New UMass coach Matt McCall

[Roadtrip]

A four hour round trip drive may be too much for a person with multiple options, whereas, in Montana, we used to go four hours away just for high school football, and this was without having any kids of my own on the team. If you really want to be there for a game, you will be, if not, you will find an excuse. Mine is I live in FL.

[69MG]

If you really want to be there for a game, you will be, if not, you will find an excuse.

This will be my only comment on this subject. +100000000000%

[gosox22]

^ Bingo.

Unless you live halfway across the country. That's my excuse as well.

[Cahoonaville]

Why can some schools in the Power 5 conferences get away with fudging attendance numbers? Why doesn't UMass count tix sold towards attendance? Someone I know who works at the Mullins Center says they do not do this.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

If you really want to be there for a game, you will be, if not, you will find an excuse.

Yep.

[McKinney]

Why can some schools in the Power 5 conferences get away with fudging attendance numbers? Why doesn't UMass count tix sold towards attendance? Someone I know who works at the Mullins Center says they do not do this.

I guess they could, but what would it solve? The reason we're talking about attendance in this thread is because McCall mentioned his disappointment in the turnout. They could fudge the numbers all they want, the turnout is still terrible.

[Sheck]

Why can some schools in the Power 5 conferences get away with fudging attendance numbers? Why doesn't UMass count tix sold towards attendance? Someone I know who works at the Mullins Center says they do not do this.

I guess they could, but what would it solve? The reason we're talking about attendance in this thread is because McCall mentioned his disappointment in the turnout. They could fudge the numbers all they want, the turnout is still terrible.

There's no need to do it in hoops, only would come into play for meeting FBS attendance requirements. It's pretty easy for schools to fudge the numbers because they can take sponsor money and allocate it toward ticket purchases.

[UMass02]

One reason athletic attendance is struggling may be from lack of alumni interest. UMass has had a rocky relationship with alumni. A generation of alumni went to UMass when it was not number one for food, but number one for "long lines and red tape." I had a conversation with a slightly older alum about going to games. He said he'd probably never go to games or donate money to UMass. I asked why. He essentially said "well, they treated like crap when I was a student. Why should I support them now?" I don't know how pervasive that mindset is amongst the alumni, but I'm sure he isn't the only one with that mindset.

How do schools far removed from their glory days fare attendance-wise? Is Houston filling up the gym every night? Is Indiana State selling out home games? In addition, how do terrible basketball teams at power football schools draw? (Not implying that UMass is a power football school or that basketball is bad, btw). I know many D-I schools are struggling to draw fans - why do you think they lowered the shot clock to 30 seconds. Attendance issues aren't a problem endemic to UMass.

Stop thinking about UMass basketball as an sporting event and start thinking about it as an entertainment event. The average family is looking for a day or night out. They may not care if it's a basketball game, or bowling, or hiking, or skiing, or a Thunderbirds game, or the movies, or a trip to the museum. Cost may be a factor in some cases. There are many, many, many entertainment options in the valley. UMass is competing against all those options. No wonder it's difficult to get fans through the door.

I give credit to UMass Athletics for hiring an associate AD to supervise ticketing and marketing (Pandiani). Although I'm not a huge fan of outsourcing (see Follett and Amazon's handling of the bookstore, for example), their partnership with Aspire gives them access to data tools and marketing advice from across the country. They are trying their best to improve attendance, but there may be other ways to increase sales.

Some suggestions:

- Eliminate the game day surcharge. It's an artificial way to add value to the season ticket. In addition, it's meant to be an incentive to drive sales before the day of the game. In that case, it would be nice if they made those advance purchases "fee free" (see my argument about red tape above) and somehow hide the fee in the cost of the ticket, assuming the fee is used to defray credit card usage fees. Many families may make plans on the spur of the moment. The cheaper you can make it for a family to attend the games, the better.

- A poster above mentioned free kids tickets. Whether they are free or severely discounted, it's a great incentive to get families to the Mullins. Perhaps if you get them hooked on UMass as a kid, maybe they will grow up to buy season tickets.

- Partner with a sponsor (Big Y would be nice, but any sponsor would do) to have a discounted ticket night. For example, show your Big Y card to get a $5 ticket to the game at the door. Big Y could make up the difference between the $5 ticket and the group sales price for that number of seats. Big Y could even promote it in their stores. Like I said, it doesn't have to be Big Y. Heck, UMass could just randomly have a promoted $5 ticket night without a sponsor and see what happens, kind of like an experiment. They can't do that too often as it would irk the STHs and people who buy tickets ahead of time.

- Keep parking free. I know it's not an issue for basketball games, but I can easily see them trying to monetize parking as times get better. The football parking fees still irk me. It's a silly barrier that keeps fans away from games.

- Athletics recently did a survey of UMass fans. The next step is to do a professional survey of the general public in Western Mass. Find out about their attitudes towards sports, entertainment, entertainment options, etc. Perhaps there aren't a bevy of fanatics in the area just waiting to come to Mullins, regardless of the effort UMass puts into marketing? Anyway, although the survey would be expensive, it would give Pandiani a treasure trove of opinions to drive marketing and communication.

At the end of the day, if McCall builds a winning program, the fans will come.

[Minutemaniac74]

if we moved all the winter break games to the centrum every year it would be a home court for the players, also we would have more fans in the seat supporting the team. Calapari did not seem to have a problem with playing games at the Centrum. Also by having games at Centrum, it may get some fans hooked inot the team and show up for the on campus games.

Attendance at UMass' last 3 games in Worcester (all vs. Holy Cross):

11/20/16 - 3591. (Sun 1:05pm - Patriots played @ 4:30)
12/5/09 - 2028
11/25/99 - 3821

Its simple - attendance will go up when we're winning. But there's clearly little demand to have home games played in Worcester

[UMass02]

if we moved all the winter break games to the centrum every year it would be a home court for the players, also we would have more fans in the seat supporting the team. Calapari did not seem to have a problem with playing games at the Centrum. Also by having games at Centrum, it may get some fans hooked inot the team and show up for the on campus games.

Attendance at UMass' last 3 games in Worcester (all vs. Holy Cross):

11/20/16 - 3591. (Sun 1:05pm - Patriots played @ 4:30)
12/5/09 - 2028
11/25/99 - 3821

Its simple - attendance will go up when we're winning. But there's clearly little demand to have home games played in Worcester

Me thinks pk77 lives in the Worcester area and wants a couple easy trips to the games!

[Quann]

^^^^^^
It’s really not a bad idea. Winter session attendance is terrible in Amherst. Why not play some games in Springfield, Worcester and Boston in January?

[UMass02]

Maybe one winter session game in Boston, but no more.

If they do that, I hope they include the game as part of the season ticket package.

[LS71]

As a STH, I'd like to see more road games and fewer homes games televised.

It's mighty easy for the casual fan stay home and watch a game on TV instead of driving to Amherst, especially when the weather is iffy.

[McKinney]

As a STH, I'd like to see more road games and fewer homes games televised.

It's mighty easy for the casual fan stay home and watch a game on TV instead of driving to Amherst, especially when the weather is iffy.

That's not a bad theory, but it looks like the average attendance since 2006-2007 for televised games (3,107) is actually higher than the untelevised games (1,960). Which, to beat the long dead horse, both numbers are absolutely pathetic... Only 88 of the 180 home games since the '06-'07 season would fill or exceed the Cage's capacity!

[LS71]

^ My post was purely a selfish wish since I attend most, if not all, home games every year, but unfortunately many away games are not televised so I can't see them without paying even more than I already pay.