Greg Hansen column: Pac-12 men's basketball attendance is cratering, a sign of the league's indifference toward the sport — and perhaps the best argument for Arizona to consider jumping to the hoops-mad Big 12.
Greg Hansen One of Arizona’s most valued basketball records is its 37-year streak leading the Pac-12 in attendance. That streak might last forever, or at least until the Wildcats jump to the Big 12, where Kansas has averaged 16,300 fans at Phog Allen Fieldhouse since the 1800s, or so it seems.Across those 37 seasons, only one Pac-12 school has drawn more basketball fans than Arizona, but it requires an asterisk.
Here’s a better perspective: The Mountain West Conference averages more fans per home game, 6,427, than the Pac-12 .Oregon State averages 3,419 at 9,301-seat Gill Coliseum,It is a league without basketball passion. For 30 years, I traveled to almost every Arizona Pac-12 road game. Every game seemed to be bigger than life. Can’t-hear-yourself-think sellout crowds at Stanford and Cal. Rowdy, overflow crowds at Oregon, UCLA, ASU and USC. Hostile, game-of-the-year type settings at Colorado, Washington and Utah.
That basketball figure is roughly 15% more than most Power Five schools. That’s why I think Arizona should fully examine a move to the Big 12 more than any other Pac-12 school.
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