DePaul: The Worst Home Atmosphere in College Basketball
When you think about the premiere conferences in the world of men’s college basketball, it’s impossible to overlook the Big East. Consisting of schools such as UConn, Creighton and Villanova, among others, the Big East is one of, if not the, deepest conferences in the nation. However, this season one of its members is widely regarded as the worst team in Division I. That school is Chicago’s own DePaul University.
One of the many flaws with the Blue Demons’ basketball program over the last few years is that they have had really embarrassing attendance numbers. Last season, DePaul had an average home attendance of 4,045 fans, ranking dead last in the conference. Unfortunately, that number has only gone down this season, averaging a mere 3,596 fans or 36% capacity. Meanwhile, seven of the other Big East schools currently rank in the top 50 for attendance.
The University seems to have recognized this lack of interest amongst fans and especially the students, as it has tried to find creative ways to increase attendance. In their most recent attempt to draw students to the game, DePaul offered free tickets to the game against Seton Hall to anyone who was attending that night’s Sports Networking event. Despite the incentives, the attendance for this game was only 2,990, which is one of the lowest turnouts this season.
Photo: Connor Sullivan
When asked his thoughts on DePaul’s attendance woes, Damian, who is a longtime usher at Wintrust Arena and a DePaul alum said, “It’s a damn shame that we are in such a major conference like the Big East, and yet our home atmosphere is worse than a Division III school!” Looking at the image above, it’s easy to agree with his frustrations.
These empty seats not only have an impact on DePaul’s public image, but it can hurt the team’s performance. When visiting fans outnumber your own student section, does the team truly play any home games? As one of DePaul’s current grad students put it, “There were numerous games that I attended going back to last year, where it felt like the visiting fans made up 90% of the attendance. It’s truly an embarrassment.”
While you can point to many reasons as for why DePaul has been incapable of drawing better crowds, it all boils down to how poorly the team has been playing. With their record this season sitting at 3-18, it’s clear just how far behind the Blue Demons are compared to the rest of the Big East. Perhaps it’s time to consider making a shift to a smaller conference? With a relatively new downtown arena, all DePaul needs is more competitive and exciting games, and those seats will fill up very quickly.
