ATTENDANCE 2019-20

[Edrick]

If you want to say something meaningful about attendance, you have to include the capacity of the venue as a denominator.

If Penn gets 4000 per game at the Palestra that's FAR more impressive than Syracuse getting 18,000 at the Carrier Dome. What are we doing here? Having a referendum on who plays the most games in an NBA arena?

[GoldenWarrior11]

If you want to say something meaningful about attendance, you have to include the capacity of the venue as a denominator.

If Penn gets 4000 per game at the Palestra that's FAR more impressive than Syracuse getting 18,000 at the Carrier Dome. What are we doing here? Having a referendum on who plays the most games in an NBA arena?

Actually, for the Big East? Yes.

Part of the branding for the Big East, dating back to its early days, was moving games out of on-campus gyms and into the large arenas for television purposes. Every single BE program plays in a large arena. The smallest full-time arena is Hinkle, which is 9,100, but even Butler plays annual games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the Crossroads Classic (which 18k annually). Capital One Arena (Georgetown), Fiserv Forum (Marquette), Madison Square Garden (St. John's) and the Wells Fargo Arena (Villanova) are each NBA arenas; the Prudential Center (Seton Hall) was an NBA arena until the Nets moved away. It is a great recruiting tool to top-ranked players to be able to sell them on the vision of playing in sold out arenas in front of 10k+ on a nightly basis. And this doesn't even take into account the near-20k attendance figures the BET gets - another big selling point for potential recruits annually. Wintrust Arena, Dunkin' Donuts Center and the Cintas Center all seat over 10k. As noted, CHI Health Center seats 18k, and Creighton fans are as devoted and hardcore as they come. Eight of the top-10 attended games at Creighton have come since joining the Big East (the other two were against WSU in the MVC).

It would be great if DePaul could get to the point where not only it was in the 8k-10k range at Wintrust, but also to the point where they could host a game at United Center annually against a bigger opponent. In time, hopefully...

For UConn, both Gampel (10,167) and XL (15,564) seat over 10k. I'd imagine that games against Providence, Villanova, Georgetown, St. John's and Seton Hall will be at XL, with Xavier, Marquette, DePaul, Creighton and Butler at Gampel (I'm guessing). Regardless, the attendance for UConn will undoubtedly go up next year. If they got 9k-10k at XL against Tulsa and UCF, and only 5k and 8k, respectively, against Tulane and Temple at Gampel, I'm guessing the numbers will be going up with more prestigious and historical basketball-first programs in the BE.

[Savannah Jay]

Eight of the top-10 attended games at Creighton have come since joining the Big East (the other two were against WSU in the MVC).

I believe there is a scientific reason for this...it's because being in this conference is feckin awesome.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Eight of the top-10 attended games at Creighton have come since joining the Big East (the other two were against WSU in the MVC).

I believe there is a scientific reason for this...it's because being in this conference is feckin awesome.

No doubt - elevating to a superior conference, against better opponents - absolutely helps fan interest. It's a two-fold success when a team competes and/or wins in their new conference, ala Creighton. UConn's attendance went down after sliding over to the AAC.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

ATTENDANCE 2019-20

17,314 • Creighton
15,145 • Marquette
13,363 • Dayton
11,299 • Villanova
10,328 • Seton Hall
10,311 • Xavier
10,130 • BIG EAST AVERAGE HOME ATTENDANCE
10,064 • Providence

9,199 • UConn
8,617 • Butler
7,931 • Georgetown
7,637 • VCU
7,198 • Notre Dame
6,879 • Saint Louis
6,236 • St. John's
6,143 • Rhode Island
6,000 • Richmond
5,647 • Gonzaga
5,187 • DePaul

4,358 • St. Bonaventure
4,037 • George Mason
3,683 • Davidson
2,628 • UMass
2,621 • George Washington
2,306 • Duquesne
2,108 • Saint Joseph's
1,983 • La Salle
1,891 • Fordham

Each conference has its own webpage, which has a Men’s Basketball tab, which has a Statistics tab. The Statistics are updated the morning after each game is played, including Average Home Attendance. The Final 2019-20 Big East Attendance figures have been available since March 13, 2020.

