One disappointing sidebar at the game the other night was the crowd/attendance.
There must have been no more than 6,500 fans at the Utah State game and that number may be a bit generous. And the Nevada game seemed to under-sell considerably as well.
The attendance issue, it seems, is beaten like a drum. I can already see some people writing on this blog post that Las Cruces has fairweather fans and others yelling back to shut up. Ahhhh, the joys of the internet and fun blogging.
I will simply say that winning brings out the fans. That's usually a pretty good formula for at least getting decent crowds. Fans generally come out when there's a certain "buzz" over the team in the community. There needs to be a level of intrigue.
The UTEP game didn't have a ton of people, but the place was into it. The crowd was alive. Key factors were that it was the Miners, a chief rival, and the other is that the Aggies outplayed them the entire way. People like to see the home team have some fun.
At the USU game the other night, not only was the crowd spotty at the Pan Am, there wasn't a lot of electricity. The most energized it got was when the Aggies went on a spurt late in the first half and took a 27-24 lead. Other than that, I thought it was pretty dull.
It also doesn't help that the UTEP and UNM games came at a bad time of year, considering that the students were off campus and the Miners came for a Sunday game at 2 p.m.
Again, I just want to see the attendance get better. That won't happen, possibly for the remainder of the season. Unless the team goes on a serious push, it will be tough to pack the Pan Am. The rivals - and I include Nevada and even Utah State to a degree - aren't coming back this season. Heck, maybe La. Tech will draw 12,000. I'm joking.
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6 comments:
A lot of that has to do with Menzies.
He had the best team in the WAC last year and was a .500% team, up until the last two or three weeks of the season.
This year it's more of the .500% record. Yes, they are young but, the rebounding isn't getting better and they keep making the same mistakes.
The time has come for the coach to challenge the team to step it up and will them to victory.
Menzies just doesn't have that type of personality!
Teddy I don't see it getting any better. With the rivals and the Big two from the WAC already out of the way, I only see the numbers going down. Short of a big name in the Bracket Buster, there is no big name left on the schedule. Plus the teams play hasn't helped the cause either.
Fair weather fans to say the least in Las Cruces, not many real fans and no school hurts as well.
Las Cruces is what it is. Teddy hit it on the head. Wins = increased attendance, if no wins a buzz in the community will do it. Right now neither is present, unfortunately. What you see in the stands are the die-hards, my wife and I are some. The fans are getting restless, listen and watch. I keep hoping. GO AGGIES!
If reaching certain attendance/revenue goals was one of AD Boston's expectations of MM, then the 08/09 season will be a huge dissapointment. I can't imagine getting anywhere near the goal, unless it was ridiculously low. Until the day our football team draws a crowd, NMSU athletics is highly dependent on mens hoops for revenue. The reasons are obvious and already stated on this blog: bad scheduling and a larely unimpressive team. With Mumme's failure and MM's inability to get the community excited about his team, the state of our athletic budget has to be dire.
Not withstanding the aforementioned obvious, I still don't fully understand why attendance is so low. It's still D-I basketball, and there's not much else going on in LC.
-Aggie Glare
I agree with Aggie Glare. This is Las Cruces!! I dont care how bad the team is or what you all think of Coach. There is nothing better to do here than to come and support the teams. Even during volleyball season the crowds were smaller and the Hawaii game did not drew that many fans. What else does this community want? They had the best Vball team ever at NMSU and nothing. I said that the coaches and players should reach out to the community because you never see any of them in activities around campus. It takes half and half I think, the players and coaches should get involved in the community and the community should respond by showing up to the games. neither is happening
GS
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