Is winning all that matters?
“We want to turn Romney [Stadium] into the Smith Spectrum,” Utah State Football Head Coach Brent Guy said after Utah State’s 31-24 win over UNLV in their first home game.
That seems to be the main goal for each varsity team: Turn wherever it is they play into the Spectrum. Specifically, the Spectrum when the men’s basketball team is on the floor.
Four sports play in the Spectrum: men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and gymnastics. With varying success, the teams draw people in to cheer on the Aggies.
The four teams average between 360 and 8,000 fans at each of their games or meets.
There may be many reasons for the difference between the Spectrum and the Stadium.
The almighty win should be high on the list.
Attendance figures also align well with the team’s standing in its conference.
The football team was spot-on in the attendance figures, finishing tied for sixth or two conference wins ahead of New Mexico State.
In terms of fan numbers, the Ags only outdrew New Mexico State. The most fans to attend a USU football game was 12,922, all of whom watched Utah State lose to Boise State.
The men’s basketball team consistently finished first or second in the conference and it wasn’t a surprise in the Big West to see the Ags first in attendance since the Spectrum held more than 4,000 extra people than any other arena in the Big West.
In the Western Athletic Conference, the same won’t be true with the bigger arenas pushing the Spectrum into the fifth-biggest seating capacity, right in the middle of the pack.
Thus far in the basketball season, the men’s team is in fourth place behind Fresno State, Hawai’i and Nevada – all schools with larger arenas.
Last year’s nationally ranked Utah State gymnastics team averaged 1,321 fans, the second-highest total for the teams who compete in the Spectrum.
With their success, they drew 4,123 fans to a single meet last year, which was only a few hundred off the first conference game of last year.
With their berth in the in the NCAA tournament, the Ags proved the fans right as the Ags outdrew a lot of their conference opponents besides just beating them.
The anomaly of the bunch would have to be the volleyball team.
The Ags finished tied for second in the WAC and finished in second place in the conference tournament.
Yet the team only outdrew three WAC schools – Louisiana Tech, Nevada and San Jose State.
Nevada finished fourth, San Jose State sixth and Louisiana Tech last. Nevada was just a game behind the Ags, so they aren’t drawing as many fans as the team’s play would suggest.
Steve Stoddard, a senior dual-majoring in political science and liberal arts and science, said he has consistently attended the women’s volleyball games in his four years on campus.
Mostly because he loves volleyball, he said.
Every sports has its base: the people who will show up rain or shine, good year or bad. It’s the rest of the students and community members who decide to show up and give support and momentum the varsity athletes that makes the difference.
The men’s basketball team can schedule any team they want and barring it being the week before school starts in January, will probably draw at least 6,000 fans.
Women’s basketball, on the other hand, had 521 fans at their most heavily attended game last season. The team compiled a 8-4 home record and were 14-14 on the regular season.
For those history buffs, the last time the men’s team lost four games at home was 1994-1995 season under Larry Eustachy.
For this season, the women’s team has a goal to win nine of their 12 home games, head coach Raegan Pebley said.
In their lone home game this season, the lady Ags had 523 fans supporting the team in their one-point loss, two above their season high of 2004-05.
Does winning bring the fans or do fans bring wins?
Either way, winning doesn’t hurt and watching teams who might lose doesn’t hurt anyone either.
-krn@cc.usu.edu