I'm aware of that, I was asking about something including the entire country...

The official 2019-20 NCAA Men's Basketball Attendance Division I Summary figures were published on August 7, 2020. Most unfortunately, the 2020 link on this NCAA.org webpage is incorrectly connected to the Women's Basketball Attendance figures. But all is not lost, as the University of Dayton Sports Information Department obtained the Men's Basketball Attendance figures from the NCAA and published them on the UD website:

UD Men’s Basketball Ranked 23rd Nationally In Attendance – University of Dayton – August 7, 2020

UD Averaged A School-Record 13,364 Fans A Game

Link: 2019-20 NCAA MBB ATTENDANCE REPORT (27-page .pdf document)

5. Creighton • 17,314
15. Marquette • 15,145
23. Dayton • 13,364

Notable Attendance Figures

• UD has finished in the national Top 25 in attendance the last six seasons.
• Rated in the Top 30 for 23 straight years
• Since UD Arena opened in 1969, Dayton has been in the NCAA`s Top 35 in all 50 seasons, and in the Top 25 a total of 32 times
• Five of UD's top six yearly average attendances in school history have come in the last five seasons
• The Flyers led the Atlantic 10 in attendance for the 23rd straight season
• Nearly 10-and-a-half million fans have attended Flyer games at UD Arena since the Arena opened on Dec. 6, 1969.

Marquette University published the Marquette Men's Basketball Attendance figures five days later, but with no link to the NCAA’s figures:

#MUBB Extends Top-25 Attendance Streak - Marquette University – August 12, 2020

Marquette finishes 15th in 2019-20

For the 19th-straight year, the Marquette University men's basketball team finished among the top-25 teams in the nation in regular season average attendance, thanks to the dedication and support of the program's tremendous fan base.

The 2019-20 campaign at Fiserv Forum was highlighted by four sellouts and an average attendance of 15,145, which was the 15th-best mark in the nation. Over 1.7 million fans were in attendance at BIG EAST Conference matchups last season, with over 250,000 attending Marquette home games.

2019-20 Attendance Highlights

• Marquette has ranked in the top-25 in final regular season average attendance in each of the last 19 seasons
• 15th in the nation in average attendance – 15,145 (nearly 250K total at Fiserv Forum)
• BIG EAST 5th in overall attendance among conferences – 1.7 million
• 22nd in nation in total attendance (home, away, neutral) – 372,529 fans watched Marquette play in person
• MU is only non-football school to rank in the top-25 in attendance every year since 2002

Quite surprisingly, Creighton University MBB has not mentioned 2019-20 attendance. One of you dedicated Blue Jays fans should contact Creighton’s Sports Information Director Rob Anderson to share the good news.

UD Arena - Wikipedia

University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,435-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio.

The arena has been hailed by sportscasters and opponent coaches alike as one of the greatest venues in college basketball. Since its opening in 1969, over 14 million visitors have witnessed events at the arena. In 2002, the arena was the site of the first ever high-definition television (HDTV) broadcast for ESPN. UD Arena has long been reckoned as one of the most hostile arenas in the nation, and has also been hailed as one of the greatest basketball atmospheres in all of college basketball.

Congratulations to Creighton and Marquette on a another season of great attendance.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

.
Some More Numbers from 2019-20 NCAA MBB ATTENDANCE REPORT

Average Attendance Per Game – Ranked by Conference – Page 2

1. Big Ten • 12,709
3. SEC • 11,188
2. ACC • 10,886
4. Big 12 • 10,521
5. Big East • 10,130

6. Pac-12 • 7,071
7. AAC • 7,065
8. MWC • 6,425
9. Atlantic 10 • 4,809
10. MVC • 4,246

11. WCC • 3,377
12. C-USA • 3,262
13. WAC • 2,810
14. MAC • 2,775
15. SoCon • 2,500
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20 Largest Division I Average Attendance Increases From Previous Year – Page 7

Rank. School • 2020 Avg. • 2019 Avg. • Increase in Avg.

