It’s no secret that attendance INSIDE THE HALL this season has not been very good, at least in terms of what we’ve come to expect. We’ve come to expect sellouts or near sellouts, so when that doesn’t happen, it becomes a topic of conversation.
In some of the earlier live chats this season, we were curious: “Are there even any fans in the balcony?” “How many students are there?” The results were bleak. As Chris Korman wrote back in November, student ticket sales were down about 4,000 this year. This math seems to match up with attendance. In games when classes are in session, IU is averaging somewhere in the 13,000 range for number of attendees. Capacity at Assembly Hall is 17,456. (17,456 – 4,000 = somewhere in the 13,000s.)*
*Quickly: I believe last year, because of the demand for tickets, not all students that bought packages got tickets for every single game. So the numbers could be off here, but for the purposes of this post, we’ll just go with it.
It seems one member of the Rumors and Rants crew has taken the latter part of their name, and ranted like mad about students not showing up to these games. (I counted six f-bombs in this thing, as well as six exclamation points. This rant is not for the faint of heart; tread lightly.)
Anyways, for fun, I’m going to blockquote the rant, and then I’m going to give my own commentary under the blockquote. This is a technique no blogger has ever used. Ever.
Here we go:
Well, today on his local radio show (I only ever hear the teasers because I have a day job) Dan Dakich discussed how fans of IU basketball, especially students, are staying away in droves from Assembly Hall this season.
My reaction: You’re full of s–t, Dan Dakich! I don’t believe it. There’s simply no way. You’re just a loser who couldn’t win games with Eric Gordon and DJ White and a supporting cast higher than Snoop Dogg!
And yet, after a little non-scientific investigation, turns out he’s right. IU fans are avoiding 1001 East 17th Street in Bloomington, Indiana like it’s infected with the Ebola virus.
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