Plans for the AA?

[calpoke25]

I an not convinced that the recent attendance trends are helpful for projecting future capacity needs. I think that, based on Coach Shyatt's prior tenure in Laramie, we should expect fan interest and intensity to grow into the conference season. I expect that next year we will see non-conference attendance top 8,000 for non-marquee games and that we will even break 12,000 by the end of this conference season. From 1997-2002 we saw that crowds steadily grew to a point when we could expect to sell out the current facility once or twice per year. Good basketball at Wyoming does a better job of selling tickets at the AA than good football does at War Memorial.

The recent past performance at the box office might not indicate future results.

Might is the key word in there. Until that actually happens it is just hopeful speculation. If we reduce capacity by 3K but in turn develop a big new revenue source that would only hamper max attenendence a couple times a decade. I hate to be such a downer on attendance but it's really bad. You need some creative thinking these days to get people in the stands. There are so many more entertainment possibilities in today's world all sports from the highest level down to Wyoming will have to find creative ways to get people to physically attend sporting events. It's not like it was ev en 10 years ago.

[WYCowboy]

The best way to put people in the seats in Wyoming is to win and that is what we have been doing consistently for the last month. One month is not enough time to bring large crowds back, especially when it includes the Thanksgiving & Christmas holidays when the students are mostly gone and many locals are busy and many traveling. I will hold my criticism of attendance until after New Year's when the students get back.

[Lost Poke]

I predict the attendance will be about 8k for the start of the conference season.

If the Pokes are .500 in the conference after 6 conference games, the attendance average will exceed 10k

If the Pokes get into the hunt for a conference championship, the last homes games will exceed 12k

[Cuttslam]

I an not convinced that the recent attendance trends are helpful for projecting future capacity needs. I think that, based on Coach Shyatt's prior tenure in Laramie, we should expect fan interest and intensity to grow into the conference season. I expect that next year we will see non-conference attendance top 8,000 for non-marquee games and that we will even break 12,000 by the end of this conference season. From 1997-2002 we saw that crowds steadily grew to a point when we could expect to sell out the current facility once or twice per year. Good basketball at Wyoming does a better job of selling tickets at the AA than good football does at War Memorial.

The recent past performance at the box office might not indicate future results.

Might is the key word in there. Until that actually happens it is just hopeful speculation. If we reduce capacity by 3K but in turn develop a big new revenue source that would only hamper max attenendence a couple times a decade. I hate to be such a downer on attendance but it's really bad. You need some creative thinking these days to get people in the stands. There are so many more entertainment possibilities in today's world all sports from the highest level down to Wyoming will have to find creative ways to get people to physically attend sporting events. It's not like it was ev en 10 years ago.

UW does a piss poor job on marketing, let alone being creative, how about picking a game or two on a Saturday that matters, calling it Cowboy fan appreciation day and allow Cowboy fans to enter for FREE. Yes free and generate a little interest for the pokes, try something, anything.

[laxwyo]

I an not convinced that the recent attendance trends are helpful for projecting future capacity needs. I think that, based on Coach Shyatt's prior tenure in Laramie, we should expect fan interest and intensity to grow into the conference season. I expect that next year we will see non-conference attendance top 8,000 for non-marquee games and that we will even break 12,000 by the end of this conference season. From 1997-2002 we saw that crowds steadily grew to a point when we could expect to sell out the current facility once or twice per year. Good basketball at Wyoming does a better job of selling tickets at the AA than good football does at War Memorial.

The recent past performance at the box office might not indicate future results.

Might is the key word in there. Until that actually happens it is just hopeful speculation. If we reduce capacity by 3K but in turn develop a big new revenue source that would only hamper max attenendence a couple times a decade. I hate to be such a downer on attendance but it's really bad. You need some creative thinking these days to get people in the stands. There are so many more entertainment possibilities in today's world all sports from the highest level down to Wyoming will have to find creative ways to get people to physically attend sporting events. It's not like it was ev en 10 years ago.

what he said!

[whyoh]

I an not convinced that the recent attendance trends are helpful for projecting future capacity needs. I think that, based on Coach Shyatt's prior tenure in Laramie, we should expect fan interest and intensity to grow into the conference season. I expect that next year we will see non-conference attendance top 8,000 for non-marquee games and that we will even break 12,000 by the end of this conference season. From 1997-2002 we saw that crowds steadily grew to a point when we could expect to sell out the current facility once or twice per year. Good basketball at Wyoming does a better job of selling tickets at the AA than good football does at War Memorial.

The recent past performance at the box office might not indicate future results.

Might is the key word in there. Until that actually happens it is just hopeful speculation. If we reduce capacity by 3K but in turn develop a big new revenue source that would only hamper max attenendence a couple times a decade. I hate to be such a downer on attendance but it's really bad. You need some creative thinking these days to get people in the stands. There are so many more entertainment possibilities in today's world all sports from the highest level down to Wyoming will have to find creative ways to get people to physically attend sporting events. It's not like it was ev en 10 years ago.

UW does a piss poor job on marketing, let alone being creative, how about picking a game or two on a Saturday that matters, calling it Cowboy fan appreciation day and allow Cowboy fans to enter for FREE. Yes free and generate a little interest for the pokes, try something, anything.

how about free tickets and $4 beers

[wylrae]

Well realistically descreasing the capacity of the AA has its good point; for example, when you have 2K to 3K actual butts in seats it is better to hear that the AA was 25% full rather than 20%!

Haven't made it to a game this year and didn't make it to any last year (really off for someone who probably hadn't missed more than a dozen home games in the past 15 to 20 years); frankly with HS and TB running the basketball program into the ground I, along with seven other season ticket holding buddies from the Cheyenne area (most were smart and gave up on season tickets a year earlier than I) now follow the games on radio and TV. Amazing how being away leads to development of other interests (don't know how many books I have read over the past year but I am sure it is four or five times as many as I had read in any given five-year period before.

As for renovating the AA, a year or so ago I probably would have been opposed to that but now I really don't care one way or the other. Frankly, more of the PET (pride, excellence, and tradition) banners painted in every available spot would suffice it for me. Last time I really felt any pride in the basketball program was when we bought our way into the CBI tournament and immediately lost to a team that flew in from the east coast, as I understand arriving in Laramie sometime in the late hours of the night/or wee hours of the morning of the game (I have heard 2:00 and 3:00 A.M.)!