This was not an issue for the game QU. It was a sell out and I did not see many empty seats from the start of the game until the end. Plus, looked like layout of their stadium was better. Newer is not always better.
There were plenty of empty seats at QU but they were filled in by the standing room folks. Our seats are red and roomy. It looks worse than it is and I don't care. QU seating is dark and empty blue seats are not as noticeable.
Yes, there were empty seats in the bottom bowl along the sidelines. That is going to happen when season ticket holders don't make it to the game (and there is no well known or easy way to ensure those tickets are otherwise used). But it was a very good crowd and I enjoyed seeing what must have been hundreds of young kids in attendance. Play weekend matinees in a clean attractive venue with nice amenities and atmosphere that is easily accessible to the locals, with a good and entertaining product on the floor, and you are creating a sizeable future (non-student) fan base.
As for the game, I thought the Stags were somewhat sloppy on offense the first 20 minutes. But they still brought considerable energy overall, and really were getting after it on defense (full court) despite the physically and emotionally draining win Friday night. The knockout punch they threw with a flurry of points in the first 5 minutes of the second half was beautiful to watch. As was watching the bench exult over some of the backups getting on the score sheet late in the game. This team looks like they have fun playing basketball, and it is just as much fun to take it all in as a fan.
Obviously it was a very good turnout. Especially good to see the “student “ sets full. But, for tv all the empty seats especially in the color red is not a good look. Is it possible some of the people who had those seats just watched the game from the areas where food is served and never bothered to take their seats? It sure looked there were a lot of people moving around there during the game. Obviously that would not have happened in my days at Alumni Hall when the stands were generally backed and the game was the only focal point!
Post by reindeerfan on Feb 25, 2024 20:03:51 GMT -5
I feel the school made a mistake with the seating capacity. As soon as we start winning, we fill the arena. Does anyone remember drawing over 5,000 versus Manhattan? What if we move up to the A10 some day? The arena is fantastic but not built with a plan that would allow them to easily expand.
My take is except for what I would imagine are fire marshall restictions, they could have sold more SRO Tickets. Between the no shows and the people that stay in the diffley and don't go to their seats there as room for 200 more people with ease.
I feel the school made a mistake with the seating capacity. As soon as we start winning, we fill the arena. Does anyone remember drawing over 5,000 versus Manhattan? What if we move up to the A10 some day? The arena is fantastic but not built with a plan that would allow them to easily expand.
My take is except for what I would imagine are fire marshall restictions, they could have sold more SRO Tickets. Between the no shows and the people that stay in the diffley and don't go to their seats there as room for 200 more people with ease.
Always thought 4-5k was the right size, but assume they did multiple studies and concluded on this #. I guess better to have a “sought after ticket” and sell outs consistently than open/extra seats.
I feel the school made a mistake with the seating capacity. As soon as we start winning, we fill the arena. Does anyone remember drawing over 5,000 versus Manhattan? What if we move up to the A10 some day? The arena is fantastic but not built with a plan that would allow them to easily expand.
My take is except for what I would imagine are fire marshall restictions, they could have sold more SRO Tickets. Between the no shows and the people that stay in the diffley and don't go to their seats there as room for 200 more people with ease.
Always thought 4-5k was the right size, but assume they did multiple studies and concluded on this #. I guess better to have a “sought after ticket” and sell outs consistently than open/extra seats.
I think it’s right-sized. Pretty much perfect. A weekend Stags game has become a must-see event for many. Today demand exceeded supply. That hasn’t been the case often but should be happening even more next season. Families, community groups, hoop junkies. It’s become a destination. I brought a friend today to his first game. Now he wants a season ticket.
Post by reindeerfan on Feb 25, 2024 20:59:22 GMT -5
We sold over 3000 season tickets in our best years at Harbor Yard. We can sell 3000 at Mahoney.
I expect us to be talking about scheduling certain games at Harbor yard before too long. It will happen, it happened in the 60's, 70's and 80's and it will happen again. I'd actually like to see some up home games like BC or Uconn or providence, even if it has to be at a neutral site.
Still one remaining home game (March 7 vs. Canisius) at Mahoney Arena. This season, 4 games had over 3,200 and one game was sold out SRO game. Season attendance average so far is 2,404.
Last season, 3 games over 3,200 at Mahoney Arena and one was sold out. Season average was 2,557.
Stag Men's Basketball Home Attendance 2023-24 Date Opponent W/L Score Attendance 11/13/23 MT. ST. MARY (NY) W 92-45 2,107 11/18/23 vs Queens (NC) L 63-69 338 11/24/23 NEW HAMPSHIRE L 80-83 1,455 * 12/01/23 IONA L 67-78 2,640 12/17/23 WAGNER W 63-51 1,616 12/30/23 LE MOYNE W 78-72 2,211 * 01/07/24 MARIST W 82-61 1,947 * 01/19/24 SAINT PETER'S W 76-67 3,382 * 01/28/24 QUINNIPIAC L 64-66 3,137 * 02/04/24 MANHATTAN W 77-683,226 * 02/08/24 RIDER W 84-67 1,692 * 02/16/24 NIAGARA L 63-65 1,952 * 02/18/24 MOUNT ST. MARY'S W 94-80 2,327 * 02/25/24 SIENA W 88-643,561 SRO fairfieldstags.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023/pdf
Stag Men's Basketball Home Attendance 2022-23 12/03/22 SAINT PETER'S W 67-55 3,516 12/07/22 SACRED HEART W 61-59 2,819 12/12/22 YALE L 64-77 2,552 12/18/22 COAST GUARD W 86-45 1,566 * 12/30/22 MARIST W 73-54 1,802 * 01/01/23 SIENA L 61-70 2,224 * 01/06/23 NIAGARA L (OT) 69-77 1,885 * 01/20/23 CANISIUS W 67-58 3,219 * 01/29/23 RIDER L (OT) 69-78 2,388 * 02/05/23 IONA L 61-703,605 * 02/12/23 MOUNT ST. MARY'S W (OT) 76-72 1,957 * 02/19/23 MANHATTAN L 72-73 2,958 * 03/02/23 QUINNIPIAC W 92-82 2,748 fairfieldstags.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2022/pdf
Obviously it was a very good turnout. Especially good to see the “student “ sets full. But, for tv all the empty seats especially in the color red is not a good look. Is it possible some of the people who had those seats just watched the game from the areas where food is served and never bothered to take their seats? It sure looked there were a lot of people moving around there during the game. Obviously that would not have happened in my days at Alumni Hall when the stands were generally backed and the game was the only focal point!
