Attendance

[InGoodCo]

I saw that Conner tweeted last night saying last night was one of the worst attended games in his time at Carver, which is actually longer than 6 years.

Iowa is in the top 25 early. They have talented players that are in the mix for NPOY for 3 straight years. Going to the NCAA at a regular clip. Won a Big Ten tournament basketball title. Have legacy recruits and coaching staff. They started serving booze.

Where is the disconnect? ISU, Nebraska and Creighton all have better attendance. The ole narrative that Iowa just needs to win and things will sort itself out has expired. They're winning. What else will it take?

 

[Fryowa]

I saw that Conner tweeted last night saying last night was one of the worst attended games in his time at Carver, which is actually longer than 6 years.

Iowa is in the top 25 early. They have talented players that are in the mix for NPOY for 3 straight years. Going to the NCAA at a regular clip. Won a Big Ten basketball title. Have legacy recruits and coaching staff. They started serving booze.

Where is disconnect? ISU, Nebraska and Creighton all have better attendance. The ole narrative that Iowa just needs to win and things will sort itself out has expired. They're winning. What else will it take?

I think it was a combination of a Monday night, 7 PM start, and a really horrible team. School night for kids and lots of high school activities going on. If these guys keep playing like this it'll be fairly packed once we start conference play. I also think part of it is the venue. ISU, Creighton, and Nebraska have way nicer arenas IMO.

I'd love a 10,000 seat venue with 2 decks and suites for the rich crowd which would open up space for students to be closer.

 

[Dadman]

People were out shopping for Turkeys

that and it was an exhibition game

 

[InGoodCo]

I think it was a combination of a Monday night, 7 PM start, and a really horrible team. School night for kids and lots of high school activities going on. If these guys keep playing like this it'll be fairly packed once we start conference play. I also think part of it is the venue. ISU, Creighton, and Nebraska have way nicer arenas IMO.

I'd love a 10,000 seat venue with 2 decks and suites for the rich crowd which would open up space for students to be closer.

I've been saying that for years and I've been told it's the product on the court and that the building is still good because look at wrestling and women's BB to an extent. Creighton and Nebraska have their barns in the middle of night life, surrounded by bars and restaurants... ISU has a long tradition of sell out and hostile crowds. It just makes me sad that this program has to play in front of 3500 people a night.

 

[InGoodCo]

People were out shopping for Turkeys

that and it was an exhibition game

still odd for a top 25 team and a program that's been in the top 25 for the better part of the last 4 or 5 seasons regardless of opponent. Typically fans want to be part of a winning program. ISU doesn't care if it's Iowa or Arkansas Pine Bluff, that place is gonna be packed. Creighton sold out their barn for Holy Cross.

 

[Fryowa]

I've been saying that for years and I've been told it's the product on the court and that the building is still good because look at wrestling and women's BB to an extent. Creighton and Nebraska have their barns in the middle of night life, surrounded by bars and restaurants... ISU has a long tradition of sell out and hostile crowds. It just makes me sad that this program has to play in front of 3500 people a night.

ESPN's box score said attendance was 9,467 last night but no way in hell.

Ideally I'd like an arena built on the site of the mall, about 10,000 seats, packed tight to the sidelines like Kinnick is. It'd be loud as hell and with 2 decks viewing would be a lot better. Once you get past halfway up Carver it gets kinda far out. The rich guys can have suites in that configuration too which would allow for a courtside student section. Give the students free pizza.

Name it Chris Street Court at The Fieldhouse.

 

[InGoodCo]

and before blaming the schedule - The Emerald Coast Classic determined Iowa's opponent last night, not Iowa. They HAVE to play some scrubs to get ready for the season. This year I have 0 complaints about the schedule, they scheduled hard and IMO, Fran schedules according to the experience he has coming back.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I think Iowa relies on a lot of folks in Polk county. For all the reasons previously listed it's just tough to allocate 4 hours of commuting round trip (more for some less for others) on a week night with Turkey day coming up when you can watch it from home. They've struggled with this for awhile I don't think this is all that new either. If only they could get more fans closer to IC to actually go. But I get it. Not all fans can or want to allocate the time to go. I don't think it's a financial thing at all really. Maybe I'm wrong

 

[Fryowa]

As a multigenerational fan and multi year wrestling season ticket holder, I will say that Carver needs to stay if Iowa builds a new b-ball arena someday.

