the men's games to some extent.

There's just so many more distractions for young people these days. In my time people were just barely getting used to the internet. You had very few other options in Davis. I went to volleyball games purely because I was bored waiting for football games to start up (and not the girls). There's not so much emphasis on being well- adjusted socially, which includes showing school pride. I do not equate wearing a UC Davis sweatshirt with school pride. Everybody does it. That's what you get if you need a sweatshirt and do most of your clothes shopping at the bookstore..

I continue to think there's just something not quite right with the atmosphere surrounding athletics at UCD. Not the teams themselves. There's just sort of a palpable distance, as if you're watching a favorite movie you haven't seen in a long time, and you realize it's not quite as good as you remember, not even close. I don't feel this kind of distance when I go to Sac State events, but I think that's because the experience really hasn't changed

I think the "do your own thing" vibe these days hurts attendance too.

Those packed houses against Chico State were the annual "break the record" game where everyone got in free. If we did that now we would pack the Pavilion but that's not what we need. We need fans who love the game and appreciate how good our basketball programs have become and are willing to spend a few bucks to support them.

Ok..moved this to WBB

wrong thread

Check out what Boise State's coach did to try and boost attendance... http://mwwire.com/2018/01/29/leon-rice-rides-horse/