The fans aren't going to the games?

[87 Rides a Surfboard 41]

That picture is from 10 minutes before the Pitt game. Yes, attendance lately has been poor, especially with the recent weird start times and crazy cold weather. But it hasn't been atrocious. I think most of the attendance-driven ire has been directed towards the students. It's at least somewhat warranted.

[hyzy 300]

I live 9 hours from B-Town, my kid is a Hoosier because we loved the campus & the education offered by the university, it is my first (and only) connection to IU. I have a drawer of IU gear, On my office walls hang IU Football & Soccer schedule posters, weather permitting you can find my house by the IU flag flying from it.  Hell I pay extra to my cable company so I can get BTN. My kid was a season ticket holder for both FB & BB last year, but couldn't fit it in this year due to school & other school-related obligations. Dakich can eat a bag of d*&ks

[jwlacy17 10]

I'm going to the IU vs Purdue game thursday, hopefully that will be packed.

[Alford Bailey 12,375]

Is that the fans speaking their mind about Crean?

YES! We can stick our heads in the sand and discuss a thousand different reasons why or cut the crap and cut to the chase. 90% of it is Crean. I personally know a couple of big time alums who quit supporting last year and won't come back til he is gone. IU filled the place when we were winning 10 games a year but fans thought we were headed in the right direction. If this isnt a wake up call for some then I don't know what will be.

[Alford Bailey 12,375]

Assembly Hall full to the rafters in B1G season should be a given.

[coonhounds 8,933]

YES! We can stick our heads in the sand and discuss a thousand different reasons why or cut the crap and cut to the chase. 90% of it is Crean. I personally know a couple of big time alums who quit supporting last year and won't come back til he is gone. IU filled the place when we were winning 10 games a year but fans thought we were headed in the right direction. If this isnt a wake up call for some then I don't know what will be.

I have to agree with this almost every fan up north I talk to is anti crean and basically make fun of the team most of the time. They watch the games but won't spend the money and drive to the games. It can still change but the anti crean crowd has to b at least a big factor especially with gas prices being reasonable.

[HoosiersLoveBanners 797]

I think this team is really exciting to watch! It's just a giant roller coaster ride sometimes with all the inconsistencies (mainly defense and TOs). There were a couple off court issues as well, so I can see why some are off the wagon and not going because of what they believe in. That is fine, everyone can have their opinion. I'm never jumping off the wagon. My love for the Hoosiers exceeds far beyond who coaches them and I truly think we have players with above average morals despite recent transgressions. Winning games cures everything and that's why they are under so much pressure to do so. I hope we can finish out the season strong and come back with a great team for everyone to watch next year!

[coonhounds 8,933]

Is there tickets for sale or are they sold and fans just not showing up?

[MikeRoberts 6,998]

YES! We can stick our heads in the sand and discuss a thousand different reasons why or cut the crap and cut to the chase. 90% of it is Crean. I personally know a couple of big time alums who quit supporting last year and won't come back til he is gone. IU filled the place when we were winning 10 games a year but fans thought we were headed in the right direction. If this isnt a wake up call for some then I don't know what will be.

I mean, it's definitely part of it. My dad stopped going for that reason.

[MikeRoberts 6,998]

Are the staples still there, a la kent benson, john mellencamp etc?

[TheStillman 991]

When in doubt, blame Crean

[cthomas 6,424]

I think the decline basketball attendance in general is due to a number of factors.  People have more choices in deciding where to spend their entertainment dollars.  Television has also made it easier to stay at home.  I recently attended a Saturday afternoon game at IUPUI and the crowd was really small.  Like a couple hundred small.  I know that there is no comparison between IU and IUPUI, but interest in basketball in general seems down to  me compared years past.  Even high school gyms that used to be packed are mostly empty. 

[FortWayneHoosier 6,124]

if it wasnt a three hour drive id be at as many as i could, it just stinks that i have to make a whole day out of it. 

