Grambling hoops records lowest Division I attendance

Grambling's men's basketball team has dealt with its fair share of struggles by failing to record a winning record in 10 seasons, but the program hit a new low Monday when the NCAA announced its annual attendance report.

Grambling finished with an average attendance of 305, the lowest among 351 teams, on the heels of a 2-27 season in 2015, which included a winless campaign against Division I teams.

The Tigers' latest home average is the lowest since they joined the Division I ranks in 1978. The previous low was 852 in 2002, and the program even averaged 1,713 fans during an 0-28 campaign.

It also marks the second-lowest average in the country since 2005. St. Francis (N.Y) averaged 297 people in 2007. Nicholls State averaged 316 people in 2007.

"We gotta put a good product on the floor," Grambling coach Shawn Walker said.

"We've gotta give people something they want to come watch. I think that will begin to solve the problems from a coaching perspective. We gotta create an environment of excitement in the local area that people want to come see and watch."

In 11 games, Grambling brought just 3,354 fans through the turnstiles. Grambling witnessed an 82 percent decrease from 2014 when Grambling went just 5-24 but still totaled 18,997 fans for an average of 1,727. For comparison's sake, 142 Division I programs averaged more fans per game than Grambling had in 11 home games.

Walker, who enters his second year at Grambling, didn't have an answer as to why the Tigers experienced a sharp drop off.

"I'm not really sure. I just know that the outcome of the year is 2-27," Walker said.

"If I was paying and interested about paying for a ticket then I might not want to do that either."

SWAC ATTENDANCE NUMBERS AMONG WORST IN COUNTRY

Jackson State (769) was the only other Southwestern Athletic Conference school to average less than 1,000 fans per game. Arkansas-Pine Bluff led the way with an average of 2,881.

The SWAC had among the worst attendance numbers in the country, ranking No. 28 out of 32 conferences with an average of 1,585 fans — a decrease of 352 from 2014.

Ultimately, the problem can be fixed by winning, but 2013's winless season is evidence of how people will still show up if there's a market for it.

There are a number of potential reasons for the general attendance struggles across low-level Division I programs like Grambling.

FIGHTING FOOTBALL, OTHER FACTORS

Walker pointed to a limited amount of home games, especially few games in the first semester, that isn't conducive to fan interest.

"That has something to do with it," he said. "The fans don't get to become comfortable with their team because you're on the road a lot in the first semester. Last year we only had two home games the first semester from November all the way to the second week of January. Basically basketball season doesn't even begin until January."

To help offset that, Walker, who inherited Grambling's 2015 schedule, has scheduled three NAIA games in November and December to remain competitive.

The problem with NAIA teams is they aren't exactly the most marketable games for fans, a majority of which are still in football mode until January.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS?

Grambling should automatically receive an attendance boost in 2016 with an influx of talent that the Tigers' haven't seen in years.

Among the new players is local product Javier Roper of New Living Word.

"I believe we can attract more players that are form the general, local area," Walker said. "That will help some, as well, but we've also gotta put a good product on the floor."

Walker said creating more local rivalries with schools like Louisiana Tech, ULM and Northwestern State could solve part of the problem.

Tech and Grambling are scheduled to play November at Grambling as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational.

Depending on how many fans Tech brings to Grambling, there's a chance more people could watch one game in 2016 than they did in 11 games in 2015.

"I would love to be in a position where we could do that and we could play Louisiana-Monroe and we could play Northwestern State and we could play somewhere more so local teams that would generate more of a bang in terms of people wanting to see," he said. "At the end of the day, I think fans are really interested in rivalries being generated and exciting games that people will come to watch from local teams."

Again, it's not as easy as it seems.

STRUGGLING TO 'BUY' GAMES

Grambling's athletic department budget is among the lowest in the country, which means Walker doesn't have money at his disposal to "buy" teams to come to Grambling.

The 2015 schedule brought in $706,000 worth of guarantee games — the Tigers played at George Washington, Purdue, Notre Dame, Oregon State, Washington and TCU. However, all of that money went back into the athletic department's budget instead of to Walker for scheduling.

"We almost can't afford to play a home game. You have a dollar-generated non-conference schedule and a focal point on generating funds for the overall program," he said. "Theoretically, we would lose money playing a local school even at home because we can't get $100,000 at home. We are not be able to generate the funds for a home game every other year than we could get in one night say at Marquette (2016 opponent)."

It all circles back to putting a good product on the floor. The money games, which can't be avoided, usually mean more losses. More losses means less fan interest, and, in turn, lower attendance figures.

"That's the culture of where we are at Grambling and a lot of the small schools in Division I."

Connect with Sean Isabella on Twitter at ST_IsabellaTNS

Bottom three

The three lowest average attendance figures in Division I for 2014-15

•Grambling 305

•St. Peter's 442

•Chicago State 477