2021/2022 #HLMBB Attendance Figures & Analysis
Feb 26, 2022 22:30:23 GMT -5
Post by wsuraider09 on Feb 26, 2022 22:30:23 GMT -5
Another year of Horizon League Men's basketball has come to a conclusion. Well, at least the regular season. As per my annual tradition, I have compiled an in-depth look at Horizon League attendance figures for the 2021-2022 season. Obviously things are a bit different this year as we're still dealing with the fallout of Covid-19. The majority of the HL teams saw games canceled or postponed, and in many cases, shifting games to unusual days or times. As such, most figures are down from the last normal season.
First off, I would like to say that attendance figures are taken from the official box score. Neutral site games or MTE events which X team is "home" and Y team is "away" are not counted. All games factored were played on HL home arenas (though a few teams use multiple arenas, they were not differentiated.)
Since there was no attendance for last season, the comparisons and trends ignore last season completely as if the season didn't happen at all.
On to the analysis:
The good: Wright State continues to pace the way leading the league in average attendance for the 9th straight year.
CSU and Milwaukee rising strong. They say success brings fans to the arenas right? Well, maybe? CSU is up 31% over 19-20 while Milwaukee is up 54% over the same season. I suspect Milwaukee had a decent uptick in season ticket sales for the PBJ commitment, but with him likely on his way out, and his father possibly one step behind, I expect this to be a one year anomaly.
The bad: All but 2 of the league schools averaged less than 2500 fans per game, and 7 schools never hit the 3000 mark in any one game this season.
The ugly: 18 games played with less than 1000 fans in attendance including every game played at IUPUI and all but 2 of RMUs home contests.
Out of Conference:
It wasn't a real exciting year for HLMBB teams hosting out of conference games, but OOC games were 4 of the top 10 attended league games this year.
The average home attendance for out of conference games were as follows:
WSU 3349
MKE 2588
UIC 2211
OAK 2203
NKU 2159
CSU 1814
DET 1668
GB 1657
YSU 1543
RMU 1159
PFW 984
IUPUI 555
The highest attended out of conference game was Eastern Kentucky at Milwaukee with 4318.
Conference Games:
In-conference game attendance for the conference as an average fell by about 500 per game. This is largely to PFW and RMU being new to the league and dragging our average attendance down when compared to the 19-20 season.
And finally, the average across all conference games by home team:
WSU 3339, down 29% from 19-20
OAK 3046, up 16%
NKU 2550, down 36%
MKE 2109, up 63%
UIC 2093, up 7%
CSU 2028, up 49%
DET 1668, up 15%
YSU 1781, down 38%
GB 1679 down 20%
PFW 1371 (no comparison)
RMU 818 (no comparison)
IUPUI 733 down 39%
Top games/series/weekends:
Top 10 Attended Games:
CSU @ WSU 5328
EKU @ MKE 4318
IUPUI @ CSU 4002
WSU @ OAK 3912
DET @ OAK 3809
RMU @ WSU 3796
ERIE @ WSU 3717
OAK @ WSU 3687
TOL @ OAK 3616
NKU @ OAK 3505
Bottom 10 games, based on attendance are as follows:
EW @ IUPUI 163
DEF @ YSU 300
YSU @ RMU 353
UMD @ IPFW 406
YSU @ IUPUI 420
CSU @ RMU 542
PFW @ RMU 572
RMU @ IUPUI 582
SPA @ IUPUI 603
MKE @ IUPUI 603
Top 10 Road/Home Series (team which contributed more home attendance listed first)
7599 OAK/WSU
7049 WSU/CSU
5802 WSU/MKE
5653 WSU/NKU
5578 NKU/OAK
5461 OAK/CSU
5091 WSU/YSU
5051 OAK/PFW
4955 UIC/MKE
4729 WSU/DET
Total Season Attendance
WSU 46,775 (14 games)
NKU 35,898 (15 games)
OAK 34,019 (12 games)
CSU 33,412 (17 games)
MKE 33,222 (15 games)
YSU 30,388 (18 games)
UIC 25,115 (12 games)
GB 21,779 (13 games)
PFW 19,016 (15 games)
DET 16,761 (9 games)
RMU 12,474 (14 games)
IUPUI 8,083 (12 games)
Full season average (with % change from 19-20):
WSU 3341, down 19%
OAK 2835, down 12%
NKU 2393, down 33%
MKE 2215, up 54%
UIC 2093, up 16%
CSU 1965, up 31%
DET 1862, up 30%
YSU 1688, down 29%
GB 1675, down 13%
PFW 1268, (N/A)
RMU 891, (N/A)
IUPUI 674, down 40%
Road Show Up (Average attendance for each team's conference road games)
CSU 2220
MKE 2153
RMU 2035
IUPUI 2012
UIC 2011
DET 1990
PFW 1908
YSU 1868
WSU 1862
OAK 1824
NKU 1807
GB 1788
In 2021-2022, HLMBB home teams averaged:
1824 fans for out of conference games (down from 1960)
1931 fans for in-conference games (down from 2447)
1908 for all games (down from 2258)
First off, I would like to say that attendance figures are taken from the official box score. Neutral site games or MTE events which X team is "home" and Y team is "away" are not counted. All games factored were played on HL home arenas (though a few teams use multiple arenas, they were not differentiated.)
