If we step back and take our minds off football for just a minute, the 2021-22 sports year for the University of Hawaii was, overall, a very good one. And, despite the challenges that came with an empty stadium and unpopular coach, the Warriors managed to make it to a bowl game. But the Hawaii Bowl was canceled, and UH missed out on a chance to even its record and add to a nice postseason for the Mountain West, during which the conference teams went 5-1.
Most of the rest of UH’s teams play in the Big West. The Rainbow Warriors and Wahine put together their best year since joining the conference in 2012 and placed second in the Dennis Farrell Commissioner’s Cup Standings.
UH’s women’s sports were especially productive, with conference championships in volleyball, basketball and golf (tied) and runner-up points for water polo, beach volleyball and track and field. Men’s volleyball (second) and baseball (third) also helped UH’s standing. Basketball posted its best records since the 2016 team that went to the NCAA Tournament; the ‘Bows were 17-11 overall and 10-5 in the conference.
With a boost from its Big West championship men’s volleyball team, Long Beach State won the commissioner’s cup. But the Warriors got their revenge on the Beach with a sweep in the NCAA championship match; Hawaii’s successful defense of its national title was clearly the highlight of the UH sports year.
Fans finally got to return to Simplifi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center. If they were cheering for UH, they left happy 82% of the time. All four arena teams posted overall winning records, and they combined to go 51-11 at home.
Maybe there’s a way to transfer some of that magic from the Stanley to the football team.
Unique challenges call for out-of-the-box ideas. How about one that’s into-the-arena?
We now know for sure that the seating capacity at the Ching Athletic Complex is going to remain at 9,000 for the upcoming football season. I think it’s still safe to say that more than that number would like to attend UH games, even though less than 7,000 went to each of the two Warriors home games when attendance restrictions were finally lifted last fall.
If Hawaii does sell out games this season, is there any chance some of the overflow would be willing to watch the game on the scoreboard big screen at the Stanley? And could or would UH accommodate them?
It would be a tough sell all the way around — but maybe a fair giveaway for loyal fans who want to be part of the gameday experience, but can’t get one of the 9,000 tickets and don’t mind watching in the arena? UH could still make some money from parking and concessions.
Realistically — and this is not just a Hawaii problem — when people get used to watching college football at home or a friend’s house it can be a challenge to convince them to come back. Anybody else wonder how many big screens were purchased the past couple of years? Or how many people stuck at home figured out how to stream games on their computer screens?
One more question … if there were an overflow of fans who were allowed to watch games on the arena screen would they count toward the attendance? Because you never know, the NCAA might decide to actually enforce that minimum average of 15,000 spectators-per-game rule one of these years.
Attendance dropped for the seventh season in a row in 2021 (skipping over the 2020 pandemic year). That’s for the total of Division I FBS, not just UH.
In March 2020, College Football News ranked the 130 FBS teams by home attendance for the previous five seasons.
Michigan, where Hawaii will play a game this season, was first at 110,884.
UH was 82nd at 24,228 per game.
That’s no surprise. The interesting part of this list is Nos. 121 to 130.
From San Jose State (14,917) to Ball State (9,174), none of the 10 met that threshold of 15,000 that the NCAA claims a school needs to average over a two-year period to retain its FBS status. All 10 are still in the FBS. Five of them, including Ball State, played in bowl games after last season.
If the 15,000 rule were enforced, the Mid-American Conference would have lost five teams at some point.
No. 127 Coastal Carolina (11,564) went 11-1 in 2020 and finished the season ranked No. 14 in the AP poll.
For now, the NCAA says everyone officially gets a pass on the 15,000 rule because of the chaos caused by 2020. As long as I can remember, everyone has gotten a pass, anyway.
