Where have all the students gone?

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2000 | 10:25 a.m.

Here are the average student-body attendance figures over recent years at Rebel basketball games:

1992-93 -- 1,279

1993-94 -- 554

1994-95 -- 689

1995-96 -- 601

1996-97 -- 1,139

1997-98 -- 854

1998-99 -- 737

1999-00 -- 530

The sea of red that has invaded student sections 109 through 111 and 101 this season during UNLV basketball games at the Thomas & Mack Center isn't the kind of red that Terry Cottle would like to see.

Why? Because those four sections in the lower portion of the arena aren't filled with rabid Rebel fans draped in red. They're filled with empty seats painted red.

In fact, since UNLV began keeping such figures in 1992, student attendance at UNLV basketball games has never been lower, which concerns Cottle.

As UNLV's associate athletic director for sports marketing, part of his job is to entice students to attend home games.

"The bottom line is we just want to get more students at each game to help us get a victory," Cottle said. "Unless we have every seat in the facility full, I'm always wondering why.

"It's just something we continually try to work on. Winning helps attendance and getting the word out that the tickets are there is also important."

The tickets have been available. It's just that the students aren't using them.

For each regular-season home game, Cottle has 2,700 tickets to give away to full-time students.

Sets of tickets are given out during three distribution periods on campus at the student union. The last distribution for a set of seven tickets for the Rebels' remaining home games was Tuesday.

Each student is allowed one set per ID, and the best seats for the ticket sets are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. But if a student misses the distribution, Cottle said he can still show up to the game and present an ID in exchange for a ticket.

"We don't turn anyone away," Cottle said. "We try to get with the students as much as we can because we look at it as, 'Hey, let's contribute to helping the team win by getting some support from the students.' "

This season, the student seats in the four sections mentioned above plus the top of lower level 112 and sections 212-216 in the upper levels have been particularly bare.

Cottle's office keeps track of what is known as a "drop count," the actual number of students who show up to the game and use their free tickets.

Approximately 21,000 students attend the university. Through UNLV's last home game against BYU on Jan. 10, Cottle said that 2,663 tickets had been given away, but an average of only 530 students have attended the games.

Last season, the drop count was an average of 737. The year before that, it was 854.

Cottle thinks the decline is due to the fact that some of the home games, such as Cal Poly on Dec. 21 and Eastern Kentucky Dec. 28, coincided with the holidays.

"We're hoping that once school starts, it'll pick up again," he said. "Now that conference play has started we'd also like more students to go to the games."

Most of the players are used to the student apathy, but why the Rebels don't have a bigger student following remains puzzling.

The Thomas & Mack Center is a good place to watch a basketball game and it should be even better if you can get into the games for free.

Across the country, at places such as Cameron Indoor Stadium, home of the Duke Blue Devils, students still camp out for days to get tickets. The trend has spread to arenas such as Stanford's Maples Pavilion.

At Utah and New Mexico, two of the Rebels' Mountain West Conference opponents, the arenas are always alive with the sound of screaming students. The scene at the Thomas & Mack Center is a stark contrast, although other arenas -- such as the Dean E. Smith Center at North Carolina -- reserve virtually all of the choice seats to boosters, and likewise have gotten quieter over the years.

"It's obvious our fans are older," UNLV senior point guard Mark Dickel said. "We don't have a big student following for whatever reason here."

Before the Rebels swept a two-game road trip with wins at Air Force and New Mexico, the team had uninspired victories over Eastern Kentucky and High Point, then lost their conference opener to BYU.

Performances like those aren't going to cut it, say even the most loyal Rebel fans.

Las Vegas resident Robin MacBride grew up watching the Rebels with his dad and is currently a full-time UNLV student.

MacBride was one of the 538 students who were counted at the BYU game. Before tip-off, he and two friends had their choice of seats. They figured not many others would show up, and they were right.

Although MacBride said he attends every game, regardless of whether the team wins or loses, he understands why the students stay home.

"I think they don't show up because the basketball team is inconsistent," he said. "You don't draw fans with mediocre basketball.

"I'm a fan. I'll support them through thick and thin, but it's a disappointment when they have trouble against teams like High Point.

"People probably think it's a waste of their time to watch them. There are a lot of fair-weather fans in this town. These fans just come when they're winning. The team on the court has to be good."

Now that the team has showed signs of life during the last two victories, it might help Cottle's cause.

To generate more student interest, Cottle said there will be a DJ set up in the parking lot for every Saturday game, and the school might start holding tailgate parties as it does at football games.

The Rebel players are hoping the tactics will work.

"Obviously, the homecourt advantage is very important," said Danny Brotherson. "If you got one-third of the students at the ballgame it would make it louder and more exciting.

"Some of us came here because we wanted to play before a large screaming audience. The fans we have now are great, but we can always use more help."