Steve Mims has the news in the RG here:
Oregon drew an average of 7,467 fans last year, but that number will rise to 9,895 this season after another full house of 12,364 shows up for the home finale. That is the largest average attendance since 9,984 watched at McArthur Court in 1977-78.
In those 40 years UO enrollment has increased from 16,000 to 24,000, the Lane county population has increased from 250,000 to 370,000, and UO went heavily into debt to replace Mac Court with a huge gaudy new arena that the fans hate. The Ducks have had to cut ticket prices and – horror of horrors – give away tickets to faculty and staff even to get to this attendance number. See “Price elasticity remains top threat to Duck Athletics, followed by the NCAA and professors“. Meanwhile AAD Eric Roedl tried to squeeze our students for another 4% increase in the $1.8M they pay for for “free” tickets, but ASUO just told him no.
I was an undergrad at UMass when coach Cal and Marcus Canby were there. There was pretty much a riot when we lost in the final four.
Number of fucks given on my part: 0
Number of fucks I might have given: 0
Tedious conversations about UMass basketball I was required to sit through if I wanted a decent grade: 15.
Bah – If I was a student at the UO today, I would also focus on my studies, considering the tuition (keep in mind recent tuition hike announcement). Also – apart from focusing on academics first, I would not be able to afford a ducks game anymore (football or basketball). If you want academic student support for your athletics students, lower tuition or let them attend games for free.