Attendance

Just saw that St. John's is last in the Big East in home attendance.  And not JUST last, but last by almost a full 1,000 than 2nd to last South Florida. USF is averaging 5,124 fans while St. John's is averaging 4,195 fans.  That is beyond awful for the largest media market in the world.  While winning DOES cure most ills, our marketing and ticketing departments need to take a good hard look in the mirror here to see if they're properly reaching out to fans and the community.

Just saw that St. John's is last in the Big East in home attendance.  And not JUST last, but last by almost a full 1,000 than 2nd to last South Florida. USF is averaging 5,124 fans while St. John's is averaging 4,195 fans.  That is beyond awful for the largest media market in the world.  While winning DOES cure most ills, our marketing and ticketing departments need to take a good hard look in the mirror here to see if they're properly reaching out to fans and the community.

They'll sell more tickets when they play better basketball. What are they going to do? Advertise a bad product more often?

Just saw that St. John's is last in the Big East in home attendance.  And not JUST last, but last by almost a full 1,000 than 2nd to last South Florida. USF is averaging 5,124 fans while St. John's is averaging 4,195 fans.  That is beyond awful for the largest media market in the world.  While winning DOES cure most ills, our marketing and ticketing departments need to take a good hard look in the mirror here to see if they're properly reaching out to fans and the community.

Kind of skewed considering we've played 1 or 2 MSG games.  The numbers will go up by the pure fact we have more MSG games left.

Still further drives home the point.  $75 tickets to sit in the 100's for tomorrow's game is a joke.

Quote from: TRabinowitz on January 11, 2013, 10:31:01 PM

Just saw that St. John's is last in the Big East in home attendance.  And not JUST last, but last by almost a full 1,000 than 2nd to last South Florida. USF is averaging 5,124 fans while St. John's is averaging 4,195 fans.  That is beyond awful for the largest media market in the world.  While winning DOES cure most ills, our marketing and ticketing departments need to take a good hard look in the mirror here to see if they're properly reaching out to fans and the community.

Kind of skewed considering we've played 1 or 2 MSG games.  The numbers will go up by the pure fact we have more MSG games left.

Still further drives home the point.  $75 tickets to sit in the 100's for tomorrow's game is a joke.

Agreed. I picked up tix in the 110s for Rutgers and nd for 22 and 37 respectively.  Not only in the 100s but behind paultzman and a few seats away from a number of other posters and season ticket holders.

I got two in the 100's at $25 each.

Quote from: TRabinowitz on January 11, 2013, 10:31:01 PM

Just saw that St. John's is last in the Big East in home attendance.  And not JUST last, but last by almost a full 1,000 than 2nd to last South Florida. USF is averaging 5,124 fans while St. John's is averaging 4,195 fans.  That is beyond awful for the largest media market in the world.  While winning DOES cure most ills, our marketing and ticketing departments need to take a good hard look in the mirror here to see if they're properly reaching out to fans and the community.

Kind of skewed considering we've played 1 or 2 MSG games.  The numbers will go up by the pure fact we have more MSG games left.

Still further drives home the point.  $75 tickets to sit in the 100's for tomorrow's game is a joke.

I definitely agree that prices are both too high for individual game tickets and your posts in previous threads about how season ticket holders feel screwed when Groupon/LivingSocial deals are given in areas that they had to pay far more money for.  This really gives off the vibe that the ticketing people are making decisions on the fly.  The prices should drop across the board until the team wins.  St. John's needs to do a better job in bringing in the NYC community and filling up seats. 

Hell, they know they're gonna have thousands of open seats in the upper deck so why not give a huge bulk number of these tickets to youth teams across the city.  I see one or 2 teams in attendance at each game but IMO for these garden games (and Carnesecca ones) where we have a ton of open seats all efforts should be made to engage the youth in this program.

We have better access to the children of NYC than Syracuse, Duke and UConn does and yet we continually lose kids to being fans of these programs.  If we are giving away seats to kids at the age of 8 or 9 THAT is how you can grow a fan base and have it flourish for future generations.  I truly feel that while the program is still working its way up the school is losing out on an opportunity here to engage the children of NYC and get them hooked on THIS program.

When we start to win I have no issue with the school charging as much as the market dictates people want to see a winning program.  However, proof is in the pudding that their current strategy simply isn't working and they're losing out on opportunities to grow the fan base from the ground up.

I still do not like that they have no alumni discount.

