Cajuns are after 18th Win when they host Troy on Thursday

[Cajunsmike]

It's hard for me to answer that because in my case I don't even have to think about it. My father began taking me to basketball games and track meets when I was 2 or so. I went all thru grade school...then all thru college. I immediately began buying season tickets.

My point is that I didn't have to be sold or talked into it. I never even considered that there was another approach to being a fan. For the masses, it will take winning...a LOT of winning...and winning consistently. The non-"no matter what fans" have other events and options competing for their time and support. So they won't just show up out of the blue. BUT...they WILL show up the more a team is winning. A example is this year's season ticket sales in baseball. We were down a bit the last 3 or so years, so season ticket sales were down. We had a good season last year, so this year there was increased demand for tickets. And if this year we meet expectations, look out next year.

Winning attracts more fans.

No doubt winning attracts more fans but the basketball team has not won enough yet to translate into significantly greater crowds. Many are skeptical this will continue due to the inconsistency from earlier in the year. I understand that view as wins vs La. Tech and Houston were followed by losses to Jackson State, ULM, and South Alabama. Some of that inconsistency is due to relying on the perimeter game heavily due to having only one inside player and that by nature is something that comes and goes. Now if Bryant Mbamalu and JJ Davenport play like they did Sat. night, the Cajuns may scare some folks as we go down the stretch. That will help crowds next season.

[lcitsh]

Where are all the fans? If I didn't live in Houston and lived back in Lafayette, I would be attending. Why do people not go? It's not just this year, it's every year.

You can take this explanation for what it's worth. When Marty Fletcher took over for Bobby Paschal, the crowds were starting to dwindle, slowly, but surely, so the timing for Bobby's departure was appropriate. Marty's arrogance turned people off even further towards the program, despite some of the good players he started bringing in, and some of the oncourt success he started getting. People started finding other things to do with their time and even when Marty won our first NCAA tournament game since the death penalty, the damage was already done. When Marty started losing and Jesse Evans came in, attendance numbers were down and Jesse had to prove himself to these fans, which took time for him to do. When he started having eligibility issues with his players, fans had no reason to trust his ability to run the program properly, so they continued to stay away. Robert Lee steps in and, despite his one year of success, people still had no reason to jump on the bandwagon and stay. Bob Marlin has walked into a situation where he, like his predecessors, has had to win over people to like him, like what he is doing, like how he is doing it and win while he is doing it. To this point, he has not done that to any degree that would result in a consistently large number of people attending games. They have found other things to do with their time. People will have to be convinced that supporting this program is important, just like Mark Hudspeth has done with football, the Lotiefs have done with softball and Tony Robichaux has done with baseball.

[CajunFan3406]

So I decided to go back and look at the 2010-2011 season during the time of the win streak to see how the attendance compared to game 5 of the streak that year and game 5 of the current streak.

February 5, 2011 was a Saturday. Game was against UALR. Attendance was 4,066. Attendance this past Saturday was 4,223. Little better.

Then in 2011 the team got road victories for wins #6 and #7 of the streak. Returned home against Arkansas State with win #8 on the line. Attendance on that night (Thursday 2/17/11) was 5,304. The crowd then followed that up with a 7,017 showing for the game against WKU (win #9) two days later, and then a whopping 8,066 the following Thursday against Denver.

That shows me that during recent bball history people showed up in excess of 5,000 for a Thursday night game to see a team that could win. Hopefully these same people can recognize a winner again and make it out on Thursday. This will be one of the final times they will be able to this year. Plus it's against a team that the Cajuns should win against. To me, that should appeal to the casual fan, as they would seem more willing to come out to see a possible win than a possible loss.

[moorecajun]

So I decided to go back and look at the 2010-2011 season during the time of the win streak to see how the attendance compared to game 5 of the streak that year and game 5 of the current streak.

February 5, 2011 was a Saturday. Game was against UALR. Attendance was 4,066. Attendance this past Saturday was 4,223. Little better.

Then in 2011 the team got road victories for wins #6 and #7 of the streak. Returned home against Arkansas State with win #8 on the line. Attendance on that night (Thursday 2/17/11) was 5,304. The crowd then followed that up with a 7,017 showing for the game against WKU (win #9) two days later, and then a whopping 8,066 the following Thursday against Denver.

That shows me that during recent bball history people showed up in excess of 5,000 for a Thursday night game to see a team that could win. Hopefully these same people can recognize a winner again and make it out on Thursday. This will be one of the final times they will be able to this year. Plus it's against a team that the Cajuns should win against. To me, that should appeal to the casual fan, as they would seem more willing to come out to see a possible win than a possible loss.