3. Villanova • 11,299 • 9,053 • 2,246
9. Seton Hall • 10,328 • 8,507 • 1,821
12. DePaul • 5,187 • 3,761 • 1,426
13. Creighton • 17,314 • 15,980 • 1,334
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Top 30 Division I All Games Attendance (Home, Road, Neutral) – Page 7

Rank. School • Total Attendance

9. Creighton • 425,799
22. Marquette • 372,529
30. Villanova • 326,970

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

.
An Introduction to the 2020-21 College Basketball Season
… 1. Warning: Anomalies Ahead!
… 2. College Basketball Attendance in 2020-21
… 3. College Basketball Arenas’ Maximum Allowable Percentage (MAP)
… 4. Tables
……… Table 4.1: Basketball Attendance of Selected Teams: 2019-20 Season – Sorted in Order of Attendance
……… Table 4.2: Basketball Attendance of Selected Teams: 2019-20 Season – Sorted in the Same Order as Table 4.3
……… Table 4.3: The 352 Largest College Basketball Venues
……… Table 4.4: College Basketball Attendance in 2021 if the Maximum Allowable Percentage is 10%
……… Table 4.5: The 50 Largest College Basketball Venues
… 5. Observations
… 6. A Homework Assignment for Edrick
… 7. A Homework Assignment for Everyone Else
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1. Warning: Anomalies Ahead!

The 2020-21 college basketball season – if it is played at all – will be the Year of the Anomalies. That much has already been firmly decided, but not much else. It presently appears that the entire realm of NCAA athletics will be in a state of permanent flux until an effective vaccine is discovered, thoroughly tested, and administered to the country’s current population of 331,267,000. That may take longer, or considerably longer than college athletic departments and college sports fans are presently contemplating. No one know what is going to happen in the next six months – a critical time for college sports.

This very lengthy ESPN Feature Article, by multiple 'big name' contributors, should be considered mandatory reading for all college basketball fans. The excerpt below is only part of one section of the article:

Can college basketball avoid a repeat of college football's calamity? - Multiple Contributors, ESPN – August 13, 2020

What are the obstacles in a conference-only format? Are commissioners and other college basketball stakeholders considering that option?

It's a legitimate -- and arguably the most likely -- option, yes. The aforementioned variations in testing protocols among different conferences has contributed to it growing as an option, as has the idea of keeping the season more regional, instead of schools traveling around the country for two months during the nonconference season.

One potential obstacle unique to a conference-only format would be how it affects the NCAA tournament selection process. A season without nonconference games would make the NET worthless, without any comparison points among different leagues. While that might help dominant mid-major teams that have a better raw efficiency margin against their conference foes, it would also eliminate chances at "Quadrant 1" wins for smaller leagues. While Big Ten teams would play 16 of 20 games against Quadrant 1 opponents, the Colonial Athletic Association would likely feature zero Quad 1 games. But as one conference official pointed out, differentiating among potential NCAA tournament teams is why there's a selection committee. -- Jeff Borzello

It seems most are counting on a conference-only format, although some coaches of powerhouse programs have discussed the idea of holding big nonconference matchups in a central location prior to conference play. The Power 5 schools would be more equipped to move forward and possibly play more games in that scenario, which might offer an even greater advantage when the tourney field is announced. Still, the automatic qualifier matters here. The leagues can decide how they distribute those tickets to the NCAA tournament, and that ensures the low majors and mid-majors will still get an invite to the party.