Quote from: Moose on January 11, 2013, 11:09:09 PM

Quote from: TRabinowitz on January 11, 2013, 10:31:01 PM

Just saw that St. John's is last in the Big East in home attendance.  And not JUST last, but last by almost a full 1,000 than 2nd to last South Florida. USF is averaging 5,124 fans while St. John's is averaging 4,195 fans.  That is beyond awful for the largest media market in the world.  While winning DOES cure most ills, our marketing and ticketing departments need to take a good hard look in the mirror here to see if they're properly reaching out to fans and the community.

Kind of skewed considering we've played 1 or 2 MSG games.  The numbers will go up by the pure fact we have more MSG games left.

Still further drives home the point.  $75 tickets to sit in the 100's for tomorrow's game is a joke.

I definitely agree that prices are both too high for individual game tickets and your posts in previous threads about how season ticket holders feel screwed when Groupon/LivingSocial deals are given in areas that they had to pay far more money for.  This really gives off the vibe that the ticketing people are making decisions on the fly.  The prices should drop across the board until the team wins.  St. John's needs to do a better job in bringing in the NYC community and filling up seats. 

Hell, they know they're gonna have thousands of open seats in the upper deck so why not give a huge bulk number of these tickets to youth teams across the city.  I see one or 2 teams in attendance at each game but IMO for these garden games (and Carnesecca ones) where we have a ton of open seats all efforts should be made to engage the youth in this program.

We have better access to the children of NYC than Syracuse, Duke and UConn does and yet we continually lose kids to being fans of these programs.  If we are giving away seats to kids at the age of 8 or 9 THAT is how you can grow a fan base and have it flourish for future generations.  I truly feel that while the program is still working its way up the school is losing out on an opportunity here to engage the children of NYC and get them hooked on THIS program.

When we start to win I have no issue with the school charging as much as the market dictates people want to see a winning program.  However, proof is in the pudding that their current strategy simply isn't working and they're losing out on opportunities to grow the fan base from the ground up.

Great idea...we should be cultivating local kids...end zone and upper tier ticket could be used to support promos for alll MSG games except the selout games

Quote from: Moose on January 11, 2013, 11:09:09 PM

Quote from: TRabinowitz on January 11, 2013, 10:31:01 PM

Just saw that St. John's is last in the Big East in home attendance.  And not JUST last, but last by almost a full 1,000 than 2nd to last South Florida. USF is averaging 5,124 fans while St. John's is averaging 4,195 fans.  That is beyond awful for the largest media market in the world.  While winning DOES cure most ills, our marketing and ticketing departments need to take a good hard look in the mirror here to see if they're properly reaching out to fans and the community.

Kind of skewed considering we've played 1 or 2 MSG games.  The numbers will go up by the pure fact we have more MSG games left.



Still further drives home the point.  $75 tickets to sit in the 100's for tomorrow's game is a joke.

Agreed. I picked up tix in the 110s for Rutgers and nd for 22 and 37 respectively.  Not only in the 100s but behind paultzman and a few seats away from a number of other posters and season ticket holders.

Outrages, why do I have season tickets?  I pay $75 for the same seat.  They won't be happy until nobody has season tickets.  If it wasn't for beer and drinks plus a night or day out to watch a game I'd be done with this nonsense.

This is an epidemic that spreads beyond St. John's. Box office opportunities for the Knicks, Nets, Jets, Giants, Mets and Yankees are all mostly outside the affordable range. Has anybody looked at the price of  Broadway tickets? They are insane.

That being said this is college basketball not Broadway! St. John's needs to more in touch with reality and evaluate their price structure for tickets. They have lost people for years with less than stellar treatment. Making ticket prices more accessible with things like free and very cheap student tickets, season ticket holder rebates and youth and community organization giveaways should all be used to up attendance. A packed Garden can happen and would change the energy in our building and enhance our program. High prices to our games are a shortsighted penny wise and pound foolish approach that has obviously not worked.

After today's game, I am sure there will be lines around the block for future Garden games. I had a chance to go today but it would have cost me almost $200 for my son and I, for tickets, transportation, food etc. it's one thing to be upset about a ame at home, it's another to blow a few hundred bucks and be even more upset.  Attendance will get better if the team gets more competitive, until then , as Tony Soprano would say, fierce person etaboutit.

