Attendance figures

[OCanada]

Does anyone have the attendance for the quarters and semis. I don’t think I have heard the numbers for the semis from the announcers

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

QF Hofstra (“South” - ha ha): 8017

QF Hartford: 8568

Semis: 32612

Not sure about today yet. No Penn State hurt.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

31528 for the Final.

[molo]

This was my first FF since you have been able to buy beer in the stadium. This welcome addition couldn’t have hurt attendance. Prices were high but selection was nice.

[Sativa Specialist]

How was d3 attendance ?

[10stone5]

Cabrini is saying almost 19,000.

[CU77]

31528 for the Final.

That seems quite good considering PSU didn't make it.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Cabrini is saying almost 19,000.

Yep.

18702

[OCanada]

Quite a long drop from semis highs. It seems to have stabilized about the same level as the first year in s drenching downpour but my memory may be off.

[bearlaxfan]

No, the '07 Great Recession was the first blow I think, as well as the novelty of pro stadia wearing off. Add in pro stadia prices, and big central city costs (although I find the Inner Harbor and central Philly (the rich folks' areas) fantastic.) N.B.: I'm a fan, traveling w friends to games, not paying for a family.

[OCanada]

Not sure what No refers too. The start was the decision to put the tourney out to bid with the highest return to the ncaa winning. It wasn’t helped when the first Philly bid had a guarantee from whatever the group is trying to drive events to Philly. It was a money grab. As I recall semis attendance peaked at a little over 50k. Prices were driven up by structure and competing until they got to be too high for many in the fan base. Certainly the 08 recession was a significant factor esp in conjunction with price escalation

[palaxoff]

Was there Sunday to watch the D3 game Cabrini was there in full forces, I'd say 19,000 is realistic. Can't complain about the weather or the teams playing this weekend.

IMHO a few things impacting attendance.
1. Price, It cost me $22.00 w/ parking for me and my wife to go to the game. It would have been $60 if I had gone through NCAA.com. I took my son and 3-4 of his buddies to the semis at Rutgers maybe 15-20 yrs ago I doubt the whole day cost $100.
2. Club Teams, with some many tournaments in the summer who wants to kill a free weekend by traveling to the NCAA's?
3. The Internet. Access to information is almost instantaneous and with streaming you can track a game anywhere on your phone.
4. Big Screen TVs. The way you can watch a game now it almost as good as being there and you don't have to leave your sofa.
5. Culture Shifts, this is just my observation but when today's kids get to college and they don't have the same structured life and realize there is more to do then the scheduled life their parents set up for them they are less inclined to come to events like this.

[keno in reno]

Final 4 should be in one of the new MLS stadiums, at least some of the time. The one in Philly by the bridge looks really cool, DC's new Audi Field would be awesome, and Banc of California Stadium would generate some good west coast buzz for the game.

[LRoggy]

Was there Sunday to watch the D3 game Cabrini was there in full forces, I'd say 19,000 is realistic. Can't complain about the weather or the teams playing this weekend.

IMHO a few things impacting attendance.
1. Price, It cost me $22.00 w/ parking for me and my wife to go to the game. It would have been $60 if I had gone through NCAA.com. I took my son and 3-4 of his buddies to the semis at Rutgers maybe 15-20 yrs ago I doubt the whole day cost $100.
2. Club Teams, with some many tournaments in the summer who wants to kill a free weekend by traveling to the NCAA's?
3. The Internet. Access to information is almost instantaneous and with streaming you can track a game anywhere on your phone.
4. Big Screen TVs. The way you can watch a game now it almost as good as being there and you don't have to leave your sofa.
5. Culture Shifts, this is just my observation but when today's kids get to college and they don't have the same structured life and realize there is more to do then the scheduled life their parents set up for them they are less inclined to come to events like this.

A failure to give a shot to areas that might well attend for a once-in-a-lifetime look at the event.

Denver would definitely exceed 32,500. I would look towards a California location, or even Seattle. My wet dream would be FAU stadium in Boca Raton. 32,500 basically fills the place (which would look great on TV) and the amount of alumni of the big lacrosse schools in Florida is massive. For example, there are 23,000 alums from Duke (I did check with the university for that number) within a 5-hour drive of Boca. The weather is just like the Northeast this time of the year and you can see the Atlantic Ocean from a decent part of the stadium. The youth programs down here would certainly come out in droves.

Make this an event that shows it will not ONLY cater to a hardcore northeast group and you also have a much better chance of drawing the casual fan who rarely pays attention.

[Sativa Specialist]

I think they should go out west with it but having said that I think the perfect stadium is Navy Marine Corp in Annapolis. Graduation time doesn't allow for it I guess.

[MDlaxfan76]

Interesting discussion of possible experiments.
If US Lacrosse was running this, the ideas would be relevant.

But the NCAA is all about the bucks. And that comes from TV and the city bid guarantees.

More troubling, I think, is the reduction in attendance at the college level generally...this is true for lots of sports beyond big time football and basketball.

[LRoggy]

Basketball too. Regional crowds for early NCAA tourney games are not big.

I find it hard to believe the Kroenke family couldn't send the NCAA some extra bucks for a Denver hosting.

And for football, maybe the big games are great attendance but some of these bowl games are sparsely attended.

[10stone5]

Final 4 should be in one of the new MLS stadiums, at least some of the time.

The one in Philly by the bridge looks really cool,

DC's new Audi Field would be awesome, and Banc of California Stadium would generate some good west coast buzz for the game.

It is.
Unfortunately, not enough seating.

[OCanada]

Finding host schools was always a problem. It was finally opened the door to Ravens Stadium.

With professional sports management taking over operations eg Corrigan it opened some venues. Still though you need a host. Is Denver willing to bid and post a guarantee? Then there need to be sufficient hotel space for the teams and attendees, Denver would increase travel costs and CA would as well. Travel is an expense they try to control. So if they want to HS e the tourney pay for itself ( few sports do) and lacrosse shoes it could, at least for a time, then prices would have to increase over and about e what they would be on the east coast where the greatest fan base is

[bearlaxfan]

Not sure what No refers too. The start was the decision to put the tourney out to bid with the highest return to the ncaa winning. It wasn’t helped when the first Philly bid had a guarantee from whatever the group is trying to drive events to Philly. It was a money grab. As I recall semis attendance peaked at a little over 50k. Prices were driven up by structure and competing until they got to be too high for many in the fan base. Certainly the 08 recession was a significant factor esp in conjunction with price escalation

'No' as: your memory is not off; I agree.

Also, I was in East Hartford. Color me underwhelmed