Cal Baptist attendance

[tsull]

And you thought I was only jealous of Dixie's attendance ... Cal Baptist had a 6-game home stretch recently and the fans packed them in at the gate in Riverside, California. Here you go:

vs. Concordia -- 2,377
vs. Notre Dame dM -- 2,579
vs. Academy of Art -- 1,559
vs. Biola -- 4,680 (!!!)
vs. Hawaii-Hilo -- 1,059
vs. Chaminade -- 2,558

When you're low is more than 1K, you're doing great, and when your high is inching towards 5K, that's unreal. I didn't even mention the game at Azusa before the 6-game home stretch, where 2,286 showed up.

Way to represent CBU fans, impressive.

[KTodd]

Re: Cal Baptist attendance

Thanks tsull. I was at all 6 games, great support from Riverside and the Inland Empire. Two notes - Biola was Homecoming, so my assumption is many alums hadn't seen the new arena. Chaminade was Senior Night, they had a nice turnout for the 6 seniors.

This weekend will be fun. Dixie is really really good, Pt Loma and APU are very capable of going on a 3-game run.

[tsull]

Re: Cal Baptist attendance

Thanks tsull. I was at all 6 games, great support from Riverside and the Inland Empire. Two notes - Biola was Homecoming, so my assumption is many alums hadn't seen the new arena. Chaminade was Senior Night, they had a nice turnout for the 6 seniors.

This weekend will be fun. Dixie is really really good, Pt Loma and APU are very capable of going on a 3-game run.

Just an awesome showing by CBU fans. Yeah, I wish they were staying D2, but at least they have some crowds to show for their move up. A lot of these DWannabees draw 500 a game and then move up and still draw 500 a game, all in hopes of getting CBS March Madness money. CBU is representing at the gate in a big way.

So much for the "too many distractions" in SoCal theory that keeps crowds small. Wish WOU had half this support. WOU is in one of the biggest winning runs in school history when one includes the Bergeson/Shaw coaching eras, and we still have to beg people to come to the games.

Great job, CBU.

[BillyBronco]

Re: Cal Baptist attendance

We are in the same boat tsull at Pomona. We have 2playoff games tonight and will be lucky to have 200 fans if they count me twice! It's to bad because coach Kamansky has built a great program.

[KTodd]

Re: Cal Baptist attendance

I do believe CBU will find it challenging to pull people in next year to watch them play Chicago St., UT Rio Grande, UMKC, etc. Not a built-in rival like APU, Concordia, even Pt Loma and Dixie bring out the very competitive nature in these kids because they're been bumping heads for years. That all goes away. I'll miss that.

The good thing is they'll make an annual trip to Seattle U so I'll see the Key Arena with a few thousand people. Mmm .. maybe not so good.

BillyBronco, Pomona making another run - good luck to them.

I'll be in Riverside this Thur-Sat, the ride is about done. Been a blessing to watch it all.

[tsull]

Re: Cal Baptist attendance

I do believe CBU will find it challenging to pull people in next year to watch them play Chicago St., UT Rio Grande, UMKC, etc. Not a built-in rival like APU, Concordia, even Pt Loma and Dixie bring out the very competitive nature in these kids because they're been bumping heads for years. That all goes away. I'll miss that.

The good thing is they'll make an annual trip to Seattle U so I'll see the Key Arena with a few thousand people. Mmm .. maybe not so good.

BillyBronco, Pomona making another run - good luck to them.

I'll be in Riverside this Thur-Sat, the ride is about done. Been a blessing to watch it all.

I see why schools do this, but it's disappointing to see D2 lose CBU, especially with their fan base. Idaho played in the WAC for a few years, when it was the good WAC with NMSU, Nevada, Boise State, Utah State, etc.; and in the current not-so-good WAC with Chicago State (how do they play d-1 when the school almost closed), and Kangaroos from UMKC, etc. Personally, I find the PacWest more interesting than that conference and more regionalized and as you noted, great rivalries and great crowds.

[crixus]

Re: Cal Baptist attendance

I see why schools do this, but it's disappointing to see D2 lose CBU, especially with their fan base. Idaho played in the WAC for a few years, when it was the good WAC with NMSU, Nevada, Boise State, Utah State, etc.; and in the current not-so-good WAC with Chicago State (how do they play d-1 when the school almost closed), and Kangaroos from UMKC, etc. Personally, I find the PacWest more interesting than that conference and more regionalized and as you noted, great rivalries and great crowds.

I remember reading last year on the old Scout.com WAC message board that Chicago State has some graduates working in the Illinois Governor's office, and that's the main reason why the doors are still open at Chicago State. If they didn't have the Governor's "extra support" that campus would probably be closed by now. It's in a high crime neighborhood too.

[SGAstumpJ]

Re: Cal Baptist attendance

I do believe CBU will find it challenging to pull people in next year to watch them play Chicago St., UT Rio Grande, UMKC, etc. Not a built-in rival like APU, Concordia, even Pt Loma and Dixie bring out the very competitive nature in these kids because they're been bumping heads for years. That all goes away. I'll miss that.

The good thing is they'll make an annual trip to Seattle U so I'll see the Key Arena with a few thousand people. Mmm .. maybe not so good.

True. They won't even have an in-state conference opponent once CSU-Bakersfield leaves for the Big West. The closest thing to a rival they'll have is Grand Canyon--who they haven't played in five years.

[tsull]

Re: Cal Baptist attendance

Re-thinking CBU's move to D-1 after KTodd's responses. They're tossing away rivalries and potentially big crowds for what? Prestige? Not sure if this is a good move. It's not like other L.A. mid-majors -- Pepperdine and LMU -- are doing well. I haven't looked at their crowds but I'd guess other than the Gonzaga game at each school, I'd bet CBU is drawing better than both Pepperdine and LMU.

Add the costs of traveling to Chicago, Kansas City, Texas, etc., is this some crazy administrative move? I'll be watching their attendance next year as I've been a proponent of D-1 NOT increasing to more than the current 355 teams and actually reducing that amoung, making D-1 and D-2 better divisions.

Close to 5K went to the Biola-CBU game this year; will they get that next year? To CBU's credit, at least they have some crowd support/infrastructure in which to move up, which is more than a lot of schools that have done this move in the past decade.