Spaces In the Gator Crowd

[mtn2top]

Congratulations to Kevin for putting together such a comprehensive article on fan attendance of Gator basketball games.

http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20121221/ARTICLES/121229949?p=1&tc=pg

We've talked about it here in a couple of threads. A lot of great information and different perspectives in the article.

I was surprised to see Alabama faring so well in attendance. So much for the argument that UF is more of a football school and not able to also generate fan support for hoops as well.

I appreciated Bill Koss providing historical perspective. From my recollection of attending Alligator Alley games it wasn't always so well attended as the marquee match ups he mentioned. Attendance in the second Sloan era and also for Kruger were sometimes sparse, especially for the OOC schedule fillers.

[Jabberdave]

The target audience required to fill the arena on a regular basis are those in the immediate area. Get the local community, many of whom did not attend UF, to support the program. Reach out to them and make accommodations that usually only happen around this time of year when campus is a ghost town. Otherwise, I don't believe this will change.

Many people complain about it on here and then mention that they live entirely too far away to attend. I know a few that attend many games a year, but still live a couple of hours away so attending every game doesn't work. The majority of the folks I just mentioned are hardcore Gator fans and likely attended UF or have strong ties to the university. Gainesville is not full of similar folks and those that are here and are serious about Gator Basketball are the same people I see in the O'Dome night in and night out.

Gotta gain the interest of the local, non-UF affiliated community in order to generate the support. Places like Lexington, Kentucky do this. The community is behind that program even if they've never attended UK. Same with Bama.....how many times have we joked about Bama fans that are diehard fans and never attended?

Look at yourselves. You attended UF and then went on to make a life for yourself somewhere else. There is a very real difference between UF and Gainesville residents. The majority that come here for UF are only here for a short period of time and then they too end up somewhere that is too far to travel for basketball.

I can't believe I just wrote all that crap. It may require a rogdochar decoder ring to understand.

[FunnGun]

The target audience required to fill the arena on a regular basis are those in the immediate area. Get the local community, many of whom did not attend UF, to support the program. Reach out to them and make accommodations that usually only happen around this time of year when campus is a ghost town. Otherwise, I don't believe this will change.

Many people complain about it on here and then mention that they live entirely too far away to attend. I know a few that attend many games a year, but still live a couple of hours away so attending every game doesn't work. The majority of the folks I just mentioned are hardcore Gator fans and likely attended UF or have strong ties to the university. Gainesville is not full of similar folks and those that are here and are serious about Gator Basketball are the same people I see in the O'Dome night in and night out.

Gotta gain the interest of the local, non-UF affiliated community in order to generate the support. Places like Lexington, Kentucky do this. The community is behind that program even if they've never attended UK. Same with Bama.....how many times have we joked about Bama fans that are diehard fans and never attended?

Look at yourselves. You attended UF and then went on to make a life for yourself somewhere else. There is a very real difference between UF and Gainesville residents. The majority that come here for UF are only here for a short period of time and then they too end up somewhere that is too far to travel for basketball.

I can't believe I just wrote all that crap. It may require a rogdochar decoder ring to understand.

This is for your own good, and it's gonna hurt me more than it hurts you, but - tl;dr

Paging, Wobbz. Wobbz to the blue courtesy phone please.



...and I agree.

[Jabberdave]

I know. I typed some, handled some office crap, typed some more. When I was finished, I was pretty shocked at how much crap I typed.

Oh, well!

[ShowMeLove]

Excellent article OP and excellent follow-up post Jab.

[8802gator]

No one in my family has ever gotten a college degree. I will be the first. We are just hardcore Gator fans. I am going to St. Pete College. I try to get to one football game a year ( this year it was the LSU game), and a couple basketball games per season. Basketball games are just tougher for someone like me to get to. The tickets are cheap enough but I can only get up to Gville on the weekends because of work and school. Schedule is the limiting factor for me. Right now I am shooting for the Mizzou or Ole Miss games.

[Swamp82]

Living 4 hours away is my reason for not making many games. We do several Football games and a couple of Basketball games, as we do the same for Baseball. If I lived in Gainesville I would be broke from going to as much as possible between the three sports mentioned above

[8802gator]

Living 4 hours away is my reason for not making many games. We do several Football games and a couple of Basketball games, as we do the same for Baseball. If I lived in Gainesville I would be broke from going to as much as possible between the three sports mentioned above

I have only been to one baseball game but it was a good one. It was the super regional when we knocked FSU out on our way to Omaha. Fun day. Gator baseball is the only baseball I can tolerate to watch. I played baseball for 14 years and loved every minute of it, but I would rather watch paint dry than watch some team other than the Gators play.

[crosscreekcooter]

:lol: I know. I typed some, handled some office crap, typed some more. When I was finished, I was pretty shocked at how much crap I typed.

Oh, well!

Making coffee or restocking the Renuzit in the bathroom?

[Jabberdave]

:lol: I know. I typed some, handled some office crap, typed some more. When I was finished, I was pretty shocked at how much crap I typed.

Oh, well!

Making coffee or restocking the Renuzit in the bathroom?

Emptying the fry basket.

[WhoGator]

Congratulations to Kevin for putting together such a comprehensive article on fan attendance of Gator basketball games.

Gator football games are an event, you set aside the day and there are only 6 or 7 of them... all on Saturdays. Only some Gator basketball games are viewed as events, such as a weekend SEC game, Kentucky... and all are in the spring. The 2012 "marquee" games mentioned in the article, Wisconsin and Marquette, were on Wednesday and Thursday night with one of them starting at 9pm.

I was surprised to see Alabama faring so well in attendance. So much for the argument that UF is more of a football school and not able to also generate fan support for hoops as well.

FROM CENSUS: Birmingham is the largest city in the state with a population currently estimated at 242,820, and a metro population of 1,079,089.

Gainesville being Gainesville is a huge problem. Birmingham is just 45 minutes from Tuscaloosa, all by interstate. Jax is a little more than an hour, but roads to Gainesville are brutal. Tampa and Orlando are two hours away.

As for drawing from the locals, I live in Gainesville. Consistency in attendance is tough. I probably go to 8-10 games a season, and just a few of them are pre-planned events. Most weeknight games however, life gets in the way. In the spring, baseball and softball often compete and usually provide more fun for the family. We also attend lacrosse and gymnastics, most which are on Fridays or Sundays and tying up some of the weekend.

Great job by Kevin putting together facts and not relying much on opinion.

[CGgater]

I live in Ohio, so I'm "juuuuuuuust a BIT outside" driving distance for games. You guys are gonna have to do a better job down there!

[Swamp82]

I think we do better then most schools in the southeast.