And the selection committee seems to be open to the idea of tossing out traditional criteria. It has even taken the step of contacting Google, which helped the NCAA create the NET, to consider the potential impact of a nontraditional 2020-2021 season. -- Myron Medcalf

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2. College Basketball Attendance in 2020-21

One of the biggest anomalies in the 2020-21 college basketball season will be the home game attendance figures and continuity streaks. Consider the following:

UD Averaged A School-Record 13,364 Fans A Game

• UD has finished in the national Top 25 in attendance the last six seasons.
• Rated in the Top 30 for 23 straight years
• Since UD Arena opened in 1969, Dayton has been in the NCAA`s Top 35 in all 50 seasons, and in the Top 25 a total of 32 times

For the 19th-straight year, the Marquette University men's basketball team finished among the top-25 teams in the nation

• Marquette has ranked in the top-25 in final regular season average attendance in each of the last 19 seasons
• 15th in the nation in average attendance – 15,145
• 22nd in nation in total attendance (home, away, neutral) – 372,529 fans watched Marquette play in person

If fans are permitted at games before the general population has successfully been inoculated against the virus, it is extremely likely that mandatory social-distancing requirements will be specified by both the NCAA and by each of the 50 State Legislatures, who have both legal competence and legal responsibility for disease control within their own state.



Neither the NCAA nor Creighton University would want to see 18,320 fans attending a Blue Jays-Wildcats game at CenturyLink Center while the virus is still spreading in Nebraska. Therefore, it is almost certain that if students and/or other fans are permitted to attend college basketball games, it will be in limited numbers.

Enter the MAP.
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3. College Basketball Arenas’ Maximum Allowable Percentage (MAP)

As far as I’m aware, the MAP has not yet been mentioned by anyone in the college basketball media, but it will make its debut if fans are permitted to attend college basketball games in the 2020-21 season (which should actually called the 2021 season, as it is quite likely that no college basketball games will be played before January 1st.)

Let me define MAP as: the Maximum Allowable Percentage of the capacity of a college basketball venue which is available for fan attendance, as part of mandatory social-distancing requirements.

For example, assume the MAP is 10%:

• Syracuse plays in the Carrier Dome, which has a capacity of 33,000. If the MAP is 10%, Syracuse would be permitted to allow 3,300 fans into each game, equally spaced throughout the venue.

• South Carolina Upstate plays in the G.B. Hodge Center, which has a capacity of 878. If the MAP is 10%, South Carolina Upstate would be permitted to allow 88 fans into each game, equally spaced throughout the venue.
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4. Tables

Table 4.1: Basketball Attendance of Selected Teams: 2019-20 Season – Sorted in Order of Attendance

2019-20 NCAA MBB ATTENDANCE REPORT

21,704 • Syracuse

17,314 • Creighton
15,145 • Marquette
13,363 • Dayton
11,299 • Villanova
11,100 • Cincinnati
10,076 • LSU
10,328 • Seton Hall
10,311 • Xavier
10,064 • Providence

9,199 • UConn
8,617 • Butler
7,931 • Georgetown
6,236 • St. John's
5,187 • DePaul

3,693 • Louisiana-Lafayette
1,501 • Cleveland State
744 • South Carolina Upstate

Table 4.2: Basketball Attendance of Selected Teams: 2019-20 Season – Sorted in the Same Order as Table 4.3

21,704 • Syracuse

7,931 • Georgetown
6,236 • St. John's
15,145 • Marquette
10,328 • Seton Hall
17,314 • Creighton
5,187 • DePaul

1,501 • Cleveland State
3,693 • Louisiana-Lafayette
13,363 • Dayton
10,076 • LSU
11,100 • Cincinnati

10,064 • Providence
10,311 • Xavier
9,199 • UConn
8,617 • Butler
11,299 • Villanova

744 • South Carolina Upstate

Table 4.3: The 352 Largest College Basketball Venues

The 352 Largest College Basketball Venues - FueledbySports.com – no date specified

Rank. Venue • Team • Capacity • Year Built • Conference

1. Carrier Dome • Syracuse • 33,000 • 1980 • ACC

6. Verizon Center • Georgetown • 20,308 • 1997 • Big East
9. Madison Square Garden • St. John's • 19,033 • 1968 • Big East
11. BMO Harris Bradley Center • Marquette • 18,850 • 1988 • Big East
14. Prudential Center • Seton Hall • 18,711 • 2007 • Big East
15. CenturyLink Center Omaha • Creighton • 18,320 • 2003 • Big East
19. Allstate Arena • DePaul • 17,500 • 1980 • Big East

