Not every team in the Big Ten plays in a 19,000-seat concrete beast parading around as a basketball arena.
It’s a Friday night at the Schottenstein Center, and the Ohio State athletic band is playing “Fat Bottomed Girls” by Queen as the Buckeyes run through layup lines. On the other end, the Indiana Hoosiers, clad in their cream and crimson candy-striped warm ups, are shooting three-pointers from three different lines from three different spots on the floor.
The game is nationally televised on FOX with Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson on the call. Throngs of Indiana fans hover near the opposing team’s tunnel, trying to get the Hoosiers’ attention despite the shrinking game clock indicating that they will not, in fact, be signing any more autographs before the game starts.
It feels like Big Ten basketball — the way God intended.
The only thing missing was the fans.
Over 13,000 people showed up for Ohio State’s one-point loss to Indiana on Jan. 17 — 13,124 to be exact — but that still left roughly 5,000 empty seats in the cavernous arena that will celebrate its 30th birthday next year.
A quick glance up to the rafters shows entire sections of seats in the upper level completely devoid of human beings, mostly in the sections behind the baskets. If people purchased tickets up there, they opted to sit on the sides, where they would get a better panoramic view of the floor.
The point I’m making here is this — maybe Ohio State doesn’t have a low attendance problem. Maybe Ohio State just has an “our arena always looks empty” problem.
The average attendance of 11,327 this season is slightly down from last season, when Ohio State men’s basketball averaged 11,708 per game. The combination of not making the NCAA Tournament for two consecutive years, only having three weekend home games this season, and other factors contributed to the small drop so far (there’s five home games remaining, including the Roddy Gayle Bowl).
But not every school in the Big Ten plays in an 18,800-seat arena. Ohio State has the largest arena in the conference by a large margin, and it made me wonder — how well would Ohio State’s crowds fill out all of the other Big Ten venues? Would we sit back and see thousands of empty seats in every other arena if we picked up Ohio State’s crowd and plopped it into say, Nebraska’s Pinnacle Bank Arena?
The results:
Welsh-Ryan Arena (Northwestern)
Capacity: 7,039
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 100%.
Ohio State would have sold out all 12 home games so far if the Schott was the same size as Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Jersey Mike’s Arena aka “The RAC” (Rutgers)
Capacity: 8,000
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 100%.
Ohio State would have sold out all 12 home games so far if the Schott was the same size as Jersey Mike’s Arena.
Alaska Airlines Arena (Washington)
Capacity: 10,000
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 100%.
Ohio State would have sold out 10 home games so far if the Schott was the same size as Alaska Airlines Arena.
Galen Center (USC)
Capacity: 10,258
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 100%.
Ohio State would have sold out 9 home games so far if the Schott was the same size as the Galen Center.
Knight Arena (Oregon)
Capacity: 12,364
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 91.6%.
Ohio State would have sold out 5 home games so far if the Schott was the same size as Knight Arena.
Crisler Arena (Michigan)
Capacity: 13,609
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 83.2%.
Ohio State would have sold out 1 home game so far if the Schott was the same size as the Crisler Center.
Pauley Pavilion (UCLA)
Capacity: 13,800
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 82%.
Ohio State would have sold out 1 home game so far if the Schott was the same size as Pauley Pavilion.
Mackey Arena (Purdue)
Capacity: 14,240
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 79.5%.
Ohio State would have sold out 1 home game so far if the Schott was the same size as Mackey Arena.
Williams Arena, aka “The Barn” (Minnesota)
Capacity: 14,625
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 77.4%.
Ohio State would not have sold out any games yet this season if the Schott was the same size as Williams Arena.
Breslin Center (Michigan State)
Capacity: 15,000
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 75.5%.
Ohio State would not have sold out any games yet this season if the Schott was the same size as the Breslin Center.
Bryce Jordan Center (Penn State)
Capacity: 15,201
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 74.5%.
Ohio State would not have sold out any games yet this season if the Schott was the same size as the Bryce Jordan Center.
Pinnacle Bank Arena, aka “The Vault” (Nebraska)
Capacity: 15,550
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 72.8%.
Ohio State would not have sold out any games yet this season if the Schott was the same size as Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Carver-Hawkeye Arena (Iowa)
Capacity: 15,550
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 72.8%.
Ohio State would not have sold out any games yet this season if the Schott was the same size as Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
State Farm Center (Illinois)
Capacity: 15,550
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 72.8%.
Ohio State would not have sold out any games yet this season if the Schott was the same size as the State Farm Center.
Assembly Hall (Indiana)
Capacity: 17,220
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 65.7%.
Ohio State would not have sold out any games yet this season if the Schott was the same size as Assembly Hall.
Kohl Center (Wisconsin)
Capacity: 17,287
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 65.5%.
Ohio State would not have sold out any games yet this season if the Schott was the same size as the Kohl Center.
Xfinity Center (Maryland)
Capacity: 17,950
Ohio State’s average crowd of 11,327 would fill the arena to 63.1%.
Ohio State would not have sold out any games yet this season if the Schott was the same size as the Xfinity Center.