We only need to look at football. When Cal wins, the students show up big time. Embarrassing losses are followed up with embarrassing student attendance. Cal supposedly came close to selling out the allotment of 2025 Cal Student Combo Passes. Those students can attend basketball games at no additional cost.
This was the most frustrating thing about the Wilcox era: every time we got a little bit of momentum and a big crowd showing up at home, we'd take a deflating loss and the fans would go away for the rest of the year (except for the Big Game).
Good thread! The only upside to this awful decade is that I was able to improve my seating location as others bailed. I am now happily at mid-court and the team trajectory is slowly upward. Make it attractive for students to base load the energy. Get the strong local schools to build some preseason momentum! Get good enough that we aren't afraid to play them. The ACC is the SEC football version of basketball. Let's see if this year's success thus far can continue and be something to build on! We may have some good players return?
Average home game attendance this season via Wikipedia and doing some mental arithmetic: UCLA: ~ 5,100 Oregon: ~5,900 UW: ~5,800 UA: ~13,400 USC: ~4,500 Cal: ~2,500 Utah: ~6,000
So, yeah, Cal lags badly but with the exception of Zona, all west coast major college basketball attendance is pretty low. Not an excuse, just an observation. As with football, west coast college students are not as interested in their teams compared to much of country.
If your point here is, "of course Cal is low interest because the whole west coast student body is low interest," then you've made the opposite point. "Cal is LESS THAN 50% of other comps in an already low interest time zone." The puzzling thing to me is that numbers like that should cause a marketing department to run around with their hair on fire figuring out ways to put butts in seats. Every gimmick, giveaway, hard sell, freebie schwag strategy in the book should be thrown at this. Are 30 people playing hoops at RSF? Hand out 30 free passes. My guess is that there has been no action in marketing because everyone's sitting in meetings shrugging and blaming everything else in the book for their underperformance, "Gee, if only we had a winning record to sell, oh well, I guess I'll collect my paycheck and write some copy for the latest Pup Club promo." No more excuses! Just try SOMETHING, anything, new.
Average home game attendance this season via Wikipedia and doing some mental arithmetic: UCLA: ~ 5,100 Oregon: ~5,900 UW: ~5,800 UA: ~13,400 USC: ~4,500 Cal: ~2,500 Utah: ~6,000
So, yeah, Cal lags badly but with the exception of Zona, all west coast major college basketball attendance is pretty low. Not an excuse, just an observation. As with football, west coast college students are not as interested in their teams compared to much of country.
If your point here is, "of course Cal is low interest because the whole west coast student body is low interest," then you've made the opposite point. "Cal is LESS THAN 50% of other comps in an already low interest time zone." The puzzling thing to me is that numbers like that should cause a marketing department to run around with their hair on fire figuring out ways to put butts in seats. Every gimmick, giveaway, hard sell, freebie schwag strategy in the book should be thrown at this. Are 30 people playing hoops at RSF? Hand out 30 free passes. My guess is that there has been no action in marketing because everyone's sitting in meetings shrugging and blaming everything else in the book for their underperformance, "Gee, if only we had a winning record to sell, oh well, I guess I'll collect my paycheck and write some copy for the latest Pup Club promo." No more excuses! Just try SOMETHING, anything, new.
barsad - I don't even think they were as engaged as what your bolded statement describes.
They were below clueless
They were below apathetic
They were below ignorant
They were actively ignoring advice, offers, help from many, many donors. And this is why so many of them stopped giving.
We only need to look at football. When Cal wins, the students show up big time. Embarrassing losses are followed up with embarrassing student attendance. Cal supposedly came close to selling out the allotment of 2025 Cal Student Combo Passes. Those students can attend basketball games at no additional cost.
