The Viking men’s squad drew 18,195 fans in 2017, a 36.5% decrease from the 28,669 fans it drew in 2016, which itself was a 30% drop from the 2015 attendance total. 2017’s numbers are the lowest for the program since 1983. They’d been in continuous decline since the late 1990s, with the exception of a 60,000 mark with 20 home games in 2011, but Gary Waters’ final season at the helm of the team was undoubtedly a low point, and not just at the box office.
CSU went 9-22 in 2016-2017 on the heels of an almost identically dismal 9-23 campaign the year prior. This year’s squad is actually faring worse. The Vikes stand at 8-22 and finish the regular season this Saturday at Youngstown State.
The program had recently dealt with transfers that saw three promising players, all part of the 20-win 2013 team, depart for bigger programs — Bryn Forbes to Michigan State, Trey Lewis to Louisville, and Anton Grad to Wichita State.
This article appears in Feb 14-20, 2018.
Though there are plans to replace the white elephant that is the Wolstein Center with a smaller facility……CSU officials should simply move the basketball programs back to the 3,000-seat Woodling Gymnasium.
Sadly, there’s no public parking within a couple blocks of Woodling. That’s probably a dealbreaker.
Do the math…a winning percentage of .280 over three seasons won’t draw flies anywhere. That’s the same as the Indians winning just 45 games in a season or the Cavs winning only 23. Teams like that are abysmal…and who wants to see a team that loses seven of every ten games? Nobody!
Turn that 26-67 record into 67-26 and the place will fill up. Winning puts the asses in the seats.