Basketball attendance across the SEC "is down -- again," as the current average (10,275) "would be the smallest total for the league in three decades," according to Rick Bozich of Louisville-based WDRB.com. It is "not an alarming number, a decline of 78 fans per game, from 10,353 last season." As a "single-game snapshot," it "is no big deal." Bozich: "But open the lens a little wider. Attendance last season was down 218 per game from 2013. And attendance in 2013 was down 942 per game from 2012. That's a decrease of 10.8 percent in three seasons." Attendance also "is down at least 900 fans per game at eight SEC schools." Still, six schools "are enjoying increases." The gains "range from modest (129 per game at Georgia) to dazzling (1,744 at Auburn)." Without Kentucky, the numbers "would be legitimately frightening," as UK attendance "has improved by 242 fans per game to 23,206." UK "averages as many fans for one game as half the teams in the league (LSU, Missouri, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Georgia, Auburn and A&M) do for three games." Attendance "has also softened a bit in football." The SEC Network "has increased the league's exposure while tempting even the committed basketball fan to remain in his or her easy chair." Maybe the numbers "will increase with conference play underway and football season over" (WDRB.com, 1/15).
IF I RULED THE WORLD: UK coach John Calipari was asked by ESPN’s Seth Greenberg what he would do if he was the “Commissioner of College Basketball” for a day. Calipari said he would schedule exhibition games "that are true exhibition games, like the NBA." Calipari: "Have to do them on weekends. We can play Duke -- doesn't matter, the game does not count. You come to us, we go to you. Do it on a Friday or Saturday -- no missing class. Sell tickets. Put it on TV. Who cares?" He added he would change the rule limiting the number of foreign trips in a four-year period from one to two. Calipari: "If you choose not to go, you can use 10 practice days or 12. Kind of like how they do in football. Why not every year you get 12 days of practice time in the summer?” (“College GameDay,” ESPN, 1/17).
