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Conference attendance

W

WILDCAT

Active member
Total Conference attendance for the Big Sky teams, (note just conf games) Ranked by total attendance highest to lowest

Team / home games / total / average / highest (vs) / lowest (vs)

1. Weber State/ 8 / 55,710 / 6,963 / 8,566 (UM) / 5,748 (EWU)
2. Montana/ 6 / 22,279 / 3,713 / 4,106 (UNC) / 3,152 (PSU)
3. Montana State/ 7 / 17,508 / 2,501 / 3,424 (UM) / 1,949 (EWU)
4. Idaho State/ 7 / 12,978 / 1,854 / 2,245 (UND) / 1,498 (UNC)
5. North Dakota/ 5 / 8,492 / 1,139 / 1,945 (WSU) / 1,391 (ISU)
6. Northern Colorado/ 6 / 7,618 / 1,269 / 1,893 (NAU) / 912 (UND)
7. Northern Arizona/ 6 / 6,834 / 1,139 / 1,479 (SUU) / 905 (SAC)
8. Eastern Washington/ 5 / 6,287 / 1,257 / 2,043 (UM) / 871 (SUU)
9. Southern Utah/ 4 / 6,211 / 1,552 / 1,733 (SAC) / 1,326 (UM)
10. Portland State/ 6 / 5,247 / 874 / 1,500 (UNC) / 679 (SUU)
11. Sacramento State/ 6 / 3,740 / 623 / 779 (WSU) / 464 (PSU)
 
The saddest part is that we average more fans per game, than 5 of the teams total attendance. I bet Montana gets over 5,000 fans for the Weber game.

Southern Gonzaga sure has weak attendance for being the next mid-major power school.

Less than 800 people saw one of the most miraculous plays in college basketball history.
 
I can't believe that our lowest attendance for the whole year is higher than any other teams highest attendance...
 
Big Sky attendance has largely been on a steady decline since 1996, when Idaho and Boise State left the league. I attribute it to a number of factors: loss of natural rivalries, addition of new teams with poor facilities and lack of historic support for basketball (Portland State, Sac State, UNC), and the absolute plethora of college and professional basketball on television.

Oh and one other factor: the growing unwillingness of quality D-1 teams to come to Big Sky arenas. When I first moved to Pocatello in the late 1970s and early 1980s, we played teams like Gonzaga, Washington State and USC in Pocatello. Those teams won't touch a Big Sky road trip anymore. As a result, most Big Sky schools spend the months of November and December playing "money games" on the road, and NAIA and D-2 teams at home. They usually start conference play with losing records and are already disconnected from casual fans by the time the Big Sky season starts.

Weber is blessed with the nicest facility in the conference, a long tradition of success and high expectations every season. And yet even Weber's home attendance is a far cry from the "good, old days" of the early 1980s. It's hard to build a fan base when you spend the first two months of the season getting whacked on the road.
 
The NCAA could fix this in a heart beat. If they had a rule that all game contracts were to be H&H, no more money games, everyone would benefit. Teams like Utah couldn't purchase a winning record. They would be forced to be a better team and prove themselves on the road. :coffee:
 
The problem with that strategy, unfortunately, is that most Big Sky schools need the revenue they generate from money games. At Idaho State, guarantee revenue (from football, men's and women's basketball) is the third largest source of revenue, behind state tax dollars and student fees. Most other Big Sky programs are in the same boat -- they need the cash they get from these "money games."
 
Bengal visitor said:
Big Sky attendance has largely been on a steady decline since 1996, when Idaho and Boise State left the league. I attribute it to a number of factors: loss of natural rivalries, addition of new teams with poor facilities and lack of historic support for basketball (Portland State, Sac State, UNC), and the absolute plethora of college and professional basketball on television.

Oh and one other factor: the growing unwillingness of quality D-1 teams to come to Big Sky arenas. When I first moved to Pocatello in the late 1970s and early 1980s, we played teams like Gonzaga, Washington State and USC in Pocatello. Those teams won't touch a Big Sky road trip anymore. As a result, most Big Sky schools spend the months of November and December playing "money games" on the road, and NAIA and D-2 teams at home. They usually start conference play with losing records and are already disconnected from casual fans by the time the Big Sky season starts.

Weber is blessed with the nicest facility in the conference, a long tradition of success and high expectations every season. And yet even Weber's home attendance is a far cry from the "good, old days" of the early 1980s. It's hard to build a fan base when you spend the first two months of the season getting whacked on the road.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right!! Gone are the days that Weber State averaged over 10,000 fans at the DEC for a season. Maybe that's overstating it, but I can remember when key Big Sky games drew in the 10-11K range more than once. Now it takes something like a CIT championship game to get there. :twocents:
 
It is a catch-22 for sure. I would love to see an NCAA mandate requiring schools to have an equal number of home and away games in the preseason (receive some type of waiver for # of neutral site games for tournaments and such. Example: Two neutral site games = 1 away game), but as Bengal Visitor pointed out, every program in the Sky needs at least one, in some cases two or three, money games a year. We all know that Weber takes as many as they can get every year (CSU and UCLA this year and last year Dayton).

Yet, I don't think it is right or fair that a team of cowards can sit at their home court, pay the refs, and aggrandize themselves year after year (like the cravenly utes) and get tournament slots. Yeah, Weber could be ranked too, if they took the New Mexico approach and played 11 preseason home games every year. Utah's schedule is laughable at best. They do the same thing in football too. The NCAA is only concerned about $$$ and helping the Haves make more and more! Gone are the days of equality, justice, and fairness in college sports. The NCAA get's sooo mad at Kentucky and their recruiting violations, that they slap Cleveland State with a two year post-season ban. LOOOOOL What a joke! Like Olds said, the NCAA could mandate a number of factors leveling the playing field and creating a situation that would help the entire NCAA membership not the 60 richest schools.
 
oldrunner said:
The NCAA could fix this in a heart beat. If they had a rule that all game contracts were to be H&H, no more money games, everyone would benefit. Teams like Utah couldn't purchase a winning record. They would be forced to be a better team and prove themselves on the road. :coffee:
Click to expand...

A good thought, but fat chance it would get approved by the NCAA...as in the big fat rich members control it and would kill that thought. Also, 'Bengalvisitor' makes a good point that ALL of the mid/low majors need the "money games".
 
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