B1G Basketball Attendance

[sports fan]

This is a list of the final attendance percentages for B1G TEN basketball.  Listed is the school, arena capacity and the percentage of actual attendance.  This is based on ten home games against big ten opponents.  I did not list non-conference games.

 

School              Arena Capacity     % 

 

Purdue                    14,876            100

Michigan State        14,797            100

Rutgers                     8,000             100

 

Illinois                      15,544              99

Nebraska                 15,500              97

Michigan                  12,707              97

 

Indiana                     17,222              96

Wisconsin                16,838              92

Northwestern             7,039              92

 

Maryland                  17,950              84

Washington              10,000              77

Minnesota                 14,625             68

 

Oregon                     12,364              68

Ohio State                18,809              64

UCLA                       13,800              63

 

USC                         10,258              61

Iowa                         15,500              60

Penn State               15,261              51

[30Duck]

This is sad, and a lot of Indiana's fans will be at the B1G Tournament. Anytime there's a look, the move from Mac Court, "The Pit", one of the most intimidating, raucous home courts in basketball to MKA shows that Oregon threw up an airball. 

[Steven A]

I disagree.  Having been to games in the Pit (which I absolutely LOVED) and given a tour of the Matt and been on the court, it was a needed update.

 

Today's HS athletes and transfer mercenaries wouldn't have been drawn to the Pit at all.

 

And it is all about the amenities these days.

 

Also, the Matt is more comfortable plus you couldn't put 12K plus in there.

 

Lower the pricing and it would be filled more and close to as loud.

[JabbaNoBargain]

Yikes! Thanks for compiling this.

 

IMO this isn’t an arena issue as much as we are a football school playing a bunch of teams nobody cares about. I get why we’re in the B1G and support the move given the current landscape, but I don’t think it will ever feel right.

Edited Monday at 06:20 PM by JabbaNoBargain

[HDuck]

The women's final between USC and UCLA in Indianapolis had 8,358 in attendance.   Two L.A. schools playing in Indianapolis.

 

Last year, the Pac championship in Vegas between USC and Stanford had 5,526.  A very good USC team, and Tara VanDerveer's last Pac game as coach of Stanford.

 

Fan loyalty and attendance has many factors in play, but generally as compared to other regions of the nation the West Coast rides the last horse on the wagon train.

 

The structural and amenity character of Mac made a move necessary.  And, the fan interest and involvement in that era is much different today.    The best Pit crowds we remember would not be replicated by today's fans.   Nor do we remember Pit games that were half capacity - and there were.

 

There has been criticism of home attendance this season which averaged above 7,500.  The last full season at The Pit it was 7,100.  My guess is that a bunch of that 7,500 wouldn't cram themselves into The Pit based on today's criteria for fan amenities.

[OregonDucks]

On 3/10/2025 at 2:05 PM, Steven A said:

I disagree.  Having been to games in the Pit (which I absolutely LOVED) and given a tour of the Matt and been on the court, it was a needed update.

 

Today's HS athletes and transfer mercenaries wouldn't have been drawn to the Pit at all.

 

And it is all about the amenities these days.

 

Also, the Matt is more comfortable plus you couldn't put 12K plus in there.

 

Lower the pricing and it would be filled more and close to as loud.

Mac Court was crumbling but Matt Court shouldn’t have been the solution.
 

There is nothing special about Matt Court. It has no unique design characteristics and has no intimidation/home court advantage. Really? Oregon/Nike couldn’t have done better? (It was just as dead in the PAC-12 so it doesn’t have anything to do with B1G opponents.)
 

I went to school during the Mac Court days and attended many games there. I’ve spoken to alumni of former Pac-10 schools and they hated when their teams had to play at Mac Court. Our teams were often inferior to those Coach Altman has regularly put on the court over the past decade+ but they played with intensity and the Pit Crew had their backs, willing them to victory over much more talented squads. David beat Goliath more often than not at Mac Court.  

