BuzzerBeater Forums

Help - English > Poor Playoff Attendance

Poor Playoff Attendance

Set priority
Show messages by
This Post:
22
247088.17 in reply to 247088.16
Date: 9/4/2013 11:46:55 PM
High Point Heroes
NBBA
Overall Posts Rated:
4141
Let me just say I did not start this thread to hate on the game or the BBs. Considering the amount of spare time the developers have to spend on it, the game as a whole is very impressive. However, the game has it's quirks and I want to see the game improve so that it's popularity will also grow. This brings me to the point I was originally trying to make.

I had more people(~1,500) attend a game against a 2-20 opponent at the end of the season rather than attending a first round playoff opponent with a much better record. Logically this makes no sense. Perhaps a special case should be made for playoff games? I don't think playoff games should be an automatic sellout, but surely +90% of the stadium should be filled.

Message deleted
This Post:
00
247088.19 in reply to 247088.17
Date: 9/7/2013 10:33:51 PM
Overall Posts Rated:
3131
I find, as I'm poking through random NBA data from this past season, that the number of people who show up generally depends on two things. The first is the quality of the home team, the second is the quality of the road team. People show up to watch the Thunder on the road just as they do in Oklahoma City. If anything else has an effect, it seems to get lost.

I also just eyeballed a couple dozen playoff games - Brooklyn/Chicago, Chicago/Miami, Miami/Indiana, and the Finals - and it's very hard finding any that weren't sellouts. If they weren't, they had to be very close.

Even the worst NBA teams this season averaged near 80% home attendance (the Pistons averaged only 67%, but Detroit's overall economic condition makes that understandable). Seeing a team go from nearly sold out in one game to 60% of capacity the next two games (like I did only last month) appears unrealistic.

Last edited by Antares23 at 9/7/2013 10:34:01 PM

This Post:
11
247088.20 in reply to 247088.19
Date: 9/7/2013 10:58:30 PM
Surry Hills Peeps
II.3
Overall Posts Rated:
12171217
I think one of the dangers of using NBA comparisons (great info/ research though) is that, you as do I, play in the lower divisions in BB, we are like Local state level competitions in comparison and our Div I teams are like the NBA. At least that's what I keep convincing myself when no one comes to watch, and my TV revenue share is a fraction of that of Div I.

By the sounds of all the experiences being brought forward that there clearly needs to be an adjustment in the way it is all figured out and it appears that the BB'ers are well aware of this, hopefully it works it's way up the priority list soon and solves what seems to be a very passionate issue.

This Post:
22
247088.21 in reply to 247088.20
Date: 9/7/2013 11:55:40 PM
Overall Posts Rated:
3131
I think one of the dangers of using NBA comparisons (great info/ research though) is that, you as do I, play in the lower divisions in BB, we are like Local state level competitions in comparison and our Div I teams are like the NBA. At least that's what I keep convincing myself when no one comes to watch, and my TV revenue share is a fraction of that of Div I.

You're right, of course. On the other hand, even as lower-division teams, we both have arenas that dwarf a good number of real-life college basketball stadiums, and the more successful college teams are constantly sold out. I don't know how to reconcile that to a game world that consists of entirely professional teams. It's possible, also, that trying to model things so closely to the NBA is misguided, since the NBA doesn't sit atop a pyramid of several hundred other leagues.

With that in mind, all I will stand by is that the most important factor in ticket sales is - or should be - the caliber of the two teams, with additional consideration for the stakes of the game.

This Post:
00
247088.22 in reply to 247088.21
Date: 9/8/2013 1:37:13 AM
Surry Hills Peeps
II.3
Overall Posts Rated:
12171217
+1 I agree.

This Post:
00
247088.23 in reply to 247088.21
Date: 9/8/2013 1:41:21 AM
Overall Posts Rated:
304304
I don't know if you can find attendance figures for multi-level soccer leagues like they have in England, but that might be a better point of comparison. They have relegation and promotion there, as well as a Cup.

This Post:
00
247088.24 in reply to 247088.22
Date: 9/8/2013 2:49:40 AM
Overall Posts Rated:
12661266
I went from 84% for my 1st final and then 100% for the semi. And that was every seat sold (sometimes it says 100% but a small handful are free).

This Post:
00
247088.25 in reply to 247088.24
Date: 9/8/2013 2:56:05 AM
Surry Hills Peeps
II.3
Overall Posts Rated:
12171217
Yeah, my first game said 100% but was a few seats from a true 100%, the second was capacity.

This Post:
11
247088.26 in reply to 247088.23
Date: 9/8/2013 4:03:19 PM
Overall Posts Rated:
3131
Taken from Wikipedia, the average attendances for the five highest divisions in the English soccer pyramid (two years ago except for the EPL):

Premier League: 35,931
Championship: 17,738
League One: 7,358
League Two: 4,408
Conference National: 2,020

And it only goes down from there. In the earliest rounds of the FA Cup, where they have teams from divisions 9 and 10, attendances are usually lower than 100. In other major countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain), the drop-offs from tier to tier are even more pronounced.

If you wanted to scale this to BB, you'd have to reduce everything by at least half, since soccer stadiums commonly have a much higher capacity than basketball stadiums.

It makes me wonder what if new BB teams started with an arena capacity of 1,000 or 2,000.

This Post:
00
247088.27 in reply to 247088.26
Date: 9/8/2013 4:11:00 PM
Overall Posts Rated:
304304
Good research. So even though that's a closer comparison in terms of league structures, it's not very helpful for giving us guidance in how to improve our system.

I think starting with arenas that small would make budgeting nearly impossible because you couldn't earn enough.

Advertisement