MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[bufordscot]

Wooster's website says nothing about pre-game day ticket sales.  Only that tickets go on sale at JCU at 4 on Friday.

The info I got today was tickets will be sold at the door starting at 4:00 pm.  No tickets sold at the schools.  The consensus among the schools was selling tickets in this manor would cause no problems.

Thus ensuring a large Wooster contingent 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Wooster's website says nothing about pre-game day ticket sales.  Only that tickets go on sale at JCU at 4 on Friday.

The info I got today was tickets will be sold at the door starting at 4:00 pm.  No tickets sold at the schools.  The consensus among the schools was selling tickets in this manor would cause no problems.

Thus ensuring a large Wooster contingent 

It might just be that they asked the schools to estimate attendance and it didn't rise to capacity in total.  When Wooster was in DC a few years ago, they might've brought 150 or so - even if they quadruple that for a closer game, it might not be too large for the site to manage.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Wooster's website says nothing about pre-game day ticket sales.  Only that tickets go on sale at JCU at 4 on Friday.

The info I got today was tickets will be sold at the door starting at 4:00 pm.  No tickets sold at the schools.  The consensus among the schools was selling tickets in this manor would cause no problems.

Now I am really confused . . . I assumed that Wooster said they were not selling them because all of the tickets were "spoken for" through their parents and key boosters.  If they got 275 tickets (their allotment), I assumed they would use them all.  I also assumed that IWU and TMC would not so they would have tickets available to the public.  I guess that is not the case. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Wooster's website says nothing about pre-game day ticket sales.  Only that tickets go on sale at JCU at 4 on Friday.

The info I got today was tickets will be sold at the door starting at 4:00 pm.  No tickets sold at the schools.  The consensus among the schools was selling tickets in this manor would cause no problems.

Now I am really confused . . . I assumed that Wooster said they were not selling them because all of the tickets were "spoken for" through their parents and key boosters.  If they got 275 tickets (their allotment), I assumed they would use them all.  I also assumed that IWU and TMC would not so they would have tickets available to the public.  I guess that is not the case.

This is what I was trying to say - schools often just keep enough of the allotment to satisfy their VIPs and give the rest back to avoid the hassle of selling to the public themselves.  The host school has to deal with people complaining about the process and they can pass the buck.  Not saying that's what's happening here, just that it's a pretty common way of dealing with the process.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Wooster's website says nothing about pre-game day ticket sales.  Only that tickets go on sale at JCU at 4 on Friday.

The info I got today was tickets will be sold at the door starting at 4:00 pm.  No tickets sold at the schools.  The consensus among the schools was selling tickets in this manor would cause no problems.

I don't think it causes a single issue for three of the teams which are part of this doubleheader -- Wooster, IWU and TMC.  In fact, it works to the great advantage of Wooster. Instead of having a pre-sale doubleheader sell-out (or clearing the gym) in which 275 Wooster fans would be there, Wooster fans will be able to line up at 4:00 . . in fact, all the way up until l their tip-off and easily buys seats in the gym. I would think they will have 500 fans, at least, with the only limiting factor that it is a Friday late afternoon game (people have jobs).

The fan base this works against is John Carroll.  Instead of having 900 JCU fans with tickets in hand and being able to resell tickets as the Wooster-IWU game clears out and, inevitably shows pockets of seats available which can be resold, they run the risk of the gym being overtaken by Wooster fans before JCU fans even leave their houses.  This is not a guarantee and the Wooster fold may not travel that well but if they do, you are going to have a lot of angry Carroll fans.

Remember Wooster and Carroll are both annually in the top 20 in attendance in the country. Carroll is had a capacity crowd on Saturday night and is averaging about 1050 over the past 8 home games.  Wooster is only one hour away.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Wooster's website says nothing about pre-game day ticket sales.  Only that tickets go on sale at JCU at 4 on Friday.

The info I got today was tickets will be sold at the door starting at 4:00 pm.  No tickets sold at the schools.  The consensus among the schools was selling tickets in this manor would cause no problems.

Thus ensuring a large Wooster contingent 

It might just be that they asked the schools to estimate attendance and it didn't rise to capacity in total.  When Wooster was in DC a few years ago, they might've brought 150 or so - even if they quadruple that for a closer game, it might not be too large for the site to manage.

I hope you are right Ryan.  But remember DC is a long trip - you're committing to meals, a hotel, 14 hours in a car.  Wooster to JCU involves a commitment to drive back and forth from your home where you can be having a late dinner at 8:30 or so if you want.  I think Wooster fans will be numerable at JCU tomorrow night.

But, I will stand corrected if Wooster only brings 600 fans.  If that is the case, they will have 600 and I estimate TMC and IWU will only have 250 combined.  That is 850.  That leave 900 or so tickets for JCU fans which is just about the 50% of capacity JCU is allow to reserve for themselves.  In short, it would be a wash.  If Wooster exceeds that number, however, that is when you have started to disadvantage your own fans and I would hate to see that.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Wooster's website says nothing about pre-game day ticket sales.  Only that tickets go on sale at JCU at 4 on Friday.

