UNIFanSince1983 wrote:I think it is fairly obvious why attendance was down this year from last year. We replace Creighton with Loyola. Creighton always brought a lot of fans, and Loyola can't even get >3k at their home games I doubt they are bringing that many to STL.
The replacement of CU with LUC is of course part of it, but it is not the whole reason, because WSU fans did step up in big way to offset them. But the real truth is the schools with some of the bigger fan bases that are close that could have made up the difference, didn't show up.
Grade A:
WSU - 8,000 fans at a minimum for the final game
Grade B:
ISUB - They seemed to step it up a little this year and were the 2nd best crowd
Grade c:
UNI - looked about the same. The ones that did come seemed to stay the whole time
Grade D:
ISUR - their support rivaled WSU last year, took a step back this year
BU - support has really dropped off by 1/2
LUC - small group but better than expected for play-in team.
Grade f:
SIU - worst than I had seen it, and they have the short drive
MOST - Their group was not very big (not the smallest), but like SIU they should be bringing a whole much more. It is clear their fan bases is not engaged. They have the capability of bringing just as many as WSU, but they don't care.
EU, Drake - token fan groups