Regarding the mention of Harbor Yard, is there any basketball being played there at all these days, by anyone?
Not on a regular basis, except for home of the AHL Bridgeport Islanders and part time home of New York of the Professional Women's Hockey League no permanent basketball events.
First off, getting Sell Outs with students attending is a great problem to have. With sustained success it is not far-fetched to assume we may get back to ~3,000 season tickets holders. Great for the financial stability of the program.
However, if the season ticket holders only come 50% of the time and have locked down the most desirable seats I think they are doing a disservice to the program. This is not Harbor Yards where fans would just "fill in" around center court regardless of the seat # on their ticket. As we continue to look to add new fans of Fairfield basketball there needs to be some free-market tickets where unused tickets can be resold to people who actually want to attend the game.
Last Edit: Feb 26, 2024 9:33:36 GMT -5 by brokenboat
First off, getting Sell Outs with students attending is a great problem to have. With sustained success it is not far-fetched to assume we may get back to ~3,000 season tickets holders. Great for the financial stability of the program.
However, if the season ticket holders only come 50% of the time and have locked down the most desirable seats I think they are doing a disservice to the program. This is not Harbor Yards where fans would just "fill in" around center court regardless of the seat # on their ticket. As we continue to look to add new fans of Fairfield basketball there needs to be some free-market tickets where unused tickets can be resold to people who actually want to attend the game.
There is a service that you can donate your single game tickets back to the school for tax deduction, but I have yet to figure out how to do this.
This was not an issue for the game QU. It was a sell out and I did not see many empty seats from the start of the game until the end. Plus, looked like layout of their stadium was better. Newer is not always better.
There were plenty of empty seats at QU but they were filled in by the standing room folks. Our seats are red and roomy. It looks worse than it is and I don't care. QU seating is dark and empty blue seats are not as noticeable.
Over 3500 sold is fine with me.
As far as comparing the venues, I guess it's a personal choice about which is better (whatever "floats your boat" my friend likes to say), but regarding one thing which Quinnipiac got wrong is that their end seats are way too far away from the court thereby limiting the rowdy effect, particularly from the students, of having an effect on the games. Much, much better setup at the Mahoney IMO.
Yes, there were empty seats in the bottom bowl along the sidelines. That is going to happen when season ticket holders don't make it to the game (and there is no well known or easy way to ensure those tickets are otherwise used). But it was a very good crowd and I enjoyed seeing what must have been hundreds of young kids in attendance. Play weekend matinees in a clean attractive venue with nice amenities and atmosphere that is easily accessible to the locals, with a good and entertaining product on the floor, and you are creating a sizeable future (non-student) fan base.
As for the game, I thought the Stags were somewhat sloppy on offense the first 20 minutes. But they still brought considerable energy overall, and really were getting after it on defense (full court) despite the physically and emotionally draining win Friday night. The knockout punch they threw with a flurry of points in the first 5 minutes of the second half was beautiful to watch. As was watching the bench exult over some of the backups getting on the score sheet late in the game. This team looks like they have fun playing basketball, and it is just as much fun to take it all in as a fan.
The team is indeed having fun and quite frankly even going back to the start of the year when they weren't winning there was no pouting from the bench, nor yelling or arguing with each other on the court. This then became sort of a predictor of what was to happen when the team got healthy as Casey wouldn't let the squad get down on themselves even though the positive results weren't happening at that time. This facet of how Chris handled a tough situation became the most important part of his magical performance in getting the Stags playing at the elite league level that they are right now.
Concerning the game itself yesterday, coming off that emotional victory on Friday night I myself expected a little bit of a letdown in the first half, and that is what happened. I never expected them to lose, especially since Siena was missing a couple of their most important players because of injury. Therefore it was only a matter of time before the Stags got their act together and started to dominate, and certainly the first 5 minutes of the second half indeed proved to be the knockout punch that enabled all of us to just relax and enjoy what was going on.
Last Edit: Feb 26, 2024 10:38:44 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
Always thought 4-5k was the right size, but assume they did multiple studies and concluded on this #. I guess better to have a “sought after ticket” and sell outs consistently than open/extra seats.I feel the school made a mistake with the seating capacity. As soon as we start winning, we fill the arena. Does anyone remember drawing over 5,000 versus Manhattan? What if we move up to the A10 some day? The arena is fantastic but not built with a plan that would allow them to easily expand.
There were plenty of empty seats at QU but they were filled in by the standing room folks. Our seats are red and roomy. It looks worse than it is and I don't care. QU seating is dark and empty blue seats are not as noticeable. This was not an issue for the game QU. It was a sell out and I did not see many empty seats from the start of the game until the end. Plus, looked like layout of their stadium was better. Newer is not always better.
