We’ve had basketball attendance issues for the entire time I’ve been a Miami fan, but things have been turning around and the energy has gone up a notch. Numbers below are averages by season, before/during winter break, and post-break. I’ll keep the tracker updated through the season.
Pre-break/break number is final, averaging over 2K before the upcoming stretch isn’t bad given where we started and what we’re up against to draw fans. We need to average 3762 in our last five games to match last season, something tells me we’re gonna get some big crowds and smash that. Averaging 5K the last five games will put our season average at 3043 but with a lot of weekend games I’d be surprised if we didn’t exceed that.
Updated for last week, we’ve already exceeded last year’s total attendance with three fewer games. We’ll exceed 4K for the total season average if we draw at least 7K for the last three home games, though I see no reason that we can’t exceed that.
Attendance with actual students in school would be way higher average.
For simple math, saying that Millett has a sellout on 2/13, and is at capacity crowd. In 3 games, Miami MBB has 30K. Does that mean Miami has more in attendance for 3 MBB games than some previous years?
Not yet, but it’s within a few thousand of Steele’s first season if I recall correctly.
I would have preferred maybe not editing, but rather showing the increased average after the wins increased!
Thanks for putting this together. This is by far the most coverage Miami has received since Wally in 99. I don’t recall the men’s Frozen Four or the years with Ben attracting as much attention as this MBB team, although the epic games between Marshall and Miami with Randy Moss were up there.
MBB is now leading the MAC in home attendance for league games. Crazy.
The athletic department really needs to take advantage of the demand right now and guarantee reserved seats for the remaining games if people are willing to make a deposit for season tickets next year. Strike while the iron is hot!
Partial subject matter related topic here, but all this notoriety about our winning streak, record attendance, and focus on Miami and our lovely campus as well, leads me back to our past discussions as to if excellence in major sports drives applications.
In these past threads, a number here have rejected that link, and have provided facts to back up their opinion. But this magical basketball season and the media attention Miami has gotten (so many times I have seen sports articles that mention how renowned we are for having one of America’s most beautiful campus) makes me wonder if there won’t be a real boost for us in ways beyond athletics.
Most likely will see a boost in alumni donations, more interest from HS athletic recruits and transfers, increased fan interest in the SW Ohio area and probably an increase in HS applications specifically from the Miami coverage in national media.
Miami had 42K applications for first-year students last year but that should increase due to:
By itself, the MBB success plays a role but is not the only part of Miami’s growth.