Inside Syracuse’s rough off-season: How portal misses and a lack of NIL money led to a lost year

[Cusefan0307]

A trusted poster on this board said otherwise and had a credible source. I trust them.

Georgia Tech Postgame

I didn’t watch. Glad we won. Fin. Don't worry. They are resurrecting ESPN Classic specifically to show this game on a non-stop loop.

syracusefan.com

Thank you. I had the game wrong. There was about the same amount for Louisville the following week.

 

[IthacaMatt]

In case you haven’t noticed, lots of college kids test the NBA waters before coming back to college like Judah his freshman year.

What you originally said was NBA or portal.

 

[hoopsupstate]

The YUM Center was empty last year and they’re filling it up again. All it takes is winning and some talented players and I think fans will return rather quickly. We will have a strange Home schedule next year with none of the Carolina schools. Our home schedule next year should be:
Pitt, BC, ND, Cal, Stanford, SMU, Clemson, VT, Miami, FSU and SEC game plus the usual non conference games. Not a high interest home schedule.

 

[djcon57]

You can trust all you want. It’s still wrong. And absurdly so. But you stick to your story. I am never going to educate you otherwise.

It’s not my story. It’s a poster than has more credibility than you at this point.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Announced attendance is tickets distributed. Same as every P5 program. That’s been discussed ad nauseum here and on the football board. There may have been a game or two early in the year against low profile opponents with actual attendance close to 10,000 but to say there was one where “we had less than 5000 through the gate for a game against one of the best ACC teams this year“ is simply absurd.

He meant live bodies, not paid receipts. Yes, we recognize that all colleges report tickets sold. That doesn't negate the main point, that the university is losing lots of money by allowing the program to bottom out like they have.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

The YUM Center was empty last year and they’re filling it up again. All it takes is winning and some talented players and I think fans will return rather quickly. We will have a strange Home schedule next year with none of the Carolina schools. Our home schedule next year should be:
Pitt, BC, ND, Cal, Stanford, SMU, Clemson, VT, Miami, FSU and SEC game plus the usual non conference games. Not a high interest home schedule.

UL was also bold enough to do what needed to be done after two years. If SU shows that same commitment, maybe the fans will reciprocate.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Wednesday‘s game will be interesting. It’s a big game for SU. Let’s see if the students and season ticket holders show up. Weather looks pretty good.

 

[Scooch]

Wednesday‘s game will be interesting. It’s a big game for SU. Let’s see if the students and season ticket holders show up. Weather looks pretty good.

I’m not sure I’d call a game we need to qualify for our conference tourney as “big”. I imagine attendance will be dreadful. Expectedly so.

 

[hoopsupstate]

UL was also bold enough to do what needed to be done after two years. If SU shows that same commitment, maybe the fans will reciprocate.

I’m just giving an example of a program with a great fan base that came back. Whatever happens to Red, we have a great fan base that loves hoops. A good product will put fans back in the seats. Let’s hope it doesn’t take too long. It still boggles my mind that we averaged OVER 29,000 fans one year.

 

[phil77]

Wednesday‘s game will be interesting. It’s a big game for SU. Let’s see if the students and season ticket holders show up. Weather looks pretty good.

Battle for last spot in ACCT massive game for both teams

 

[Red2003]

UL was also bold enough to do what needed to be done after two years. If SU shows that same commitment, maybe the fans will reciprocate.

I mean Kenny sort of forced their hand ha. Not like they weren’t paying for pretty good players and 12 wins total in 2 years.

I said I thought 1% Autry was canned this year, it went to 5% after Miami debacle, if they lose out maybe it’s 25%. Still a long shot I wouldn’t bet on.

Who’s knows. Maybe Wildhack will get some magic phone call again or maybe Melo will pull a Boeheim and coach his kid.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Wednesday‘s game will be interesting. It’s a big game for SU. Let’s see if the students and season ticket holders show up. Weather looks pretty good.

Sorry, but who are we playing?

 

[hoopsupstate]

I’m just giving an example of a program with a great fan base that came back. Whatever happens to Red, we have a great fan base that loves hoops. A good product will put fans back in the seats. Let’s hope it doesn’t take too long. It still boggles my mind that we averaged OVER 29,000 fans one year.

I checked and in 1990 and 1991 SU averaged over 29,000 per game. In 1991 it was 29,919 fans per game. That’s insane.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Sorry, but who are we playing?

