The University of Denver men’s basketball team won its fourth straight Sun Belt Conference (SBC) game this season in a 95-78 route of Arkansas State last Thursday, but once again Magness Arena had room to rent with only 863 fans witnessing the game first-hand.
After a 63-50 road win against Florida International, the Pioneers were welcomed home with a mediocre showing at best by fans.
Both student sections would have been completely empty if it were not for the Pep Band.
With fans scattered only in the six sections parallel to the sidelines, the only area filled to capacity was the floor seats on the sides of the court.
The Pioneers put forth maximum effort, but players admitted the noise factor would come in handy during a tight contest.
“It would feel so much better man,” said senior guard Rodney Billups.
“Going to places and playing in front of 5,000 and 6,000 fans and coming back to maybe only a thousand here, its kind of hard to play in front of them, but it’s fine,” he said.
During the 2003-2004 season, the Pioneers ranked 10th out of 11 SBC teams in average attendance at home games.
The team attracted an average of 1,569 fans in 13 home games and New Mexico State lead the SBC with an average attendance of 6,139 in 15 home contests.
The numbers are no different this season either, as the Pioneers are currently drawing an SBC ninth-best average of 1,349 fans per home game.
New Mexico State is the frontrunner once again with an average home game attendance of 5,286 and Western Kentucky is close behind with an average home fan base of 4,633.
Jaw dropping at first glance due to the team’s superb start in conference action, these statistics must be placed into perspective when comparing universities from the SBC.
“It is very difficult to compare the University of Denver to other schools because of the market we are in and because it is still in its early stages of Division I basketball,” said Matt Evans, director of ticket sales for DU athletics.
“There is a number of different competitive items and four major pro sports teams, so there are a lot of different things going on,” he said.
The three teams currently drawing the largest crowds, New Mexico State, Western Kentucky and Arkansas State, do not have a professional sports market to compete against.
“When Arkansas State plays Arkansas Little Rock, just like when we played CSU and Wyoming, you saw the increase in interest,” said Evans.
According to James Cope, athletic ticket manager at Western Kentucky, access to home games is granted with the payment of a one-time student activity fee and “history, tradition and quality of the teams” attract an average of 500 students each night.
Likewise, DU offers the Pioneer Pass, which offers access to home games of every sport except hockey for a one-time fee of $35.
The men’s basketball team certainly has the latter of the three before mentioned attributes by Cope, so developing tradition is the goal of the program and its promoters.
“If you look at it from a year-to-year standpoint, we have grown and we know how important the student support is,” said Evans.
“Midnight Madness” will take place Feb. 3 when the men and women’s basketball teams play back-to-back home games.
An on-campus student promotion with fliers and information will highlight the night’s events that include an iPod and Spring Break trip giveaway, as well a chance to win free books for a quarter and the half-time shot for tuition.
Before this season’s pack-the-house game against Stanford on Dec. 13, the university mailed a free ticket to students who had a Denver address as a home address during winter break in order to spark student interest in the program.
“The steps the team is making along with some of the steps that we are making for our marketing and key events are going really well,” said Evans.
The Pioneers Future Stars program targets Denver area youth by providing coaches clinics as well as a game day experience.
This involves a game at Magness Arena between youth teams in the same organization before home games and includes officials, warm-up music, a running scoreboard and a free T-shirt after the game.
Shooting contests held during halftime provide youth and students the opportunity to showcase their talent in front of friends and family.
In addition, Fox Sports Net and Altitude Sports and Entertainment have delivered exposure to the team by carrying 10 games this season.
“I do think as they continue to show more games, you will see our casual fan base grow,” said Evans.
Stridence or silence, the team need not worry about seeking additional sources of motivation and energy to get up for the game.
“We have a good group of people on our team, so we are able to motivate each other,” said center Yemi Nicholson.
Nicholson added, “It would be a lot better if we had a bigger fan base, but our team is very close and we are able to pull each other together.”
