DePaul Attendance Hits 37 Year Low

[notkirkcameron]

In re: Chicago Big 5 or Illinois Crossorads Tournament

Chicago Big 5 or Illinois Crossroads Classic is a terrible idea simply due to the dearth of quality basketball being played at the collegiate level in this City and State. There are 13 Illinois-based D1 teams, many with overlapping conference affiliations: Illinois, Northwestern, DePaul, Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western, Bradley, Illinois State, Loyola, UIC, SIU-Edwardsville, and Chicago State. Six of the last nine NCAA Tournaments have seen zero teams from the State of Illinois participate. 2007 was the last year that Illinois sent multiple teams to the Tournament (Illinois and Southern Illinois), and the last year that a team from Illinois reached the second weekend (Southern Illinois).

In re: DePaul, particularly
Chicago is the Big East's second-largest TV market and its largest single-team market. How much money is the Big East leaving on the table because nobody gives a rat's ass about DePaul? If only from a mathematical perspective. DePaul's tickets-distributed amounted to 5,514 tickets per game over 14 home games in Rosemont. DePaul's turnstile count at Allstate Arena averaged 2,395 fans over 14 home games. The basketball capacity at Allstate Arena is 17,500. That means that DePaul only sold, or gave away, approximately 3 out of every 10 available tickets, and of those 3, only one was used every game, with another being used approximately every other game. Those are mystifying numbers. You almost have to TRY to be that bad.

Butler has won almost as many Big East Conference regular season games (38) as DePaul (41), despite DePaul having an eight-year head start on the Bulldogs. Even more shockingly, Xavier has actually won MORE Big East regular season games (42) than DePaul (41).

[GoldenWarrior11]

I will take the criticism of DePaul's commitment from Marquette fans seriously when they show me the last time their university dropped $80 million on a new stadium.

Until that happens, go pound sand.

And I will take critiques from DePaul fans seriously when the program stops finishing dead last in the conference every year.

The new stadium will not cover up the trash that is currently the men's basketball program. Until they actually get a good head coach and athletic director, they will continue to finish at the bottom of the conference each and every year. I'd encourage DePaul fans to stop attending games as a sign of protest to administration, but it appears they all have stopped going already.

[mcnaug167]

A new arena will give you a bump for a year. After that, the honeymoon wears off quick. If Depaul can pull together a winner to pair with the new arena, then they caught lightening in a bottle. If they continue to be a doormat, then attendance issues will persist.

I'm a Mets fan, and they saw the same thing with Citi Field. They opened up the new park and saw a boost in attendance that first year. 6 straight losing teams caused attendance to drop very quickly and didnt rebound until the team did.

[notkirkcameron]

I will take the criticism of DePaul's commitment from Marquette fans seriously when they show me the last time their university dropped $80 million on a new stadium.

Until that happens, go pound sand.

And I will take critiques from DePaul fans seriously when the program stops finishing dead last in the conference every year.

The new stadium will not cover up the trash that is currently the men's basketball program. Until they actually get a good head coach and athletic director, they will continue to finish at the bottom of the conference each and every year. I'd encourage DePaul fans to stop attending games as a sign of protest to administration, but it appears they all have stopped going already.

Now now now, they're not last EVERY year....

Just 6 of the last 8, and only finishing in the top half of the Big East once.

2006: 13th out of 16.
2007: 8th out of 16.
2008: 13th out of 16.
2009: Last out of 16.
2010: Last out of 16.
2011: Last out of 16.
2012: Last out of 16.
2013: Last out of 15.
2014: Last out of 10.
2015: 7th out of 10.
2016: 9th out of 10.


But hey, DePaul!

[ivet]

And I will take critiques from DePaul fans seriously when the program stops finishing dead last in the conference every year.

Now now now, they're not last EVERY year....

Just 6 of the last 8, and only finishing in the top half of the Big East once.

2006: 13th out of 16.
2007: 8th out of 16.
2008: 13th out of 16.
2009: Last out of 16.
2010: Last out of 16.
2011: Last out of 16.
2012: Last out of 16.
2013: Last out of 15.
2014: Last out of 10.
2015: 7th out of 10.
2016: 9th out of 10.


But hey, DePaul!
[/quote]

Nah man, DePaul's got 10 of these ribbons hanging up on their trophy case. Can't wait to see large ones being hung up on the rafters on the new arena.

[Demon22]

And I will take critiques from DePaul fans seriously when the program stops finishing dead last in the conference every year.

