BYU Men’s Hoops continues to not stink — but where are the fans?

By: Geoff J - January 30, 2006

The BYU Men’s Basketball team picked up its first conference road win on Saturday, squeaking by CSU by two points (see also here, here, and here). The win places the Cougs firmly in the middle of the the pack in the Mountain West Conference at 4-3 and gives the Cougs a respectable 12-6 record overall. With nine games left in the regular season and the MWC tournament after that, a twenty win season is not completely out of the question. That is a remarkable fact considering this is a team that won a total of nine games last season and was picked to finish dead last in conference this year.

Nevertheless, the SLT reported today that attendance at men’s hoops games continues to drop at both BYU and Utah (here and here). Not too long ago BYU would draw 20,000 fans to every home game — this year the average attendance is less than 10,000. What gives?

13 Comments

  1. I skipped the last Utah game to take my daugher sledding, I’m not sure if that’s a good excuse or not.

    Comment by jjohnsen — January 30, 2006 @ 1:38 pm

  2. I feel your pain. OU’s first packed house was for our delicious victory on Saturday. This is just a football town, I guess….. They are averaging 11,682 in an arena that seats about 13K, but it ticks me off that there are ever seats available.

    On the good news/bad news front, our women’s team is getting more people in the house than ever before. We’re averaging just over 6300 per game. The bad news, of course, is that the house isn’t sold out every night to see the best female center in the NCAA and a potential Final Four contender.

    I notice the BYU women having a sneaky year out there….is anyone going to see them? What do their attendance numbers look like.

    Comment by D-Train — January 30, 2006 @ 1:40 pm

  3. I saw most of that OU-Texas game D-Train. Nice win for y’all.

    And yes, I should have mentioned the top 25 women’s hoops team at BYU. Does anyone reading here know the average attendance numbers for their games?

    Also, BYU’s men’s volleyball team is ranked #1 in the nation right now. I know they pack the house every time (though at Smith Fieldhouse that means a few thousand people I think).

    Comment by Geoff J — January 30, 2006 @ 1:59 pm

  4. The BYU women are in the AP top 25. Average attendance? around 600 a game (at least, according to the Daily Universe).

    This is compared to the men’s team, which is having a down year with 9,000 attending.

    Comment by John C. — January 30, 2006 @ 2:02 pm

  5. 600 per game? Wow.

    I mean I admittedly think watching women’s basketball is super boring and all, but that number surprises me…

    Comment by Geoff J — January 30, 2006 @ 2:11 pm

  6. That was earlier in the year, things have improved of late (the last three home games were 910, 1169, and 2024). Still it is sad when you consider that the Women’s team is ranked, having only 1 loss this year and that the Marriott can hold much more. I also note that the higher numbers all came after a scathing Daily Universe article (which I can’t find online) noted that the women were playing in front of nobody each week.

    Comment by John C. — January 30, 2006 @ 2:44 pm

  7. I wasn’t a big women’s hoops fan until a couple years ago. It makes a big difference to start with a team that you can emotionally support (being a current Sooner, that’s not hard for me). It’s a different game, but it can be a really special thing to get out there and cheer them on. Since big crowds are a little more unusual for women that aren’t playing for Duke, UNC, UConn, Tennessee, Texas Tech, and Baylor (as well as a few others), the crowd can really matter more. If you’re a current or former Cougar, get out there! In my experience, the sports outside of football and men’s hoops really appreciate your attendance in a way that just isn’t possible for the others.

    Comment by D-Train — January 30, 2006 @ 2:50 pm

  8. In the closet. I’ll bring them out when the weather warms up, for a cool breeze.

    Oh wait, not that kind of fan . . . .

    Comment by Sarebear — January 30, 2006 @ 4:36 pm

  9. What’s Provo’s non-student population? How do the demographics affect the attendance numbers? It’s my impression that here at UW-Madison, at least half of the tickets for football, men’s bb, and hockey go to non-students.

    Comment by Pris — January 31, 2006 @ 10:37 am

  10. The Duke women just sold out Cameron Indoor Stadium for back-to-back home dates for the first time ever. Of course, the two games were Tennessee and North Carolina, and both featured #1 vs #2 in the AP poll.

    The Marriott Center is too big for BYU basketball, IMO. It’s a great resource for the university, but it doesn’t provide much of a home court advantage.

    Comment by Bryce I — January 31, 2006 @ 11:09 am

  11. I obviously can’t speak for Wisconsin, but here at OU, students get about a quarter of football tickets and a sixth of men’s basketball tickets. Admission to all other sports is free to students. The students, however, are responsible for virtually all of the noise at everything but football. And even there, we’re much louder than the others. Community support is key to getting butts in the seats though.

    Comment by D-Train — January 31, 2006 @ 4:29 pm

  12. BTW — here is a link to video of two consecutive dunks from BYU’s freshman center Trent Plaisted against CSU.

    The first one is rather pedestrian but the leftie alley-oop jam following the ensuing steal is pretty impressive (especially for a BYU player)

    Comment by Geoff J — January 31, 2006 @ 5:13 pm

  13. This just in — the Cougs snatched another huge road win at The Pit last night. The broke New Mexico’s 21 game home win streak in the process.

    Comment by Geoff J — February 2, 2006 @ 5:34 pm