mens and Womens BB attendance

[HofstraMathew]

Did Hofstra just not have any events before November 5th? Why are people under the age of 12 allowed in without being vaccinated? What about known antivaxxer JWF being at the game on Saturday? Did he finally get the vaccine (doubt it) or did Hofstra just not check? Not to mention I saw him talking with JAM (who is high risk just based on his age) without a mask.

What about masks? It seems to be common knowledge now that cloth masks are basically worthless (I am sure we all see the NYC commercials talking about it). In my section its usually just my wife and I that have a KN95 mask on. Does everyone else just not care or not understand a cloth mask for 90 minutes does nothing?

If this was truly about preventing as much spread as possible then it would be 100% vaccine mandate, no food or drinks allowed (to prevent taking a mask off) and then a KN95 or better mask policy. But Hofstra realizes the more restrictions they have the less attendance they will have and they came to what they feel (and maybe they are correct) is the optimized level of restrictions of having restrictions to appease the people that want it but not limit attendance from the people that don't want them.

Hofstra can definitely do what they want but there is a reason they aren't requiring it for 5-11 and it is because they know it will reduce attendance at the games. So eventually they will remove the restrictions on everyone else; it is just a matter of time.

I looked at SBU's attendance; it went from around 2,510 in 2019-20 to 1,966 this year. So we were higher in 2019-20 and lower this year but again plenty of variables besides just the restrictions. And maybe like Evanj is insinuating the fans they have prefer less restrictions while Hofstra's fans prefer more.

[Pride97]

The mask mandate during the game is a joke. The people holding the signs don’t care or even look up. There were 4 teen boys in my section in the front row who didn’t put a mask on the entire game. It’s not enforced at all.

Also no one ever talks about that attendance could also be affected if the vax and mask mandates are lifted. There are likely people who wouldn’t feel safe at an indoor event for 2 hours and wouldn’t attend. Goes both ways.


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[HofstraMathew]

The mask mandate during the game is a joke. The people holding the signs don’t care or even look up. There were 4 teen boys in my section in the front row who didn’t put a mask on the entire game. It’s not enforced at all.

Also no one ever talks about that attendance could also be affected if the vax and mask mandates are lifted. There are likely people who wouldn’t feel safe at an indoor event for 2 hours and wouldn’t attend. Goes both ways.


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Check my prior post on this thread from February 4th. I said that exact thing. There will be people that choose not to go if the restrictions are lifted. It is a tough situation that Hofstra is in and there is no easy answer but my opinion is restrictions will start to ease. Just today New Jersey and Delaware both lifted the mask mandate on its schools as of March.

[cactus]

Crowd was great Saturday.

Of course attendance has overall been affected by school policy, I don't think anyone is pretending otherwise. Yes it's not the normal fan experience (which the refs jogging past me are probably happy about) but it's important to remember that the policy was made and is consistent with the recommendation of doctors and public health experts in how best to safely operate a crowded setting and not contribute to overwhelming hospitals during a multiwave pandemic, and as noted above, is fully aligned with school policy for students, faculty, and staff. It's also a fair point that it goes both ways (though not likely has hard) not only for those at higher risk who may not attend without the policy, but also for those concerned about being presymptomatically contagious around people with higher risk. As HUSID notes It's hard enough to get people in the building without a global pandemic, but it still can be done, with Saturday as evidence.

Scheduling/cancellations have effected me a lot in terms of attending as well this year, way more than usual, as I missed a lot of home games due to conflicts and travel.

[Cards]

but it's important to remember that the policy was made and is consistent with the recommendation of doctors and public health experts in how best to safely operate a crowded setting and not contribute to overwhelming hospitals during a multiwave pandemic, and as noted above, is fully aligned with school policy for students, faculty, and staff.

I agree that its consistent with school policy, but I would not agree so much with "consistent with the recommendations of doctors and public health experts". Case in point would be Stony Brook, where attendance at MBB games follows much less strict protocol than HU. The "public health experts" (and I use the term loosely) for the State of NY obviously took a different approach. In the end, it is what it is......lets look forward to things being back to normal in the near future!