After today's game, I am sure there will be lines around the block for future Garden games. I had a chance to go today but it would have cost me almost $200 for my son and I, for tickets, transportation, food etc. it's one thing to be upset about a ame at home, it's another to blow a few hundred bucks and be even more upset.  Attendance will get better if the team gets more competitive, until then , as Tony Soprano would say, fierce person etaboutit.

Ever heard of Stubhub?

After today's game, I am sure there will be lines around the block for future Garden games. I had a chance to go today but it would have cost me almost $200 for my son and I, for tickets, transportation, food etc. it's one thing to be upset about a ame at home, it's another to blow a few hundred bucks and be even more upset.  Attendance will get better if the team gets more competitive, until then , as Tony Soprano would say, fierce person etaboutit.

Only if your are spending $150 on food. Tickets can be had for $20

Bunch of guys I was with at the Rutgers game had this conversation.  We paid $25 bucks to sit center court in the 200 level.  Were able to move down about 15 rows, and had a great view of the game from that action.  And if we didn't have as many guys, we could have gotten a few tix together in the 100 level for $10 bucks more  With a few beers and food (which you don't need to get) we were able to take in a game at the Garden with great seats for a total of $50 per person.  Not bad for what we normally pay to watch NY sports, and even when the Knicks were bad the cost to go to a game was much more than that.  Of course the outcome Wed night sucked, but for a group of young guys who are married (some with kids), it was well worth it.  Plan on doing the same thing with a group of 8-10 guys next week for Notre Dame.

Just saw that St. John's is last in the Big East in home attendance.  And not JUST last, but last by almost a full 1,000 than 2nd to last South Florida. USF is averaging 5,124 fans while St. John's is averaging 4,195 fans.  That is beyond awful for the largest media market in the world.  While winning DOES cure most ills, our marketing and ticketing departments need to take a good hard look in the mirror here to see if they're properly reaching out to fans and the community.

This conversation has come up repeatedly and the answer is always the same.  First, NY is a professional town and college sports will never be as big here as they are in other places.  People who live in Lawrence live and die for their Jayhawks because they are the best show in town.  People who live in Lexington keep every home game in their calendars because that's entertainment.  NY has so many options and college sports ranks at the lower end.

But I will say this.  If you put a winning team out there, people will come.  Again, I remember going to the games in the late '90s and there weren't that many open seats in MSG back then.  But here is the fact: St. John's has not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000.  Outside of Marcus Hatten and a team of seniors in 2010, this program has given fans nothing to cheer about in more than a decade.  Former students, including this one, have very little pride in the program because it really has given us little back.  I was too young to appreciate the '80s, so pretty much the Erick Barkley years were the only continued success I can remember growing up.  If you want to put fans in the seats, you need to win.  Plain and simple.  You need to go out there and win 20 or 21 games a season and actually show up when you have home games (which they haven't done against Rutgers or Georgetown now).  If you continue going down 33-10 by the 9 minute mark of the 1st half, nobody is going to care.  They'd rather stay home and watch Duke face NC State and save the $50.

St. John's has had more than enough time to fix this mess of a situation.  And it continues to be inept in terms of putting a competitive product out on the floor.  I'm hoping over the next few years that trend comes to an end.  Perhaps when this group of players gets older they will lead this program out of the cellar and back onto the national stage.  But let's not pretend that fans are the problem here.  When your players can't shoot, pass, rebound, or get back and play defense and the coach has no answers as to why his team comes out with minimal effort game after game, what do you expect the fans to do?  Show up to MSG, swell up with pride at the fact that our team cut the deficit to 20 instead of 25?

Surprisingly good turn out for yesterday's game. Usually the Georgetown games get washed out by gray, but a lot of red in the stands. I guess the Johnnies fans can handle the 11am start a little bit better...

Surprisingly good turn out for yesterday's game. Usually the Georgetown games get washed out by gray, but a lot of red in the stands. I guess the Johnnies fans can handle the 11am start a little bit better...

Unfortunately they all had the same idea as myself. Stout got extremely crowded at the 10 minute mark of  second half

Surprisingly good turn out for yesterday's game. Usually the Georgetown games get washed out by gray, but a lot of red in the stands. I guess the Johnnies fans can handle the 11am start a little bit better...

That's cause G Town has been doing horribly as of late ( until our game) and recently got blown out.

announced attendance was 11k+.  For an 11am game given how bad we've looked, that's pretty good.  im guessing ND attendance will be similar on Tuesday

Attendance is never a problem when we play a rival. Attendance is always going to be a problem when we don't .