Best attendance

[Mr. Ypsi]

FDF,

I was gonna post my gratitude that no MIAA poster polluted this board with actual attendance figures, but oh well!

Any worries that Calvin may displace you for one year with their new facility, or are they too fair-weather?

I WILL make it back to 8K, but with a lengthy family vacation approaching, it may be football season before it happens.

[sac]

Any worries that Calvin may displace you for one year with their new facility, or are they too fair-weather?

Simple math for Calvin next year.  Only 7 certain home dates for the Knights next season (Van Noord opens in Jan), they'll get 5,000 for Hope almost for certain and they'll get a crowd near capacity for their "homecoming".  The rest is up in the air, certainly they will get a big boost just from the shiney new building.  So for kicks say they sell out both Hope and homecoming,  in order to average 3,000 for the season they'll need to average 2,200 in the other 5 home games.  In the last two season's Calvin's MIAA attendance without Hope was around 1,100 in 07 and 1,300 in 08 and those are including whats supposed to be a big attendance draw, homecoming.

When Hope opened DeVos in 2006 their average attendance increased by 500, if Calvin gets a similar boost they'll be around the 2,500 mark based on history, not 2008.  2008 was a pretty terrible year for them at home, limited parking, a giant construction site and limited seating teamed up to kill their home attendance.

I actually think Calvin will get a much bigger boost than Hope did, so I think they'll be in the mix, its just isn't garunteed.  They should sell out Hope, have about 4,000 for both the home opener and homecoming.  Hope won't average 3,000.......not with that lousy non-conference schedule and a roster we'll need to definately buy programs to identify.

These numbers don't take into account tournament games, MIAA games will drop the average significantly, only a Hope/Calvin matchup in the tournament would boost the average.  And of course any NCAA games would most certainly boost the average, I'm sure Calvin can come up with 3500 for some home NCAA games.  I guess in summation it isn't going to be easy to top 3,000 even with a new building and a what should be a very good team.  The key games could be what kind of attendance they get for teams like Alma and Olivet those have been especially sparse crowds by Calvin standards.

The future after the shine wears off the new building is the question.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

My "gut feeling" is that Calvin will lead the nation this coming year in attendance - quite comfortably.  The following year, it will probably be a tight race, and after that it's back to fair weather fans (meaning anywhere from 1st-6th in attendance based on the teams performance).

[Gregory Sager]

FDF,

I was gonna post my gratitude that no MIAA poster polluted this board with actual attendance figures, but oh well!

They're riffraff, Chuck, every single one of them. No sense of "Best attendance" room decorum at all.

[sac]

4759    WOO HOO

[Ralph Turner]

The Howard Payne men are benefiting from the "skirt tails" of the Lady Jackets.  The women always play the first game and the crowd hangs around long enough to be counted for the men's game! 

[Mr. Ypsi]

As long as someone was rude enough to change the topic to attendance, I notice in the conference figures that the CCIW is listed as 7 teams - anyone know which school doesn't report at all?  (If my guess is correct, that should be quickly remedied by Joe Hakes! )

[Gregory Sager]

As long as someone was rude enough to change the topic to attendance, I notice in the conference figures that the CCIW is listed as 7 teams - anyone know which school doesn't report at all?  (If my guess is correct, that should be quickly remedied by Joe Hakes! )

Both Millikin and North Park have been very inconsistent about including the attendance in the Stat Crew box score over the past decade, although NPU's made it a point to at least put in something as an attendance figure over the past few seasons. As someone who often works the table at NPU, I can tell you that it's not taken all that seriously, though, although there was an attempt made last year by the SID to get an accurate head count by using a ticket-admission-only system. A lot of times someone just scans the crowd and makes up a number -- and I don't think many of the people who've worked the table really have a grasp on how many people each bleacher section can hold. At least they try, though; the Millikin guesses don't even look as though someone's trying to get a good ballpark figure. If the attendance figure is always a multiple of 50, it's a pretty good indication that the table isn't trying.

Some schools are very keen on getting an accurate attendance read. Some schools simply guess. And some schools (Millikin being a notorious example) occasionally don't even bother to guess; they'll simply leave the space blank.

[Mr. Ypsi]

As to Millikin's 'lazy' guesstimates, they are apparently not the only ones: Anderson and Bluffton have 200, 300, and 100 listed as Millikin's away totals!

It's a good thing IWU travels well - the Blue's game vs. them constituted nearly 40% of their estimated total home attendance!

Unless Joe can light a fire in Decatur, perhaps it is just as well if Millikin doesn't report their attendance.   IF Millikin is the missing school, the addition of their numbers would have still have left the CCIW in 2nd place (behind the MIAA), but we would have been closer to 7th than 1st.  (The gym was always packed and rockin' when I attended ['67-'70], but of course Jesse Price was there for three of the games, and the opponent was the Titans.)

[Gregory Sager]

Unless Joe can light a fire in Decatur, perhaps it is just as well if Millikin doesn't report their attendance.   IF Millikin is the missing school, the addition of their numbers would have still have left the CCIW in 2nd place (behind the MIAA), but we would have been closer to 7th than 1st.

What I was going to say in the last post, but forgot, is that you can't blame Millikin for the fact that the NCAA referred to the CCIW as only having seven schools. That's the NCAA's mistake. Millikin's statistics -- including attendance figures -- were duly loaded into the CCIW website's men's basketball page continuously throughout the season, and they were there when the NCAA came calling to compile this report.

I'm at the point where I don't really think attendance figures are all that big a deal to get worked up over, but maybe that's just me.

(The gym was always packed and rockin' when I attended ['67-'70], but of course Jesse Price was there for three of the games, and the opponent was the Titans.)

It just seemed like there was more to do than sit inside and watch a basketball game once the glaciers had receded, Chuck.

[Mr. Ypsi]

But, Greg, it was mating season for the mastodons.  Staying inside was much safer.

And I'm hardly one to make a big stink about attendance figures!

[Gregory Sager]

And I'm hardly one to make a big stink about attendance figures!

Heh. Good point. Perhaps you should atone for your sins of omission by bolstering Albion's figures a bit in 2009-09.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Greg, haven't been to Albion yet (though it is only c. 60 miles), but have been to Adrian twice for basketball, twice for baseball (and many times for youth soccer ).  I meant to go to Albion's season-opening tourney last year (IWU was there), but family life intervened.

[Gregory Sager]

Oh, Adrian. I knew that you were close by one of the MIAA's "A" schools, just didn't know which one. (Although I was pretty sure it wasn't Alma, since that school's well off the beaten path.)

[smedindy]

Both Millikin and North Park have been very inconsistent about including the attendance in the Stat Crew box score over the past decade, although NPU's made it a point to at least put in something as an attendance figure over the past few seasons. As someone who often works the table at NPU, I can tell you that it's not taken all that seriously, though, although there was an attempt made last year by the SID to get an accurate head count by using a ticket-admission-only system. A lot of times someone just scans the crowd and makes up a number -- and I don't think many of the people who've worked the table really have a grasp on how many people each bleacher section can hold. At least they try, though; the Millikin guesses don't even look as though someone's trying to get a good ballpark figure. If the attendance figure is always a multiple of 50, it's a pretty good indication that the table isn't trying.

Some schools are very keen on getting an accurate attendance read. Some schools simply guess. And some schools (Millikin being a notorious example) occasionally don't even bother to guess; they'll simply leave the space blank.

Hey, when I was at Wabash, we took our attendance guestimate VERY seriously. Since we didn't charge we always eyeballed the crowd and then went through a process. I put forth a figure and the SID would accept it or say it was too high or low, then I'd revise it again. See, simple!