MSG

I'm watching the Knicks game and the Garden is electric.  We need to make it like that again for the Johnnies.  We got a taste of it last year and I'm somewhat surprised at how quickly the attendance dropped off again this year.  I can't wait for it to be filled again (with our fans).

I'm watching the Knicks game and the Garden is electric.  We need to make it like that again for the Johnnies.  We got a taste of it last year and I'm somewhat surprised at how quickly the attendance dropped off again this year.  I can't wait for it to be filled again (with our fans).

Surprised?  Our fanbase is bordering on pathetic.
That being said tickets are way too expensive for the casual bandwagon hopper.

very disappointing to see the immediate dropoff. I think we'll be back next year, and maybe selling out the garden regularly in 2.

We are!

The Garden for the Pitt game last year was amazing. Wish it could always be like that but it falls on the fair weather fans who only show up when they're winning.

I'm watching the Knicks game and the Garden is electric.  We need to make it like that again for the Johnnies.  We got a taste of it last year and I'm somewhat surprised at how quickly the attendance dropped off again this year.  I can't wait for it to be filled again (with our fans).

I was at the UCLA game and thought it was sold out. 12,000 St J's students came in their usual garb-disguised as empty seats.

I started buying season tickets a couple of years into the Norm regime because I didn't want to attend sporadically.  I made the sacrifice to purchase season tickets for me and my daughters because I wanted to commit to attending every home game.  I have missed two home games in the last 5 years.  One was the Duke blowout in 2007, because I had to go to Florida for my Godson's funeral. The other was the last game of the season against WV in 2008, due to a work obligation.

Fans, especially students, have to make an effort to attend as many games as possible.

Quote from: simplyred on February 19, 2012, 03:03:27 PM

I'm watching the Knicks game and the Garden is electric.  We need to make it like that again for the Johnnies.  We got a taste of it last year and I'm somewhat surprised at how quickly the attendance dropped off again this year.  I can't wait for it to be filled again (with our fans).

Surprised?  Our fanbase is bordering on pathetic.
That being said tickets are way too expensive for the casual bandwagon hopper.

Agree..I don't mind paying the price for season tix because I have always loved going to the games. But, for those who simply can't commit to attending most games or just have a casual interest, the per game ticket prices are outlandish and are a big impediment especially in year's where we aren't a BE contender.

Double edged sword however - as the risk that the competition's fans buy up more cost effective tix goes up as well. We need to come up with some incentive to get more SJ alums and fans to "buy in".

We might have the worst student attendence in the conference, I wish there was a way to figure it out.

We might have the worst student attendence in the conference, I wish there was a way to figure it out.

Students should be showing ID. Show yourself at every game, the next season you are rewarded with better seats. Don't go enough, you lose your spot.

I know this will never happen, but we should play better teams at The Lou. It'd be much more of a home court advantage if they would pack 5.6K people into the campus rather than 7K in MSG where you have no semblance of noise whatsoever.

We might have the worst student attendence in the conference, I wish there was a way to figure it out.

I've seen some other trainwrecks.  Hall comes to mind.  DePaul as well.  Providence has had moments.  Even Nova last night looked weak.  Pitt students have abandoned the team this year.

Some of you cannot have it both ways.  Part of the argument over getting rid of Coach Roberts was the poor attendance and lack of interest.  Well I did not see people trying to urge people to get out to games as many saw that as perhaps aiding in Roberts keeping his job.

Well bottom line is the team has struggled this year.  It stands to reason that attendance will fall off.  Don't get me wrong I don't think this is a Coach Roberts replay as I believe the foundation is there and I think we have the best recruiter we have had at SJU perhaps ever.  So I think the future is bright.  But that does not change the struggles.

And again did you watch the Villanova/UCONN game at Wachovia last night.  You could hear the sneakers squeeking it was so dead.  Uh that is what happens even when two prominent BE programs (defending National Champs and a team that has made 7 straight trips to the NCAA's) are struggling. 

13 million people still out of work.  I agree it would be nice to see more support.  But it ain't easy even now economically let alone the team is not exactly tearing it up.

Quote from: pmg911 on February 21, 2012, 10:53:16 AM

We might have the worst student attendence in the conference, I wish there was a way to figure it out.

I've seen some other trainwrecks.  Hall comes to mind.  DePaul as well.  Providence has had moments.  Even Nova last night looked weak.  Pitt students have abandoned the team this year.

A winning program will fill the seats.  We are no exception to the rule.  Makes me laugh to think about the movie "Coming to America" (one of my favorite movies), where Eddie Murphy goes to the "St. John's game" at the Garden as the big sporting event for that time (late 80's).  No movie coming out today would have the main movie characters going to a SJU game as being a "big deal" sporting event in NYC.   

Just my opinion but outside of tournaments I would hand pick maybe 4 games total per season and have them played at MSG. The rest play at Louie's

I know this will never happen, but we should play better teams at The Lou. It'd be much more of a home court advantage if they would pack 5.6K people into the campus rather than 7K in MSG where you have no semblance of noise whatsoever.

This isn't so far fetched.  We won't be having any big matchups at Alumni Hall anytime soon, but I think you'll see 1 or 2 more Big East games on campus in the near future.  Think about it: the conference is losing Syracuse, Pitt, and WVU.   The first two were guaranteed Garden games if we had them at home, and in recent years we've played the Mountaineers at MSG as well. 
Now Memphis will be a MSG game for sure, but SMU? UCF?  Those are on-campus games.   And Houston could be as well.
Which I like.  I think it's good to have a packed on-campus game against the lower Big East opponents and have 5 to 6 premier games at MSG. 
I just hope the administration/MSG doesn't try to stretch things by having us play the Hall or Rutgers or Providence at MSG.   I'd keep those games in Queens.
Leave MSG for Georgetown, UCONN, Villanova, Notre Dame, Louisville, and a non conference game or two.

Also, I've pointed out this article before, but ESPN had an excellent article about athletic programs in  Pro markets that have a yearly conference on how to better market their ticket sales.   It mainly concerned college football, but it's definately worth a read.   

The basis of the article was that for too long college ticket offices have relied on "in-bound" sales, aka people calling the office asking for tickets.  Rather than aggressively calling businesses and trying to sell blocks of tickets, or getting a hold of other sales lists like alumni lists, knicks season ticket holders etc; and reaching out to them. 

Good read.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=6676377

Traditionally, I have always thought our fan base was fickle.  While we have both a large student base and one of the largest Alumni around, we always seem to have trouble filling the Garden in difficult times.

As other posters have already stated, a wining program will take care of filling MSG.  History has proven that.

This year we clearly hit a large speed bump with Coach out and losing some of our incoming recruits.  Once Coach and a new bunch of quality recruits return, the Garden will be jumping.