NCAA Tournament is the only time of year where the average person tunes into college basketball. The average person will also go to the games because it is an American event. It happens in Boston every time they host the NCAA Tournament. Boston has no problems selling out, but they have a problem attending BC basketball games.
I believe Buffalo people attend the NCAA Tourney games because it is an American event, not because they are diehard college basketball fans. It would be awesome if the games are sold out Thanksgiving weekend, just like the NCAA Tourney games. I just don't see that happening though.
Your theory is just not backed by the facts - since all games are played in America and its an American event - all the games everywhere must be selling out for the NCAA (making sellouts in Buffalo no big deal)... just not true
First Niagara Center Arena sellout for basketball is in the 19,000+ range
Lets see if we can try again to make Buffalo look bad regarding college hoops - or maybe San Antonio, Milwaukee, St Louis or Raleigh are not in America and thus just dont understand what an America event the NCAA is???
Why the need to put St Bonas down for trying to make it happen in a top arena in Buffalo? You know St Bonas history there?
You know the school is placing a footprint there with the Hilbert acquisition??
Did you ever watch Unfinished Dreams? Bob Lanier and 6th man Mike Kull both stated in there that they came to attend St Bonaventure by watching them play basketball in the Aud in Buffalo. Games in Buffalo were very much a part of our history and tradition during our glory decades
Spotty AT&T Center attendance worrisome to NCAA
By Tim Griffin
March 24, 2014 | Updated: March 24, 2014 11:24pm
A field of teams that some saw as the most talented of the subregional tournaments didn't mean sellouts at the AT&T Center.
Edward A. Ornelas / San Antonio Express-News
A field of teams that some saw as the most talented of the subregional tournaments didn't mean sellouts at the AT&T Center.
SAN ANTONIO — Lagging crowds for Friday's and Sunday's NCAA tournament games at the AT&T Center have some NCAA officials concerned about the city's chances for staging future major college basketball games.
San Antonio had the largest percentage of empty seats of any of the eight sites that hosted second- and third-round games.
“It would be something that would be concerning, I would think,” NCAA tournament committee member Doug Fullerton said. “Particularly if it's something systemic and not just a unique problem for these games.”
Fullerton said attendance is among the factors his group will consider when choosing sites for events such as the men's Final Four.
San Antonio is one of eight semifinalists to host the men's Final Four between 2017 and 2020.
“I don't know how the San Antonio fans reacted to (the second- and third-round) games,” he said. “People came from out of town, but did the San Antonio fans come out here to the games? I just don't know.”
Despite a scaled-down seating capacity of 17,731 at the Spurs' home arena, the top attendance for Sunday's games was 13,431. Attendance was 12,895 for Friday afternoon games and 11,690 for games that evening.
“You'd rather see 98 to 100 percent full all of the time,” said Fullerton, the Big Sky Conference's commissioner who represented the NCAA at the local games. “I'm always excited when some fans come out, but I'm a little disappointed that it wasn't full.”
Even a strong field didn't help.
Some pundits argued that San Antonio's lineup had the best collection of talent of any of the eight subregional tournaments, a view bolstered by Turner Network's decision to send its top announcing crew of Marv Albert and Steve Kerr to cover the games here.
The field featured streaking Baylor and Iowa State from the Big 12; Creighton, led by likely Naismith Award winner Doug McDermott; Big East tournament champion Providence and blue-blood program North Carolina among its eight teams.
But demand for tickets to the San Antonio games was weak leading up to the tournament and continued even after the teams were announced.
“I don't know the explanation exactly,” Fullerton said. “The sales lagged consistently. We've been watching for the last six months and getting updates. It was lagging all the way, and I don't know what that means.”
It marks the second straight NCAA tournament in San Antonio that struggled at the gate.
In 2011, a record-low Alamodome NCAA tournament crowd of 14,299 came to the regional finals when Cinderella team Virginia Commonwealth toppled traditional Big 12 power Kansas.
Attendance in 2011 and 2014 will be among the questions local leaders must answer as they continue bidding with the NCAA.
Ticket sales obviously are much different for a Final Four than for the early rounds of the tournament.
Most of the people who attend the Final Four come from out of town, while the early games depend more on a local ticket base.
The subregional games traditionally are the hardest sell for the NCAA for a number of reasons, including that fans of the strongest programs often choose to save their money for more meaningful games later in the tournament.The NCAA attempted to remedy that by placing top-ranked teams closer to home, with Wichita State and Kansas playing at St. Louis, Florida at Orlando, Arizona at San Diego, Villanova and Syracuse at Buffalo, Virginia and Duke at Raleigh, and Michigan and Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
But even with those top teams,
basketball hotbeds such as Milwaukee, Raleigh and St. Louis failed to sell out all their games.
Lynn Hickey, athletic director at the University of Texas at San Antonio, who served as tournament director for the recent games, said she didn't think the weekend crowds will hurt San Antonio's upcoming chances.
“I don't think it's a Final Four issue, because it's not comparing apples to apples,” Hickey said. “Most of the fans for a Final Four would be coming from outside San Antonio, and it will be a sellout no matter what. It was more about us meeting the standards of the building and for the NCAA to have confidence in the local organizing committee to stage good competition. I think we did fine with that.”
Austin faced similar problems last year in filling seats at the Erwin Center for the same round of games.
“The majority of sellouts came in college basketball country; and in South Texas, college basketball isn't always the best sale,” Hickey said.
“I can't explain it, but it's just part of the culture here. But I think we met our objective of running a good tournament and having it look good on television.”