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Post by rf1 on Jul 17, 2018 9:11:00 GMT -5
The NCAA has released the official Men's Basketball D1 attendance numbers for the 2017-18 season. They can be found here:
Holy Cross drew 21,340 for an average of 1,641. This placed it seventh in New England.
The numbers for the 22 D1 programs in New England were as follows:
NEW ENGLAND MEN'S BASKETBALL D1 HOME ATTENDANCE BY AVERAGE
TEAM | GAMES | TOTAL | AVERAGE
PROVIDENCE | 17 | 162,315 | 9,547
UCONN | 16 | 125,271 | 7,829
URI | 16 | 99,466 | 6,216
BOSTON COLLEGE | 17 | 87,731 | 5,160
UMASS-AMHERST | 17 | 50,901 | 2,994
VERMONT | 14 | 41,012 | 2,929
HOLY CROSS | 13 | 21,340 | 1,641
QUINNIPIAC | 12 | 19,055 | 1,587
HARVARD | 11 | 16,623 | 1,511
CCSU | 12 | 17,142 | 1,428
HARTFORD | 16 | 22,536 | 1,408
FAIRFIELD | 13 | 17,518 | 1,347
YALE | 12 | 15,675 | 1,306
NORTHEASTERN | 14 | 15,993 | 1,142
UMASS-LOWELL | 16 | 17,913 | 1,119
MAINE | 12 | 12,344 | 1,028
BROWN | 13 | 11,474 | 882
DARTMOUTH | 12 | 10,423 | 868
BU | 13 | 9,024 | 694
BRYANT | 12 | 7,619 | 634
UNH | 15 | 7,219 | 481
SACRED HEART | 14 | 6,198 | 442
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Post by sader1970 on Jul 17, 2018 9:34:33 GMT -5
We can't possibly overtake Providence, UConn, URI because of where they play unless we start playing in the DCU. Not likely that we'll move up in the foreseeable future no matter how well the team plays.
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Post by timholycross on Jul 17, 2018 9:59:45 GMT -5
HC outdraws Harvard and NU? That's embarrassing to those two schools that made league championship runs. (yes, I know HC beat Harvard early in the season).
HC should be at the level of Vermont, and UMass should be double UVM, not even with them.
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Post by sader1970 on Jul 17, 2018 10:01:46 GMT -5
Can't speak to Northeastern but I would bet $ the Cross outdraws Harvard.
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Post by rf1 on Jul 17, 2018 10:37:18 GMT -5
Holy Cross does well compared to other New England schools when venue capacity and enrollment are considered. The Hart Center seats only 3,536 and the team averaged close to half capacity. Not bad for the smallest enrollment D1 school in New England. It is worth noting that some New England schools play at far bigger venues with the great majority of seats empty. UMass draws just 2,994 to the 9,493 seat Mullins Center. Northeastern plays all its games at 5,066 seat Matthews Arena averaging 1,142. Maine plays off campus in Bangor at the 5,800 person capacity Cross Insurance Center drawing just 1,028. Fairfield brings in just 1,347 at the 9,000 seat Webster Arena in nearby Bridgeport. Furthermore, several schools have larger on campus venues where they could play all their basketball games yet infrequently do as the added capacity is rarely (if ever) needed: BU, UMass-Lowell, and UNH.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jul 17, 2018 11:42:09 GMT -5
Holy Cross does well compared to other New England schools when venue capacity and enrollment are considered. The Hart Center seats only 3,536 and the team averaged close to half capacity. Not bad for the smallest enrollment D1 school in New England. It is worth noting that some New England schools play at far bigger venues with the great majority of seats empty. UMass draws just 2,994 to the 9,493 seat Mullins Center. Northeastern plays all its games at 5,066 seat Matthews Arena averaging 1,142. Maine plays off campus in Bangor at the 5,800 person capacity Cross Insurance Center drawing just 1,028. Fairfield brings in just 1,347 at the 9,000 seat Webster Arena in nearby Bridgeport. Furthermore, several schools have larger on campus venues where they could play all their basketball games yet infrequently do as the added capacity is rarely (if ever) needed: BU, UMass-Lowell, and UNH. If one compares attendance as a percentage of undergraduate enrollment, HC does very, very well. BC's attendance playing in the ACC is an embarrassment. Harvard's Lavietes has the lowest seating capacity of the top nine schools, and it seems Harvard has pulled plug on building a new arena. |
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Post by hc89 on Jul 17, 2018 12:06:36 GMT -5
Would love it if we played the top six teams on that list every year: PC, UCONN, URI, BC, UMASS and Vermont. Only see UVM agreeing to play at the Hart at this point. |
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Post by hc87 on Jul 17, 2018 12:52:33 GMT -5
College basketball has never drawn well in the Boston-area....it's a hockey 1st region. BC hoop has drawn OK ovah the years from the Roberts Centah to the Conte, but never at the level of a PC or UConn.