NC State. I’ll be there and do the best I can to estimate the fans. Two terrible teams. There will be less than 10k again I expect.

 

[jdubs30]

Craig Smith was 11-18 year 1 in Utah, 17-15 year 2, 22-15 year 3, 15-12 about 85% of the way through year 4 and fired. It appears to be strictly performance related, albeit odd timing.

If Utah is willing to pull the trigger on a better coach …..

 

[NineOneSeven]

Looking forward to reading this thread, only got to page 2. Also haven’t read article yet.

Honestly, I think Red lost me at the end of the first Notre Dame game when he didn’t call a timeout with like :30s left.

And we are still talking about NIL being the biggest factor? Please.

 

[Irishsecra1]

NC State. I’ll be there and do the best I can to estimate the fans. Two terrible teams. There will be less than 10k again I expect.

I will be there.
More out of a sense of loyalty than anything
Though playing a bad team, there is a chance it will be at least entertaining..

And I have attended all but 2 games at the Dome this season.


Multiple times the crowd actually there was less than 10,000.
You know the crowd is low when there is no line to use the bathroom, maybe a one minute wait to get inside the dome and usually no wait to get a beer or soda. And maybe waiting 5 minutes at most for a shuttle back to Manley.

Parking and concessions revenue have to be in the toilet.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I checked and in 1990 and 1991 SU averaged over 29,000 per game. In 1991 it was 29,919 fans per game. That’s insane.

Yes, and in 1991, you could buy a nice 32" color tv for $700. Things are so much different nowadays that you can't compare 34 years ago. Just like 34 years before 1991 was 1957.

Even if we were in first place, I highly doubt we could average 29,000 fans. Even 25,000 fans. Too many people find it an inconvenience to leave the comfort of their home and their big screen tv.

But, Syracuse has shown its stripes very quickly. The fans are jumping off the ship quickly. And NIL has to be somewhat related. How many fans, who might not renew, will still give or add to their NIL contribution.

But you can blame the season ticket loss on CNY townies who might be struggling to pay their heat bill and to put groceries on the table, but hopefully the administrators don't think it's the locals who are going to pony up $50 million. That has to come out of the deep pockets of some of the wealthy alumni.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Looking forward to reading this thread, only got to page 2. Also haven’t read article yet.

Honestly, I think Red lost me at the end of the first Notre Dame game when he didn’t call a timeout with like :30s left.

And we are still talking about NIL being the biggest factor? Please.

The podcast with Axe and Mike Waters is decent enough but still somewhat inconclusive. I think bottom line is that Cuse will have to overpay, or sit on the sidelines, because the SEC and the B1G will pay more as they don't really have a budget. Kind of like the Mets and Dodgers.

Plus you get 10 minutes of LaLa. She seems like an average Mom in all this.

 

[JDubbin]

Interesting interaction between Waters & Weitsman on X…

 

[JDubbin]

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Craig Smith was 11-18 year 1 in Utah, 17-15 year 2, 22-15 year 3, 15-12 about 85% of the way through year 4 and fired. It appears to be strictly performance related, albeit odd timing.

If Utah is willing to pull the trigger on a better coach …..

Man, if you’re firing someone with that kind of record at Utah you better have an absolute stud lined up.

 

[djcon57]

The podcast with Axe and Mike Waters is decent enough but still somewhat inconclusive. I think bottom line is that Cuse will have to overpay, or sit on the sidelines, because the SEC and the B1G will pay more as they don't really have a budget. Kind of like the Mets and Dodgers.

Plus you get 10 minutes of LaLa. She seems like an average Mom in all this.

The Guardians had one of the lowest payrolls in baseball last year and made the ALDS.

don’t compare us to the Yankees, that’s Duke, the SEC, etc in the current landscape. We get it. There’s no reason we cant be smarter using our money sneak on the bubble. again, we’re talking about MAKING THE TOURNEY.

 

[PoppyHart]

Man, if you’re firing someone with that kind of record at Utah you better have an absolute stud lined up.

The guy had a ton of success at USU beforehand.

 

[JaySU22]

For those expecting to get back to top 15 status but resigned to never winning a bidding war with a big 10 or sec school, well we’re going to have to figure out a way to win at least some of those battles. You need dudes to be a legit top 15 team otherwise our ceiling is probably that of a frisky mountain west type of bubble team. It’s too difficult of a needle to thread to expect to be very good without spending major $ on talent.