Yesterday the unranked Wolverines played a football game against Indiana. The seating capacity at the Big House is approximately 107,000. They drew close to 110,00.
At the Rose Bowl yesterday the #9 ranked undefeated Bruins played Michigan State. The capacity for Bruin games at the Rose Bowl is about 82,000 (I think) with tarps. The attendance for the game was about 34,000 and many of those left well before the end of the game.
The population of Ann Arbor is about 110,000 and for the metro area about 350.000. If one includes the Detroit metro area it comes to about 5,500,000. For Los Angeles it's about 10,000,000 and about 13,000,000 to 18,000,000 in the metro area depending on what you consider the metro area.
One would think the Rose Bowl would have been sold out. It's hard to imagine that with all those people living relatively nearby there aren't 80,000 folks who would want to and be able to attend the game. But apparently that's not the case.
That's what Bruin basketball is up against. Again, I go back to the glory days when the Bruins were winning almost every game and every national championship, they played in an on-campus arena, and they still often failed to sell Pauley out. It's a pipe dream to think that Bruin basketball will ever get great support from the public or students or alumni. It's just not in the cards. One can argue the reasons why, but any suggested remedies will probably always fall short due to a general community wide indifference.