On Tuesday, Nov. 19 The Racquet Press attended the women’s basketball game against Bethany Lutheran to survey the crowd on their thoughts on school spirit at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
UWL is home to many great things, but one aspect plaguing students’ thoughts is the overall school spirit of the university. In a culture where school spirit is hard to come by, many students find their time is better spent at home instead of cheering on their school’s sports teams.
The UWL athletic department has attempted to create incentives for students to come to games, such as free pizza for the first 100 fans, but few have seen success. This year the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) assigned brother/sister teams to each athletic team in hopes that support from each other will increase attendance at games. Other clubs, such as Student Association, have made plans to go to athletic events as a university organization outing.
Despite these efforts, UWL’s athletic event attendance remains the lowest out of all the schools in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC).
Similar to the rest of the conference, the women’s basketball team has only had two home games this season. However, fan attendance at UWL has been notably inconsistent, especially when compared to other WIAC schools.
On Friday, Nov. 15, UWL women’s basketball had their home opener where the team honored Head Coach Moran Lonning’s son who passed away. This youth night honoring three month old Charlie Lonning Weber brought 1,110 people into Mitchell Hall in support of Lonning and the program.
While the community support in the game against Bethel University was ecstatic, it did not carry over into the next home game against Bethany Lutheran as only 204 fans attended.
“I think my thoughts are skewed from the first game, I mean there were just so many people here. But typically, games tend to look more like this where there aren’t many people who show up,” second year Hailey Schock said.
Although the Eagles season has only begun, third-year Jonah Streveler echoed Schock’s thoughts.
“We don’t have a huge fan base. I’d say most sports I’ve been to, most of it is just family and friends. We never have a real big student section but I really wish we’d have something like that,” Streveler said.
While UWL struggles to get numbers up, schools such as University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and University of Wisconsin-Stout are averaging an attendance of 800–950 people at each home women’s basketball game.
In the survey distributed by The Racquet Press, about 67% of people said that they had only been to 2-3 athletic events this school year. Of the people who responded only half of them said they stayed the entirety of the event.
When asked what the athletic department could do to incentivize people to come to games, most students criticized the marketing and announcement of events.
“Usually I don’t hear about games until playoffs and then I get dates and stuff from my friends,” fourth-year Jack Grunow said.
Although a composite schedule of all games is posted on the UWL athletics website, most students said they get their information about game times from social media and the new billboard sign outside Mitchell Hall.
The game against Bethany Lutheran ended with an Eagle win. UWL stayed ahead most of the game and were able to dominate the Vikings 71-56. Streveler commented on the environment of the game.
“They [UWL games] are always high energy. I’ve been to a couple off campus games at different schools and they’re never as high energy as UWL. There’s a great family and community atmosphere at these games,” Streveler said.
Despite the fact there is low attendance, students still seem to enjoy themselves at athletic events. Grunow sends a message to his fellow UWL students encouraging them to start coming to more games.
“A lot of people I know are just sitting around at home so why not come out and support the team, I mean it’s free if you have your student ID, come out and support your school,” Grunow said.
The women’s basketball team’s next home event is Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 where they will be hosting the Gunderson Hotel and Suites Thanksgiving Classic.