Since there was no attendance for last season, the comparisons and trends ignore last season completely as if the season didn't happen at all.
On to the analysis:
The good: Wright State continues to pace the way leading the league in average attendance for the 9th straight year.
CSU and Milwaukee rising strong. They say success brings fans to the arenas right? Well, maybe? CSU is up 31% over 19-20 while Milwaukee is up 54% over the same season. I suspect Milwaukee had a decent uptick in season ticket sales for the PBJ commitment, but with him likely on his way out, and his father possibly one step behind, I expect this to be a one year anomaly.
The bad: All but 2 of the league schools averaged less than 2500 fans per game, and 7 schools never hit the 3000 mark in any one game this season.
The ugly: 18 games played with less than 1000 fans in attendance including every game played at IUPUI and all but 2 of RMUs home contests.
Out of Conference:
It wasn't a real exciting year for HLMBB teams hosting out of conference games, but OOC games were 4 of the top 10 attended league games this year.
The average home attendance for out of conference games were as follows:
WSU 3349
MKE 2588
UIC 2211
OAK 2203
NKU 2159
CSU 1814
DET 1668
GB 1657
YSU 1543
RMU 1159
PFW 984
IUPUI 555
The highest attended out of conference game was Eastern Kentucky at Milwaukee with 4318.
Conference Games:
In-conference game attendance for the conference as an average fell by about 500 per game. This is largely to PFW and RMU being new to the league and dragging our average attendance down when compared to the 19-20 season.
And finally, the average across all conference games by home team:
WSU 3339, down 29% from 19-20
OAK 3046, up 16%
NKU 2550, down 36%
MKE 2109, up 63%
UIC 2093, up 7%
CSU 2028, up 49%
DET 1668, up 15%
YSU 1781, down 38%
GB 1679 down 20%
PFW 1371 (no comparison)
RMU 818 (no comparison)
IUPUI 733 down 39%
Top games/series/weekends:
Top 10 Attended Games:
CSU @ WSU 5328
EKU @ MKE 4318
IUPUI @ CSU 4002
WSU @ OAK 3912
DET @ OAK 3809
RMU @ WSU 3796
ERIE @ WSU 3717
OAK @ WSU 3687
TOL @ OAK 3616
NKU @ OAK 3505
Bottom 10 games, based on attendance are as follows:
EW @ IUPUI 163
DEF @ YSU 300
YSU @ RMU 353
UMD @ IPFW 406
YSU @ IUPUI 420
CSU @ RMU 542
PFW @ RMU 572
RMU @ IUPUI 582
SPA @ IUPUI 603
MKE @ IUPUI 603
Top 10 Road/Home Series (team which contributed more home attendance listed first)
7599 OAK/WSU
7049 WSU/CSU
5802 WSU/MKE
5653 WSU/NKU
5578 NKU/OAK
5461 OAK/CSU
5091 WSU/YSU
5051 OAK/PFW
4955 UIC/MKE
4729 WSU/DET
Total Season Attendance
WSU 46,775 (14 games)
NKU 35,898 (15 games)
OAK 34,019 (12 games)
CSU 33,412 (17 games)
MKE 33,222 (15 games)
YSU 30,388 (18 games)
UIC 25,115 (12 games)
GB 21,779 (13 games)
PFW 19,016 (15 games)
DET 16,761 (9 games)
RMU 12,474 (14 games)
IUPUI 8,083 (12 games)
Full season average (with % change from 19-20):
WSU 3341, down 19%
OAK 2835, down 12%
NKU 2393, down 33%
MKE 2215, up 54%
UIC 2093, up 16%
CSU 1965, up 31%
DET 1862, up 30%
YSU 1688, down 29%
GB 1675, down 13%
PFW 1268, (N/A)
RMU 891, (N/A)
IUPUI 674, down 40%
Road Show Up (Average attendance for each team's conference road games)
CSU 2220
MKE 2153
RMU 2035
IUPUI 2012
UIC 2011
DET 1990
PFW 1908
YSU 1868
WSU 1862
OAK 1824
NKU 1807
GB 1788
In 2021-2022, HLMBB home teams averaged:
1824 fans for out of conference games (down from 1960)
1931 fans for in-conference games (down from 2447)
1908 for all games (down from 2258)