[cactus]

but it's important to remember that the policy was made and is consistent with the recommendation of doctors and public health experts in how best to safely operate a crowded setting and not contribute to overwhelming hospitals during a multiwave pandemic, and as noted above, is fully aligned with school policy for students, faculty, and staff.

I agree that its consistent with school policy, but I would not agree so much with "consistent with the recommendations of doctors and public health experts". Case in point would be Stony Brook, where attendance at MBB games follows much less strict protocol than HU. The "public health experts" (and I use the term loosely) for the State of NY obviously took a different approach. In the end, it is what it is......lets look forward to things being back to normal in the near future!

vaccination and indoor masking, especially when in close proximity of others, is the recommendation of the extreme majority of doctors and public health experts. in fact most epidemiologists would be stricter than the CDC (which also takes into account people's tolerance for restrictions) and the state of NY (which also has to consider business impact, etc.). you may not be trusting of expert opinions, other places may have different policies, and you may not agree with it, but that's the recommendation.

it may change, and possibly soon, depending on a number of factors, including where the next possible variant comes from and if we can get out of the cycle of waves of hospitalizations and also, as previously noted, people's tolerance for it. as i'm sure most do, i also hope we can get back to as normal as possible in the near future as well.

[Jojogunne]

Hofstra has obviously taken a conservative approach to Covid management, in consultation with advisers from Northwell Health, its medical school partner. Stony Brook has its own approach. To each his own.

For what it's worth, this list shows that Hofstra has reported 184 Covid cases and Stony Brook 645:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... acker.html

As for masking at MBB home games, we only have four left.

[stuball888]

Stonybrook 26,000 students
Hofstra has 11,131
Positivity rate
SBU 0.024
Hofstra 0.016
Not much of a difference

[cactus]

Stonybrook 26,000 students
Hofstra has 11,131
Positivity rate
SBU 0.024
Hofstra 0.016
Not much of a difference

don't think it's that relevant to spectator policy. they also have a vaccination and mask mandate for students/faculty/staff, just not for spectators at the game, so any unvaccinated spectators by definition would not be in the numbers for SB.
also while both are small #'s, that's still a 50% increase. something else going on over there

[CTDutch]

For what its worth, I have been to games this year at the following gyms/arenas:

Hofstra, Iona, Sacred Heart, Univ of Maryland, Naval Academy, U of Richmond, Yale, Quinnipiac, and Mohegan Sun. ALL had mask mandates, all. Since I was there in mid December, Yale stopped allowing any fans at all, although that changes this weekend.
So I for one, do not understand the negative feelings toward Hofstra on this issue. We are not alone.

[Jojogunne]

You really get around, CTDutch!

[CTDutch]

Mostly local to me here in CT. Maryland, Richmond & Navy part of a Hofstra road trip.

[Dooku25]

For what its worth, I have been to games this year at the following gyms/arenas:

Hofstra, Iona, Sacred Heart, Univ of Maryland, Naval Academy, U of Richmond, Yale, Quinnipiac, and Mohegan Sun. ALL had mask mandates, all. Since I was there in mid December, Yale stopped allowing any fans at all, although that changes this weekend.
So I for one, do not understand the negative feelings toward Hofstra on this issue. We are not alone.

There’s a big difference between a mask mandate and Hofstra’s policy. Iona requires masks but if an Iona fan really wants to see the team play, they can get a negative test to enter similar to the UBS arena. Quinnipiac requires masks regardless of vaccination status so anyone can attend if they really want to. We do not have these options here at Hofstra.

