Cdizzle wrote:Fans aren't avoiding Loyola games because there is a Bears game on. They are avoiding Loyola games because there are no fans.
And fans aren't avoiding Evansville games because and Indiana game is on. They are avoiding Evansville games because after 8 years of the same Simmons crap they would rather do literally anything else. If you have a fan base that places watching/attending 17 other schools above your school, you should stop calling it a fan base.
Attendance is down throughout Division 1. The national average per game attendance has gone down almost 11% from 2008 to 2016.
Oversaturation is certainly real. In 2008 there were 5,093 D1 games played amongst 328 teams; both being records at the time. Last year there were 5,542 games play amongst 346 teams. Sure, the diehards are going to games no matter what, but there are scarce few programs in the country with enough diehards to fill their arenas on a weekly basis. The average Joe with a wife and three kids might just be inclinded to stay home and watch a game or 5 on a cold Tuesday night in February rather than packing up the family and heading to campus. That's just the world we live in and thinking otherwise is ignoring the facts.