49. Wolstein Center • Cleveland State • 13,610 • 1991 • Horizon
50. Cajundome • Louisiana-Lafayette • 13,500 • 1985 • Sun Belt
51. University of Dayton Arena • Dayton • 13,435 • 1969 • Atlantic 10
52. Pete Maravich Assembly Center • LSU • 13,215 • 1972 • SEC
53. Fifth Third Arena • Cincinnati • 13,176 • 1989 • AAC

62. Dunkin' Donuts Center • Providence • 12,400 •1972 Big East
95. Cintas Center • Xavier • 10,250 • 2000 • Big East
99 • Harry A. Gampel Pavilion • Connecticut • 10,167 • 1990 • Big East
122. Hinkle Fieldhouse • Butler • 9,100 • 1928 • Big East
190. The Pavilion • Villanova • 6,500 • 1986 • Big East

352. G.B. Hodge Center • South Carolina Upstate • 878 • 1973 • Atlantic Sun

Table 4.4: College Basketball Attendance in 2021 if the Maximum Allowable Percentage is 10%

If it is assumed that the Maximum Allowable Percentage is 10% of the capacity of each college basketball venue which is available for fan attendance, and incorrectly assumed that the year-to-year volatility of Attendance is zero, the Final Attendance figures for the 2021 Season can accurately be calculated:

Rank. Team • Projected 2021 Attendance if MAP is 10%

1. Syracuse • 3,300

6. Georgetown • 2,031
9. St. John's • 1,903
11. • Marquette • 1,885
14. Seton Hall • 1,871
15. Creighton • 1,832
19. DePaul • 1,750

49. Cleveland State • 1,361
50. Louisiana-Lafayette • 1,350
51. Dayton • 1,344
52. LSU • 1,322
53. Cincinnati • 1,318

Providence • 1,240
95. Xavier • 1,025
99 Connecticut • 1,017
122. Butler • 910
190. Villanova • 650

352. South Carolina Upstate • 88

Table 4.5: The 50 Largest College Basketball Venues

The 50 Largest College Basketball Arenas - InfoPlease.com - 2005

The 50 largest arenas in Division I for the 2004-05 NCAA regular season.

1. Carrier Dome • 33,000 • Syracuse
50. CSU Convocation Center • 13,610 • Cleveland State[/color][/b]

Not in Top 50: UD Arena (Capacity: 13,435). *Sigh*
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5. Observations

5.1 Concerning the 2020-21 Regular Season, there are three possibilities:

… 5.1(a) The 2020-21 Regular Season is cancelled in its entirety.
… 5.1(b) The 2020-21 Regular Season is played, but with a reduced number of games – likely no more than 20 games per team.
… 5.1(c) The 2020-21 Regular Season is played in its entirety with about 30 games per team.

Recent media reports strongly suggest that the schools and media have already given up hope for 5.1(c), and current hopes lie with 5.1(b).

Outcome 5.1(a) is the safest outcome for the players, officials, and fans, but also the least desirable for the schools (who need the revenue), the TV Rights owners (who need content) and fans (who just want to watch college basketball games). With the medical uncertainties associated with the upcoming colder temperatures in the autumn and winter, its effect on the coronavirus pandemic, and the normal winter flu season, it is still too early to dismiss outcome 5.1(a). The early indications are not encouraging.

5.2 Concerning 2020-21 Regular Season Attendance, there are three possibilities:

… 5.2(a) The games are played with no fans present at any games.
… 5.2(b) The games are played with a reduced number of fans permitted to attend each game.
… 5.2(c) The games are played with no restriction on the number of fans permitted to attend each game.

