Attendance at state championships
- Thread starter redstrawberry
- Start date
It seems to me that overall...the attendance was down. Blue Springs South had the most impressive following by far. The student section was the largest I've ever seen during a final four weekend. They had so many students that the student area wasn't large enough and they overflowed, filling up the entire next section...VERY IMPRESSIVE! St Charles had great student and fan support, and they needed every bit of it to help them in their come from behind state championship victory. Park Hills South and Liberty had a very good following. After that the fan support was, in my opinion, very lackluster. the St. Louis city and county schools are not known for great fan support and it showed by the lack of fan support for SLUH, Chaminade, Cor Jesu and Incarnate Word...although IWA had a respectable student section. The most surprising to me was the lack of support for Rock Bridge. They were playing in their own home town...for a 4th consecutive state championship...and had one of the smallest student and fan sections of anybody there. To me...that is really, really pitiful. The Rock Bridge students and fans should be ashamed of the showing (or lack of) they had this weekend! To sum it up...I saw some great games and had a great time watching the celebrations of championships won!
This post was edited on 3/22 4:23 PM by SWJ
This post was edited on 3/22 4:23 PM by SWJ
I attend the tournament almost every year and when Bradley Beal played at Chaminade I've never seen a bigger student section. Also during the Hansborough years Poplar Bluff total fan attendance was outstanding.
I don't know about big school weekend but it seemed very lackluster on Friday and Saturday for class 1-3. I was especially surprised how sparsely attended the championships games were. It could just be me, but why in the world are we being charged $6 for a soda in the Ryan Rosburg Mizzou souvenir cups and $4 for a shriveled wiener on a stale bun at the HIGH SCHOOL championships. I expect to get gouged by the very successful Mizzou men's basketball program ... but not at an event that is supposed to be for and about the kids. Market forces eventually take over. I think in the end people have better things to do with their time and money than get taken advantage of by whoever sets those ridiculous prices.
I agree with SWJ. I was not able to attend either weekend this year, but was able to watch a few games, here and there, on FSPlus and FSM. From what I saw on the television broadcasts, it looked as if attendance was down, even on the sides behind the team benches. I was not able to see any of the Class 5 Boys Championship game. It would have been great to have seen the Blue Springs South student section.
When the season is so long that the final four comes in the middle of most large school spring breaks you are going to lose fans. For Class 4/5 that affects quarterfinals and semifinals.
When the games are on TV for free you are going to lose fans.
Seems to me the schools represented bring fans (I attended both weekends), but the common fans/coaches who used to attend every year no matter who was playing have gone away.
When the games are on TV for free you are going to lose fans.
Seems to me the schools represented bring fans (I attended both weekends), but the common fans/coaches who used to attend every year no matter who was playing have gone away.
Large schools will almost always have very impressive student sections but the lack of town support always stands out. As somebody said, city schools just aren't going to come out and support the local high school. Smaller towns identify way more with the high school than the city. And when you have private schools out of the city, nobody is going to come watch those games except the students. I agree that the Class 1-3 attendance was poor other than Mid-Buchanan, which had a very impressive crowd for such a small community. The largest crowd that I've personally seen at the Final Four since it's been at Mizzou Arena was the 2011 state championship when Sikeston beat Borgia. That was a massive crowd by both sides.
Town of Meadville population = 462
Student enrollment (K-12) = 246
Eagle support (purple shirts) approx turnout to 2015 Championship game = 1200 (conservative)
2.6 times times the towns population.
4.9 times the student enrollment (K-12).
Thats a lot of kin folk.
Student enrollment (K-12) = 246
Eagle support (purple shirts) approx turnout to 2015 Championship game = 1200 (conservative)
2.6 times times the towns population.
4.9 times the student enrollment (K-12).
Thats a lot of kin folk.
Spring breaks seem o be a huge issue at larger schools.
I used to be one of those go every year type of people. Now my kids have their own volleyball or basketball tournaments etc. My kids would love to go but still want to play in their games etc. Therefore I don't go!!!
I used to be one of those go every year type of people. Now my kids have their own volleyball or basketball tournaments etc. My kids would love to go but still want to play in their games etc. Therefore I don't go!!!
Spring Break!?!? HEAVENS YES! Heck................the MICDS Girls Squad were minus a STARTER who chose "Spring Break" over playing in the Class 4 Final Four!
Good grief. I guess I'm glad to know we're not the only place that deals with this kind of stuff. But sheesh...a final four? That's insane. It's where we are as a society I suppose. Can't say I'm overly thrilled with that.
We used to go ever year also. Loved the excitement of the first day when everyone thought they could win state. Spend the night and come back the next day and watch the championships. Now with the three day event, can't do that. Taking two days off is too much and cannot see all the semis in one day. I miss what I would call the good ol' days at state with friends and all the ballgames.
