Rough Riders game attendance down

Not very surprising to me, but the story has broken that the Rough Riders are averaging only 1900 fans a game in comparison to last year's 2500. Posted on the Cedar Rapids message board, fans have had a mixed response about why this drop could be occurring.

It could be because the team is losing. It could be that the new owners tried to revamp the team's branding a bit too much. Or, it could simply be the economy. I can't say I would blame many people from wanting to stay home when the cheapest seat in the house is $9, the team isn't winning, and the "entertainment" (if that's what it can even be called) is virtually the same every game and has been for the past six years. I'd say renting a new movie at Blockbuster ($6), popping up a few bags of popcorn ($5) sounds pretty good in comparison to spending at least $36.00 on tickets and then god knows how much on refreshments if little johnny gets thirsty.

What it comes down to is that I think this organization needs to sit down and look at what they're offering the fans. Economic hardship is here. Why sell 1900 tickets at $9 a piece when you could sell out the arena and standing room only if there were $5 general admission night. Heck, even lower admission for children under a certain age would be great. If the team continues to lose, I don't see why they couldn't think about doing this. More people would be likely to consider attending a hockey game. Some will say that I'm being cheap, but I think that it's being considerate of the fan base. Frankly, the owners have nothing to worry about financially (except for if this team folds) so maybe they just don't 'get it.'

The only other real explanation that I can come up with is that the new ownership is simply doctoring the numbers less than in years previous. I've been put in charge of recounting tickets and comparing the numbers to what's posted on the USHL website and have found that they really aren't off that much. A few hundred usually. Do you think this could be to blame? What do you think about the acceptance of doctoring numbers, anyhow?