Big XII Attendance Tops in the Country

[TXSNOS]

In national home attendance figures, Tech was #2, Iowa State was #4, and Kansas State was #7. Am unsure about the rest of the conference. Link to story:
http://www.fansonly.com/channels/news/sports/w-baskbl/stories/062502aaa.html

TXSNOS

[cyfanatic]

Thanks for the story link. I am surprised UCONN isn't #1, as I have heard that they sell out all their games. Do they play in a small arena?

[swok34]

cy, they play in 2 arena's. One is larger than the other, but their "home" court only seats 9 or 10000?

[TXSNOS]

Other Big XII schools in top 25 in home attendance are #12 OU, #14 Baylor, #15 Texas, and #24 Nebraska.

Here's a link to an article with some detailed attendance stats: http://www.fansonly.com/channels/news/sports/w-baskbl/stories/062602aab.html

TXSNOS

[Big12Bear]

That's right, we accomplished the million goal!
http://www.baylorfans.com/bfview.php?storyID=2320

[PeachBasket]

That's pretty close. Gampel Pavilion on the campus at Storrs seats 10,027 for basketball--a number etched in the mind of every UConn fan. The Hartford Civic Center, where the Huskies usually play 6 home games a season seats a shade over 16,000, and those are all sold out every time, too. The redeeming factors for most Husky fans are road games in the region and Ct Public TV which broadcasts all the UConn games not carried by a national network.

This was the first year I really paid a lot of attention to B12 ball, and I must say I was just blown away by the levels of support throughout most of the B12 for wbb. (Not to mention being blown away by the level of play.) I tip my hat to the Big 12 fans, well done on the 1,000,000!

I am curious about how much television coverage there is of B12 games. Are there league games available on regional sports net via cable or dish most nights of the week in season? Or is weekly or just a couple nights a week? Do different schools have their own tv packages? Or does the conference control tv broadcast contracts? Anything along those lines would be illuminating to this New Englander.

[DblT81]

PeachBasket, I'll try to answer some and if other will fill in where I miss maybe you get 'em all answered.

The B12 has a contract with Fox Sports Net. For conference games, there is typically a Saturday afternoon game televised in B12 country-FS Southwest and ....(help me here ISU fans). Last season there were several double headers on Saturday and a few Sunday games also televised by FSN. Occasionally there was a Wednesday night game also broadcast by FSN but it was local option to show something else and several markets got hockey or NBA instead of B12 women.

Texas Tech had a new local network last season and broadcast all of their home games in markets that subscribed, primarily West Texas.

Because of the deal with Fox, very few B12 games are seen on a national basis. That, plus ESPN primarily luvs http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/uconn.gif and the Vols and doesn't want to take a ratings chance with many other teams. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by DblT81 (edited 06-27-2002).]

[KSUron]

KSU usually gets on Metro Sports about twice a year in addition to the broadcasts DblT81 mentioned. I Belive Nebraska also gets several games on Nebraska public TV. In short TV interest is getting better but its still a bummer here.

To add to my irritation the KSU radio network delayed broadcasts often last year so that even our own radio was not live on some away games. I could live with it (with some degree of smoke coming from my head) when the delay is for a live men's game.

At least twice the delay has been caused by a broadcast of the men's coach's weekly radio TALK show. That is so lame that I can't resist emailing K-State when it happens. We have a new network this year so maybe it will get better. I wish KSU would get a clue. The women's team often outdraws the men and they sure are a lot more fun to watch. If there is a delay I try to catch the game on the other team's internet webcast if available.

Welcome to HoopScoop PeachBasket. We have a lot of fun out here in fly-over country. Being from Kansas I think Dr. Naismith would approve of your peach basket.

[OhMandy]

As a Big 12 fan who lives in LA. I got to see at least one and sometimes two Big 12 games on Fox Sports Net or Fox Sports Net 2. Those are the two Fox networks that come with regular cable out here.

For some reason I saw Colorado a lot. Which was fine with me. They rarely showed KSU or OU for some reason.

[ChipperF1]

Overall its like any other league. A hodgepodge of locals and the conference's agreement with Fox.

Fox Sports Net does a very solid job and they rotate in a fine group of annoucers who know the game and the league (more Deb Antonelli and Brenda Van Lengen, PLEASE!)

The downside to FSN is their slate of ballgames. Last season some the prime games didn't get the big stage. Perhaps this is due to scheduling considerations what have you, but some of the best games of the conference season weren't available to a large number of fans across the league because FSN chose a less appealing matchup.