Nice stat find ... I do think we could top the 5,304 number Thursday night ... it is getting into Mardi Gras time that pulls some fans away to events, but that is generally a Saturday problem.

Let's just get 6k and win #6 in a row!

[cajunfan79]

You can take this explanation for what it's worth. When Marty Fletcher took over for Bobby Paschal, the crowds were starting to dwindle, slowly, but surely, so the timing for Bobby's departure was appropriate. Marty's arrogance turned people off even further towards the program, despite some of the good players he started bringing in, and some of the oncourt success he started getting. People started finding other things to do with their time and even when Marty won our first NCAA tournament game since the death penalty, the damage was already done. When Marty started losing and Jesse Evans came in, attendance numbers were down and Jesse had to prove himself to these fans, which took time for him to do. When he started having eligibility issues with his players, fans had no reason to trust his ability to run the program properly, so they continued to stay away. Robert Lee steps in and, despite his one year of success, people still had no reason to jump on the bandwagon and stay. Bob Marlin has walked into a situation where he, like his predecessors, has had to win over people to like him, like what he is doing, like how he is doing it and win while he is doing it. To this point, he has not done that to any degree that would result in a consistently large number of people attending games. They have found other things to do with their time. People will have to be convinced that supporting this program is important, just like Mark Hudspeth has done with football, the Lotiefs have done with softball and Tony Robichaux has done with baseball.

I'll have to disagree with you, my Dad starting to bring me to games in the Fletcher era and I have been going since. I Believe the crowds were great during the Evans era.

[CajunFan3406]

Nice stat find ... I do think we could top the 5,304 number Thursday night ... it is getting into Mardi Gras time that pulls some fans away to events, but that is generally a Saturday problem.

Let's just get 6k and win #6 in a row!

Speaking of Mardi Gras and basketball, Mardi Gras was late in 2011 as well (3/8/11).

So, alright it's agreed. 6K. Lets do it folks.

[tetragrammaton]

Also, unfortunately, it's flu season (I only say that because I had the flu at this time last year). Stuff happens.

But yes, winning generates a buzz, and we've got a buzz going. Attendance is up, though we'd like it to be higher, of course.

There is also something to be said for entertaining a crowd. During the Fletcher era, there were plenty of games where the crowd noise was amazing (remember the noise-o-meter?). I find our crowd is/was very subdued, and it takes a lot to get them into the game. One criticism I have of the timeout management is that there is always an announcer saying something or the band is playing, and the "Ragin' Cajun" cheer gets drowned out and dies out before play begins again. I wish they would have some more crowd awareness. I do have to give credit, though, to the band and student sections, as they do get rowdy.

I'd love to see 6K+ at Thursday night's game. These guys deserve that.

[SlappyCajun]

Will take promotion. We are two days before. They need to do something to get students involved.

They used to give our t-shirts at one home game per year. Not sure if they still do that.

[tetragrammaton]

They used to give our t-shirts at one home game per year. Not sure if they still do that.

Anyone remember the Red Dot shirts? I think I still have one somewhere.......

[Turbine]

Anyone remember the Red Dot shirts? I think I still have one somewhere.......

The stuff of legends.

https://forumeus.com/...?9178-Red-Dots scroll down to post #8 and then check out Jay Walker's explanation for how they came about.

Cool, funny, legendary.

[lcitsh]

I'll have to disagree with you, my Dad starting to bring me to games in the Fletcher era and I have been going since. I Believe the crowds were great during the Evans era.

Marty was here from 1986-1997. He holds 9 of the top 20 attendance records in the Cajundome, including the top 4 and 6 of the top 10. Jesse was here from 1997-2004, with 5 of the top 20 and 2 of the top 10. They averaged virtually the same season attendance, with Jesse averaging 4,965 in his 7 years, Marty with 4,963 in his 11. Both of them averaged above the 28 year average attendance of the Dome, 4,730.

Everyone will have their own preference as to what is a good number for attendance. For me, 50% of seating capacity is the minimum acceptable number for "good" attendance. Stated seating capacity for basketball in the Cajundome is 11,550, so, to me, 5,775 would be a good average attendance for the season.

[Turbine]

Well since the Cajun Dome opened in 85 and Fletcher came a year later, I'm not surprised he is high on the list.

I think he got some of the blame for the loss of atmosphere after leaving Blackham even though he wasn't the coach that opened the Dome.