Boise State basketball averaged about 5397 fans per home game this last year. That’s down about 600 fans from last season. The weather hurt attendance for sure in Jan and Feb but the fans rebounded. It isn’t ideal having your home court 60% empty but it isn’t that unusual.
And it isn’t the schedule that is the problem. It is the sport. Too many unimportant games, all on TV or online basically, and some of the biggest (SMU, New Mex and Nevada in Boise St’s case) being played on work nights.
Simple.
So you think 5,397 people showing up are horrible? Especially when you have 600,000 people to draw from within a 30 minute drive? Well, USC (4,625) and Stanford (3,857) had issues as well and schedule and population are not a problem. Even a great schedule and little else to distract fans help Washington State (2,816) or Oregon State (4,993) draw a crowd. Wyoming (4,753), Colorado State (3,726), Air Force (1,744) and San Jose State (1,863) all struggle as well. In 2015-16, the average attendance for any Division 1 school was only 4,744. And the list of good basketball schools last year that didn’t crack 7,000 fans was interesting: Georgia Tech (5,831), OK St (5,857), Gonzaga (6,000 I know that’s capacity), Missouri (6,294), Temple (6,373), Baylor (6,410), Washington (6,784), SMU (6,907), and St Johns (6,944).
So, the only solution for better home court advantage for Boise St ,in my opinion, and others, is to rip up the upper deck of TB arena and re configure with suites and a club section. Having an area for fans to socialize, yes have a drink, and see others would be an improvement. Having fewer seats at a higher cost would help the bottom line and atmosphere. About 84% of the Division 1 basketball arenas are smaller than Taco Bell arena. Time to join the crowd.