Let’s be fair. When the fall semester started back in September, Hofstra announced their indoor spectator policy and it was masks required regardless of vaccination status. Then 2 months later they abruptly changed it to proof of vaccination along with the mask requirement. At the time you could have questioned what the change in decision was based on? As of 11/5, cases in Nassau had remained at a low level for the prior 15+ months and Nassau County’s total ICU capacity never went over 70% (and only ¼ of that was covid patients). Throw in the fact that this county has been wide open with all public indoor spaces operating normally for a very long time. Indoor dining, movies, shopping etc. You can walk into a Costco any day of the week and encounter more people than at a Hofstra basketball game. There had been no spike in cases/hospitalizations during that time until this latest variant which happened well after 11/5. And although the latest variant was milder, it was extremely contagious even for the vaccinated. I know more than 20 people who got Covid between mid-December and mid-January and most were vaccinated. If Hofstra was really concerned, they should have updated their policy like Yale did to no fans allowed or perhaps to show proof of booster shots.

Now with the breaking news for today that New York is dropping its indoor vaccine and mask requirements, will Hofstra change their policy the other way? At the bottom of their policy it states that it is subject to change based on among other things, NY State guidelines. As Jojo said, there’s still 4 home games left.

[HUSID74]

The mask mandate for Hofstra Athletics events has just been lifted by President Susan Poser...just received an email from her to Hofstra parents and family.

[cactus]

The mask mandate for Hofstra Athletics events has just been lifted by President Susan Poser...just received an email from her to Hofstra parents and family.

Hopefully that will be the end of the negative feelings towards Hofstra on their spectator policy, now that they've adjusted the policy based on just-updated NYS guidelines, even though the CDC still recommends masking indoors a little while longer.

[stuball888]

John I think those that didnt attend due to masks were not coming due to them feeling uncomfortable wearing a mask for over two hours Lets see how this affects attendance

[Jojogunne]

The link to the red Covid banner on gohofstra.com still says that spectators needs to mask.

[Wags]

There has been uncertainty with this pandemic, and we all learn and adjust as we go, as we should. I applaud Hofstra for having erred on the side of caution rather having done the opposite and been too lax.

That said, masks, no masks, whatever, have virtually no effect at all on attendance. The same policies have been in effect all season, yet against HU's two biggest rivals all-time -- Drexel and Delaware -- and in a big game (albeit a 5 pm Monday start) against first-place UNCW, they got the same poor attendance (under 1,400 for each of those). But when they had Winter Homecoming and gave away t-shirts against a school with one foot out the door of the conference, they had nearly 4,000. Give away stuff and win/make noise, that's what draws. It's not complicated. Let's not "mask" what influences attendance.

[CTDutch]

There has been uncertainty with this pandemic, and we all learn and adjust as we go, as we should. I applaud Hofstra for having erred on the side of caution rather having done the opposite and been too lax.

That said, masks, no masks, whatever, have virtually no effect at all on attendance. The same policies have been in effect all season, yet against HU's two biggest rivals all-time -- Drexel and Delaware -- and in a big game (albeit a 5 pm Monday start) against first-place UNCW, they got the same poor attendance (under 1,400 for each of those). But when they had Winter Homecoming and gave away t-shirts against a school with one foot out the door of the conference, they had nearly 4,000. Give away stuff and win/make noise, that's what draws. It's not complicated. Let's not "mask" what influences attendance.

Totally agree Wags. Well said.

[Polito]

This thread... some of you... LOLOL NYS and HU flipping the script on all this mid-thread is just hilarious plot twist better than a movie thriller!

Some remain stuck in Jan of 2020, and some are ready to enter reality and facts in 2022. All good, to each his own. Don't worry cactus, I won't go any further!

Personally very happy to see this announcement from HU if it's true. But I would agree, I don't expect sold out crowds now lol - it was a slight factor in attendance, but certainly not a game changer.


I came across this article that I found to be really interesting, thought all here might appreciate it, on all sides - to set at ease, this appears to treat the topic pretty fair across the board. I don't think it's a specific slant, but forgive me if it is and I just don't see it - not my intention at all.

What I read is it highlights some really cool scientific insight that seem really relevant for today about natural immunity and the different variants. Really resonated with me, and seemed to make sound fact based points about vaccines, masks, and the bodies natural abilities (no matter your stance).

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/ ... uld-follow