Among the individual broadcasters, I really Texas Tech and Texas. Red Raider network broadcasts in my view are well produced, the telecast and announcers are solid. It looks quality and the content is very solid.
Texas's games are all also done pretty well and are more than watchable, although they could learn some lessons in putting a good telecast package together from their adversary to the west.

Among the Northern Division, I have to give love the homestate network. Nebraska Educational Television does a good job. I just wish they did more games and put a little more emphasis on production value. The broadcasts are good, but they are vanilla compared to Red Raider Network, Texas or Connecticut Public Television. One feather in NETV's cap is they do provide the telecast on the internet. For fans in exile like myself, this is a beautiful service. I just hope the recent failure of the program doesn't mean NETV will cut back on coverage.

Living in Connecticut, I would say that many schools in the Big 12 could benefit from taking a look at Public Television as a place to get their games on air.

[mred]

Originally posted by DblT81:
The B12 has a contract with Fox Sports Net. For conference games, there is typically a Saturday afternoon game televised in B12 country-FS Southwest and ....(help me here ISU fans)..

Up here, we get it on FS Midwest and FS Chicago.

I was pretty happy with the number of games Fox Sports showed, but the actual games they picked made absolutely no sense. I'm guessing they tried to put each school on the air roughly the same number of times, and that means that most matchups they broadcast featured an upper-tier team vs. a lower-tier team.

[swok34]

Oklahoma has the "Sooner Sports Network" also, I believe they showed about 6 games this year...and it's a local channel. Good thing, we got to see the ISU and the KSU game via SSN, which were both "away" games. Oklahoma also got quite a lot of coverage from ESPN this year....3 regular season games is a lot for OU. On Fox, OU got 4 televised games....so a total of 13 televised games. Didn't have to listen to too many solely via radio. Coach Coale's TV show is also shown on SSN, I don't know the "official" name of the channel, but I've also seen Tulsa's women's BB show and Oklahoma State's women's BB show.

KSUron.....2/3 years ago when OU began it's descent upwards, they competed with the men's team for radio time.....that has changed, they use an alternate radio station now when the games conflict or run into one another.

Last year, 2000-2001.....I only attended the champ game of the Big XII tourney in KC, but was pleasantly surprised to see that our local Cox Channel 3 carried all the 1st and 2nd round games, with Fox picking up semi's and the final....I fired off a gracious thank you note to them straight away. Last spring, Fox picked up all the second round games, in addition to semi's and finals....so only the 1st round games were not televised. I have caught some games on Cox Channel 3 (cable channel)....of Tulsa women's basketball.

Welcome, peachbasket, welcome.......to hoopscoop.

[kate dawg]

Colorado has all their non-Fox/ESPN conference games on Boulder Cable.

OhMandy, the reason you saw a lot of CU this season is they were on regionally or nationally I think 10 times, which i'm pretty sure is their most ever. CU is carried locally on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, but sometimes has to compete with Avs hockey. Last season during the Big 12 tourney, the Avs had a game so Fox allowed the CU-ISU debacle (ha) to air on PAX, since it's good wholesome family fun. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/wink.gif

With the Big 12 Fox package, every team is guaranteed to be on at least twice, with some getting more games on than others.

[YCN]

From the perspective of this Boulder resident, I generally had the opportunity to see at least 3, and usually 4 or more Big 12 games each week.

While it wasn't basketball heaven, it sure wasn't bad. I was particularly irked when I couldn't see the game OU played in Manhattan, or the game in Ames, however.

[PeachBasket]

Thanks to all for the excellent info and for your warm welcomes to HoopScoop. I've been lurking here on and off since the UConn-OU game back in December gave me a quick wakeup call to B12 ball. I asked about the tv coverage because two things make for great tv sports, competitive teams and large enthusiastic crowds, and the B12 has both of those in spades. ESPN execs probably mostly live in the Bristol area, so Huskymania on their part is understandable, but I'm sure they realize the need to diversify their main offerings, and the B12 seems to me to be the kind of largely untapped source they need. Roaring crowds at games perk up what would otherwise be largely indifferent tv audiences. Fortunately, local stations/networks that really make a commitment to a given team or conference can be even more effective in serving existing fans and making new ones than any occasional national game can. That's been the experience around here with CPTV. I'm glad to see that a number of the B12 teams are taking the initiative as well, and that local stations are taking the risk.

[TXSNOS]

NCAA women's basketball attendance exceeds 9.5 million mark for 2001-02 season: http://www.ncaabasketball.net/news.asp?SID=D26F10C6691F48A2B51EAA77E4DBEFAF&s=33213&action=natstory

TXSNOS