Alabama averaged 12,826 spectators over the 2014 season at home. There were nowhere near that many at NCAA Championships in Birmingham, an hour away.
Why?
Interview with Auburn Head Coach Jeff Graba:
GNN: We’re you shocked at the lack of attendance for the Championships?
Jeff: I was a little shocked by it. It seemed to me we had a better turnout for our SEC Championship. I think it is tough to get all 3 days to be well attended so I’m mainly looking at the Super 6 attendance.
GNN: What’s your opinion about that?
Jeff: My belief is that we are a unique sport where a lot of families want to attend. This means that community, event price and options, competition times, and the fact that this particular event took place on Easter weekend all need to be taken into account.
GNN: Do you agree that someone needs to step up and start showing college gymnastics live?
Jeff: Yes, I do believe that is the case and have believed that for quite some time now.
However, I think we will need to get to a 4-team final before anyone will carry us live. I believe that the PAC 12, SEC and Big 10 all have a 4-team final so it really isn’t that much different than quite a few of our current conference models. It’s quite an issue right now because it really means that we as a gymnastics community need to make some tough decisions without really knowing the payoff ahead of time. …
GNN – Gymnastics News Network Q & A Interview with SEC Coach of the year Jeff Graba
Jeff was an assistant at Utah. Greg Marsden at Utah has been the most vocal proponent of a Super 4 televised Final.
Traditionally, Teams hosted this meet in their own gyms. But the NCAA has been looking for larger arenas in order to better accommodate the floor layout and participants.
The problem of “home team advantage” scoring is a factor, too.
I thought 2014 might sell out.
Nope.
Leave a comment if you’ve seen final attendance stats for the 3 days.
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