civil, ur use of "selling out" makes me laugh, the 1st day of worthless bureaucrats school for fakers like jay larsen and jennifer simon-o'neil is to establish insanely low metrics for "sold out" definitions so they can later proclaim (despite the stadium being half full) that "cal supposedly came close to selling out the allotment of student combo passes"
the 2nd day of worthless bureaucrats school for fakers they teach the finer points of tarp management
I can't count the times I've asked students in the RSF who are playing BASKETBALL if they are going to the game
Most common responses:
1. What game 2. I don't have a ticket
this is beyond sad, berkeley students that are actively playing a sport at the rsf don't have a ******* FREE tix to the football and men's basketball games
jay & jenny are not only intensely disliked by the fanbase particularly donors but also internally by their associates that are stifled by their outta touch bull****
just winning a couple more games is NOT gonna change the current abysmal last in the acc attendance metrics, the solution is innovative marketing directed at a much younger fanbase in today's 6 seconds attention economy
I do not doubt that marketing and prices need to be better too, but you still aren't getting people to show up in a fair-weather market like the Bay Area without winning consistently.
how do u explain the 23-21 wnba valykres (which got a masterful multiple pronged marketing strategy) averaging 18,046 fans this season??
I do not doubt that marketing and prices need to be better too, but you still aren't getting people to show up in a fair-weather market like the Bay Area without winning consistently.
how do u explain the 23-21 wnba valykres (which got a masterful multiple pronged marketing strategy) averaging 18,046 fans this season??
1. First season, which always juices interest.
2. They actually won. When's the last time Cal had a team over .500?
EDIT: But yes, the Valkyries also had good marketing and Cal should do better here. More than one thing can be true!
fun fact: new marketing director jason hobar is reporting to the competent (hard working) beth tafolla-voetsch (director of fundraising) & NOT jay & jenny (the limited time current co athletic ****tards)
organizational restructuring for TERMINATIONS#
the wnba franchise valkyries (23-21) with their FUN multi pronged inclusive marketing strategy averaged 18,046 fans this season
say that # out loud, 18,046
and that's starting from ground zero with zero tixs sold on day one, got it??
yeah the valkyries know how to innovatively connect with the greater bay area fan market space in today's 6 second attention economy (the monster understands this ****, jay & jenny not so much despite rich paying each of them just south of $500,000 for their bull**** clownshow, wut a ******* waste of money!!)
I do not doubt that marketing and prices need to be better too, but you still aren't getting people to show up in a fair-weather market like the Bay Area without winning consistently.
how do u explain the 23-21 wnba valykres (which got a masterful multiple pronged marketing strategy) averaging 18,046 fans this season??
1. First season, which always juices interest.
2. They actually won. When's the last time Cal had a team over .500?
EDIT: But yes, the Valkyries also had good marketing and Cal should do better here. More than one thing can be true!
Seriously? The WBB team just went 25-9 LAST YEAR. But even more to Shocky's point, when a pro team can average over 18,000 fans in the same sport, the Cal "Marketing" Department at the very least should be able to infultrate part of that fan base, especially since the Valkyries play their games in the summertime asopposed to the college season. It's beyond ridiculous.
Looks like the Valkyries have hit the jackpot targeting the large LGBT demographic in and around SF:
Quote:
Homemade lesbian flags wave alongside rainbow T-shirts. Everyone's got their caps on backward, showing off their undercuts. Faces are painted and doused in glitter. Flirtatious glances bounce around like a game of Pong as women, enbys (nonbinary), and trans folk scan the crowd, check dating apps, and dance to DJ LadyRyan. No, it's not Pride or a gay club. It's a Monday night at Ballhalla, aka a Golden State Valkyries home game at Chase Center, where queer fans have shown up loudly and where the WNBA's newest team has shouted back with love.
Looks like the Valkyries have hit the jackpot targeting the large LGBT demographic in and around SF:
Quote:
Homemade lesbian flags wave alongside rainbow T-shirts. Everyone's got their caps on backward, showing off their undercuts. Faces are painted and doused in glitter. Flirtatious glances bounce around like a game of Pong as women, enbys (nonbinary), and trans folk scan the crowd, check dating apps, and dance to DJ LadyRyan. No, it's not Pride or a gay club. It's a Monday night at Ballhalla, aka a Golden State Valkyries home game at Chase Center, where queer fans have shown up loudly and where the WNBA's newest team has shouted back with love.
Definitely a missed opportunity for the Cal WBB program, given the size of that demographic in the 510 and beyond.
The Calgorithm already gets it: if Cal ever embraces representing Berkeley, the Bay Area, California, the Left Coast, etc (with love, intelligence and humor) our attendance and TV ratings (and recruiting) will explode.
