Mike Krzyzewski acknowledged the downturn in attendance at ACC games after Duke’s win against against Georgia Tech, placing some of the blame on Sunday night games.
“You know, we have three straight games starting at 3:30 [Sunday] in the ACC,” Krzyzewski said. “Those would have been better on Saturday from 3:30 on. That’s when fans want to be out. Then we wonder why attendance is dipping. Have you noticed attendance has been dipping? Everywhere, not so much here, but we’ve got to figure that whole thing out.”
Krzyzewski added that decisions at the upcoming ACC spring meetings would will be critical for the future of the conference. The ACC will debut a new TV contract with ESPN and partner Raycom in 2011-12, and Krzyzewski wants the structure for basketball studied carefully.
“I think this is a very important spring for our league to really concentrate on basketball and the future of basketball in our league, and just how all these things are positioned,” Krzyzewski said. “We’ve taken for granted the golden goose for a long time. You have to look at the old goose and see if it’s still golden, and if not, how to get it there, because this is still the best conference. It’s a classy, classy conference, and people love basketball in this conference. We just have to make sure it’s done properly.”