In Reply to: Re: Student attendance posted by Cachorro on October 23, 2026 at 10:26:40
LA is a cosmopolitan city and UCLA is a cosmopolitan school. I would guess that there are many in the student body who just don't relate to basketball on any level. I don't know if UCLA's student body is generally older than most schools, but if so that might also explain why some don't support school sports. Older students tend to be more serious with more life responsibilities.
Places like Durham and Lawrence are more homogeneous with a more culturally captured young student body. They have little to do and are within a culture that more readily embraces their local university's team sports as a vital part of the community's life. It's easier, on many levels, for them to embrace and get excited about attending games.
Still, in a city the size of Los Angeles I find it hard to believe there aren't 18,000 people who would jump at the chance to view, in person, a UCLA basketball game - even on a Wednesday evening against the likes of Cal Baptist University. Part of the problem is the season ticket holders who appear to not be real basketball fans, but still believe they support the school with their money even if they don't show up. LA has always had a "cool" reputation for its sports fans who often, if they do show up, arrive late and leave early.
It's really a bad look and could have a negative impact on recruiting. The secret about LA and college sports is that even in UCLA's halcyon days when they were winning national championships every year they very often were not able to fill every seat in Pauley or the Sports Arena - almost but not completely full. That doesn't happen in Lawrence, Durham, Chapel Hill, Tucson, Lexington, or countless other lesser profile places. LA's a different breed.