And yes, playing in the ACC there will be lots of people all over the country that hate us, but they will watch us just to root against us and TV ratings don't care.
Bumping again with updated attendance numbers as of March 1 (see OP). We've seen some pretty sad declines in February except for the Stanford game high point of 9K. I thought the NCAA tournament talk would bring fans out, but no, still treading water near the 5,000 mark. What do we have to do to reignite interest?
cal men's basketball finished the season with abysmal attendance for a ncca bubble team in a time when the innovatively marketed wnba valkyries (with no history of ever winning games) averaged 18,046 this season, nothing is gonna change in berkeley until the chancellor fires the anti football worthless bureaucrat ****tards jay & jenny:
when madsen wuz hired hoop dreams & me chatted with him in the north end zone tunnel on a september fall cal football gameday (the above foto wuz taken then) right before the bears ran onto the field...mark wuz very gracious & the monster made the following 5 recommendations:
1) demand that cal marketing administration (keep in mind at that point shocky wuz the only person on planet earth who wuz lobbying for markeisha everrett & general knowlton to be fired) offer FREE tixs to all students on cal men's basketball gamedays as a critically needed pipeline for future season tix buyers/donors (emphasized that the current mbb excellence in basketball donors are rapidly aging out)
2) bring in a poly basketball player as an identifiable fan favorite to facilitate student interest in men's basketball at a university with demographics of a student base that is just south of 50% asian...explained how shocky researched nor cal asian basketball prospects with the assistance of multiple sources including lou richie & justin labagh and gave this recruiting information to cuonzo martin & tracy webster which ultimately resulted in the signing of me & my daughter's lifelong brah half japanese/half black brenden glapion wuz as a walk on whose entry into games wuz met with spirited bedlam by the students & his teammates...yeah brenden graduated from berkeley, then the boalt law school & is today getting minted as a imminent domain attorney in san francisco
3) prioritize fundraising for a dedicated basketball practice facility & demand a detailed update from general knowlton who wuz flat out lying to madsen & alums about the progress (or lack thereof) of fundraising according to my multiple sources within the athletic department who hated the former athletic director
4) build a coaching staff with younger (mark fox had the oldest assistant coaching staff in d1 basketball in the nation, a fact that wuz never reported upon in cal men's basketball coverage) berkeley grads...tole mark that joe pasternack had called me asking for my support (got my phone number from his brother in law roxy bernstein) & in response to my questions re: building a staff would've hired berkeley grads theo robertson & richard midgley as assistant coaches & lou richie as an academic mentor (all 3 of these guys are close friends with dennis gates who would've become a behind the scenes advocate for mbb)
5) transparently build fan & recruits interest in the program by publicly sharing recruiting information via FREE social media & message board outlets ala cal's monster class...tole him that i had written "welcome to berkeley" emails to his newly hired assistant coaches & didn't get a response from any of them other than matt scherbenske
in retrospect NONE of these 5 points got followed up on and/or completed: cal is currently 17th outta 18 teams in acc attendance, there are no plans for shovels in the ground with the failed leadership of jay & jenny and maddog don't got the nil dollars to recruit mcdonalds all americans...honestly got no interest these days in a program that turns over the roster every season with guys that are not earning berkeley degrees...jaylon tyson (just like his bro wr jordyn at asu who will be drafted in the upcoming nfl draft) had zero academic ambition, he didn't declare for the nba draft as much as tyson wuz basically flunking out in berkeley
my guess is that shocky will meet/our paths will cross with tosh in person at some point this fall when he attends every fb game on the 2026 schedule, lupoi clearly understands the importance of recruiting with young hungry assistant coaches that wanna sell berkeley's degree opportunities in conjunction with the recruiting leadership of marshall cherrington & benji palu as we target high gpa prospects with academic ambition
when shocky & cal's monster class wuz tole to **** off back in the day, cal athletics not only lost the dumb azz but also his yoga buddy jaylen brown & quite a few other former bears hoopers who could've helped the mbb program in moving forwards on an upwards trajectory in terms of recruiting, gameday attendance metrics, mcdonalds all american prospects nil fundraising & the critically needed dedicated basketball practice facility fundraising
For some perspective on whether attendance improvement is possible, see the conference attendance standings, I put them in the OP. The situation is not as dire as we think. We are currently 16th out of 18th. If we just added 1,500 more per game, we get to 10th, nearly middle of the ACC pack. We're not going to see 20 sellouts at Haas… just not realistic for this school, this era, those students. I'm good with 5K per game this year, but I know we can get back to 6K-7K by the end of next year if the team performs and the AD improves the Haas experience.
