Evansville SS

[Disco]

First off I haven’t been there in 5 years or so ,until this year. Again fantastic day of matches. Where the cream get together. I was surprised by the sparse crowd. You could Almost sit anywhere at anytime for every session. Now in past years there in Ford, the place was packed ,and you had to squeeze in to get close seats .And the MD crowd would take up 2-3 full sections. Is this an off year here? Or the new normal? I’m trying to figure out why the complacency. Streaming may be part of the no shows but the teams had very small groups of fans. 

[Cricket21]

As an MD fan, I was surprised about the scarce number of people in the stadium as well. I would agree to the fact on streaming takes fans away from being in-person. 

[ReformedPoster]

Personally, I had other stuff going on so i just streamed it and watched what I could.  First time I've missed attending in person since it moved to the Ford Center

[Disco]

From an analytical stand point, if this IS the new norm, the Ford center is an over kill for the minimal amount of people that attend. Any high school gym will do. Also worse than not having fans in attendance was the fact that the concessions did not have pulled pork nachos! I mean why even attend?

[Corey Bickel]

14 minutes ago, Disco said:

From an analytical stand point, if this IS the new norm, the Ford center is an over kill for the minimal amount of people that attend. Any high school gym will do. Also worse than not having fans in attendance was the fact that the concessions did not have pulled pork nachos! I mean why even attend?

I disagree. These kids wrestle all season long in ordinary HS gyms. The experience in itself of performing at a venue like the ford center will last longer for the kids that don’t get to continue onto the next level

[patriotfan]

During the finals it seemed a little sparse 

 

[Lawdiggity]

Bummer. Would love to see these places filled to the rafters for these kids. Here was New Castle last weekend

Edited February 16, 2023 by Lawdiggity
Wording

[Disco]

7 hours ago, Lawdiggity said:

Bummer. Would love to see these places filled to the rafters for these kids. Here was New Castle last weekend

Now this is more like it. 

[Disco]

8 hours ago, patriotfan said:

During the finals it seemed a little sparse 

 

If you weren’t there in the morning, for sessions 1and 2 , this is about what it looked like. I don’t think there is enough there to start a good fight. 

[Disco]

8 hours ago, Corey Bickel said:

I disagree. These kids wrestle all season long in ordinary HS gyms. The experience in itself of performing at a venue like the ford center will last longer for the kids that don’t get to continue onto the next level

So poor Indianapolis SS, they have to wrestle in an ordinary HS gym, I also feel bad for the EC group. 
It sure was a hollow quiet atmosphere at Ford Saturday. I’m not so sure that it was even a quarter of the way full. That New Castle picture sure looked a lot more fun and exciting for the wrestlers to experience, in my eyes. I don’t know. 

[rrschott]

9 hours ago, patriotfan said:

During the finals it seemed a little sparse 

 

Couple of observations from Evansville.  1.  The area this SS covers is HUGE; it's basically the bottom half of the state, so travel is a little bit more of an issue for those who aren't directly involved.  2.  The lower bowl was actually pretty full for the ticket round, but cleared out once half the kids were eliminated (likely in part due to the travel time for some of those wrestlers/families to get home).  3. Not pictured is the giant staging area for the wrestlers to get ready, which is where most of the kids/coaches were located for the majority of the day, so none of them are in the stands.  4.  The amount of seats in this picture is roughly equal to the size of the entire gym at New Castle; If everyone on the opposite side (which was actually more full than what's pictured because that's where the evansville teams/families were sitting) was squeezed into these seats you'd have a similar crowd.  

I would agree you probably could have held this semi-state in large high school, but it would have been PACKED for the opening/ticket rounds.  I will say that it was certainly a cool atmosphere for the kids, and certainly started to set the stage for the state finals downtown.

[Lawdiggity]

37 minutes ago, rrschott said:

Couple of observations from Evansville.  1.  The area this SS covers is HUGE; it's basically the bottom half of the state, so travel is a little bit more of an issue for those who aren't directly involved.  2.  The lower bowl was actually pretty full for the ticket round, but cleared out once half the kids were eliminated (likely in part due to the travel time for some of those wrestlers/families to get home).  3. Not pictured is the giant staging area for the wrestlers to get ready, which is where most of the kids/coaches were located for the majority of the day, so none of them are in the stands.  4.  The amount of seats in this picture is roughly equal to the size of the entire gym at New Castle; If everyone on the opposite side (which was actually more full than what's pictured because that's where the evansville teams/families were sitting) was squeezed into these seats you'd have a similar crowd.  

