Louisville basketball attendance is at a historic low. Is this the new normal for the Cardinals and sports as a whole or is there more to the story?
By at least one metric, the level of attendance for Louisville basketball is setting historic lows. With a stated capacity of 22,090 at the KFC Yum! Center, attendance for the first five games of the 2021-2022 season has averaged 12,559. The number was a season-low 12,223 at Monday night’s game against the Navy Midshipmen, and the high was in the exhibition opener against Kentucky State (13,023).
That average translates to a 56.9 percentage of arena capacity. The lowest percentage that U of L has reported in men’s basketball dating back to 1970 was 57.7% for the 1973 season. Freedom Hall capacity at that time was 16,664. Records are unavailable prior to 1970.
The actual number of 12,559 is the lowest attendance that U of L has reported for a full season without attendance restrictions since 1978 when 12,454 fans on average attended men’s basketball games. Attendance last year was limited in all arenas nationally due to Covid.
Prior to Covid, Chris Mack’s teams were averaging in the mid-16 thousands which are the lowest attendance figures that U of L has reported since 1984. But that was close to Freedom Hall’s capacity (16,664) in the early 1980s. Freedom Hall was expanded to a capacity of 18,865 in 1985, and attendance that year jumped to 18,082—95.8% of capacity.
Since Freedom Hall’s expansion, men’s basketball attendance had never averaged below 18 thousand except for Denny Crum’s final year when it dipped to 17,457. That figure was 92.5% of arena capacity in 2001.
Attendance is low across the country
The obvious question that must be asked is just why attendance is low and if this is an isolated situation.
Like anything, the discussion must start with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. While in attendance for the first five games of the season, it has become apparent that Louisville basketball fans have been a noticeably younger crowd. Much of this is likely due to the impact of the pandemic on the more vulnerable older segment of the fanbase. Louisville basketball high-level donors, many of which have been long-time season ticket holders, are simply not coming out in droves like we are used to.
This is the case across the board, even at other high-attendance arenas. Take Kentucky basketball, which has been neck-and-neck with UofL in the attendance race for decades.
Kentucky does not report official attendance but “tickets distributed”. Still, the Wildcats have come nowhere close to filling Rupp Arena during the 2021-22 season.
In fact, UK’s attendance has been so bad that university decision-makers are simply not staffing the upper half of the arena.
The fact of the matter is that attendance has been down significantly this season across all sports at all levels.
In the NFL, nearly every franchise has dipped in terms of the number of tickets sold, including seven teams who are distributing less than 90% of available tickets.
Louisville basketball and college sports have a scheduling problem
Although men’s basketball attendance is currently declining over the course of this season, it will likely increase as better competition appears on the remaining home schedule.
However, that is unlikely to begin against Detroit Mercy this Saturday at 2 PM.
Many of the issues with college basketball attendance stem from a lack of desire to attend games against perceived lesser opponents.
When Louisville and Kentucky host Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia; Alabama, Auburn, and Florida, it’s difficult for fans to get up for Furman and Evansville. The irony of the situation, of course, is that the state’s basketball powerhouses dropped games to these two opponents over the last two seasons.
When the schedule is so strong on the back end, fans opt to save their money during a season where teams compete with other fall sports and major holidays.
What Louisville basketball and college basketball need is the return of marquee home-and-home matchups.
Louisville faces marquee opponents Michigan State, Mississippi State, (potentially) Maryland, Western Kentucky, and Kentucky on the road or at a neutral site. Meanwhile, its toughest non-conference opponents at home- Furman and DePaul- are snoozers from both a local and national perspective.
Lastly, Louisville basketball faces a litany of brutal game times in the non-conference. Louisville tipped against Southern at 9 PM on a Tuesday on the heels of daylight savings time. The Cardinals played Navy at 8 PM on a Monday. They host Detroit Mercy at 2 PM on a Saturday and DePaul at 8 PM on a Friday.