Recent media reports strongly suggest that the schools and media have already given up hope for 5.2(c), and current hopes lie with 5.2(b). Outcome 5.2(a) is the safest outcome for the players, officials, and fans, but also the least desirable for the schools (who need the revenue) and fans (who just want to watch college basketball games).

5.3 Concerning outcome 5.2(b): The games are played with a reduced number of fans permitted to attend each game, it should be noted that the NCAA will very likely impose social-distancing requirements and specify the Maximum Allowable Percentage of the capacity of a college basketball venue which is permitted for fan attendance.

5.4 Also concerning outcome 5.2(b), each of the 50 individual State Legislatures will very likely impose social-distancing requirements and specify the Maximum Allowable Percentage of the capacity of a college basketball venue which is permitted for fan attendance. These requirements may be different for all 50 States.

==> As COVID-19 spreads, most states have laws that address how schools should respond to pandemics - Brissa Nuñez, Victoria Stuart-Cassel, and Deborah Temkin - March 20, 2020

5.5 Concerning the different Health & Safety requirements imposed by each of the 50 States: it is likely that there will be pressure brought to bear on the President and U.S. Congress to impose uniform Health & Safety requirements across all 50 States regarding college basketball games.

5.6 Concerning States’ Rights, it is worth noting that the 1861 disagreement over the rights of States’ Legislatures vs. the rights of the U.S. Congress to impose certain types of law was the direct cause of the American Civil War. We certainly don’t want another one of those, but attempting to play the 2021 college basketball season with 50 different sets of state laws will bring its own challenges, with the possibility of some of those challenges ending up in federal court. Things could get tricky if judges start issuing injunctions.

5.7 Concerning Table 4.3 and Table 4.4: note that the information is inaccurate for teams that play their home games at more than one venue,

5.8 Concerning the 2021 Conference Tournaments, no one has yet addressed this topic as far as I’m aware. The conferences will want them (because they need the revenue) and fans will want them (because they are fans), but if the 2021 Regular Season and 2021 NCAA Tournament are played, the players and coaches may not want the extra three or four games after an intense Conference schedule. Fan attendance at tournament conference games will become another issue with more headaches to deal with.

5.9 Concerning the Coronavirus Pandemic, it is highly likely that one or more college basketball teams will cancel scheduled games, due to one or more of their players and/or basketball staff testing positive for the virus, or even becoming ill. Entire teams may be required to be quarantined. If teams play only conference games in 2021, and the incubation period of the virus is 2 to 14 days, all of the teams in the entire conference may be required to quarantined. The recovery time for a person who becomes ill with the virus is weeks or months, and will quietly likely be the end of the season for any players who become ill with it. (Boris Johnson had a bad dose back in march, and he is still struggling with his recovery some five months later.)

5.10 Concerning a Hypothetical Situation, it is not difficult to envisage some Ohio State basketball player attending a student party in January, unknowingly getting exposed to the virus, and testing positive a week later. Further suppose that OSU’s basketball team played two other Big Ten opponents during the week, exposing them to the virus, and those two teams played two other Big Ten teams during the same week. That’s five Big Ten teams wiped out because of one student party in Columbus. The worst-case scenario for the Big Ten is if most or all of their basketball teams are in quarantine when the 2021 NCAA Tournament begins. Should any conference that cannot send a team to the NCAA Tournament get any of the money generated by it? There are many difficult questions and decisions on the road ahead.

5.11 Concerning the 2021 NCAA Tournament, there are already too many unknowns to ponder.

5.12 Concerning the 2020-21 college basketball season, if it is played at all, it will certainly be the Year of the Anomalies.
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6. A Homework Assignment for Edrick

If you want to say something meaningful about attendance, you have to include the capacity of the venue as a denominator.

Edrick – thank you very much for your great idea and your implied offer to perform the relevant calculations. We are all looking forward to you posting your results.

The 2019-20 attendance figures you will need for your numerators are shown in Table 4.1 above.