[Stripetology 5]

To say fans are not going is a bit misleading. Accurately, students are not going. There is a season ticket wait list. All games are a sellout so it's definitely not a demand issue. For whatever reason (agendas aside) the student supply is not with public demand. They are not going. When you have 40% of seats going to fickle students! you can get the highs and lows. No other college I'm aware of even comes close to offering that % of capacity to students (7800 seats presently). Simply needs readjusting. Was apparent even prior 2 years but this year is noticeably worse. Completely unnecessary empty seats. People want in.

[Chips&Dipo 1,464]

Towards Dakich's comments. He was talking about the influx of east coast kids that have been on the rise in the past few years. I know IU is has a nationwide renown reputation, but the amount of students from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut is higher than you would expect. I have friends from that area because of my time at IU, but he has a point. A lot of people from that area don't know about any of the tradition around Bloomington and would only go to the games when I was in school just because IU had good teams then. That could be said about people in general, but my time in Bloomington revealed that it is particularly true about the east coast crowd. 

 

Additionally, I am not saying that east coast people are fair weather fans generally. What I am saying is that a person has only "liked" a team since they got an acceptance letter, and that team isn't in the top 25 (though a pretty good team nonetheless) they may not be as inclined to go to a game. Also not saying that you should go to a school solely because of a basketball team. There are a million reasons why I love IU and basketball is just one of them.

[Naturalhoosier 15,424]

Living out east now (I sit equidistant between Rutgers and Maryland) I've found that the masses do not follow college athletics as closely as the state of Indiana (or even Colorado when I lived there). They are extremely pro sports oriented fans out here. Large metropolitan areas closely lumped together offers up a multitude of hearty selections. Washington DC is an hour and a half drive, Baltimore an hour, Philly is 40 mins, NYC is prob 2 hours (high balling it...and that's the city not to the pro complexes in NJ).

[Alford Bailey 12,375]

If we were a top 10 program consistently, good recruiting, everybody liked the coach, minimal off court issues, tourney success ect the place would be packed every night. Lets not pretend everybody just decided to go to a Pacers game.

[Alford Bailey 12,375]

To say fans are not going is a bit misleading. Accurately, students are not going. There is a season ticket wait list. All games are a sellout so it's definitely not a demand issue. For whatever reason (agendas aside) the student supply is not with public demand. They are not going. When you have 40% of seats going to fickle students! you can get the highs and lows. No other college I'm aware of even comes close to offering that % of capacity to students (7800 seats presently). Simply needs readjusting. Was apparent even prior 2 years but this year is noticeably worse. Completely unnecessary empty seats. People want in.

If you call IU its sold out. Check Stub Hub and plenty seats available. I agree on the students section, though.

[CottageGrove 563]

I think the idea of students from the east coast being a major cause of this is way overblown. For the 2014-15 year IU has 46,414 students, of which 26,789 are from Indiana, or 57%. Adding together the numbers from every state that could be considered East Coast (Maine to Florida) totals 3301 students, or 7% of all students. If people want to blame out of state kids for the problem then they should at least use the term out of state instead of just "east coast." Trying to pin the problem on one set of students from a specific area (I think most think of NY & NJ when they refer to the east coast kids, or a whopping 2% of all IUB students right now) is unproductive.

 

Here's where I got my numbers. https://www.iu.edu/~uirr/reports/standard/factbook/2014-15/Bloomington/Student_Data/Enrollment/Student_Origin/By_State

 

In all likelihood I think it's a combo of things - people who don't like Crean plus the same problems facing college football these days - other areas for people to spend their money, maybe timing/length of games, high def TV, etc.

[Alford Bailey 12,375]

if it wasnt a three hour drive id be at as many as i could, it just stinks that i have to make a whole day out of it. 

Its 2 hrs. for me. I'm to blame for a few of those empty balcony seats. Used to go to multiple games usually buy 4 seats. I'm just kinda Blah about the program right now and its hard to spend that kind of money when your Blah. Watching on tv then if they take a crap ( OSU, PU) I can go straight to bed, LOL.