Carver is the undisputed Mecca of wrestling venues in the world. Every Soviet bloc and Arab nation freestyle wrestler grows up dreaming of wrestling there some day in an Olympic trial or UWW event. It's what Madison Square Garden is to rock music, what Yankee Stadium was to baseball. You can't get rid of it.

 

[gillnh2o]

I think it was a combination of a Monday night, 7 PM start, and a really horrible team. School night for kids and lots of high school activities going on. If these guys keep playing like this it'll be fairly packed once we start conference play. I also think part of it is the venue. ISU, Creighton, and Nebraska have way nicer arenas IMO.

I'd love a 10,000 seat venue with 2 decks and suites for the rich crowd which would open up space for students to be closer.

A 10,000 seat arena in the Big Ten? Come on.

 

[gillnh2o]

Oh, I forgot Xtream arena in Coralville is available.

 

[ChosenChildren]

A 10,000 seat arena downtown would be perfect.

 

[ChosenChildren]

There are lots of nights when Hilton only has 10,000 in attendance but it seems like more because of the way it is built.

the old field house seated only 13,000 but you were right on top of the action

 

[Casey388]

Carver is still in great shape but it is not a prime basketball arena. Part of it is the building, and part of it is the fact the university won't put the students right on top of the opposing team as all the premier teams do. You can't have people knitting a blanket courtside during the game. I think a 12-13k arena that is two tiers would be great.

I actually love UNI's arena but it is too small for a Big Ten team, not named Northwestern. It doesn't have a bad seat and is a legit home-court advantage.

I also love that Connor tweeted that out. He didn't do it in a cocky or controversial way, but in a tone that makes it sound like he thinks his last year could be special and wants to do everything possible to get the most out of it.

 

[InGoodCo]

Carver is still in great shape but it is not a prime basketball arena. Part of it is the building, and part of it is the fact the university won't put the students right on top of the opposing team as all the premier teams do. You can't have people knitting a blanket courtside during the game. I think a 12-13k arena that is two tiers would be great.

I actually love UNI's arena but it is too small for a Big Ten team, not named Northwestern. It doesn't have a bad seat and is a legit home-court advantage.

I also love that Connor tweeted that out. He didn't do it in a cocky or controversial way, but in a tone that makes it sound like he thinks his last year could be special and wants to do everything possible to get the most out of it.

I liked the tweet, he isn’t wrong. You’d expect a crowd after they throttled a team on the road and entered the top 25. Instead they showed up to the same crowd they were exposed to when their dad first got there. If I were Fran I’d be open to hearing from any school that cared about basketball.

 

[Hawkboys]

How much of this is due to it being Thanksgiving week and many students left for home last weekend?

 

[trj]

Nebraska-Omaha on a Monday of Thanksgiving week is a hard sell and I get the empty seats. Now, if I see a bunch of empty seats for ISU and Wisconsin I will be a little bummed out.

 

[trj]

How much of this is due to it being Thanksgiving week and many students left for home last weekend?

Add in the opponent and I could live in Coralville and I would be waffling on whether to go to this game.

 

[HuckFinn]

I think it was a combination of a Monday night, 7 PM start, and a really horrible team. School night for kids and lots of high school activities going on. If these guys keep playing like this it'll be fairly packed once we start conference play. I also think part of it is the venue. ISU, Creighton, and Nebraska have way nicer arenas IMO.

I'd love a 10,000 seat venue with 2 decks and suites for the rich crowd which would open up space for students to be closer.

Yes, absolutely to a Monday night game and what was really a scrimmage. I know we need some warmup games and I do like watching the new players, the walk on’s, and checking out the depth and various combinations Fran tries. The crowd was very small, for sure. The one problem that was not mentioned was that the students are gone. That is a big deal. Their attendance has actually been pretty good. (I was there)

 

[Northside Hawk]

I've been saying that for years and I've been told it's the product on the court and that the building is still good because look at wrestling and women's BB to an extent. Creighton and Nebraska have their barns in the middle of night life, surrounded by bars and restaurants... ISU has a long tradition of sell out and hostile crowds. It just makes me sad that this program has to play in front of 3500 people a night.

3,500 would be a rarity, not the rule. Was it really that low last night? If it was it would rival that of most women's games. Even during the bottom of the Lickliter barrel we did better than 3,500.

I've stated my idea for a 10-11k arena about thirty times on these boards. It makes too much sense to ever come to fruition. Save Carver for wrestling events.