Bumped. - BN Eds.

It is interesting that we are not apathetic at all when discussing our apathy, when it comes to men's basketball. This demonstrates that our passion is sitting in reserve, waiting to be tapped whenever we get a competent AD who can hire a competent HC who can lead a program of which we can all be proud and which we can support without reservation.

As part of the thread by KS, there was some discussion in the comment section about attendance figures. I have brought these thoughts over for this fanpost.

This Season-
Non-conference
Drexel (home opener) 6,859
Oakland 4,771
Sac State 5,489
Morehead State 5,508
Chattanooga 5,739
UCSB 6,644
Prairie View 6,864
Weber St 7,013 (can’t you just feel the excitement rising?)
Alabama 9,061

Avg 6,439
Capacity 13,800
% of Capacity 47%
Haircut to Doughnut’s Incentive Payment Due to Foregone Revenues 0

Conference-
$C 11,285
Arizona 13,283
Arizona St 8,003 (oops- we weren’t going to run the table in the conference)
Stanford 9,068
Cal 10,344
Colorado 8,431
Utah 9,577

Avg 9,999
% of capacity 72%

I could go back to compare to last year, but I think the more relevant comparison is to capacity. TIARA gets paid, whether or not anybody shows up. His assistants get paid, whether or not anybody shows up. The security guards get paid, whether or not all seats are filled. This is a case of high fixed costs and low variable revenues. So because basketball is leaving money on the table, due to Doughnut’s colossal mismanagement, the whole athletic department financial structure suffers, and student fees get tapped to make up the shortfall.

My own sense, based on nothing scientific, is that the non-conference schedule was so pitiful that people stayed away for so many games in a row that a pattern was set. It turned out that you could have a good life without going to UCLA basketball games. And if Doughnut thought that people would show up to see the new coach, he was clearly mistaken.

Attendance jumped for the cross-town game vs. $C, and then for the next game against the top opponent in the conference. When UCLA dropped that game, people went back to their prior lives, and attendance dropped.

Following is a comparison of our attendance to other nationally relevant programs (assuming for this purpose that these programs are our relevant peers)-

Kentucky- capacity 23,500
Attendance this season 22,871
Attendance last season 23,099

Attendance as % of capacity this season 97% (reminder- UCLA 72% for conference games, 47% for non-conference games)

North Carolina- capacity 21,750
Attendance this season 18,193
Attendance last season 19,350

Attendance as % of capacity this season 84%

Indiana- capacity 17,472
Attendance this season 17,336
Attendance last season 17,412

Attendance as % of capacity this season 99%

Arizona- capacity 14,545
Attendance this season 14,416
Attendance last season 14,157

Attendance as % of capacity this season 99%

As we can see, UCLA is a big fail when it comes to attendance, thanks to Doughnut’s inept efforts to manage the program

And finally, some information about our attendance compared to other Pac-12 schools. My own sense is that even if we were holding our own compared to our conference brethren, that would not be acceptable, because we are supposed to be better than the Pac-12 when it comes to men's basketball. But as you can see, we can't even stay on pace with respect to the rest of the conference, thanks to the two headed monster Doughnut TIARA.
Pac-12 Men's Basketball Attendance Article

As can be seen, the Washington schools, Oregon State, and UCLA all have % declines of at least 17% from last year to this. That is great company to keep.

Last year, we had the 3rd highest attendance (behind Arizona and Colorado). This year, we have dropped to the 5th highest attendance (behind Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Cal).

Average attendance for all Pac-12 teams this season is 7,173. Average attendance for all Pac-12 teams last season was 7,762.

There has thus been a drop in average attendance at all schools of 8%. But Doughnut’s mismanagement has led to more than our fair share of the overall decline.

Net net- the understandable collective apathy of the UCLA fan base is translating into too many empty seats at OPUG in comparison to our national and conference peers.