BOL Round Table

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hvacigar said...

I'll take you up on your argument, and add more

As for Butler, Gonzaga, St Mary's, VCU and SDSU; those programs premier basketball as their #1 sport, and therefore look forward to basketball season like we look forward to football season (possibly with the exception of SDSU).

As for Alabama, basketball just is not that big of an interest in the state, nor is it on campus (at least when I was there in the late 90s). Don't get me wrong, it is a followed sport, but not followed very much. During my time at Bama Women's basketball and Gymnastics were talked about more this time of year, and even baseball was popular (mind you this is not centered on my interests as I have very little interests in any of those sports....very little). I am not making an argument as to why/why not people should support Bama basketball, but given what people put into football every year (money, time, fan support), I think a vacation from everything Bama Football is a relief for some people.

That being said, there is another inherent tragic flaw with basketball (that also applies to baseball). Most of the games are played at times when it is very hard for the populace to actually attend. Now before you say, "But these games are on weekends"...yes, they are, but Bama Football is like an event. You get the tickets far in advance, you circle the date/dates on the Calnedar, you invite family and friends. You start cooking food three days in advance. You travel to the campus three days in advance. These are rituals so engrained in the culture of Alabama that no other sport at the University even compares. The weekday games dilute the value of the event. I would dare say NONE of the schools on your list approach the passion that the Alabama football fan has. I have been a Bama fan and have seen many Bama fans stick through an awful performance by the football team (particaulary a 4 int performance against Lou Holtz led USC in the 90s...Marc Guillon anyone???); but I have also been in the Georgia Dome and have seen UF fans fold after the first posession of halftime and the stadium become A-day by the end of the third quarter. Bama fans love football, they just love little else when it comes to sports (NASCAR excluded). If Bama had a NASCAR team, it would be supported more than basketball.

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NashTide said...

I get what you're saying re: football being a cultural event. But at the same time, I'd make the claim that for that very reason it's actually "easier" to support basketball. With football, you're making a weekend-long commitment in most cases. Because of traffic, hotel minimums, and just the general circus (in a good way) that goes on, it's an exhausting commitment but one that a great many people are willing to make. I know - I'm one of those people who has season tickets and spends insane amounts of time and money on it. It's a cultural phenomenon.

With basketball, aside from getting to Coleman from wherever you live, there's really no sacrifice whatsoever right now. Tickets are cheap and plentiful. You don't have to battle traffic or stake your claim to a spot 36 hours before the game. It literally takes 3 hours of your day+ drive time. I get that if you live in Dothan you can't make a Wednesday night game, nor should you be expected to. You probably couldn't even justify making a Saturday game.

But the other side of the logic is - with football, we're filling up a 102,000-seat stadium. With basketball, we really only need around 12,000 for it to "look and feel" like a good crowd. Obviously 15,000 would be better, but even if we don't sell out and pack out, we can still create a great environment. If one out of every 10 football fans invested in basketball, we'd be fine. That's assuming there aren't people who exclusively love the sport of basketball, too.

Of the 1.3 million people in Jefferson/Shelby/Tuscaloosa/Walker/Cullman counties (all within 1.5 hours of Tuscaloosa), I'd imagine there are probably around 700-800,000 "Alabama fans." More than that when you open up to other rural areas.

If we can't get 12,000 out of nearly 1 million people to care enough to make even a basic effort to attend, then we have a deep problem.

Re: Butler, Gonzaga, St. Mary's, etc. - they absolutely adore basketball and only basketball. So they have that advantage. But they're also about #10 on the list of things to do in their area. They don't have the natural fan base we have. You'd probably be hard-pressed to find 800,000 Butler fans on earth, much less within an hour or two of campus. They're far behind the Colts, Pacers, Hoosiers, Purdue, Notre Dame, etc. in their market. So while they have a motivated fan base, it's a much smaller pool to draw from. Butler, with Hinkle Fieldhouse, is sort of a cradle of basketball so they're a special case, but the others like Gonzaga, Baylor, St. Mary's etc. share the common theme of winning. That's what makes them attractive right now.