I would agree you probably could have held this semi-state in large high school, but it would have been PACKED for the opening/ticket rounds.  I will say that it was certainly a cool atmosphere for the kids, and certainly started to set the stage for the state finals downtown.

I don’t doubt it and pictures can be deceiving. Wasn’t saying one was better than the other, just showing the cool experience at NCSS while people claim gates may be down everywhere due to streaming. This 10 second video clip from last weekend of the New Castle Fieldhouse crowd is pretty cool: 

 

 

 

[swain358]

Have coached at both New Castle and Evansville Semi States. New Castle atmosphere is on a totally different level. Fans right on top of the mat, parents jumping over the rails, tiny holding pin area in the tunnel, full gym of fans. Its a great experience. 

[The Professor Morgan]

Evansville numbers seemed way down from last year.  Spent my whole time in the sport at New Castle where it’s probably breaking fire code with how many people are in there.

 

The Ford Center feels like mini state and is a great environment but is a wildly different experience than New Castle.

[indypharmd]

Maybe it was the Ford Center $15 popcorn and $25 hotdogs...

[indypharmd]

Just now, indypharmd said:

Maybe it was the Ford Center $15 popcorn and $25 hotdogs...

The Covid year in Jasper was a nice atmosphere. Not sure what seating #'s there are...?

[Disco]

1 hour ago, The Professor Morgan said:

Evansville numbers seemed way down from last year.  Spent my whole time in the sport at New Castle where it’s probably breaking fire code with how many people are in there.

 

The Ford Center feels like mini state and is a great environment but is a wildly different experience than New Castle.

Ok well then maybe the numbers this year was just a freak year.  Iknow when they started at Ford you had lines starting an hour or so before the doors opened.  It was a similar experience as the big show at Indianapolis. Not this year 

[Disco]

2 hours ago, swain358 said:

Have coached at both New Castle and Evansville Semi States. New Castle atmosphere is on a totally different level. Fans right on top of the mat, parents jumping over the rails, tiny holding pin area in the tunnel, full gym of fans. Its a great experience. 

I remember this at the two facilities that hosted Evansville SS in the past. Hopefully it will come back. I know the wrestling was just as good or better that past

[TripleB]

I love Evansville, but the travel has to be a deal breaker for many. 

 

Traveling 2 plus hours, most clear out after ticket round, combine that with the easiness of streaming and it just adds up to low numbers. 

 

I'd also say Mater Dei being down didn't help, they usually fill a good portion of the arena. 

 

 

[randalllynch]

The strength of the Moorseville Regional creates a lack of diversity in the later rounds, parents/teams/family members/fans aligned to the other regionals may not be staying around after their competitors are eliminated.  As Triple B said the south is so big that most team aligned fans don't know many of the other competitors.

Edited February 16, 2023 by randalllynch

[swain358]

Bloomington Semi State 

[rrschott]

6 minutes ago, TripleB said:

I love Evansville, but the travel has to be a deal breaker for many. 

 

Traveling 2 plus hours, most clear out after ticket round, combine that with the easiness of streaming and it just adds up to low numbers. 

 

I'd also say Mater Dei being down didn't help, they usually fill a good portion of the arena. 

 

 

The crowd cut roughly in half after the ticket round, although evansville as a whole still seemed reasonably well represented all the way through the finals.  

[The Professor Morgan]

13% of the state field is from Mooresville regional.

 

If all regionals were equal, they’d have 14 each.

[Disco]

2 hours ago, TripleB said:

I love Evansville, but the travel has to be a deal breaker for many. 

 

Traveling 2 plus hours, most clear out after ticket round, combine that with the easiness of streaming and it just adds up to low numbers. 

 

I'd also say Mater Dei being down didn't help, they usually fill a good portion of the arena. 

 

 

All this is true, and except for the streaming part, was true back 5 years ago. So…….

[Disco]

1 hour ago, rrschott said:

The crowd cut roughly in half after the ticket round, although evansville as a whole still seemed reasonably well represented all the way through the finals.  

Lol, cut in half. Half of nothing equals………man it was dead from years past.