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This thread was inspired by some comments at the end of last night's game thread. I wanted to look at the (very limited) sample of games and see how we are doing thus far compared to the whole OOC last year. Below are the teams attendance this year v.s. last year in order of highest attendance this year. This is OOC ONLY. I have tried to keep the formatting readable. Numbers are from ESPN, not all are available yet.

1. Creighton
Last year-1

2014-15
C. Ark: 18,160
Ch. St: 16,143
Ok. : 17,393
NCC : 17,290
E. Ill : 17,408
S.Dak: 16,270
Avg. : 17,111

2013-14
Alc. St.: 17,740
UMKC : 16,859
Tulsa : 18,078
Neb. : 17,530
Cal. : 17,466
Ch. St.: 17,466
Avg : 17,358

Difference: -247
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2. Marquette
Last year-2

2014-15
UT-Mart: 12,901
Omaha : 12,575
NJIT : 11,966
Wisc. : 18,573
Avg. : 14,005

2013-14
Southern: 14,269
Gramb. : 13,372
Oh. St. : 18,756
UNH : 13,522
IUPUI : 13,972
Ball St. : 13,688
Samford : 14,688
Avg : 14,604

Difference: -599
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3. Xavier
Last year-3

2014-15
N. Arizona: 10,250
Long B. : 9,457
SF Austin : 9,514
Murray St.: 9,496
Alabama : 10,250
IUPUI : 9,634
Avg. : 9,759

2013-14
Gard. Webb: 10,250
Tennessee : 9,878
Morehead : 9,528
Miami (oh) : 9,514
Ab. Christ. : 9,269
Bowl Green: 9,270
Evansville : 9,086
Wake For. : 10,064
Avg. : 9,607

Difference: +152
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4. Georgetown
Last year-4

2014-15
St. Fran. NY: 7,854
Texas AMCC: 4,887
Robert M. : 8,017
Towson : N/A
Kansas : 14,164
Avg. : 8,731

2013-14
Wright State: 7,350
Lipscomb : 8,165
High Point : 4,676
Colgate : 7,966
Elon : 7,586
Flor. Intl. : 7,824
Avg. : 7,261

Difference: +1,470
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5. Providence
Last year-6

2014-15
Albany: 9,599
Bingh : N/A
Navy : 6,051
Yale : 8,045
Brown : 4,124
URI : 12,246
Avg. : 8,013

2013-14
Boston College: 11,102
Brown : 6,891
Marist : 6,799
Vermont : 5,021
Fairfield : 7,769
Yale : 3,281
Maine : 5,328
Avg. : 6,599

Difference: +1,414
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6. Nova
Last year-7

2014-15
Lehigh: N/A
MD ES : 6,500
Buck. : 6,500
Del. : 11,289
St. Jo : 6,500
Avg. : 7,697

2013-14
Lafayette: 6,500
Mt. St. M.: 6,500
Towson : 6,500
Delaware: 6,500
Penn. : 6,500
LaSalle : 6,500
Rider : 6,500
Avg. : 6,500

Difference: +1,297
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7. Seton Hall
Last year-10

2014-15
Mercer: 7,075
GW : 7,774
Mt.StM : 5,912
Rutgers: 8,710
Avg. : 7,368

2013-14
Niagara: 6,523
Kent St: 5,601
Monm : 5,679
FDU : 6,286
LIU Bkn: 6,112
NJIT : 6,443
St. P. : 6,725
E. Was: 6,190
Lafay : 1,779
Avg. :5,704

Difference: +1,664
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8. Butler
Last year-5

2014-15
Maine : 7,62
Chatt. : 5,409
Loy. Md: 6,058
NW : 7,920
Kennes : 5,103
Avg. : 6,428

2013-14
Lamar : 9,617
Princet : 7,471
Vandy : 6,617
N. Dak : 6,355
Manch : 5,931
NJIT : 6,504
Avg. : 7,083

Difference: -655
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9. DePaul
Last Year-9

2014-15
Ill-Chicago: 3,501
Drake : 5,340
Lehigh : 5,785
Stanford : 5,990
NIU : 5,457
Milwaukee : N/A
Avg. : 5,215

2013-14
Grambling: 3,254
So. Miss. : 5,840
Wright St. : 6,162
Ore. St. : 6,765
Ariz. St. : 6,888
Fl. Atl. : 5,564
Chic State : 6,627
Houston B.: 5,101
Avg. : 5,775

Difference: -560
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10. St. John's
Last year-8

2014-15
NJIT : 4,703
Fr. Pierc: 3,553
LIU Bkn : 3,733
Niagara : 4,475
FDU : 4,528
Avg. : 4,198

2013-14
Wagner: 4,337
Buckn : 3,963
Monm : 4,185
Longw : 3,531
Fordh : 10,803
Syracu: 16,357
San Fr : 4,282
Youngs: 4,248
Avg. : 6,463