Yes we have a small enrollment but one could also make the countah argument that we don't draw too well considering HC is in the 2nd largest city in New England.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 17, 2018 12:56:13 GMT -5
Can't speak to Northeastern but I would bet $ the Cross outdraws Harvard. Northeastern has a very small sports following, especially if you take into account the relatively (compared to other private schools in New England) GIGANTIC student and alumni base. No student interest in school sporting events except for the Beanpot. Harvard's gym holds about 2,000 so would be almost impossible for them to outdraw Holy Cross, unless our program is at rock bottom, which we're not far from now. Ivy League basketball typically draws flies with the exception of Penn and Princeton. Cornell did draw very well for that 3-4 year stretch when they dominated the league and ended up making a Sweet 16 but I think it's back to hockey mode in Ithaca. |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 17, 2018 12:59:00 GMT -5
College basketball has never drawn well in the Boston-area....it's a hockey 1st region. BC hoop has drawn OK ovah the years from the Roberts Centah to the Conte, but never at the level of a PC or UConn. Yes we have a small enrollment but one could also make the countah argument that we don't draw too well considering HC is in the 2nd largest city in New England. BU, Northeastern and Harvard are in the largest city in New England and don't draw. When it comes to small, academic schools in lower-level conferences, the size of market doesn't really make a difference. You can say the same about Fordham, Columbia, Manhattan, St. Francis, LIU and Wagner -- they all play in the largest city in the US but don't draw well. |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 17, 2018 13:01:12 GMT -5
Would love it if we played the top six teams on that list every year: PC, UCONN, URI, BC, UMASS and Vermont. Only see UVM agreeing to play at the Hart at this point. Wouldn't we WANT to play UVM at the Hart? Definitely would like to see a series with the Catamounts. I would enjoy a road trip to Burlington, even in winter. Agree it would be a dream come true to have those schools on our schedule annually! |
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Post by hc87 on Jul 17, 2018 13:03:24 GMT -5
College basketball has never drawn well in the Boston-area....it's a hockey 1st region. BC hoop has drawn OK ovah the years from the Roberts Centah to the Conte, but never at the level of a PC or UConn. Yes we have a small enrollment but one could also make the countah argument that we don't draw too well considering HC is in the 2nd largest city in New England. BU, Northeastern and Harvard are in the largest city in New England and don't draw. When it comes to small, academic schools in lower-level conferences, the size of market doesn't really make a difference. You can say the same about Fordham, Columbia, Manhattan, St. Francis, LIU and Wagner -- they all play in the largest city in the US but don't draw well. Don't disagree...it essentially boils down to who you play (along with success)....as I've oft said, if HC was playing a steady diet of GTown, PC, Villanova etc...the Greater Wisstah crowd would go to HC games ala how Greater Providence supports PC. |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 17, 2018 15:23:20 GMT -5
You need to have a nationally recognized program to draw extremely well in the Northeast (probably same along the left coast), where college sports in general are just not that big of deal. Contrast that to Richmond, VA for example where two A-10 teams are able to thrive. VCU and UR both drew just as well as CAA members before as well. And that's in addition to all the UVA and VT alumni (real and subway) in the area as well who are traveling up to those games.
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Post by rf1 on Jul 17, 2018 15:40:40 GMT -5
You need to have a nationally recognized program to draw extremely well in the Northeast (probably same along the left coast), where college sports in general are just not that big of deal. Contrast that to Richmond, VA for example where two A-10 teams are able to thrive. VCU and UR both drew just as well as CAA members before as well. And that's in addition to all the UVA and VT alumni (real and subway) in the area as well who are traveling up to those games.