The info I got today was tickets will be sold at the door starting at 4:00 pm.  No tickets sold at the schools.  The consensus among the schools was selling tickets in this manor would cause no problems.

Now I am really confused . . . I assumed that Wooster said they were not selling them because all of the tickets were "spoken for" through their parents and key boosters.  If they got 275 tickets (their allotment), I assumed they would use them all.  I also assumed that IWU and TMC would not so they would have tickets available to the public.  I guess that is not the case.

This is what I was trying to say - schools often just keep enough of the allotment to satisfy their VIPs and give the rest back to avoid the hassle of selling to the public themselves.  The host school has to deal with people complaining about the process and they can pass the buck.  Not saying that's what's happening here, just that it's a pretty common way of dealing with the process.

My apologies.  I misunderstood you.  It really comes down to whether or not the three other schools (and Wooster would be the main factor due to the proximity and fan base) bring in excess of 50% of the fans and use up in excess of 50% of the available tickets.  If that happens, JCU has made a strategic error and diminished their environment/home court as well as alienated its core fans by potentially denying them access to the gym tomorrow night.  If that does not happen, all is well and it is no different than any other NCAA game where you have to give half the capacity to the other schools whether you can sell it out or not.

Wooster is the wild card here.  Frankly, there are not many Division III colleges in the country where you have to worry about them "travelling well."  However, Wooster is one of them.  Take this pod and put it at Wooster with its 3500 seats and it is not a problem as JCU would bring more than the other two but there would be NO chance they would be bring 500+.

Time will tell.

[Fifth and Putnam]

Wooster has come to Marietta in years past for tournament pods. It always amazes me the support they receive from their fan base and it shows in the amount of people who travel to follow Scots basketball. They have to be Top 5 in the country (Hope is another school where large hordes of fans will travel large distances because they live and breath Hope basketball) in terms of fan engagement. Wooster will bring plenty of fans to JCU Friday.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Yeah, it might be a wash.  Is JCU on spring break this week?  I know a lot of schools are and it's making ticket issues less problematic for hosts.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Yeah, it might be a wash.  Is JCU on spring break this week?  I know a lot of schools are and it's making ticket issues less problematic for hosts.

School is in session this week but Spring Break begins after final classes on Friday.  It will definitely impact student attendance but, traditionally (previous hosting years), not enough to notice or enough to not feel "packed."

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Wooster has come to Marietta in years past for tournament pods. It always amazes me the support they receive from their fan base and it shows in the amount of people who travel to follow Scots basketball. They have to be Top 5 in the country (Hope is another school where large hordes of fans will travel large distances because they live and breath Hope basketball) in terms of fan engagement. Wooster will bring plenty of fans to JCU Friday.

I tend to agree with you, F&P.  It is enviable how well they travel.  I have never had the opportunity to witness Hope's fan base in person but I will trust what you (and others) are telling me. 

The only time(s) I ever felt like Carroll was travelling well was just over to the west side.  We played Capital in an OAC Championship at BW (BW lost in the semifinals and the top seeded hosted the semis and the finals at that time) in 2003, I think, and it was pretty much a capacity crowd and very pro-JCU.  Maybe you could throw in our Elite Eight game at Wooster in 2004 but, while we had a good amount of fans, we were at Wooster and it was very partisan in favor of the Scots. . . as you would expect. Even then, again, it was just a 60-90 minute trek for most Carroll fans.

[fantastic50]

Wooster travels very well, but I don't think that JCU will have an issue with their fans being turned away.  Last year's average attendance in Timken was 1150 (5th in D-III), the lowest in recent memory, as compared to 1500-2000 (usually 2nd to Hope) a few years back.  Some of that difference has to do with more post-season NCAC & NCAA games being on the road, but my sense is also that the Scots don't draw as wide a segment of the local community as was once the case.  This year's home game against Witt (on a Saturday) drew "only" 2427 and the OWU game (senior day) had 1752, both of which are relatively modest numbers by Wooster's standards for big games. 

That being said, the Rebounders club includes many retirees, so they will have no issue arriving for a 5:30 tip-off out of town.  I think that 500 Scot fans tomorrow night is a believable number, maybe more on Saturday night if Wooster advances.  However, if JCU's facility seats 2500, that should leave plenty of seats for everyone who wants to attend.

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Unfortunately, JCU only seats about 1750.

Wooster's fan based is likely mirroring the decline of high school followings in northeast Ohio.  That is, the older fans are passing away and there is no one there to replace them.  The reasons are many but the results are the same - falling attendance. 

[Onward on, John Carroll]

Some links to articles about the game:

http://www.news-herald.com/sports/20180228/john-carroll-men-rolling-ready-to-host-ncaa-division-iii-tournament

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2018/02/john_carroll_basketball_and_ma.html#incart_river_index

[fantastic50]

Unfortunately, JCU only seats about 1750.

Ok, perhaps the listed capacity includes putting chairs on the floor (for speakers, graduation, etc.)
https://www.jcusports.com/sports/2007/11/28/Facilities%20at%20John%20Carroll.aspx