Attendance

[XU-PA]

"xuwin" and his/her comment about attendance made me curious.

Did you know that XU's average attendance at home this year is almost 2400 per game? While that might not seem like such a great feat think about it this way.

This is the highest average attendance since the 2000-01 season when they ended up with a 2673 per game average. That was the year that they closed the season with two home NCAA games that brought in over 13000 people in the weekend. Yes, that was the magic Elite 8 year, the year of Taru Tuukkanen, Jen Phillips, Nicole Levandusky (all WBNA draftees), Jennifer Parr, Amy Waugh and Reetta Piipari.
I remember that as the year that my daughter, wife and I became hooked on Xavier women's basketball, an addiction that lasts to this day for all of us. That group turned on a light for us, just like this group is doing this year.

Yes, attendance could top that year, and show an unbelievable rebound in this team over the last decade. Of course if the local media could see fit to pay just a little attention to this team,,,,,, I always though that the XU marketing department should take the muscle to the media. Pack up T, Amber, April, Katie and the rest and let them walk into the editors offices of the local papers and stations and ask them why they don't get fair coverage. Would certainly make an impression!
OK, I'll hop off my soapbox.

4 Home games left, I've got my tickets for the NCAA games,,,, do you???

Let's Go X!! Let's Go X!! Let's Go X!!

[coasterville95]

I've got my NCAA tickets for cintas ordered, just not in hand yet.

[xu_fan]

I've got my NCAA tickets for cintas ordered, just not in hand yet.


Dito. I thought they'd be here by now!

[wkrq59]

XU-PA,
I support your enthusiasm for Xavier women's basketball, but I fear it will take eons for it to reach the attention level that the Connecticut, Tennessee, Rutgers, Stanford, LSU, Georgia and Texas Tech teams have worked to build and now receive. They sell out most games.
I seriously doubt parading the young ladies into the Enguirer's editorial offices or before the program directors at the major or even minor radio and television stations would do that much good these days.
In most cases, here's what you'll hear. "
"We don't have the staff, in these times, and we really don't see the interest outside of the XU-UC game as yet." (BTW--Were it not for Bill Keating Jr. and his wife Joan practically grabbing that game and making it an "event" it would still be languishing for lack of interest.
The biggest test this year will come when Xavier hosts the first and second round games of the women's NCAA tournament.:D:D:D

[xuwin]

Does anybody know if programs like U-Conn, Tennessee & Stanford get their sell outs charging the same prices for games as the male games or are the girls tickets discounted. Xavier gets a lot of their 2400 per game attendance with free giveaways and lower price tickets. Also, does Xavier have any home games scheduled with some of the top programs in the country in the future.

[blobfan]

XU-PA,
I support your enthusiasm for Xavier women's basketball, but I fear it will take eons for it to reach the attention level that the Connecticut, Tennessee, Rutgers, Stanford, LSU, Georgia and Texas Tech teams have worked to build and now receive. They sell out most games.
I seriously doubt parading the young ladies into the Enguirer's editorial offices or before the program directors at the major or even minor radio and television stations would do that much good these days.
In most cases, here's what you'll hear. "
"We don't have the staff, in these times, and we really don't see the interest outside of the XU-UC game as yet." (BTW--Were it not for Bill Keating Jr. and his wife Joan practically grabbing that game and making it an "event" it would still be languishing for lack of interest. The biggest test this year will come when Xavier hosts the first and second round games of the women's NCAA tournament.:D:D:D

There's the answer. Target influential alumni and ask for their support raise attendance to some of the marquee games. Maybe next season target the game agains UD and if that holds for 2 seasons, move on from there. Get people to show up to 3-4 games a year and maybe they'll consider going more often without all the promotions.

[XU-PA]

I know it takes time, this should prove to be a banner year for the program, it would just be nice if the media would wake up and realize that there is some interest out there.

In all my criticism of the enquirer and tv outlets over the years, I'm not just trying to be a prick about it, I really offer this up as help for the media. If they would just try it, they might find out how well it works.
Q,, you know who the product is marketed to don't you? Advertisers want 25-50 year old women viewers and readers. The "style" articles, columns etc are aimed in their direction, why can't the sport departments realize that if they just had a habit of including womens sports in the coverage they could offer what the advertisers want! Just think, if the working moms and hosue wives of Cincinnati opened the paper every couple of days and saw a picture of one of our top tri state female athletes, would she not be tempted to flip through the section?
It's not tough in Cincinnati, you've got NKU, UC, XU, MU, and what a half dozen D-2 and D-3 programs? Tell me there's not a host of interesting stories to tell about the hundreds of women athletes, their teams and their coaches. And soread a little out of town, there are scores of tri state natives toiling at dozens of other schools in ohio, kentucky and indiana, I'd say if a reporter were to just put in a little effort, they could come up with an interesting feature related to a game on a player or coach every day of the week. I wish when I was on the news desk at channel 12 my job could have been that easy.

It's not rocket science, you go to the teams web site, look at the rosters for soccer, volleyball, field hockey, track, basketball, swimming, softball and more, there's a thousand stories out there in the naked city,,,,,,,,

[blobfan]

The Enquirer has guest bloggers covering XU and UC men's this year. What about finding someone to do the same for women's, maybe a journalism student willing to do it as a sort of internship? I think you'd have to prove to the media that there's real interest in something and Cincinnati.com seems most focused on posting things that get hits. If you can get them to run a blog, then get people to look at and comment on that blog, THEN you might be able to get the media to pay attention.

Media in general, and the Enquirer in particular, has been in a reactionary stage for some time. Asking them to find creative ways to build readership is like asking a blind dog to chase a squirrel.

[cinskyline]

IMO, nothing brings excitement in the media and the fans like big NCAA Tournament runs. We saw the media and fan excitement in 2001 with the 2 NCAA wins at home and the run to the Elite Eight.

Balcomb had a chance to build on it the following year, and totally blew it, and set the program back 3 to 4 years. The excitement among the media and fans quickly went away.

What do Connecticut, Tennessee, Rutgers, Stanford, LSU, Georgia and Texas Tech all have in common? All have made multiple big runs in the tournament or have national championships to their credit -- the more success you have, the better attendance is and the more media coverage there is. It's all about what you do in post season, like it or not.