Central Region Talk

[Thunder]

Question for you NSIC folks. Do the doubleheaders alternate times each year? I’ve noticed the men player early and the women play late on Fridays and wasn’t sure if that’s how it always is or if that trades off.

They do half the season one way, half the season the other way. This weekend NSU is doing giveaways during the women's games to try to keep people in attendance. The advertisements for the giveaways have a big bold "Be in ATTENDANCE, win PRIZES" plastered across the top.

[NWFanatic]

Looks like a 5 team race to host. NWMSU & UCO each have 2 losses…SNU has 3 …MSUM has 4 and NSU has 5.

[Alfred33]

They do half the season one way, half the season the other way. This weekend NSU is doing giveaways during the women's games to try to keep people in attendance. The advertisements for the giveaways have a big bold "Be in ATTENDANCE, win PRIZES" plastered across the top.

Do they wait until the 4th quarter so that there isn't a mass exodus in the middle of the game after the prize(s) is given away? I understand what the NSIC tries to, but I would think it would feel uncomfortable and a little sad to see people leaving at the start or especially in the middle of a game. I think even as a women's player, I'd rather start with a small crowd that gets big in the second half when the game (hopefully) gets exciting than the opposite.

[NSU4LIFE]

Looks like a 5 team race to host. NWMSU & UCO each have 2 losses…SNU has 3 …MSUM has 4 and NSU has 5.

LOL...five team race...

[NWFanatic]

LOL...five team race...

So is it down to UCO, NWMSU or SNU?

[Thunder]

Do they wait until the 4th quarter so that there isn't a mass exodus in the middle of the game after the prize(s) is given away? I understand what the NSIC tries to, but I would think it would feel uncomfortable and a little sad to see people leaving at the start or especially in the middle of a game. I think even as a women's player, I'd rather start with a small crowd that gets big in the second half when the game (hopefully) gets exciting than the opposite.

Not sure, tonight is the first time they've tried this as far as I know. I saw it billed as "4 for 40" so my guess is there will be prizes given away at some point in each quarter. To be perfectly honest, I more than likely won't be around to find out. As NSU4LIFE mentioned at the last home game, with a pretty good crowd, I think there was a little delay for the women's teams to get onto the court because they had to wait for so many people to exit the arena.

[Moorhead123]

Looks like a 5 team race to host. NWMSU & UCO each have 2 losses…SNU has 3 …MSUM has 4 and NSU has 5.

Yes, probably about right.

[Alfred33]

Not sure, tonight is the first time they've tried this as far as I know. I saw it billed as "4 for 40" so my guess is there will be prizes given away at some point in each quarter. To be perfectly honest, I more than likely won't be around to find out. As NSU4LIFE mentioned at the last home game, with a pretty good crowd, I think there was a little delay for the women's teams to get onto the court because they had to wait for so many people to exit the arena.

That kind of delay is disheartening and the opposite of what they are wanting to achieve. Maybe the prizes will make a difference and become a thing for other schools too. Personally, I wouldn't mind the men playing at 1:00 instead of 3:30 on the weekend, and getting out of there. I still I hope we don't ever make that change.

[Mark Emmert's Burner]

That kind of delay is disheartening and the opposite of what they are wanting to achieve. Maybe the prizes will make a difference and become a thing for other schools too. Personally, I wouldn't mind the men playing at 1:00 instead of 3:30 on the weekend, and getting out of there. I still I hope we don't ever make that change.

I had heard that another smaller part of the desire for doubleheader flipping was to be more equitable to parents/fans of the women's teams. So that they weren't always the ones that had to leave work early on Fridays to make a 5:30 start compared to 7:30.

So while that part makes sense to me, the much larger goal of beefing attendance for women's games is actually counterproductive (at least in some gyms). At least with men's games going 2nd, you would get part of that crowd catching the 2nd half of the women's games. Maybe from there you could cultivate a following for that team if they're having a successful season. Instead, you're having that crowd now just leave once the men's game is done. That's a bummer.

[Alfred33]

I had heard that another smaller part of the desire for doubleheader flipping was to be more equitable to parents/fans of the women's teams. So that they weren't always the ones that had to leave work early on Fridays to make a 5:30 start compared to 7:30.

So while that part makes sense to me, the much larger goal of beefing attendance for women's games is actually counterproductive (at least in some gyms). At least with men's games going 2nd, you would get part of that crowd catching the 2nd half of the women's games. Maybe from there you could cultivate a following for that team if they're having a successful season. Instead, you're having that crowd now just leave once the men's game is done. That's a bummer.

That does make some sense... I hadn't thought about that part of it. But yeah, as an attendance driver, I don't imagine that will ever work the way they hope for it to.

[NSU4LIFE]

I had heard that another smaller part of the desire for doubleheader flipping was to be more equitable to parents/fans of the women's teams. So that they weren't always the ones that had to leave work early on Fridays to make a 5:30 start compared to 7:30.

So while that part makes sense to me, the much larger goal of beefing attendance for women's games is actually counterproductive (at least in some gyms). At least with men's games going 2nd, you would get part of that crowd catching the 2nd half of the women's games. Maybe from there you could cultivate a following for that team if they're having a successful season. Instead, you're having that crowd now just leave once the men's game is done. That's a bummer.

That first part does make sense, though the amount of parents traveling for all these games isn't going to be very big in most cases.

I feel like the reported attendance for the women's games will be higher. I don't knownhow they do attendance counting when games are back to back but I'd assume the 2nd game includes attendance from the first game through probably halftime of the 2nd game, regardless who goes first. IF that is the case the women's attendance on paper would look better but just from being there in person, it just looked depressing, especially when they had to wait to take the court. At the very lease have someone folks blocking it off so teams can get on and off the court.

There was actually a Concordia player from the men's game at the last home game that got caught behind so many fans he gad to climb around the Courtside seats and wait and weave his way up and down the bleachers to get back to the locker room. Lol

[Stanger86]

There was actually a Concordia player from the men's game at the last home game that got caught behind so many fans he gad to climb around the Courtside seats and wait and weave his way up and down the bleachers to get back to the locker room. Lol

OK, and...? That probably happens every game. Only now, it's made a bigger deal because it's the men's team that is inconvenienced rather than the women's team.

I get that most of us primarily watch the men's games. I'm right there with you. But that doesn't make the worth of the women's teams and their parents/fans less valid.

[NSU4LIFE]

OK, and...? That probably happens every game. Only now, it's made a bigger deal because it's the men's team that is inconvenienced rather than the women's team.

I get that most of us primarily watch the men's games. I'm right there with you. But that doesn't make the worth of the women's teams and their parents/fans less valid.

Read back more, you'll see how I said the women had to wait to get on the court because of fans leaving...this isn't a men's versus women's thing...

I was saying it was funny but kind of ridiculous to not just make a way for each team to get on and off the court before/after games. I already said i enjoy watching both so not sure what you are trying to get at here.

[Mark Emmert's Burner]

I would also point out to the NSIC that attendance trends can also simply be reflective of quality of team. I'm a Dragons fan, and there was a period from 2017-18 to part of 2019-20 where the women's games seemed to have higher attendance simply because our women's team was on a roll those years, while the men struggled. That was before any doubleheader flipping, too. But no one listens to me, I'm just t̶h̶e̶ p̶r̶e̶s̶i̶d̶e̶n̶t̶ o̶f̶ t̶h̶e̶ N̶C̶A̶A̶ some guy.

[mosofan1]

Time to start giving Lincoln some respect when it comes to Central Region rankings. They are now 11-5 in the MIAA and 15-5 overall.