The Richmond area is extremely supportive of both VCU and Richmond. They had the 2nd and 3rd best average attendance in the A-10 last year even though both programs were down a bit. They have venues that may only seat in the mid 7k range but are always nearly full.
TEAM | GAMES | TOTAL | AVERAGE
VCU | 18 | 137,466 | 7,637
RICHMOND | 15 | 97,379 | 6,491
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 17, 2018 15:47:11 GMT -5
College basketball has never drawn well in the Boston-area....it's a hockey 1st region. BC hoop has drawn OK ovah the years from the Roberts Centah to the Conte, but never at the level of a PC or UConn. Yes we have a small enrollment but one could also make the countah argument that we don't draw too well considering HC is in the 2nd largest city in New England. BU, Northeastern and Harvard are in the largest city in New England and don't draw. When it comes to small, academic schools in lower-level conferences, the size of market doesn't really make a difference. You can say the same about Fordham, Columbia, Manhattan, St. Francis, LIU and Wagner -- they all play in the largest city in the US but don't draw well. BU, Northeastern, and Harvard are not small schools by any definition. |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 18, 2018 8:29:31 GMT -5
BU, Northeastern and Harvard are in the largest city in New England and don't draw. When it comes to small, academic schools in lower-level conferences, the size of market doesn't really make a difference. You can say the same about Fordham, Columbia, Manhattan, St. Francis, LIU and Wagner -- they all play in the largest city in the US but don't draw well. BU, Northeastern, and Harvard are not small schools by any definition. Very true. NU and BU have almost land-grant institution level enrollment. |
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Post by timholycross on Jul 18, 2018 11:34:03 GMT -5
BU, Northeastern, and Harvard are not small schools by any definition. Very true. NU and BU have almost land-grant institution level enrollment. I wonder what NU folks think of the CAA...in terms of basketball, the better programs historically (VCU, Richmond, Old Dominion, Mason) are long gone; and the closest league rivals are not very close (Hofstra, Drexel). |
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Post by hchoops on Jul 18, 2018 12:05:52 GMT -5
Very true. NU and BU have almost land-grant institution level enrollment. I wonder what NU folks think of the CAA...in terms of basketball, the better programs historically (VCU, Richmond, Old Dominion, Mason) are long gone; and the closest league rivals are not very close (Hofstra, Drexel). You could ask the 1142 (average)who attend the NU games |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 19, 2018 15:42:41 GMT -5
Very true. NU and BU have almost land-grant institution level enrollment. I wonder what NU folks think of the CAA...in terms of basketball, the better programs historically (VCU, Richmond, Old Dominion, Mason) are long gone; and the closest league rivals are not very close (Hofstra, Drexel). As newtim pointed out (1142 average attendance), I don't think many affiliated with Northeastern a) noticed that the school joined the CAA in the first place b) care about departing league members from Virginia or c) get invested in any rivalry whatsoever (or notice the lack thereof) the 363 days a year where the Beanpot isn't happening. |
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Post by trimster on Jul 19, 2018 16:41:09 GMT -5
Talk about being an outlier in a conference. Northeastern is that and then some in the CAA. I wonder if someday they might end up in the Patriot League. They would at least have a couple of conference neighbors.
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Jul 19, 2018 17:04:48 GMT -5
Maybe someday things will come full circle, and leagues will become geographically based again.......but only if the money agrees (and I'm not holding my breath).
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Post by trimster on Jul 19, 2018 17:58:11 GMT -5
Can you imagine what West Virginia spends on travel as members of the Big 12, assuming they compete in however many sports there are in the conference.
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Jul 19, 2018 18:26:52 GMT -5
And how bout Chicago State in the WAC!
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Post by rgs318 on Jul 19, 2018 18:57:38 GMT -5
And how bout Chicago State in the WAC! Are they saving money by not having a head hoops coach?  |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 19, 2018 19:01:31 GMT -5
NJIT in the Atlantic Sun -- another example.
At least travel can't get worse than at Hawaii or the two Alaska schools...
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