Nonsense.

The fact that we're a dumpster fire doesn't mean you're not posting hypocritical garbage.

[MUBoxer]

And I will take critiques from DePaul fans seriously when the program stops finishing dead last in the conference every year.

Nonsense.

The fact that we're a dumpster fire doesn't mean you're not posting hypocritical garbage.

Exactly what was the hypocritical part? Outside of the statement about financing the arena he just posted facts. I'm pretty sure Marquette wants Depaul to become competitive again more than anybody so we have a real rivalry again (the ND game used to have a line out the door and down the street every year)

Obviously the united center was never truly plausible. However I do sometimes wonder if you could have made an arrangement for a Nova or SJU style deal where only a handful of games at the UC and the rest on campus.

[prebilliken]

I'm pretty sure Marquette wants Depaul to become competitive again more than anybody so we have a real rivalry again (the ND game used to have a line out the door and down the street every year)

.

If only there was another Midwestern School desperate to join the conference that would make a perfect natural rival...

Also, we have a massive Alumni base in Chicago, we'll help fill seats at DePaul's new arena.

[Demon22]

Exactly what was the hypocritical part?

You don't think it's hypocritical to question DePaul's commitment to basketball when your school has never, ever made the kind of financial investment in basketball that DePaul has in Wintrust Arena?

I mean, if you want to call DePaul stupid, incompetent, loyal to a fault, or anything else along those lines, then I'm right there with you. But not committed? Seriously? In the last 10 years, they've spent ridiculous, stupid amounts of money to lure Oliver Purnell away from Clemson, and they've built a freakin' basketball arena. How on Earth is that not committed? Say what you want about the program and the people in charge of it, but they've put their money where their mouths are.

But this is GoldenWarrior11's MO when it comes to DePaul. Spend 90% of his post rehashing how bad the team is, and then say they're not committed. It's lazy and it's not even remotely accurate. And coming from a fan of a school who seems content to allow Wisconsin taxpayers to pick up a larger tab for their new building than the entire cost of Wintrust Arena, it's more than a little hypocritical.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Exactly what was the hypocritical part?

You don't think it's hypocritical to question DePaul's commitment to basketball when your school has never, ever made the kind of financial investment in basketball that DePaul has in Wintrust Arena?

I mean, if you want to call DePaul stupid, incompetent, loyal to a fault, or anything else along those lines, then I'm right there with you. But not committed? Seriously? In the last 10 years, they've spent ridiculous, stupid amounts of money to lure Oliver Purnell away from Clemson, and they've built a freakin' basketball arena. How on Earth is that not committed? Say what you want about the program and the people in charge of it, but they've put their money where their mouths are.

But this is GoldenWarrior11's MO when it comes to DePaul. Spend 90% of his post rehashing how bad the team is, and then say they're not committed. It's lazy and it's not even remotely accurate. And coming from a fan of a school who seems content to allow Wisconsin taxpayers to pick up a larger tab for their new building than the entire cost of Wintrust Arena, it's more than a little hypocritical.

Uh... Marquette spent $31 million in on the Al McGuire Center in 2002 - a basketball only complex. Marquette is now spending at least, not officially reported, $80 million on a brand new athletics facility on campus (the other $30 million is from Aurora Health Care). Marquette consistently has one of the top basketball budgets in the country, including use of a private jet for recruiting for the coaching staff. My schools not only spends money, it knows how to spend money. What exactly is hypocritical?

Their incompetence, nepotism and stupidity prove that. Their repeated failures in hiring failing coaches prove that. Their insistence on keeping a player's parent on staff for a new coach proves that. Their mandate that they keep relatives on the team of athletic department personnel prove that. Their sham interview process in hiring Leitao, one in which a search firm they paid and utilized for (a former head coach), shows that. The ultimate showing of why DePaul doesn't care about men's basketball? JLP reading off the pillars of the men's program at Leitao's introductory press conference - AND WINNING WASN'T MENTIONED ONCE. DePaul is not committed to a winning men's basketball program, period.

Explain to me how DePaul, at present, is any different from Temple Football from 1991-2004 in the Big East? Temple finished last in the conference year-in and year-out. Their attendance was atrocious. They consistently had 0, 1 or 2 conferences wins every year. They ended up getting kicked out of the conference. In a conference driven by the success of men's basketball, why should nine schools accept that one won't do what is necessary and get rid of the individuals responsible for practically stealing money from the conference and accepting failure every year?