Crowd estimate for Basketball Senior Night.

[Ragin4U]

I did look at attendance per game. You are right, there was a reduction in the years after 86 but those numbers were still on par, if not better, than what we had this year and the effect of the oilfield on the local economy was much worse. The point Rebel tried to make was that the economy is the biggest reason we've seen a decline in attendance. I'm not saying that the local economy hasn't kept a small portion of fans away but this area is much more insulated than 30 years ago and that I think there are other reasons as to why our attendance isn't better even with a winning team.

How many of those '80s games were televised? People have more choices today.

[zephyr]

How many of those '80s games were televised? People have more choices today.

Absolutely. Again, you will have to go to the previous statements to chime in. I argued, and still do, that the economy has had much less effect on our attendance than what Rebel was suggesting. I do agree that television, streaming and other factors have led to a reduction in attendance as well as the emergence of sports like baseball to where many people don't get into basketball like they once did.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Are you talking about Robert Reford or Radford University? I'm so confused.

Yes, you're usually are.

Robert Redford is an actor never noted for basketball. Redford in my use was an auto correct for Radford whose been a big story on ESPN basketball talk. Now maybe you getting it

[CajunEXPRESS]

Can I have your season tickets for next year since it doesn't seem like you're all that interested.

No, you can’t. If I’m not interested I’ll quit buying them, and investing 260 mike round trips. On the other hand Lafayette seems to be to busy to invest a 12
mile round trip for lil sisters of the poor opponents.

[Cajun90]

Absolutely. Again, you will have to go to the previous statements to chime in. I argued, and still do, that the economy has had much less effect on our attendance than what Rebel was suggesting. I do agree that television, streaming and other factors have led to a reduction in attendance as well as the emergence of sports like baseball to where many people don't get into basketball like they once did.

From economist Loren Scott "Lafayette's Metropolitan Statistical Area — it includes Lafayette, St. Martin, Vermilion, Acadia and Iberia parishes — may have lost some 23,500 jobs, 10.6 percent, between the August 2014 high oil price of $105.71 per barrel to its low price of $27.76 in January 2016."

The majority of those in O&G (myself included) who managed to hang on have had our pay slashed and benefits cut. I'm not talking 10% I mean 30-60 percent. That has mean't thousands less going to UL athletics just from me. There is no way that those types of cuts don't have a major impact on disposable income.

I have a very direct and simple explanation for baseball remaining high with ticket sales. The story I'm about to tell is echoed by others holding seats in the grandstand as well.

I've been an off and on season ticket holder in basketball, football, softball, and baseball. I've been most consistent about baseball. The bottom line is that it is supply and demand. You see if I give up my baseball season tickets after 21 years I will probably never get the oppurtunity to get those types of tickets back again in my lifetime. Basketball or football season tickets..... I can get pretty decent season tickets anytime I want. So two years ago I had a choice to make. I needed to go from three sports to one sport and cut my RCAF support. The math wasn't going to work any other way. So I choose baseball because I knew I wouldn't likely have an oppurtunity to get back to that type of level.

Economics certainly isn't the be all end all but I believe you protest too much. Take that unemployment number and triple it for those that are "under employed". Restaurants across the board are down around 10%. That is if they have even survived. Trust me I know. I'm in the business. Attorneys have also taken a hit. At least two that are big UL fans have said they have been off 10-15 percent over the past couple of years.

So personally the economy has had an effect on my attendance as well as a number of other UL fans I am friends with.

[Duggie35]

Attorneys have also taken a hit. At least two that are big UL fans have said they have been off 10-15 percent over the past couple of years.

So personally the economy has had an effect on my attendance as well as a number of other UL fans I am friends with.

I don’t see where Attorneys having less business is a bad thing! LOL!!!!

[Cajunsmike]

Nice research. Thanks for posting.
So, since the Cajundome opened we have had only two seasons with average attendance of at least 6,000 - 1985-86 (opening year) and 1993-94.
However, in the eight seasons prior to the dome (the last eight in Blackham) only two years were less than 6,000. The last two years in Blackham the attendance averaged over 7,000 (nearly 7,500).
In the '83-84 season we were #58 in the NCAA in attendance (137,404) with 18 home games. In '84-85 season we ranked #61 in the NCAA in attendance (109,745) in 15 home games.
Since '86 we have had 10 seasons with average attendance of at least 5,000. Most of those were between '86 and 2000. Not since Jessie Evans was coach and the likes of Laurie Bridges, Brian Hamilton, Brad Boyd, et al were on the court has the Cajundome seen an average of 5,000 fans.
The year was 2002-03 and for 11 home games the Cajuns averaged 5,670 fans.
On 2/11/03 vs. UNO there were 8,121 in attendance. On 2/26/03 vs. WKY there were 9,121 fans in the dome.
It is hard to fathom that in the last 15 years there has been only 1 season with average attendance of at least 5,000. This program deserves better. This program can do better. I would have thought that in the last eight years we could have reached this mark. We haven't. I am not sure what the answer is, but I think there is one out there. I hope the powers that be are working on it.
Go Cajuns!

I don't think there is a solution other than changing conferences. Playing our old rivals in CUSA would help as well as Tech, Rice, USM, and UAB regularly. After awhile it probably would not be much different than now. To really impact things, we have to move to the AAC. On the court, the SBC is similar to CUSA other than perception and that still matters. We won't be able to get any name teams to come to the Dome in non conference for the foreseeable future and there are just too many other options for people to pay attention to a one bid league these days. That is true almost everywhere, not just here. In fact we are better off than many others. Pulling an upset on the road against a major school would also help. Finally, in no way am I suggesting the administration should not continue to work on marketing the program. As others have said, a better social media platform would help and they cannot do enough to work on student attendance. Our administration did have their focus on a couple of other issues when basketball started this year. That likely hurt promotion. Hopefully they won't have anything like that to deal with next year.