^ barsad, so basically ur ok with mediocre future attendance metrics (which is highly unlikely to even happen given that almost the entire playing rotation is gonna turn over) & that the cal's monster class era of averaging just south of 11,000 per game at haas is never gonna happen again??
just magically "adding 1500 fans per game" is not gonna happen with the mbb fanbase rapidly aging out at a rate of 10-15% a year with no gains in building the fanbase (future season tix buyers/donors) with students
are you also aware that the one time acc attendance spike from duke (11,021) & north carolina (8,077) fans isn't gonna happen (due to scheduling) next season??
so you've thrown in the towel re: the potential magic of cal basketball, got it
This team/product has sucked for years. We are not even starting from zero. We're like a new owner of a restaurant who insists on keeping the old owner's two-star Yelp profile. Digging out of a hole. Just let students in for free to every game other than Dook (maybe they do?). Take care of your alumni and market the hell out of this team (with leaders and staff who graduated from here). 4,000 fans at the SMU game should be reason enough to clean house.
In case people are interested I decided to use ChatGPT to explore Shock's consistent call for Free Tixs to students. It is really interesting. You should be able to look at the prompts (and drive things in a different path if interested) with this link
1) Shock is right 2) ACC is a leader in providing free tixs 3) NOT providing Free tixs is a legacy (herd mentality) of the Pac12 and arguably correlated with the conference's implosion. 4) The model that IMHO is possible is a MODEST increase in the current student activity fee paid by alll students that keeps the top line of the AD whole. Students then would simply flash ID to attend. Once we actually start to have a problem with turning people away (we should be so lucky!!) they could move to a tix distribution model or mobile phone enabled lottery.
I can not over emphasize that third point because I figure there will be huge objections by the AD bureaucrats but the data and comparative work is really stricking in that we act like there is huge student demand when there is not....and are an outlier in our actions based upon where we actually stand in the market place. Hopefully the data gathered in this ChatGPT thread provides a starting point for those that actually talk with the powers that be to get a change in policy.
Shocky is right, these Cal marketing people are not very bright, overpaid and have no skin in the game or real connection to Cal.
My own take (It isn't determinative but watching this as a dad of a rising Sophomore drives it home) that they don't "get" today's Cal. I also think the same of the loudest voices on this board. Today's Cal is SO overwhelming STEM focused, kids with a far stronger career drive, self selected from middle school to be "grinders" (the strivers are at the Farm). That doesn't make marketing impossible but it does require it to be done DIFFERFENTLY and I have come to the conclusion that what the AD desperately needs is more young alums who can help them see that.
^ barsad, so basically ur ok with mediocre future attendance metrics (which is highly unlikely to even happen given that almost the entire playing rotation is gonna turn over) & that the cal's monster class era of averaging just south of 11,000 per game at haas is never gonna happen again??
just magically "adding 1500 fans per game" is not gonna happen with the mbb fanbase rapidly aging out at a rate of 10-15% a year with no gains in building the fanbase (future season tix buyers/donors) with students
are you also aware that the one time acc attendance spike from duke (11,021) & north carolina (8,077) fans isn't gonna happen (due to scheduling) next season??
so you've thrown in the towel re: the potential magic of cal basketball, got it
Not throwing in the towel, Shocky, just setting realistic goals… I don't have to be at Duke -UNC - Syracuse level, 9th or 10th would be great next season. 1,500 additional is reachable, esp. with the free student tickets idea. I think we need fresh ideas for sure, and I haven't seen any from Cal OR, frankly, this Forum, bunch of old farts who think we know the psychology of a 20-year-old living in post-Covid 2020s… I mean, OK Boomer, which I can say as a one-gen behind Boomer. A pilot program on free student tickets, yes, let's try it. Hoping for long shots like millions of dollars investment in facilities and getting the next Jeremy Lin, no thanks, not realistic.