MBCA sent out a survey yesterday to the members. Among questions was one that asked about splitting girls and guys final fours, and also one about doing away with third place games. Both excellent ideas, IMO. I think both would raise attendance. If they want to get serious about attendance....How about the following:
Split girls and guysDo away with third place gamesMove the games to Springfield...Columbia has proven they can't support the games. The locals in the Springfield area are basketball crazy. Save me the travel arguments for competing teams. It's a once a year thing. It would make for a better experience for the kids.Go back to four classes. Less watered down in the bigger classes. Would also allow to have eight semis in one day in one venue. You could possibly split the venues with JQH and Hammons. Suppose you could also still play third place games with the two venues, just don't think it's a big issue.
Split girls and guysDo away with third place gamesMove the games to Springfield...Columbia has proven they can't support the games. The locals in the Springfield area are basketball crazy. Save me the travel arguments for competing teams. It's a once a year thing. It would make for a better experience for the kids.Go back to four classes. Less watered down in the bigger classes. Would also allow to have eight semis in one day in one venue. You could possibly split the venues with JQH and Hammons. Suppose you could also still play third place games with the two venues, just don't think it's a big issue.
Because, IMO, Springfield and the surrounding areas (that are basketball bonkers) will support it. And I agree about the arena. I think JQH would be a sweet venue. And it seats about 4 or 5K less than The Paige.
Probably true. SMC seats around 7K I think. I was just thinking Springfield for the shear size of the area. With Nixa, Ozark, Republic, and Willard all factored in...population in that area has got to be well over 250K. But, I can see SEMO hoops fans filling up the SMC (along with the fans from teams participating, obviously) also. And I think they've got the infrastructure to handle the visitors (hotels and restaurants mainly). I probably haven't been back to Cape in close to 10 years either. Heck, if nothing else, it'd give me an excuse to hit the Pilot House! I'm in!!!
Man, I haven't thought about that place in forever. Heard it's a bit different kind of dance in East Cape these days. That saddened me a bit. What a great place. The things I've done in that building...Eaten a nice(ish) dinner with my family, bought lottery tix, bought beer on Sunday, a few dice games, a poker game or two, and...of course...piled out of a car at about 1:45am or so to continue the party on the IL side. That was one interesting place over the years.Originally posted by oldroundballer:
You misspelled Purple Crackle.
Oh wait......
Lol. Yeah it ran the gamut. Hideaway on Thur night was popular in the mid 80s. Ease back across the bridge and take the first right to avoid detection.Originally posted by Eagles_Ball:
Man, I haven't thought about that place in forever. Heard it's a bit different kind of dance in East Cape these days. That saddened me a bit. What a great place. The things I've done in that building...Eaten a nice(ish) dinner with my family, bought lottery tix, bought beer on Sunday, a few dice games, a poker game or two, and...of course...piled out of a car at about 1:45am or so to continue the party on the IL side. That was one interesting place over the years.Originally posted by oldroundballer:
You misspelled Purple Crackle.
Oh wait......
I drove by there just last weekend. Kind of miss the old bridge. Where a certain roommate decided he needed to relieve himself and just stopped the truck and jumped out at the state line on the night Sutter got the last out in 82. Good times.
Glad to know we weren't the only ones that did the first right move. I'm sure no Cape cops ever thought all that traffic on Water at 3am was coming from kids at the Crackle. LOL. We'd make the first right, go down a couple blocks, then circle back to get a slugger.Originally posted by oldroundballer:
Lol. Yeah it ran the gamut. Hideaway on Thur night was popular in the mid 80s. Ease back across the bridge and take the first right to avoid detection.
I drove by there just last weekend. Kind of miss the old bridge. Where a certain roommate decided he needed to relieve himself and just stopped the truck and jumped out at the state line on the night Sutter got the last out in 82. Good times.
Wait...there's a new bridge??? We started going through STL to get to Myrtle Beach a while back, so I haven't been that way in more than 10 years probably. Had no idea.
That's awesome. We often stopped to do that very thing in the river...but never had the stones to do it from the bridge!
What!! You mean someone else knew about the first right?? I thought we were the only smart ones there.Originally posted by Eagles_Ball:
Glad to know we weren't the only ones that did the first right move. I'm sure no Cape cops ever thought all that traffic on Water at 3am was coming from kids at the Crackle. LOL. We'd make the first right, go down a couple blocks, then circle back to get a slugger.Originally posted by oldroundballer:
Lol. Yeah it ran the gamut. Hideaway on Thur night was popular in the mid 80s. Ease back across the bridge and take the first right to avoid detection.
I drove by there just last weekend. Kind of miss the old bridge. Where a certain roommate decided he needed to relieve himself and just stopped the truck and jumped out at the state line on the night Sutter got the last out in 82. Good times.
Wait...there's a new bridge??? We started going through STL to get to Myrtle Beach a while back, so I haven't been that way in more than 10 years probably. Had no idea.
That's awesome. We often stopped to do that very thing in the river...but never had the stones to do it from the bridge!
New 4 lane bridge and 4 lane all the to Hwy 3 now. Watch out for IL cops though. I've never been through there and NOT seen them somewhere now. We came back on a Sat night and they had a DWI checkpoint at the IL side of the bridge. No turning around from that one. Lol.
