RebKell's Junkie Boards

[BCBG25]

Last year, LA @ NY had 11,180 in attendance.
This year, Seattle @ NY had 5,583 in attendance.
That's roughly half. One would claim the Seattle game would be more appealing (i.e., defending champs, local girl Sue Bird, etc). Last year there was the whole Spoon/Whitmore first game against the Liberty factor too.
I am trying not to read too much into a preseason game and also I am not ready to declare this a trend that's going to repeat itself in the regular season, but knowing some fans who didn't renew their STs, it might as well be.
And that's not a good sign...looks like some fans finally had it with the FFO and its BS.

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Kings of the World!

[BCBG25]

More stats:
In 2003, the preseason game against Houston @ the Garden had 13,131 in attendance.
In 2002, also against Houston and on the same date (05/18 ), the attendance was 13,005.
All those years, I believe the Liberty attendance has declined. Not counting the whole RCMH exile from last year, this looks like a trend indeed.

_________________
Kings of the World!

[Smoovie]

Were those hot Liberty grannies there, shakin' their thang

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(¯`v´¯
`*.¸.*´
¸.•´¸.•*¨ ¸.•*¨
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.•´*~Smoov

[accommodatingly]

I wonder what happened. Did RCMH demolish the walkup business, since most of the people who would have purchased single-game tickets to late-season Lib games simply would not have been able to buy a seat, and that those people simply lost the habit of attending Liberty games? Or did the Lib change the way in which it counts preseason attendance (so that, for example, STH aren't counted unless they show up)? I'm betting on the first, more depressing possibility. Yuck.

[pilight]

[KeiraNY]

I'm going to go out on limb here & say that we've never had a pre-season game the day before Mother's Day....most of our pre-season is a bit later if I'm not mistaken...

Regardless, pre-season is just that pre-season. If we have only 5K come end of June, then we've hit the attendance crapper & ther Mystakes will have another "attendance banner" hanging from their rafters

[Hoopsta1415]

I'm thinking that the loss of Lib vets (T-spoon and Phillips) might play a role in attendance

[KeiraNY]

T-Spoon no. We're over that one already! Phillips perhaps. I know there were a LOT of people pissed off about the way the organization disposed of her...plus the sub-par season we had last year didn't help any.

[pilight]

[el_barrio_96_125]

Excuses, excuses, excuses. Fans on the board are a lot different than fans in the stands. If you think the organization hasn't noticed the drop off and weren't po'ed yesterday, wrong. I spent most of the 2nd half talking to a member of their FFO and they weren't too pleased. They sure weren't looking around at a 1/4 filled arena and saying it's only preseason when they brought in 11k last year. Mother's Day didn't keep away 6,000 people.

"We're over that already" Hmmm, the organization doesn't seem to feel that way. For the last 2 offseasons, there's been no hob nobbing with politicos at City Hall, no Sylvia's, no 106th and Park, no Rucker, no gossip from Wendy Williams or Page 6, no Lib player at industry events. The prevailing belief is Spoon brought in a lot of casual fans, walk ups and part timers. Even in 2003 her jersey was in the top 5 league wide and neck and neck with Becky at Double Teamed. She was also accessible to the organization during the offseason to promote the team to an array of audiences ad nauseum whereas Becky's in between Colorado and NY and doesn't have the connections, ie BET, that Spoon had. Not for nothing, but why do you think they keep Kym around? To go to Kiss FM, WBLS, etc. There's also no Long Island Sue who brought in her own couple of thousands.

OTOH, Becky appeals to the kids in the same way as those 2, and the families, so they lost nothing there. But the FFO directly attributes a drop off in attendance to lack of the casual interest that Spoon and Sue once brought in either through promotion or their relationships with the NY media, many of whom just doesn't seem to care about the team anymore now that there aren't any quotable players around. Even Zagoria's slowed his roll.

As for Tari, that was the straw that broke some 2004 season ticket holders backs. But best believe STH sales were down after Rebecca left, in 2002 after Sue left and after 2003 after Spoon left. Most originals weren't dismayed with the dismissal of the vets so much as they weren't feeling the direction of the team. One thing to understand is that the team has always been solid in walk ups, weekend plans, etc and that's what's down. There's major worry at 2 Penn about the attendance.