Difference: -2,265
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BE 2014-15
1. Creighton: 17,111
2. Marquette: 14,005
3. Xavier : 9,759
4. G'town : 8,731
5. Providenc: 8,013
6. Villanova : 7,697
7. Seton Hall: 7,368
8. Butler : 6,428
9. DePaul : 5,215
10. St. John : 4,198
Avg. : 8,852

BE 2013-14
1. Creighton: 17,358
2. Marquette: 14,604
3. Xavier : 9,607
4. G'town : 7,261
5. Butler : 7,083
6. Providenc: 6,599
7. Villanova : 6,500
8. St. John : 6,463
9. DePaul : 5,775
10. Seton H : 5,704
Avg. : 8,695

We are averaging as a conference 157 more as a conference to this point. Still some more OOC to go, but not bad everyone.

I understand the purpose in your "average" and in your "difference"... By difference you mean between the two averages... But I roughly counted +5,000 tickets sold for SHU's first handful of home games. Yet your difference only has a plus 1,000 and change... So while, I get why you did the "average" and "difference" sections, those numbers can be very misleading.

shupat08 wrote:I understand the purpose in your "average" and in your "difference"... By difference you mean between the two averages... But I roughly counted +5,000 tickets sold for SHU's first handful of home games. Yet your difference only has a plus 1,000 and change... So while, I get why you did the "average" and "difference" sections, those numbers can be very misleading.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. We won't know the full difference until the end of the OOC season. This is a basic comparison of what we are averaging now v.s. what we averaged over the entirety of last season's OOC games. So far so good.

The difference section is the difference in averages. I guess I could have been clearer on that. The thread is meant as sort of an informational exercise.

It is hard to measure SJU at this point because they have not played a home game at the Garden yet (first one is Sunday) and you have two game there from last season included. Duke will be the only other non con at MSG and that will likely sell out.

redmen9194 wrote:It is hard to measure SJU at this point because they have not played a home game at the Garden yet (first one is Sunday) and you have two game there from last season included. Duke will be the only other non con at MSG and that will likely sell out.

Yeah, I noticed that. I will update once the OOC is over. I have a feeling SJ will go up, Marquette will go down, not sure how the others will be since I haven't looked at the future games for everyone. This is sort of progress report/data point. I needed a reason to procrastinate studying for my exam.

What is wrong with those numbers? Your New York and Chicago teams are at the bottom. As I continue to say, this conference will NOT reach its peak until St. John's and DePaul improve their programs big-time. So as much as you all rip the heck out of these 2 programs, your goal is to hope they become a force again.

Yes, I am a long-time DePaul fan but the media drives popularity, in general.

Thanks for putting this together. Though it is hard to make any meaningful inferences with just these raw numbers, it is nevertheless insightful as a first approximation.

I always love stats, and these numbers are nice, but as said earlier, only an exercise in addition and division. There are a number of asterisks. One is venue. It matters a lot where the game is played at those schools that have two options. Another is that Butler has reduced capacity of Hinkle. Third is the opponent. Georgetown schedules Kansas last year instead of this year, and their numbers change dramatically. And which of these are tickets distributed versus actual turnstile numbers? There is evidence that DePaul averaged around 1,500 butts in seats last year, yet distributed 5,000 tickets. I believe Butler's numbers are actual attendance through the gates.

But still, this data set shows a basically flat line to date. Not good, not bad.

Missing data is available here:
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/depa/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2014-15/box_score/stats_20141207aaa.pdf
http://www.friars.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2014-2015/nov17.html
http://www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2014-2015/teamcume.html
http://www.villanova.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2014-2015/game1.html

HoosierPal wrote:But still, this data set shows a basically flat line to date. Not good, not bad.

A flat line would not be that terrible. I mean look at Xavier or the Pavilion. Those are small, packed gyms. There's no room to fit anyone else.

Despite the reputation of the Big East as one embedded in giant NBA arenas, which constantly holds our schedule back every fall, only two of the ten teams share an arena with an NBA team for the whole season (Marquette and Georgetown). Once DePaul downsizes into their new arena it will further reduce capacity leaguewide.

notkirkcameron wrote:

HoosierPal wrote:But still, this data set shows a basically flat line to date. Not good, not bad.

A flat line would not be that terrible. I mean look at Xavier or the Pavilion. Those are small, packed gyms. There's no room to fit anyone else.

Despite the reputation of the Big East as one embedded in giant NBA arenas, which constantly holds our schedule back every fall, only two of the ten teams share an arena with an NBA team for the whole season (Marquette and Georgetown). Once DePaul downsizes into their new arena it will further reduce capacity leaguewide.

Don't forget that with Butler's renovations to Hinkle Fieldhouse, seats were taken out. Along with the on-going construction along 52nd street, which eliminates a quarter of the available parking around Hinkle, I'd say the Dawgs are still drawing decently.