UH men’s volleyball becoming a smash at the box office

The University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team didn’t get the NCAA Tournament berth it coveted — and deserved — but the Rainbow Warriors might achieve a distinction still unreachable by any of its NCAA peers.

Based upon the early returns — and the final numbers aren’t in yet — the Rainbow Warriors could emerge as the only college volleyball program that even comes close to paying for itself this season through direct and indirect revenue streams.

In a 19-8 campaign, the ’Bows led the nation in attendance (3,856 average), according to the NCAA, and hit a 12-year high in ticket revenue ($384,077), according to UH figures recently released.

The ’Bows’ take at the Stan Sheriff Center box office was the most since 2006, according to UH figures. The 2006 ’Bows produced $415,617 in ticket revenues, UH said.

Helped by a season-high ticket distribution of 5,989 for a March match against Brigham Young and a combined 10,948 for two April dates against No. 1-ranked Long Beach State, UH produced $50,000 more in ticket revenue this year than in an 18-0 home season in 2017, despite one fewer date.

“(The) men’s volleyball team had a great year on and off the court,” athletic director David Matlin said in an email. “Proud of them both academically and athletically. Excited to see (the) best revenue numbers in more than a decade.”

Historically, men’s volleyball is a guaranteed money-loser nationally, which is part of why fewer schools sponsor it in relation to other sports and why NCAA members have not sought to raise the ceiling on scholarship limits above the current 4.5 per team.

But boosted by the sport’s popularity here, UH actually made money in the booming Yuval Katz era (1995 and ’96), the first two seasons matches were in the Stan Sheriff Center.

On a campus where, traditionally, only football, Rainbow Wahine volleyball and, sometimes, men’s basketball have turned a profit among the 21 teams operated, men’s volleyball has the ability to be a welcome bonus.

UH officials have said that if you include both direct revenues (such as ticket sales) and indirect revenues (shares of the TV and radio rights, concessions, donations, sponsorships etc.), then men’s volleyball has also, on a couple of occasions, at least paid for itself beyond the shadow of the Katz years.

“We’re pulling our weight,” said coach Charlie Wade, who is hopeful of accelerating the trend.

While the sting of being left out of the NCAA tournament last month hasn’t subsided, Wade says, “I am comforted by the overall direction of our program, which has been positive for several years now. We made the NCAAs in 2015, again in ’17 and, barring what was, historically, a head-scratcher (by the NCAA selection committee), we would have made it this year, too.”

Wade said, “We’re looking forward to next year, when we are hosting the Big West championship, and the depth we’re building. We are literally already talking about who is going to be on the floor for us in 2020, ’21 and ’22 — we’re that far ahead in terms of the depth we have in the gym.

“We’d like to see the numbers continue to go up and we’d like to win more. They go hand in hand. We’re not satisfied with where we are at yet, but we are encouraged with the progress in all aspects of the program.”

If the ’Bows turn out to be money in the bank for UH, think what they might have been for the NCAA.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.