Smokey

That's a good point about the "Lost Generations" or "Generation Gap".

I don't know whether Loyola will ever be able to get them interested in the basketball program again (or for the first time), but I do know that an absolute pre-requisite is to start winning.

true that !

LU just posted a 9-game ticket plan for the conference home games. Maroon section is 150/per. Not too bad...

From 2004-2007, there was pretty good student attendance when school was in session. Head of basketball operations Shay Boyle made it his mission to get the students involved. After that, student attendance faded as the team was .500 or below and Boyle moved on. There were several games-- especially Butler and UIC games-- where student attendance was good or excellent.

As a student during the Will Rey years, the basketball games were an alien thing for students. Most games were at the Rosemont Horizon, and there was often no direct way to get there without a car. There were sometimes Pace busses that would go there for the games, but not always. I remember several times walking the 2 1/2 miles to and from the Rosemont El Station on the Blue Line to the Horizon (now Allstate Arena) on cold winter nights. And then when you got there, there were very few students, if any. When games returned to campus in 1995, student attendance improved, but there was no effort at all during the Burmeister and Farmer years to reach out specifically to students on a sustained basis.

A lot of it is creating a critical mass. Students won't go to the games if other students aren't going. And it won't be enjoyable for students if we don't win 70% of the home games.

For a year or so, way back when I was a student, there was something called the "Bud Bus" offered from campus to games at the Horizon. I remember it was always the same 20 or so students on the bus for every game. The bus trips themselves were a blast. We would always have the driver make two stops on the way to Rosemont: one at McDonalds, and one at a ... umm ... beverage store. Good times.

Finally. A mini-plan. What took so long? $150 in Maroon? Count me in.

See ya there!

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