They had a better record and made the playoffs last year so it has nothing to do with what's going on on the court. Case in point, the increase in attendance toward the end of the season. It was because of walk ups directly BECAUSE of the team's record, the August heat and the press RCMH provided. Even still the numbers were inflated ever so slightly since some people didn't get the don't-count-giveaways-anymore memo.

Blaze has a little something up her sleeve though that should please some disenfranchised Lib fans.

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http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1067191/index.htm

[accommodatingly]

Does anyone in ordinary, non-Board-Junkie fanland care about Rutgers alum Rebecca Richman? if the Lib keep her around, will that boost attendance?

[Str8_Butta]

I think that if they keep Monique Coker around, maybe she can go to Hot 97 & WBLS and 106 & Park to promote the Liberty to the younger basketball fans. Being that she's from the BX, the stations might be interested in the local player.

[KeiraNY]

There were a few people with Rutgers shirts there yesterday, but no, Rebecca Richman won't help w/ the attendance at all. If it was Cappie or even Chelsea Newton, maybe (and that's a stretch). Richman was a bench player at Rutgers, she's not the "star" of the team...

I must agree with FBC...Tari leaving was the last straw for a LOT of people! It was deserted yesterday and I hope it picks up, but overall people have had it with Blaze!!!

[BCBG25]

Pilight, I just didn't throw this out there to be dismissed. There are serious implications about attendance in the Liberty's case. One, they might be changing how they calculate actual attendance figures, not considering giveaways, etc and that means they COULD have been inflating attendance numbers and using creative accounting. OTOH, this just might be the beginning of the end for Blaze. She got away with a lot of shit because the team had it going financially. Cablevision is in serious financial difficulties and Good Ole Charles is dying to get rid of some of his assets, aka The Garden, and that includes the teams. As far as I know, Jim Dolan is hell bent on keeping his toys, but daddy is losing his patience. If the Liberty is not strong at the gate, not all is forgiven...

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Kings of the World!

[accommodatingly]

[CRASH]

[Queenie]

Passing along a geekout question from the most important geek in my life...

For those as *were* there, who *wasn't* there? Was the crowd even more heavily families and kids than usual? Or was it the demographic that dares not speak its name in certain circles? Or was the dropoff more or less even?


As an aside, CRASH makes a point I completely agree with. It's not about the players. That's not why I dropped my season tickets, or why I'm clinging to the edge of Liberty fanship as my sig line says. It's the people above them who make most of the decisions and generally make them badly. Economic pressure may be the only way to bring them back to reality.

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Ardent believer in the separation of church and stadium.

[KeiraNY]

Yes, I did show up last year, the year before that and this year too. It didn't look that empty, but there were certainly less people than last year. Although my section was pretty empty last year at this time too then it picked up.

Who knows?

[dtsnms]

I don't know how the other "offsite" games are doing, but there were 4,000 in Bridgeport yesterday for the sun game.

[bigsportzbabe]

Although there are many valid observations in this thread, IMO the drop in attendance has absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH THE LIBERTY. I think it is a direct result of of the Dolan`s campaign against the building of the Westside stadium and convention center.

Even vehement opponents of the stadium plans were turned off by the tawdry, sleazy scare tactics used by the Dolans who were painfully obviously just trying to protect their midtown sports monopoly. Jim Dolan masquerading as a Civic minded New Yorker was certainly too much for me to bear!

I think that the resultant backlash is an unconscious (or perhaps conscious) boycott of MSG and all things Dolan

[el_barrio_96_125]

[Str8_Butta]

[el_barrio_96_125]

[4ever_bball_fan]

Just curious about retired jerseys in NY, or anywhere else for that matter...

How many teams have retired jerseys in the W at this point in time? Houston has #10 (Perrot), #1 (for the Fans), and #14 (Cooper). They are hanging right next to the four championship banners for 1997--2000.

Did Phoenix retire Gillom's? Interesting for such a young league.

Can't wait to see WNBA jerseys with HOF on them like some of the Rockets' jerseys also hanging in the rafters of Toyota Center.

[Admiral_Needa]

That and wasn't there a big Yankee game vs Oakland too? I think at the same game time too... That couldn't have helped I think I'll have to wait to see the attendance vs Detroit on Sunday