Edited Monday at 06:55 PM by OregonDucks

[OregonDucks]

On 3/10/2025 at 2:20 PM, HDuck said:

And, the fan interest and involvement in that era is much different today.    The best Pit crowds we remember would not be replicated by today's fans.   

I completely disagree with this. 
 

If fans can still rock Autzen Stadium for big games there is no reason that they couldn’t rock a basketball arena (a fraction of Autzen’s size). I have no desire to attend another game at Matt Court. It’s dead, cold and depressing. 
 

I would show up for a game at Mac Court and rock the balconies and backboards.  
 

“If you build it, they will come.”

Edited Monday at 07:00 PM by OregonDucks

[Jon Joseph]

On 3/10/2025 at 12:51 PM, 30Duck said:

This is sad, and a lot of Indiana's fans will be at the B1G Tournament. Anytime there's a look, the move from Mac Court, "The Pit", one of the most intimidating, raucous home courts in basketball to MKA shows that Oregon threw up an airball. 

 

The Ducks should se-seed. 9 AM Pacific start time for the No. 8 seed playing against the No. 9 seed Indiana team at a neutral site, right? 

 

In 2025, OBD has not benefited from being a higher seed in moneyball sports. 

 

[Charles Fischer]

Is looking at seating capacity the right metric to look at here?

 

I think 18,000 on average showing to watch a so-so Ohio State team is pretty darn good.  In fact I think most of those are pretty good, especially 15,000 for Penn State?

 

When you consider that Oregon has had a ton of disappointing seasons, and this year was certainly a yo-yo...a 12,000 average is fine.  It could be a ton worse, and if we string together some winning seasons into the post-season--you will see those averages rise.  Attendance follows winning, thus I am counting the blessings we have with that considering the underperforming product on the floor.

 

 

[sports fan]

Hi Charles

I think there was a misunderstanding when I listed the arena capacities. Ohio State did not average 18,000 fans, same thing with Penn St, they didn't average 15,000 fans either.  I should have also 

 

listed the average attendance in the previous post.  I have added that here, the school and the AVERAGE attendance for each game.

 

 1.  Indiana        16,464

 2.  Wisconsin    15,512

 3.  Illinois           15,378

 

 4.  Maryland      15,157

 5.  Nebraska      15,012

 6.  Purdue          14,876

 

 7.  Michigan St.  14,797

 8.  Michigan        12,388

 9.  Ohio St.          12,000

 

10. Minnesota        9,983

11.  Iowa                9.369

12.  UCLA              8,628

 

13.  Oregon            8,438

14.  Rutgers            8,000

15.  Washington      7,746

 

16.  Penn St.           7,713

17.  Northwestern    6,474

18.  USC                  6,214

 

 

[HDuck]

West Four ranks 12, 13, 15, 18.

 

I suspect West fans are more front runners than the Midwest fans?   Though Iowa fans where attendance has dropped significantly may be a Midwest version of front runners?

 

Available alternatives due to weather in Dec – Jan – Feb for fans of West Four vs Midwest may explain part of it, but only part of it. 

 

Having Indiana lead the league in attendance is not a surprise, I guess.   But, sure makes it problematic when the Ducks have to face them 51 miles from their home court at 9:00 am PT.

[30Duck]

On 3/10/2025 at 4:12 PM, HDuck said:

But, sure makes it problematic when the Ducks have to face them 51 miles from their home court at 9:00 am PT.

When he wasn't talking about geography, or the average rainfall discrepancy between Needles, CA. & Sedro Wooley, WA. Bill Walton mentioned how he was always excited for a road game, especially in a hostile environment. He loved playing in Mac Court. 

 

A good team feeds on the energy coming from the fans, a great team uses it to play even harder. It's all in how the team takes it. Indiana fans will be loud, if Oregon plays tough, smart, they'll shut them up. It's like getting seasick, how you take it from the start is everything. You go out, the boat starts rolling, go with it, it's nothing, you'll be fine. You start going sideways, you're done. 