The capacities of the venues you will need for your denominators are shown in Table 4.3 above for teams which play all of their home games at the same venue. Note that Table 4.3 is not accurate for any teams that play their home games at more than one venue, which unfortunately, includes most Big East teams. For example, the Villanova Wildcats play most of their home games at the William B. Finneran Pavilion (capacity: 6,500), and other home games at the Wells Fargo Center (capacity 21,600). For each of Villanova’s games, you will need to separate the games and their attendances into Finneran Pavilion games and Wells Fargo Center games and calculate separate attendance percentages for both venues. Then combine the subtotal percentages with the appropriate weighted average formula, based on the percentages of home games played at each venue. Repeat the same for each team that plays home games at more than one venue.

Then finally, sort the teams in order of their calculated percentage of attendance divided by home arena capacity. By the time that you complete this last step, you will realize that the information you want to say something meaningful about attendance is of very little interest to you if you have to do all of the work. Furthermore, you will discover that after all of that work, the percentages you want to see have very little informational value, and that a simple ‘eye test’ of the numbers will suffice.

…………………… …………………

"Be careful of what you wish for – you may be told to do it yourself."
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7. A Homework Assignment for Everyone Else

Read this: Can college basketball avoid a repeat of college football's calamity?
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Please feel free to post questions or comments concerning Attendance on this thread, which has necessarily touched on a lot of other issues that are bigger than college basketball game attendance.

Please note that there is already an ongoing discussion about these ‘other issues’ mentioned in this post on the following thread:

==> Upcoming Season - Plans Being Considered - sju88grad, HLOH Thread – 36 posts so far dated August 6 to 21, 2020

Please post your questions or comments concerning these ‘other issues’ on that thread. Thank you very much.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Link:

ATTENDANCE 2017-18

17,000 • Creighton
12,323 • Marquette
11,828 • Villanova
10,475 • Xavier

9,547 • Providence
9,134 • St. John's
8,554 • Butler
8,456 • Seton Hall
7,531 • Georgetown
6,147 • DePaul

ATTENDANCE 2018-19

15,980 • Creighton
15,821 • Marquette
10,034 • Xavier

9,542 • Providence
9,193 • St. John's
9,053 • Villanova
8,507 • Seton Hall
8,419 • Butler
7,212 • Georgetown
3,847 • DePaul

ATTENDANCE 2019-20

17,314 • Creighton
15,145 • Marquette
11,299 • Villanova
10,328 • Seton Hall
10,311 • Xavier
10,064 • Providence

8,617 • Butler
7,931 • Georgetown
6,236 • St. John's
5,187 • DePaul

ATTENDANCE 2020-21

The road map to the return of college basketball - Mike Phillips, Fansided – September 17, 2020

Will there be fans in attendance?

Fans truly add to the atmosphere of college basketball games but the odds of them being allowed are slim to none.

Since indoor arenas have the issue of recirculated air it would be a major virus risk to bring hundreds or thousands of fans into a building to watch a game. Expect attendance to be limited to the teams, support staff, broadcast personnel, and potentially family members of the players and/or coaches.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

.
UConn won't play games in Hartford this academic year – Associated Press – October 7, 2020

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The University of Connecticut won't play any of its home basketball or hockey schedule in Hartford this season.

Athletic director David Benedict said the school and the operators of the XL Center agreed that it would not make financial sense to utilize the 16,000-seat arena during the coronavirus pandemic.

''Our teams love competing in downtown Hartford, but the conditions brought about by COVID-19 have made that impractical,'' Benedict said in a statement. ''We look forward to playing at the XL Center during the 2021-22 season.''

No decisions have been made on if or how many fans might be allowed to attend.

The Huskies normally split their basketball home games between the 10,000-seat arena in Storrs and the XL Center. Plans are still being finalized that would use the Mohegan Sun arena in Uncasville as a ''bubble'' for several non-conference fall basketball tournaments, which would also have the Huskies playing some games there. The Big East has said it expects to have members play a slate of 20 conference basketball games, but has not released a schedule.

I expect similar announcements in the near future from other Big East schools who play some of their home games in leased venues.