GW Hoops / Vanderbilt is having a GW problem

**Posted by Tennessee Colonial** 2/08/2023 12:08 pm

Headline in today's The Tennessean newspaper states, 'What happened to 'Memorial Magic?' Memorial Gym is Vandy's home court. It use to be filled for every game. Over 10,000. Now it is quite a bit less. COVID had an inpact, but also poor performance And the New Nashville. Now Nashville has professional sports, Titans, Predators and a soccer team. No longer is Vandy the only game in town. And all the newbies coming into Nashville do not care about the 'old sports' teams. Vandy use to have a huge Home Court advantage. Not anymore.

An interesting note is the comment about Byrce Drew. He was the Valparaiso Coach who lost to GW and Mike L. in the final of the NIT. He became the Vanderbilt coach but had a terrible time there. H went 0-18 in the SEC 2018-2019. Attendance dropped a lot then.

**Posted by keithgreene** 2/08/2023 12:28 pm

He's doing ok at Baylor!

**Posted by BGF** 2/08/2023 12:31 pm

I’m not sure we ever were consistently filling our seats, but I do get what you’re saying. Having spent some time in Nashville, on business, and knowing the landscape of professional sports there, it is only going to get worse for them. The Titans have a new stadium coming in the not too distant future, And it’s very likely that major league baseball could end up there as well.

The other thing going against them is their location within Nashville. Not that it’s that far away from downtown Nashville, but the place to be there for casual fans is definitely not where they are.

That being said, Nashville gets so much tourist traffic, that they should be marketing heavily for all of the other teams in the league to bring fans in. I know that defeats the purpose of HomeCourt advantage, but it’s not hard to get people to want to visit Nashville!

Last thought…Not that it will ever happen, but I’ve always thought that Vanderbilt was an odd fit for the SEC. I’ve long thought they were a better fit for the ACC.

Last edited by BGF (2/08/2023 12:32 pm)

**Posted by Tennessee Colonial** 2/08/2023 1:58 pm

BGF. I asked my uncle, who is a Rutgers fan, what Rutgers was doing in the Big 10? $$$$$ was the answer. Same for Vandy. I use to have season tickets for Vandy many years ago. $100 a season wasn't bad. But like Vandy football many of the ticket holders sell their tickets to opposing team fans. Everytime Kentucky came to Memorial the place was packed with Wildcat Blue. I asked season ticket holders why they sold their tickets to Kentucky fans. They said that selling tickets to Kentucky fans once a year was the way They paid for Their season tickets. A long tradition. Strange but true. I just enjoyed watching some real good SEC basketball.
Just annoys me that we can't pack our small arena. How many students do we have on campus just a short walk to the facility? And we can't fill it up? Yet these people, who will not support the teams, want to control the sports scene they don't give a dam about. That vexes me. (Gladiator).

**Posted by Free Quebec** 2/08/2023 5:36 pm

keithgreene wrote:
He's doing ok at Baylor!

That’s his brother, Scott.

**Posted by MG14** 2/08/2023 10:33 pm

Vandy knocks of #6 Tennessee in front of 10,000+ fans. Big win for that program