Price and other factors affecting demand:
■ More anecdotal evidence of an attendance tipping point:
On Monday night, college basketball junkies were all abuzz on Twitter at the sight of so many empty seats, especially in the student section, at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the Blue Devils' first-round NIT win over UNC Asheville.
Tuesday night, with gaping open spaces in the upper-level student section, Rupp Arena saw its lowest attendance figure of the John Calipari era when an announced crowd of 20,305 watched the fourth-ranked Cats whip up on Texas-Arlington.
That was the smallest Rupp attendance for a UK basketball game since November 2008.
What are the common denominators here? Both games featured non-competitive opponents. Both games suffered from poor attendance in the student section.
Not just that, however. Both schools tried to sell the unoccupied seats but could not muster a walk-up crowd.
We've gone over all the reasons before — high-definition television; ramped-up ticket prices; a plethora of entertainment alternatives, including more interesting games on the various cable networks — but it seems that students aren't showing up at games just to show up at games. And neither is the general public.
■ Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski ripped the ticketing process mandated by the NIT, but Duke's student attendance has been declining for the past five years. As well, the face value of the tickets was $70. Pretty steep for college kids.
■ By the way, a check of Ticketmaster shows plenty of upper-level seats available for UK's game with Cleveland State on Monday night. Including fees, price is $47 a ticket.
via www.kentucky.com
And $47 is pretty steep for most grown ups too.
How many factors affecting demand are there:
- Low quality product (Coach Calipari called less competitive opponents "popcorn state" ... ugh, please show some respect Coach)
- Less expensive substitutes (HDTV)
- High priced complements (it is much cheaper to make popcorn at home)