[Jon Joseph]

 

So, the two guys who complained the most about travel were 12th and last in home game attendance. 

 

I did not hear a peep out of women's Tournament champion UCLA coach Cori Close, or from regular season champion, USC coach Gottlieb, Dana Altman, and UW's Danny Sprinkle.

[Drake]

I enjoy basketball, but most of the Duck fan base that live in the Portland metro area wont buy season tickets. Season ticket holders are really the backbone of attendance numbers.

 

Driving at night in winter conditions takes away the appeal of attending games regularly. 
 

When they put in the proposed Cascadia high-speed rail project between Seattle and Eugene, that will be a game changer. 
 

Transportation officials also proposed a new bridge over the Columbia river 35 years ago, and are finally expecting to start construction in 2026. 
 

The wheels of progress turn rather slowly. 

[30Duck]

On 3/10/2025 at 11:53 AM, OregonDucks said:

Mac Court was crumbling but Matt Court shouldn’t have been the solution.
 

There is nothing special about Matt Court. It has no unique design characteristics and has no intimidation/home court advantage. Really? Oregon/Nike couldn’t have done better? (It was just as dead in the PAC-12 so it doesn’t have anything to do with B1G opponents.)

Completely agree. We're not arguing that putting some paint on Mac Court was the answer. But Oregon, the most innovative sports program in the country was inert, not innovative, when it came to MKA. Autzen isn't a huge, amenity laden football arena. But it's as hostile and as much of a HFA as any stadium in the country.

 

MKA has nothing that says "Oregon" other than the trees on the court, (a huge improvement, over the first look.) But, I don't care how loud the crowd would get, and it was loud during Sabrina's games, it didn't come close to "the Pit" Todays players watch some tape of games during the Kamikaze Kids" era, they'd love it!

 

Scoreboard shaking overhead, baskets rocking, the band blasting tunes, not some message board saying, "Get Loud!"

 McKale at Arizona, Cameron Indoor at Duke are hostile now. Please. Oregon could have remade Mac Court, brought it up to date, they didn't. MKA is as vanilla as it gets. 

 

 

[Charles Fischer]

On 3/10/2025 at 3:52 PM, sports fan said:

Hi Charles

I think there was a misunderstanding when I listed the arena capacities. Ohio State did not average 18,000 fans, same thing with Penn St, they didn't average 15,000 fans either.  I should have also 

 

listed the average attendance in the previous post.  I have added that here, the school and the AVERAGE attendance for each game.

 

 1.  Indiana        16,464

 2.  Wisconsin    15,512

 3.  Illinois           15,378

 

 4.  Maryland      15,157

 5.  Nebraska      15,012

 6.  Purdue          14,876

 

 7.  Michigan St.  14,797

 8.  Michigan        12,388

 9.  Ohio St.          12,000

 

10. Minnesota        9,983

11.  Iowa                9.369

12.  UCLA              8,628

 

13.  Oregon            8,438

14.  Rutgers            8,000

15.  Washington      7,746

 

16.  Penn St.           7,713

17.  Northwestern    6,474

18.  USC                  6,214

 

 

Actually, the mistake is not yours, but mine.  I misread it, but I do appreciate what you provided above.

 

Damn....8,400 at Oregon...really?

 

Any team averaging over 10,000 is impressive to me, that IS half the B1G.

 

 

[Nevada Dawg]

Good to great attendance, even for mediocre B1G teams is hardly surprising to me in the cold weather states in the Midwest. Often there was nothing better to do outside and basketball was THE winter sport for so many midwesterners, at least during the four years I lived in Ohio, Even the MAC schools usually filled or came close to filling their gyms in in January and February in Ohio.

[spartan2785]

My thoughts are this

On 3/10/2025 at 11:20 AM, HDuck said:

The women's final between USC and UCLA in Indianapolis had 8,358 in attendance.   Two L.A. schools playing in Indianapolis.

