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Former Fresno State football coach turned radio analyst Pat Hill was explaining the other day how Aloha Stadium used to be one of his favorite venues, even as an opponent.
“I tell people all the time that, to me, it used to be one of the loudest places to play,” Hill said. “I mean, it was always jumpin.’ ”
The operative phrase here being “used to be.”
For a brief period late in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s University of Hawaii-Fresno State game the Rust Palace had a bit of the old foot-stompin’ decibels and energy back — until the Bulldogs finally put the game away on a walk-off 37-yard field goal for a 41-38 win.
But for all the passion, there is only so much that, maybe, 10,000 people, the remnants of an announced meager turnout of 17,583, can do in a 50,000-seat stadium.
As painful as it can be to watch the Rainbow Warriors blow a game they should have won, it is just as disconcerting to see it play out in a venue that is routinely nearly 60 percent empty these days.
Saturday’s turnstile count was the lowest of the season even with Marcus Mariota’s Motiv8 Foundation buying 1,200 tickets for local youth, great weather, no free TV and the prospect of a close game with a long-time opponent.
Yet, the attendance was lower than the previous home game (20,217 for Air Force), which was lower than the one that preceded it (20,252 for Central Arkansas). In fact, it has been steadily downhill since Oregon State (25,141), the second game of the season.
Even the students, who have buses available to them and gain admission through the mandatory athletic fee, are showing up at only a fraction of their early-season numbers.
When Central Arkansas is out-drawing Fresno State, the closest example you have to a “rival” at present, there is a problem.
It isn’t solely a UH problem, witness the sewing circle-sized gatherings when the Warriors played at New Mexico and Nevada. But UH should have plenty more going for it. It has a coach who goes out of his way to promote the program and an offense with big-play potential that has regularly ranked in the top five nationally in passing and total offense and top 20 in scoring.
Even the defense makes things interesting, though not always in ways you’d want.
But, through five home games so far, the Warriors are averaging just 20,753 through the turnstiles. At this pace they will average less than they did last year, by nearly 6,000 below what they had been attracting in 2013 and almost 14,000 below 2010.
Let’s be clear here: a look at the empty seats at Aloha Stadium to the contrary, there is interest in UH football, a team that still clings to a winning record (5-4) with a real shot at the postseason. People talk about it, debate it intensely and follow it.
What they no longer do is buy tickets in large numbers to attend the games.
Ticket purchasers have been so scarce in recent seasons that UH does not even bother to have the stadium open the upper level end zone seating for games anymore, giving the place the look of a partially abandoned building.
If you are the athletic department that should be of considerable concern since football is its largest financial engine, one that can help pay the freight for non-income sports. The latest athletic department audit report, for the 2019 fiscal year that closed June 30, is due out soon and it is expected to show yet another seven-figure deficit.
The current football season’s sales will be reflected in the FY 2020 report and, right now, that looks to portend still more red ink.
Whatever the marketing plan is, it isn’t working and the Fresno State game was the biggest example.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
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