Graying Of UNLV Basketball Fan Base Shows Need To Draw More Young Fans; Runnin’ Rebels Lose, 60-56, To Kansas State In Overtime Saturday
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
You would think a UNLV-Kansas State college basketball game on a Saturday afternoon would have the promotional juice to attract at least 10,000 fans in sports-crazed Las Vegas with lots of little kids and millennials in the crowd.
But walk around Thomas & Mack Center near the court or along the concourse and you can’t help anecdotally notice the obvious — the UNLV basketball fans lean older and appear a generation older than the 25-40 base you see at a Vegas Golden Knights hockey game.
The final score sheet listed attendance at 8,796. But a look around the arena showed the actual number of fans passing through the turnstile was a few thousand less than that.
The 1 p.m. game was not exactly an offensive basketball masterpiece. The Kansas State Wildcats grinded out a 60-56 overtime win over UNLV, which was led by guard Amauri Hardy’s 27 points. Hardy played 42 of the game’s 45 minutes. The Rebels converted only 20 of 58 field goal attempts, including seven of 26 three-point attempts. Sharp-shooting three-point specialist Jonah Antonio scored only three points, while starting forward Donnie Tillman registered only a single point.
“They’re one of the best defensive teams in the country,” UNLV coach T.J. Otzelberger said during post-game comments. “You have to value every possession.”
Last year, LVSportsBiz.com noticed that there was a small percentage of UNLV students attending Runnin’ Rebels hoops games. That’s a lost opportunity to fill those red seats at Thomas & Mack because the venue is right on campus.
The flip side of a lack of students attending UNLV games is that the donor base is graying and getting older. That’s not surprising when you consider many locals still cling to the UNLV basketball memories of the 1980s and 1990s when the team was a force on the national collegiate map.
Not any more, though.
Trying to attract more fans to the 18,000-seat arena is a challenge for UNLV Athletic Director Desiree Reed-Francois, who was pumping her fists during Rebels’ baskets made Saturday.
Trying to get UNLV students to attend basketball games has been an issue for several years. The university now has the student section called The Rebellion behind the goal of the visiting team in the second half. There just weren’t too many students.
Even the team mascot, Hey Reb, is a white-haired old miner.
UNLV is 1-1 on the young season.
*
Follow LVSportsBiz.com on Twitter and Instagram. Like LVSportsBiz.com on Facebook.
