So Ted Miller just blogged up the Pac10's numbers for the 2009 season. Since URSA is ultra slow for my last first-pass ever to sign up for classes, I figured I should present and then comment on these numbers. Before I get to the analysis part, here are the numbers:
USC... 84,799
UCLA... 64,547
Washington... 64,356
California... 59,472
Oregon... 58,544
Arizona State... 48,556
Oregon State... 42,328
Stanford... 41,436
Arizona... 35,656
Washington State... 25,909
The top and bottom is nothing surprising at all. Washington State really sucks, and have a small stadium. Those two combined imply it'll be last. On the other end of the spectrum, it should also not surprise anyone U$C leads the Pac. They came off a Rose Bowl win (again), a new hotshot QB, which means the bandwagon was in full force. Two of their losses came at home, but during the last quarter of the season so they wouldn't really impact attendance as much. In the middle of the pecking order, you can find UDub and Oregon. The reason why I am singling them out is because their numbers are essentially they seating capacity of their respective stadiums and that should be pointed out. Those two fanbases deserve lots of credit, especially the Huskies, who haven't really had a reason to be excited about football until Sark came in. Then again, I am sure that none of them expected to win too much this year, so it's darn respectable of an attendance figure.
Now, it is time to get to my Bruins. Yes, we are second in attendance. Yes, it is not too surprising. No, I am not happy with just being second (especially with those figures). With all the progress the team has made in the offseason, and with the hype around Coach Neu, the numbers should have been WAY higher. As someone who was there for every single game, I can attest to the emptiness that (did not) fill the Rose Bowl. The biggest area of concern and disappointment for me was in the students. I would always check out the size of the student section as we did our pregame routine (Fanfare, Strike, Nat'l Anthem, Sons, Mighty) and although I never thought it'd be full 20 minutes before kick-off, it was never even close to having the lower half of it full. That's just sad. I know I am not the only one as there has been lots of discussion about the apathetic nature of some of the student body amongst UCLA blogs, so no reason to repeat does sentiments. What we should take from it is that apparently our fans appreciate a decent team more than a team with more talent but has a tendency to choke, right?
You talk about UW and Oregon nearly filling their stadiums. The raw numbers obviously make it impossible to see that. It would be interesting to also see attendance as percentage of stadium capacity.
ReplyDeleteOregon is very impressive because they did fill to capacity, as you said. 64,000+ for a Washington team that has been awful is somewhat impressive too, but that's not even close to capacity. Husky Stadium seats over 72,000.
ReplyDeleteYou mistated Arizona's attendance. It should be 52,555
ReplyDelete