George Mason Basketball: George Mason's average attendance dropped 12.5% this season. Still drew more fans than Miami and Georgia Tech

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

George Mason's average attendance dropped 12.5% this season. Still drew more fans than Miami and Georgia Tech

Not a huge surprise to hear George Mason basketball's average attendance dropped this season, with Jim Larranaga leaving town, a weak schedule and some disappointing early losses in November. David Teel of the Daily Press wrote about ACC attendance numbers today and had some notes from other Virginia area schools pointing out some interesting observations. I think it's funny despite Mason's 12.5% decrease they still managed to draw more fans than their ex-head coach, who fled for Miami and Georgia Tech, the school from where their current head coach was fired.

George Mason

Last season: 5,896

This season: 5,161

Down: 12.5%

Miami

Last season: 4,763

This season: 4,248

Down: 10.8%

Georgia Tech

Last season: 6,095

This season: 4,929

Down: 19.1%

As a whole the CAA was down 4.7% in attendance this season and VCU was the only Virginia school in the conference to see an increase.

[Daily Press]

24 Comments:

Christopher Hirsch said...: Looking back, it sucks that Mason wasn't able to have a stronger season the year after the Final Four run. Think a better follow up could have really helped Mason try to take the step to the next level.; 1:44 PM
Lala said...: We were an Eric Maynor miricale show away from getting back to the tournament.; 1:50 PM
gmuhoops said...: Yeah it definitely hurt considering they only lost 3 starters, meanwhile VCU looks better than last year and they lost 4.; 1:51 PM
BP said...: disappointing to hear, considering we always put on a good show at home, even when we're not playing our best, we found ways to scrape out a victory. I guess that wasn't enough drama to draw in more fans.; 1:56 PM
Heather said...: I blame the school's lack of commit to make Basketball a big part of student life. I can't even count the number of games that had next to NO ONE in the student section and their tickets are FREE. If students don't care enough to show up to a free game that is a 5 minute walk from where they live how can we expect them to then turn around and buy season tickets after they graduate as well? hmm?; 2:01 PM
Kathryn said...: Do you think all of those late (9 pm) week night games had anything to do with it?; 2:12 PM
gmuhoops said...: There were only two, but yeah that certainly didn't help numbers. Next season should be improved, especially with the home opener against UVA; 2:33 PM
Jcr621 said...: I do. I attended a fair number of games this season (although do not have season tickets) and think 9pm games were a drawback. Wasn't even filled at the VCU/GMU game which was sad. But that was one of those 9pm (and Valentine's) games.; 2:34 PM
Rob said...: 9PM definitely hurt, and so did having a lot of games over the student breaks. Maybe it's that way every year, but it sure seemed like a lot of games hit on breaks...and Mason isn't "a commuter school" so much anymore.; 2:39 PM
Moses said...: Were you at the Duquesne game?; 3:34 PM
Dsndsn said...: I think attendance was down everywhere, did you see any Maryland games this year...there were a lot of fans disguised as empty seats in the Comcast Center. The Miami decrease really surprises me, we all know how Coach L can excite a program. Similarly the Ga. Tech decease is hard to explain. A drop of close to 20%? Maybe Hewitt's coaching was not their entire problem. Living in the Shenandoah Valley now regular attendance at games is not possible, but I can assure you that moving the game time will not resolve the attendance issues until new roads are built.....face it with no direct access to ANY major roads it will always be "hurry-up and wait" at best on weeknight games at Patriot Center because of D.C. rush hour. Its just where you are located.; 6:37 PM
BP said...: luckily I wasn't. 18 really is our unlucky number. but overall we have a tremendous home record over the past few seasons.; 9:05 AM
BP said...: they've already announced games for next season?; 9:09 AM
gmuhoops said...: see here:
http://georgemasonbasketball.blogspot.com/2012/02/george-masons-home-opener-for-2012-2013.html; 9:10 AM
BP said...: ahh guess i missed that post. Man let's hope we can put up more of a fight next time around.; 9:23 AM
93patriot said...: Mason's long winter break hurts us in terms of attendance. The university could help us out by trimming the winter break and scheduling road games during the winter break.; 12:59 PM
93patriot said...: Watch ESPN any night of the week....other schools pack 9pm games.; 1:00 PM
93patriot said...: That was VERY disappointing. We were in a position to take control of the CAA, instead ODU and VCU have done that. VCU's success this season is the biggest punch in the face to Mason - getting into the NCAA tournament consecutive years. As bad as this has steamed me over the last few days, I'm not sure it really matters. Mason has proven we can win the regular season despite our inability to win the CAA tournament, and that has led to us getting at-large bids despite our lack of CAA dominance. In fact, we have done better in the NCAA's as an at large (2006 and 2011). VCU's dominance really only hurts our pride. How about this - every CAA team other than VCU needs to work all year on breaking their press. VCU is going to take it to some teams again this year, but we know what they do. We just need to overcome it. Without their successful press, they are not successful.; 1:07 PM
Guest said...: The question is WHY haven't we turned into a power? Let's be honest, we've turned into a decent, middle of the pack, CAA team. VCU has done the opposite and have gotten stronger. Let's look at what they did.

Their AD made an investment in the head coach who took them to the Final Four. Our coach wasn't even offered the same as Shaka's salary, and we have more money than VCU 20 times over. And a new coach with a big name was hired within a week.

VCU is building a practice facility. We still practice in the Patriot Center, unless there is a conflict, like the Enrique Iglesias show this year, then the team gets bumped to the RAC.

While I can't stand VCU, there is a lot they do that we should have/still can.; 5:26 PM
Guest said...: I don't want to "scrape" out a victory against Towson and Lamar at home. I want to win by 30. We had ONE dominant home performance this year, against Delaware. How many did we have last year? Or the year before that? Or before that?; 5:28 PM
Guest said...: Most schools on ESPN are major schools like UNC, Duke, Kentucky and the like. It's different for them.; 5:31 PM
Think About It said...: This is exactly why mason needs a football program. WE are loosing interest in our mediocre basketball program. We either need to fully support the basketball team or start thinking about getting a football program. We are loosing fans which means less donations from alumni.; 4:00 PM
taylormade703 said...: Maybe I read it wrong, but Coach L never "fled" from Mason. That implies he ran away as quickly as an opportunity came up. That wasn't even remotely the truth. More will come out as time goes on, but he never "fled".; 8:40 PM
BuzzDraft said...: Georgia Tech didn't have a home venue. The arena is being rebuilt and Tech had to play out in Gwinnett county and downtown in Philips Arena. That inconvenience took out a large number of students being able to get there, not to mention ticket sales.; 5:36 PM

George Mason's average attendance dropped 12.5% this season. Still drew more fans than Miami and Georgia Tech

George Mason Basketball

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

George Mason's average attendance dropped 12.5% this season. Still drew more fans than Miami and Georgia Tech

24 Comments:

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