I haven't been in at least 5 years. My dad and uncle went for years up until last year, and it was just bc they didnt feel like going. They'd get seperate rooms but sit next to each other and go to almost every game. Myself and brothers started going on Fridays and Saturdays after we got into high school. In the 12 years I went, I made one championship game and almost all semi's. Come Friday and Saturday night it's just more fun to sit back with the boy, indulge in some drinks and NCAA tourney.

 

I agree with the program. I'm 35 but am old school. I love reading about the schools, where they are from, how many regionals they have, state tournament record etc. Also when the 8th player on the team has a break out game you can thumb through and find his name.

I've been going for the past 35 years. The conflict with the NCAA is an issue when UK plays at the same time as one of the sessions. Big hit on attendance there. The Wifi issue has been addressed as Rupp now has public access available during all events. And I also agree that the lack of a program, while not a contributor to the attendance problem, is something I really miss. I also collected all of the programs and could go back and relive memories of great teams/great games.

One thing I'd like to see is the time between games and halftime shortened. I attended the King of the Bluegrass last month and they had 10 minutes between games. This really kept things moving well.

I've been going for the past 35 years. The conflict with the NCAA is an issue when UK plays at the same time as one of the sessions. Big hit on attendance there. The Wifi issue has been addressed as Rupp now has public access available during all events. And I also agree that the lack of a program, while not a contributor to the attendance problem, is something I really miss. I also collected all of the programs and could go back and relive memories of great teams/great games.

One thing I'd like to see is the time between games and halftime shortened. I attended the King of the Bluegrass last month and they had 10 minutes between games. This really kept things moving well.

 

I agree with this 100%!

 

One thing I love about high school basketball is that games take about an hour and a 15 minutes, and double headers can be completed in around 3 hours.

 

They really drag out the sessions with longer halftimes, more timeouts, 25 minutes between games, and sometimes presentations that take 5-10 minutes before they even start the 25 minute clock.

The issue with attendance at the Sweet 16 is the same reason attendance is down at all sporting events. There are a # of factors driving this.

 

A. other things to do... People now have more things to do and more time commitments...

 

B. Cost - While the economy is doing well, hotel room prices are soaring across the country because of increased demand. The fans who used to travel to see the entire sweet 16 aren't "upper class" spenders with a ton of disposable income. They are hard working folks who aren't excited about shelling out $175 a night for a room. When the economy sank a decade ago people decided to stop spending disposable dollars on sports and they got out of the habit.

 

C. People attend "fewer" other games. Folks who used to attend the Sweet 16 also used to make a habit of attending a lot of other games throughout the year. So the habit or "fun" of going to "games" is losing it's luster...

 

Most folks look at things through a microscope. In the case of the Sweet 16 one just needs to look at sports a whole to understand why people aren't attending games.

 

Every major sport has seen a sharp decline. NFL, NBA, MLB, College Football, College Basketball etc... No reason to think this trend wouldn't hit the Sweet 16.

I’ve read through this thread but if this has been mentioned I must have missed it, but another big factor for the drop in attendance has been the state education department cracked down on the how much money schools can allocate for coaches and staff, and other personnel. Heck in years past many schools used their athletic fund to pay for quite a few people’s tickets, rooms, and food. I know ours did, and I remember most the other school’s staffs that I saw while at the state tournament did the same. When they cut that out it had an immediate effect on the attendance numbers and they haven’t been the same since.

I’ve read through this thread but if this has been mentioned I must have missed it, but another big factor for the drop in attendance has been the state education department cracked down on the how much money schools can allocate for coaches and staff, and other personnel. Heck in years past many schools used their athletic fund to pay for quite a few people’s tickets, rooms, and food. I know ours did, and I remember most the other school’s staffs that I saw while at the state tournament did the same. When they cut that out it had an immediate effect on the attendance numbers and they haven’t been the same since.

 

Bingo!

The sweet 16 has been up against the first round forever and it was never an issue... I think it actually enhanced the experience of the week...

The sweet 16 has been up against the first round forever and it was never an issue... I think it actually enhanced the experience of the week...

 

One change with that is now all 1st round games can be watched with all the channels they are on now. Years ago it would only be 1 or 2 actually being shown.

Without the programs we’re just watching nameless teenagers run around. There’s no story behind the game-is he an underclasman just getting his first taste of the big stage or a senior playing to extend his career? How tall is that kid? Cheap on Khsaa part.

The red book does make a difference. A room in the Hyatt is around $1200, plus meals, and coaches no longer get professional days off. There are cheaper hotels but you have to either take a cab or pay to park each day. Coaches like being at the Hyatt. Would love to see less time in between games. Takes over 30 minutes to start the 2nd game of a session. Put an alternate floor underneath and let teams warmup there at least for 2nd rd games. Put 15 minutes on the clock and play. A lot of people and coaches leave especially for the late games. The KHSAA needs to do a better job of hospitality for coaches. Chips, popcorn , and cokes don't cut it. The other improvement which will never happen is this tournament needs to be seeded. Lets be honest there are teams that make it that are not very good. Getting to the sweet Sixteen is enough for them. However, most do not want to watch two bad teams matched up and have a heavy favorite playing a bad team in the second round. Just my thoughts.

Edited January 23, 20188 yr by dawgs83

Most staffs had/have at least 4-5 coaches on them in the state. So do that math times the number of schools. It wasn’t just head coaches.

 

I'll take the time, here goes:

 

225 high schools in Kentucky @ x 5 per staff (just for fun) = 1125 total possibly coaches attending.

 

2016 attendance 88,170 over 4 days or we can average 22042 per day

 

That would appear to be .05% if every 5 staff high school coach attended each session / every day.

 

This ain't a RedBook issue by far....

The red book does make a difference. A room in the Hyatt is around $1200, plus meals, and coaches no longer get professional days off. There are cheaper hotels but you have to either take a cab or pay to park each day. Coaches like being at the Hyatt. Would love to see less time in between games. Takes over 30 minutes to start the 2nd game of a session. Put an alternate floor underneath and let teams warmup there at least for 2nd rd games. Put 15 minutes on the clock and play. A lot of people and coaches leave especially for the late games. The KHSAA needs to do a better job of hospitality for coaches. Chips, popcorn , and cokes don't cut it. The other improvement which will never happen is this tournament needs to be seeded. Lets be honest there are teams that make it that are not very good. Getting to the sweet Sixteen is enough for them. However, most do not want to watch two bad teams matched up and have a heavy favorite playing a bad team in the second round. Just my thoughts.

 

Not sure what room you are staying at in the Hyatt, but I think you may have an extra zero in here.....you do have an extra zero in here, correct ?

Not sure what room you are staying at in the Hyatt, but I think you may have an extra zero in here.....you do have an extra zero in here, correct ?

Looked at it wrong $1800 for two rooms so around $900 for the week during state tournament.

I'll take the time, here goes:

 

225 high schools in Kentucky @ x 5 per staff (just for fun) = 1125 total possibly coaches attending.

 

2016 attendance 88,170 over 4 days or we can average 22042 per day

 

That would appear to be .05% if every 5 staff high school coach attended each session / every day.

 

This ain't a RedBook issue by far....

 

Don't forget that wives, girlfriends and kids often show up on Friday and stay the rest of the weekend.