In past years, the product on the floor may have been enough to overlook the opponent or game time. However, with COVID-19 an ever-present enemy, a decent level of apathy within the fanbase after another offseason full of turmoil, and a lack of established brand identity with the new coaching staff, the Cardinals feel likely to continue on the trajectory of the least-attended season in five decades.
The ticket resale market is a mess
Once a source of convenience and evidence of marketing ingenuity, ticket partners like StubHub and Ticketmaster have created a massive issue for customers like Louisville athletics.
“The market has really started going from brokers and scalpers to partners,” Eventellect cofounder Patrick Ryan told Sportico last week. “It went from working with brokers out the side door or the back door. It became working with brokers through the front door.”
Running with a skeleton crew of an inside sales staff, places like The University of Louisville rely heavily on ticket partners- in UofL’s case, Ticketmaster- to help distribute tickets. The result has been inflated prices after dreaded third-party handling fees.
Like issues with COVID-19 uncertainty and scheduling madness, the resale market makes attending single games less affordable in a time where many are struggling to make ends meet.
Louisville basketball decision-makers are forced to make the tough decision to adjust ticket prices to the market demands and risk angering loyal donors- Most of whom are the lifeblood of the university from a funding perspective.
Conversely, filling up less than 60 percent of the arena each night it not a good way to build your brand. Donors- fans and corporate level alike- are sure to have concerns if prices are lowered, but at what cost to the university as a whole? It’s an unenviable balancing act only made tougher by the current market conditions.
Going forward, Louisville basketball attendance is almost certain to increase regardless of the quality of play on the court. Opponents will get better, life will slow down as we roll into a new year, and a return to normalcy is inevitable.
While riding the wave of COVID-19 fallout is to blame, a multitude of factors have played a hand in putting Louisville in the position it is in.
Ultimately, if Louisville basketball is a serious contender in the ACC conference, a consistently packed KFC Yum! Center seems like a real possibility by February.
Next: Addressing Louisville women’s basketball and needs moving forward from Arizona loss
1. Don’t price gouge, especially for fans in the upper deck.
2. If possible, build more restrooms.
3. Change the mascot back to the classic look from 1980s – 2000
Fans come back when they have positive experiences going to games. If people are shelling out a week’s pay for one game and can’t find a restroom when they need it, they won’t come back. If the kids have a good time, and the whole experience is fun, people will want to return.
50 years ago, you would buy tickets, be admitted in exchange for tickets and they would leave you alone if you didn’t cause problem. And, for general admission, you could sit wherever you wanted. Now they have become very customer unfriendly and act like petty dictators with all their undesirable enforced rules. The treat us like we might terrorists by pretending that they are keeping us safe and that people are more dangerous now than 50 years ago. It is not safety, it is all about control. They don’t even allow you to bring in food even though the sell food inside. And, all that COVID nonsense, just upsets me. Especially, since for young people, it is no worse than the common cold. Certainly masks serve no useful purpose especially the type of mask many people wear and the non-form fitting way people wear them.
I love how the so called “reporter” uses 2021-22 season of UK attendance to compare with UofL’s 2022-23 attendance. Huummm… why not compare the same season? The so called reporter is biased and wants nothing more than to make excuses and use distorted facts to cover for many poor decisions by UofL. And while that might sound “nice”, it won’t fix the real problem(s). 1) Yum center was a mistake. The parking situation is horrible and it keeps people away. Even this biased reporter has noted that attendance did not increase from Freedom Hall to Yum center and that was pre-covid, so you can’t use that for an excuse. 2) The basketball program is horrible, stop making excuses and come up with real solutions. For one, it’s pathetic that Kenny Payne says in his interviews “it’s my responsibility, don’t blame anyone but me.” Then immediately starts doing just the opposite by saying the looming NCAA sanctions didn’t allow the program to recruit the team they wanted. WOW, what are you telling the players you’re supposed to be trying to inspire? That they aren’t the good players/team we wanted. Which of course is blaming someone else and sending a very negative message to your team. The coach needs to go.