Low attendance?

[rjs4470]

Another thing to consider is that we are an ever transient society. People are more mobile and many people live nowhere near where they grew up, so some move out, some move in. Those who moved in, like myself have zero connection to the Sweet 16. Many states do not have the same devotion to high school basketball...I come from a school and area where wrestling dual meets had double the attendance of basketball games. I'll probably never go to a sweet 16 unless the school my kids attend happens to make it. It has nothing to do with cost, travel time, star power, etc. I like basketball, and played basketball, but I can't imagine taking a few days off of work and traveling a couple of hours to watch high school ball. And as we become more mobile and more transient (and more busy) and have more and more non native Kentuckians moving in, I can see there being more people having that type of thought process.

[TAC]

It was very pretty outside this weekend.

[OlDog75]

Also notice the common theme in 4 of the top 5.

 

Impressive and I'd expect it from there.

[sweet16]

With that username, you'd better.

 

Correct. I've been to 24 so far and don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

[JokersWild24]

Part of it is the teams that survived and advanced.

 

Part of it is the same problem during the regular season - apathy.

 

Imagine if it weren't for those like Goldie who go every year regardless of their team's participation.

 

Put my parents in that group. They didn't go themselves this year and ended up just eating the tickets. Still saw it as a way of saving money because there was no room to buy, food, etc.

 

Clay County didn't go and Knott County Central going out so early last year didn't help.

[Danny]

Totally agree.....

[nkywildcat68]

The increase of the competition for the disposable dollar is the correct answer. I used to go all the time, but, as time as gone on...I dont have the connection to the local high schools where I live to go as a spectator, so its not really a top priority for me to spend time or resources to attend. I might attend all day Friday, but I just had other things that I preferred to do over the weekend than the Sweet 16. I do cover high school football locally, but if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't see a HS football game very often, either.

 

I don't know if the streaming is that significant of a reason. There may be a small percentage of casual fans that may not attend because its on for free online, but those aren't the fans who are noticeably missing, the people who spent four days lodging and bought 2-4 all session ticket books in the past.

[TopRowMidCourt]

Correct. I've been to 24 so far and don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

 

Same here. I've been to 42, I'm 43. My boys are 7 & 5. They made trips 8 & 6 this year. My dad missed this year for the 1st time, he'd been going since 1951 (due to work).

 

Like someone mentioned earlier, it is a family thing for us. Grandparents went, dad & mom went, I go, now my boys go.

[stepscalled]

I found the attendance for each session.

 

Wednesday afternoon12,457

Wednesday night 12,124

Thursday afternoon 13,005

Thursday night 10,853

 

Friday afternoon 11,178

Friday night 10,860

 

Saturday night 12,552

 

Sunday afternoon 11,435

 

I went to KHSAA under boys basketball and where they give the box scores for each state tournament game, I went to the second game of that session and clicked on newspaper box score. (FYI)

[broadcaster240]

Just came across this tidbit in a Mike Fields article after the 2013 final...the first one on Sunday afternoon.

 

"Saturday night's semifinals, featuring Madison Central-Hopkinsville and Ballard-Montgomery County, drew 20,172 to Rupp Arena. Sunday afternoon's championship attracted 17,351, the largest attendance for a finals since 2009."

 

So varying factors...as has been pointed out several times above. Proximity of the competitors to Lexington, who brings a crowd, etc. I don't remember the U.K. comparison as to dates playing vs. the state tourney that year.

[GreatLakes]

Anyone know what Rupp Arena costs to rent? As said many have said before, it's turned into the almighty dollar. I feel like there was always an Aura in the air with the Championship on Saturday night. 2pm on a Sunday just doesn't do it for me. Then they took away the hard copy programs a few years ago, which I always enjoyed.

As for this year there just wasn't a lot of Star Power or "Special" teams in the field this year. The bottom bracket was loaded hence the Thursday afternoon session being the best attended. A couple games the reffing was just atrocious.

 

Biggest Difference

Owensboro played Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun

Bowling Green played Thur/Fri/Sat/Sun

 

It's 6 hours round trip drive for the casual Owensboro fan . I believe it's a bit more enticing and cheaper to see 3 games on Fri/Sat then 3 games on Fri/Sat/Sun.

[GreatLakes]

There was also Dominque Hawkins on the verge of getting a UK offer that year, and Ballard had Quentin Snider.

[Mack The Knife]

Just came across this tidbit in a Mike Fields article after the 2013 final...the first one on Sunday afternoon.

 

"Saturday night's semifinals, featuring Madison Central-Hopkinsville and Ballard-Montgomery County, drew 20,172 to Rupp Arena. Sunday afternoon's championship attracted 17,351, the largest attendance for a finals since 2009."

 

So varying factors...as has been pointed out several times above. Proximity of the competitors to Lexington, who brings a crowd, etc. I don't remember the U.K. comparison as to dates playing vs. the state tourney that year.

 

UK was in the NIT in 2013. They actually played Florida the afternoon of the semis in Rupp.

[GreatLakes]

The Finals of 2013 also had Dominque Hawkins on the verge of getting a UK offer that year, and Ballard had Quentin Snider. Heavy Star Power.

[broadcaster240]

UK was in the NIT in 2013. They actually played Florida the afternoon of the semis in Rupp.

 

So the UK game did not conflict with the Saturday night H.S. semi-finals. Thanks Mack.