OT - Attendance Down in D1 Hoops
 

Average NCAA men's basketball attendance takes fall - USATODAY.com

From the article: "Crowds for last month's tournament semifinals and championship game in Indianapolis were strong at more than 140,000, but the numbers for earlier rounds were down."


Not surprising - I remember watching some of those early round, mid-afternoon, mid-week games that were really sparsely attended.

The overall numbers are only down slightly. Of course, the easy way to fix this is to put a few games in the new Cowboys "Jerry Jones" Stadium....and all is well. ;)

The economy probably has some effect on the numbers.

Those who have jobs are hesitant to take time off work due to fear of losing them?
Those who don't have jobs or have had hours/wages cut can't afford it.

The Pac-10 office announced it's looking to expand the conference, perhaps adding as many as six teams! It is only interested in teams that will help boost television ratings. They're considering schools in Colorado and Texas.

That's what it's come to these days. Ratings rule.

This will be interesting. It seems the Pac-10 is reacting to the Big 10's recent rumors. It looks like the Big 12 may be doomed.

What a shame. Big XII Conference - since 1994. :D

Re: PAC 10 - they, along with the BXII, are the only conferences w/o revenue sharing (per sports radio programming heard this morning).

However, Missouri and Nebraska will dramatically increase revenues if they are invited to join the B10. In Missouri's case, they will go from around 8M annually to 23M annually. Unfortunately for MU, that extra money probably will not give them any better odds at consistently competing with OSU and PSU, much less finishing atop the B10. Plus MU will probably see diminishing recruiting opportunities in the state of Texas. That will be a huge hit.

Recruiting pipelines aren't going to be hurt by switching to the Big 10, I don't think. I doubt MU would be on Texas TV less in the Big 10 than they are in the Big 12.

As an aside, I think it would be hilarious for Iowa State to be stuck in the Big 12 while D1 programs in NE and MO move to the Big 10.

If Missouri can maintain Texas recruiting inroads as a member of the B10, they will be very competitive. However, it's no secret that Pinkel and his staff would rather stay in the B12 - recruiting Texas being a major factor.

Iowa State is a traditional non factor in the Big 8+4. Always have been, always will be. Not sure it would matter what their fate if the B8+4 disintegrates with NU and MU going to the B10.

Oh, it would matter to a lot of my friends and some of my family. :)

Big 12 could always look at replacing MO and NE with, say, TCU, BYU, Utah, Boise St., or even Colorado State. Mostly likely BYU or Utah to avoid getting too Texas-heavy (not taking into account their desires).

Remember, it'll be more than football that gets affected. ISU is a factor in some of those sports.

Iowa State fans are seemingly insignificant to most, but, they are one of the most oddly passionate of any groups around. Gotta tip my hat to them for that. Will never forget how they flooded the first round of games at the Big 8 tournament in the west bottoms....then disappeared like a fart in the wind on day two/three.

It all went back to crap when basketball started sucking again. Where is Marcus Fizer these days?

I wonder what the 'new' B8+4 would look like?

KU
KSU
Colorado - if they don't go the PAC 10
Colorado State
ISU
?????

Texas
OU
OSU
TiT
aTm
Baylor

Talk about unbalanced. Might the conf consider re-establishing the divisions?

As a Big 10 fan living in Colorado, I find it interesting to speculate. Honestly, I think Utah and BYU would be better fits for the B-12 than CSU. Then again, if the B-12 lost CO to the Pac-10, they'd probably be better off anyway. CU seems to have been as big a factor in the B-12 as ISU has lately.

BTW, if the Pac-10 is looking to boost ratings, I don't see how any CO school would compare to BYU, Utah, or even Boise.

re: CU - it's amazing how far that football program has fallen since it's glory days in the 90's. Basketball just can't get any traction either.

Update (on OT subject)
 

What else would he say? Everyone is denying everything at this point; and they should be.