^ barsad, so basically ur ok with mediocre future attendance metrics (which is highly unlikely to even happen given that almost the entire playing rotation is gonna turn over) & that the cal's monster class era of averaging just south of 11,000 per game at haas is never gonna happen again??
just magically "adding 1500 fans per game" is not gonna happen with the mbb fanbase rapidly aging out at a rate of 10-15% a year with no gains in building the fanbase (future season tix buyers/donors) with students
are you also aware that the one time acc attendance spike from duke (11,021) & north carolina (8,077) fans isn't gonna happen (due to scheduling) next season??
so you've thrown in the towel re: the potential magic of cal basketball, got it
Not throwing in the towel, Shocky, just setting realistic goals… I don't have to be at Duke -UNC level, 9th or 10th would be great next season. 1,500 additional is reachable, esp. with the free student tickets idea. I think we need fresh ideas for sure, and I haven't seen any from Cal OR, frankly, this Forum, bunch of old farts who think we know the psychology of a 20-year-old living in post-Covid 2020s… I mean, OK Boomer, which I can say as a one-gen behind Boomer. A pilot program on free student tickets, yes, let's try it. Hoping for long shots like millions of dollars investment in facilities and getting the next Jeremy Lin, no thanks, not realistic.
Plus many!!!
Here is one possible Non boomer idea
"Midterm study break
Join us this Wednesday to cheer on the Bears before getting back to your studies. We are opening up the UCB alumni center for sports fans that want to study, take a break, and then get back to it.
Free tickets distributed 30 minutes before tip Open till midnight with dedicated CSO to walk you back to your car/dorm Backpack check - check your backpack at our Valet at the Alumni Center while you go to the game at HAAS Free Pizza before and after the game Special visit after the game by Coach Madsen and members of the team. Grab a selfy and see if he will do the Lakers Dance.
We know this is a stressful time for you and that midterms are a grind. Come spend 2 hours with us and root on your fellow students."
^ barsad, so basically ur ok with mediocre future attendance metrics (which is highly unlikely to even happen given that almost the entire playing rotation is gonna turn over) & that the cal's monster class era of averaging just south of 11,000 per game at haas is never gonna happen again??
just magically "adding 1500 fans per game" is not gonna happen with the mbb fanbase rapidly aging out at a rate of 10-15% a year with no gains in building the fanbase (future season tix buyers/donors) with students
are you also aware that the one time acc attendance spike from duke (11,021) & north carolina (8,077) fans isn't gonna happen (due to scheduling) next season??
so you've thrown in the towel re: the potential magic of cal basketball, got it
Not throwing in the towel, Shocky, just setting realistic goals… I don't have to be at Duke -UNC level, 9th or 10th would be great next season. 1,500 additional is reachable, esp. with the free student tickets idea. I think we need fresh ideas for sure, and I haven't seen any from Cal OR, frankly, this Forum, bunch of old farts who think we know the psychology of a 20-year-old living in post-Covid 2020s… I mean, OK Boomer, which I can say as a one-gen behind Boomer. A pilot program on free student tickets, yes, let's try it. Hoping for long shots like millions of dollars investment in facilities and getting the next Jeremy Lin, no thanks, not realistic.
Plus many!!!
Here is one possible Non boomer idea
"Midterm study break
Join us this Wednesday to cheer on the Bears before getting back to your studies. We are opening up the UCB alumni center for sports fans that want to study, take a break, and then get back to it.
Free tickets distributed 30 minutes before tip Open till midnight with dedicated CSO to walk you back to your car/dorm Backpack check - check your backpack at our Valet at the Alumni Center while you go to the game at HAAS Free Pizza before and after the game Special visit after the game by Coach Madsen and members of the team. Grab a selfy and see if he will do the Lakers Dance.
We know this is a stressful time for you and that midterms are a grind. Come spend 2 hours with us and root on your fellow students."
Meet them where they are.,
Now you're talking! Keep 'em coming, then someone call the Daily Cal to take a photo of us laying the printed out proposal at the ADs' door.
understood barsad, every current & future cal basketball fan including students should know what's bryan zhang's favorite noodle dish, does he prefer pork lo mein or beef chow fun (shocks go to noodle)!!
but nothing is gonna move forward until jay & jenny are non renewed july 1, 2026
