> By the way, the Bears have now played five exciting ECAC quarterfinal
> games in a row at Meehan, including last year's three-game victory
> over Vermont, to an attendance of 1610, 1817, 1432, 1157, & 1257.
> In 1992/93, against Yale, Brown drew 2450 and 2254. Meehan's capacity
> is 3100. I sense a marketing problem, don't you?
>
> Geoff Howell
> The Trenton Times
> Drop the Puck
 
        I think that the dip in attendance isn't Brown so much as the
city of Providence in general.
        While Brown attendance has sucked this year, look across town at
Providence College, who routinely play before friends and family at
Schneider. Granted until lately the Friars have been poor, but the
attendance was even weaker.
        Two factors I see are 1) the profusion of gangs and bad
neighborhood in Providence that discourage people from going into the
city on a Friday night. Providence has some downright ugly neighborhoods,
especially around PC, and that hurts the gate.
        2) The rising popularity of the Providence Bruins has hurt as
well. First of all, the Civic Center has easy freeway access, so gang
scared visitors can easily skip out of town. Both Brown and PC require a
good amount of driving from the freeway, through suspect areas. Plus for
years this has been Bruin country, and when they moved their AHL
affiliate down from Portland last year they were and instant success.
Boston Bruins tickets in the Garden are nearly impossible to come by, and
many who live south of the city truck on down to Providence to see "the
baby B's," Boston's stars of tomorrow.
        Remember, at last update there were still some games left for the
Final Four in Providence.
 
Leigh
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