 

Last year, the Pac championship in Vegas between USC and Stanford had 5,526.  A very good USC team, and Tara VanDerveer's last Pac game as coach of Stanford.

 

Fan loyalty and attendance has many factors in play, but generally as compared to other regions of the nation the West Coast rides the last horse on the wagon train.

 

The structural and amenity character of Mac made a move necessary.  And, the fan interest and involvement in that era is much different today.    The best Pit crowds we remember would not be replicated by today's fans.   Nor do we remember Pit games that were half capacity - and there were.

 

There has been criticism of home attendance this season which averaged above 7,500.  The last full season at The Pit it was 7,100.  My guess is that a bunch of that 7,500 wouldn't cram themselves into The Pit based on today's criteria for fan amenities.

I would argue there are more people that don't got to games due to the lack of atmosphere than those who didn't got to Mac due to the infrastructure.  I don't go to that many games solely because there is nothing at Matt Court that would get me to go to a game, it's cavernous, no atmosphere, kiddie environment, completely misses the point of college athletics, why would I go to the game when I can get the same experience at home?

 

Mac Court was unique and the environment was second to none, you could legitimately say it was a singular experience in college basketball, no other arena had that sort of design, it was one of the loudest, most intimidating atmospheres in the country.  People went because it was place where anything could happen despite Oregon not being a great basketball power.  

 

Matt Court has produced a few games where it felt intimidating, the UCLA Dillon Brooks buzzer beater comes to mind, but those games are few and far between because the university has done a TERRIBLE job with their fan experience.  There really should be nothing when it comes to music other than the band and SHOUT!, there shouldn't be any sort of kiss cam or anything else on the big screen, make everything about what is on the court.  

 

I will say the student body is atrocious now when it comes to their support, but that could be different if the environment was different, it's not like the student body is bad at football games.

 

Unfortunately the design of the building isn't great, it doesn't feel very cozy, it's not the worst building, but there is nothing that feels unique or something other than the court design that tells you that you are at Matt Court.

 

In the end it's on the University for not understanding what got people to attend games at Mac Court, they thought people wanted a comfortable setting where they can take the family and relax, but what people want is a intimidating arena which opposing teams both look forward to and dread going to.  

[HDuck]

As I recall, the design for MKA was as a multi-purpose facility.   Not solely for basketball.

 

Concerts, bull riding, comedians, Circque du Soleil, graduations, conferences, and so on.

 

There was no other facility in the Eugene area with close to the proposed MKA seating capacity which could fill those needs.

 

I don't know for sure, but my GUESS is that the dark background was an architect's priority for those other uses such as concerts.

 

The facility is home to two regulation-size basketball courts and one regulation-size volleyball practice court. The floor level has spacious on-site athletic training and weight training facilities as well as a nutrition bar. A large flat concourse encircles the arena with 50 concessionaire stations, over 200 toilets and two Duck retail shops. Additionally the building has private club rooms and four loading docks. 

 

I suppose some of the older fans still have nostalgia of standing in a crowded Mac hallway waiting and waiting for stale popcorn, or wondering if they should use their soda container as an emergency bathroom.

 

I believe it was Ernie who said that Mac was a liability in recruiting unless he could get a recruit on site during an actual game.  Then, hope the kid wasn't overwhelmed by the player amenities in a modern arena at his next recruiting stop.

 

“We got things done with what we had,” Kent said in a phone interview. “We split one court with wrestling, women’s basketball and volleyball. Our 7-footers could barely fit in the restroom stalls the season we went to the Elite Eight.  You can build programs a lot of places, but there has to be enough there to build.”

[OregonDucks]

This is a college basketball environment!
 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by OregonDucks

[Washington Waddler]

     It helps to remember that there wasn’t anything particularly special or unique about MacArthur Court at the time it was built. It was a fairly standard design for the day.  It only became special as the result of other universities replacing those worn-out arenas with higher capacity, more modern styles that unfortunately lacked the acoustic properties of the older designs.
 

