One of the biggest selling points of sporting events is the atmosphere. Even as a Division II school, Colorado Mesa University fans can turn a game from an ordinary sporting event into a can’t-miss-environment with the cheering and roar of “The Herd.”
Sporting events like football, baseball and basketball games tend to have that high attendance necessary to create the loud atmosphere that makes sporting events great. Even the occasional special events like “The Battle in Brownson” get major attendance and all it does is add to the great match happening on the field or court.
However, not every sporting event gets the opportunity to have that atmosphere. While some sports like football thrive, others severely lack the attendance and presence of “The Herd.”
It’s difficult to pinpoint an exact reason why these events consistently have low attendance, but some students say it simply comes down to the excitement factor or how people value the sport.
“[Football, baseball, etc.] are just more exciting sports,” CMU student Reese Swanson said. “Plus some teams do better than others.”
“People view them as more important,” CMU student Alex Brietkreuz said. “Football is a lot bigger of a thing in America in my opinion than swimming is or lacrosse is. So football is just more interesting to people in general.”
It doesn’t just stop at the excitement factor. It also is due to advertisement. One of the most powerful forms of advertising is word of mouth; players and fans telling their friends about upcoming games. The reality is that some sports simply have more people asking their friends to attend these events or some sports just get advertised more by the school than others.
“I think it’s because in some sports it’s easier to cheer on a team rather than individuals,” CMU student Angelo Adams said. “It’s easier to cheer for a whole team rather than just one person, maybe.”
“I think some are more known than others,” CMU student Crystal Bucio said. “They should try to get the word out for everybody and have an equal amount of people at each events. I usually live off campus so I don’t know where these events are, so I honestly haven’t gone to many [sporting events] because I haven’t heard of them, but I’d like to go.”
The lack of advertising for some sports is surprising. The harsh reality, though, is that some sports simply appeal more to students here on campus than others, no matter how much effort is put into advertising. Advertising an event may help, but it isn’t the only step students see as a solution to the attendance issue.
“Maybe they should do more giveaways, like shirts and stuff,” Swanson said.
Giveaways are always a solid mechanism to get students to attend. The wrestling team’s “Battle in Brownson” gives away shirts and surely helps in ensuring a sold-out crowd every year. Some of the most popular basketball games are when shirts are given away by The Herd. More recently, the CMU Women’s Lacrosse team hosted a cornhole tournament before their game this past Friday.
Special events like “The Battle in Brownson” and baseball’s fireworks night also gain a lot of interest. Maybe hosting special events would intrigue students, especially if done on the weekend. Teams should follow women’s lacrosse’s idea, with more tournaments or tailgates before events and see if their audience grows.
Just like everything else in life, there will never be fairness in regard to the number of people attending every sporting event. But it has been proven before that there are ways to improve the numbers and gain that energetic atmosphere that makes sports so great.
