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Post by uscg2012 on Nov 29, 2021 11:07:03 GMT -6
The announced crowd for this game was 1480. The only game I am aware of that has been played at the Resch with a smaller crowd is Oakland in 2020, with a crowd of 1232. Nine of the ten smallest crowds in the past decade were assembled at the Kress Events Center. Five of those games were against Non D1 opponents. The facts don't lie. Playing at the Kress, especially against Non D1 teams is more a part of the problem than it is a part of the solution. For anyone that deeply cares about this program they would unite on this topic and ask the program to stop shooting itself in the foot by playing in that building. You know I’m with you. Unless it would be a conference tournament game I won’t attend a game at the Kress. It’s not a college basketball atmosphere, it’s a library.
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Post by barnzoboy on Nov 29, 2021 13:11:02 GMT -6
Don't you suppose that the hope is that playing on-campus will engage students more? But, as you point out, the results don't seem to support that. Despite the low overall numbers, I wonder do more students attend a game at the Kress versus the Resch?
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Nov 29, 2021 14:36:53 GMT -6
Students don't pay to get into games and their energy level at the games is reflective of that. Student engagement is an ideal core value of D1 athletics. If there was an actively engaged student body I would give that some more weight in my thought process.
Playing at the Kress to benefit the free customer while being an inconvenience or worse experience to the potential paying customer is where things currently sit. That doesn't make sense.
I know this, the Kress is not were the community and alumni want to play. It is reflected in the attendance figures that have been released since the building was built. Getting the community and alumni more engaged is also an ideal core value of D1 athletics and one that can be monetarily more successful. Get that side of the house rolling and the students will find their way to the west side of Green Bay just like did for the good teams and games under Bennett, Heideman, Kowalczyk and Wardle.
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Nov 29, 2021 14:40:00 GMT -6
The announced crowd for this game was 1480. The only game I am aware of that has been played at the Resch with a smaller crowd is Oakland in 2020, with a crowd of 1232. Nine of the ten smallest crowds in the past decade were assembled at the Kress Events Center. Five of those games were against Non D1 opponents. The facts don't lie. Playing at the Kress, especially against Non D1 teams is more a part of the problem than it is a part of the solution. For anyone that deeply cares about this program they would unite on this topic and ask the program to stop shooting itself in the foot by playing in that building. You know I’m with you. Unless it would be a conference tournament game I won’t attend a game at the Kress. It’s not a college basketball atmosphere, it’s a library. If GB starts playing in conference tournament games at the Kress it will likely be the GLIAC tournament and I know I don't want to be part of that.
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Post by Heartbroken Phoenix Fan on Nov 29, 2021 16:46:14 GMT -6
I hate games at the kress too but don’t they have to pay a fee to play at the resch? That is a clear reason why they play games at the kress that won’t draw regardless.
That said it was dumb to play Colgate in 2019 and Indiana St in 2021 at the Kress. Those games likely won’t have drawn regardless given when they were but you never know.
I did attend the CIT games at the Kress and they felt more like college basketball atmospheres than games at the Resch do. It boils down to winning. You could play in a tavern or in a barn and if you are winning they will come. If not which they haven’t in awhile, it depends on the venue.
Obviously fans are going to be more engaged in tourney games than a regular season Tuesday night game.
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Post by phoenixphan87 on Nov 30, 2021 10:16:18 GMT -6
I am okay with a few games each year at the Kress. This year there are far too many and too many good games that would draw a hell of a lot more people at the Resch. 3000 plus at the Resch is a solid basketball atmosphere and the right games this year can approach those numbers. Wins are coming, lets hope more people come out too.
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Nov 30, 2021 13:45:14 GMT -6
I went through the box scores and this is what I found.
Green Bay has played in the Kress 16 times during the regular season. They have also played some preseason games there but for the purpose of this conversation I am going to focus on the regular season.
They played 5 non D1 teams at the Kress. Those crowds were 1042 for Wisco Lutheran, 1452 for Stout, 1480 for Superior, 1541 for Stout and too bad to publish for Concordia Chicago.
They have played 3 Krash the Kress games. Those crowds were 3872 for UIC, 3720 for Milwaukee and 3369 for Cleveland State. Those were pretty well done events that tried to engage the students, alumni and future students. I believe at one point the Alumni Association was buying a large block of the tickets. Either way the crowd did decrease each year.
They have played 3 CIT games at the Kress. Those crowds by round were 1341 for FIU, 1822 for Bakersfield and 2269 for Texas Southern. This topic really irks me because that Texas Southern game was really good and the crowd was into the game. Yet people often forget the 1727 crowd for UIC four weeks earlier in the HLT at the Resch was just as lively, as was the crowd for Oakland in the HLT the next year at the Resch which was announced at 2439.
They have played 5 regular season games at the Kress The crowds for those games was 1342 for Colgate, 1436 for CSun, 1469 for Indiana State, 1834 for Indiana State and 1885 for Northern Kentucky that was the HL game of the week on National TV.
They have played at the Kress during the day, the afternoon, the night, 5 of the 7 days of the week, against D1, against non D1, regular season, post season, on national TV and under two different coaches. In 16 games they managed to get more than 2000 to attend 4 times. FOUR TIMES. It was the 3 Krash the Kress games with an all out promotional blitz and the most meaningful home game in that CIT run. That is it.
The most recently released info from the university suggests that they have a deal with the Resch to play non D1 games, exhibition games and one "homecoming" game at the Kress with the rest at the Resch. That deal originally ran through 2023-24, though the covid year may have that extended by a year to 2025.
Also, the most recent Venci article I could find suggested the rent was about $6000 per game at the Resch. So yes that is real money but the damage done by these games seems to potentially outweigh the cost savings. Prior to Guthrie being in charge playing on campus was never a real consideration. Guthrie did many good things but if there was a way to rub some pennies together he was going to do. Under that regime these 16 games have been played because it was cheaper. The fact that regime was able to get that messaging out to people is very frustrating. Winning at a high level isn't done by rubbing pennies.
One final thing, in those 11 games against D1 opponents the team is 5-6...
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