     Everyone’s had a special something in their life (clothing, car, etc) that eventually wore out. Give Matt Court the time, team and fan energy, and it may just surprise us. The USC and Indiana games gave a hint of that.

[spartan2785]

I don't think anybody is saying that staying at Mac Court was the answer, nobody in their right mind would say that, it had to be upgraded, it had to happen as much as the atmosphere was never going to be the same.

 

There are better built facilities that are new, if you look at Auburn and Ole' Miss' facilities, those are much better designed to keep a raucous atmosphere.  They were a bit burdened by the fact that they did need to make sure it could be used for various other events, so I'm sure that had an effect, but the athletic department didn't do a good job establishing a feel for the stadium when they moved, it was such a jarring change in how the game was presented, some of that is totally to be expected, but they leaned way too much into the pro style of presentation than they needed to.  

 

If we're being honest it's probably too big of an arena for the size of the city and the fanbase.  10,000 or 10,500 might have been better.  I'm not sure if that would make much of an effect.  

 

A lot of arena are now being built smaller.  Texas had a huge downsize in their new arena, Baylor did the same despite their programs being good.  

[30Duck]

On 3/11/2025 at 11:14 AM, HDuck said:

As I recall, the design for MKA was as a multi-purpose facility.   Not solely for basketball.

 

Concerts, bull riding, comedians, Circque du Soleil, graduations, conferences, and so on.

 

 

 

I suppose some of the older fans still have nostalgia of standing in a crowded Mac hallway waiting and waiting for stale popcorn, or wondering if they should use their soda container as an emergency bathroom.

 

I believe it was Ernie who said that Mac was a liability in recruiting unless he could get a recruit on site during an actual game.  Then, hope the kid wasn't overwhelmed by the player amenities in a modern arena at his next recruiting stop.

 

 

I saw George Carlin & Elvis Presley at Mac Court, and graduations were fine. I loved Mac Court popcorn, the memory of its aroma is forever. Ernie-Scott Frost. Nobody is saying that Old Mac Court is the answer, the answer is a NEW Mac Court, it would be right there with Autzen.

[Drake]

The Matt probably would not have happened without our influential boosters. For financing they were forced to build a multi-purpose arena that could generate revenue outside of basketball. They overstated the potential revenue, and got the needed financing. 
 

Without a multi -purpose arena they would never have received the financing, and not many of us can influence the State to lend us the money required. There is more to building and financing these deals then making all the fans happy. 
 

The alternative was to have our alumni raise substantially more money.
 

So maybe they gave us a mini-van instead of the sports car that was wanted. I am not complaining. 
 

 

[HDuck]

The Moody Center at Texas seats 16,000.  It replaced a facility that seated 17,500.  The Moody Center has more multi-purpose events than MKA could even dream about and a strong partnership with the City of Austin.  But, it was created with a design feature with obstruction panels which when deployed block upper tier seating views.  Thus, for Texas basketball it is typically reduced to about 11,000 for Texas games, unless hosting a major opponent.  In 2024, Texas averaged about 10,600 for home games. 

 

Austin and surrounding area seems capable of more than 10,600 but apparently UT's AD knows his market.  Moody is similar to covering the seats at the Rose Bowl for UCLA games.

 

Baylor went from a multi-purpose venue with about 10,500 for basketball to a basketball only facility at about 7,500.  The donor financing for the new facility did not require the extra revenue that would come from a new multi-purpose venue.

 

[JabbaNoBargain]

I’ll say again, for me it’s who we’re playing and the fact that I can watch on TV instead of driving in from Portland. I had a free ticket for any game this year as many times as I wanted, and went zero times. Combine all that with a generally sagging interest in college hoops until March and you get the attendance we have.
 

I grew up in Mac watching Greg Trapp from behind the basket against UCLA because if I didn’t go, it was radio only. An old rickety Mac against Northwestern on a Thursday night, driving in from PDX, wouldn't sweeten the deal for me  

Edited 5 hours ago by JabbaNoBargain