College basketball attendance at the Division I level took a dip last regular season, and HBCUs were hit harder, as usual.
NCAA hoops attendance was down an average of 63 fans from the previous year, according to the attendance statistics released by the NCAA on Monday. The MEAC averaged 1,711 fans last year, down 179 from 2013-14. The SWAC also took a dive, dipping to 1,585 per game, down 352 from the previous year.
The MEAC averaged 6,773 fans per session at its conference tournament vs. 4,771 fans per session at the SWAC Tourney.
Grambling averaged just 305 fans per game last season, worst in the nation among Division I schools. Hampton led all HBCUs with an average of 3,767 fans per game.
Six teams averaged less than 1,000 fans per game in D1, four in the MEAC and two in the SWAC.
BCU 783
Coppin 807
FAMU 935
Grambling 305
Jackson State 769
South Carolina State 629
Things weren’t much better In Division II as the CIAA averaged 907 fans last year, down 109 from the previous year. The SIAC did not rank in the top ten of Division II.
Fayetteville State averaged 1,559 fans, ranking 18th in Division II. Virginia Union ranked 21st with 1,441 fans per game.
FSU outranked 13 Division I HBCUs in attendance.