Hawaii football: Despite attendance lag, Rolovich knows program getting seen
It’s more than just the number of butts in the seats, or lack thereof.
Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich is thinking expansively on the topic of attendance these days.
There were only 20,572 counted through the Aloha Stadium turnstiles for Saturday’s season-opening, nationally televised win over Arizona. Even considering the downward overall trend of attendance for UH football games for years now, the talk of turnout leading up to the game — a marquee matchup against a Pac-12 opponent — was mentioned in the 25-30K range.
In the program’s heyday — and the glory days of the 50,000-seat stadium — 25,000 would’ve been the bare minimum, a disappointing turnout for a lower-division opponent. But times have changed to the point that the mid- to high-20,000s for a marquee name is considered a success at the box office. An increasingly rare success, at that.
Rolovich, UH’s fourth-year head coach, was unbothered by the issue of game attendance after Tuesday’s practice, and whether he thought it would improve for the Sept. 7 date against Oregon State; he chose to focus on the energy and noise those present brought to bear in the 45-38 win over the Wildcats.
“I think the thing that gets lost in this deal, we look at the fans in the stands, and they were wonderful,” Rolovich said. “Every one of them helped win that game. I mean, I don’t know where you get … the home crowd to get three penalties on a field-goal unit. And credit to the kid (Lucas Havrisik), he still made it (from 53 yards).”
Here’s Coach Nick Rolovich on his thoughts about #HawaiiFB home attendance and attention on the program after the Arizona win.
(And yeah, that’s basically a wood chipper going in the background.) pic.twitter.com/0K5Ube5YJN
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) August 27, 2019
He spoke of his past worries gazing at attendance numbers and how he’s come around on the issue — while still hoping more people come out for OSU.
To him, it’s now about attention, period.
“There’s eyes on us. All the social media and the different ways to watch the game. Early on I got frustrated because I thought we were doing everything to get people engaged in the program. And it’s not necessarily showing up in the attendance,” Rolovich said. “But then I look social media-wise, and (at) all the people watching (the game) at home, garage parties or whatever.
“I believe part of, a lot of the part of our job is engaging the public. And I think they are engaged, in our team, in our stories. And I know people were excited. I saw multiple videos of people screaming and jumping around after the game at big parties. So there’s eyes on it, maybe just not always in the stands at this point.”
One prominent example of attention? Stephen Tsai wrote about some of that coming the way of Manly “Pumba” Williams on Tuesday.
Dave Reardon also touched on the subject of national exposure in Week Zero.
Paying high stadium parking rates and restrictions upon entry makes it unattractive to me to go to a UH football game. Also, it was aired free on cable tv made it a “no brainer” for me to stay home and watch.
MOST EXCITING game of this Decade!! Great job Boys!!
We’ll soon get to see what the AD does about PPV. Spectrum’s contract ends June (?) 2020. If he rolls over the contract, then it confirms attendance is not a top priority to the program. But where is the balance between enough fans at the stadium versus fans at home? Eventually the fan base will shrink below 20,000. Is 18,000/game good enough? 17,000? 15,000? One thing I’ve observed is that once you lose a “go-to-stadium” fan, that fan is lost for good to PPV or maybe simply lost.
Can’t afford to watch in the stadium – flights and mandatory overnights are too expensive for me.
Can’t afford to watch on TV – the price of PPV is obscene and I don’t have cable.
CAN and DO listen to the streaming radio game and Yell and Cheer for all my neighbors to hear!
Thanks, Coach Rolo, for knowing we are here for Hawaii’s Team wherever we are!
We watched the game in a sports bar here in tucson. Loaded with WildCat fans. They were saying, where’s all your fans. We felt embarrassed for the UH. WE were there through all the years of Tomey, Wagner, Jones. That stadium would rock. It does make a difference. In Tucson they say, BACK THE A. Come on Hawaii, BACK THE BOWS. AWSOME WIN
I think attention is the key.
Dominate our time slot. Be fans’ Second favorite team.
Make sure road games are shown for little or no cost in Hawaii. That will keep the fan interest alive for the households who don’t subscribe to PPV or go to games. That will preserve the next gen
And, there are those of us screaming and yelling at the TV and/or the streaming radio here in the PNW as well.
Don’t worry coach Rolo, we are watching the games on the Mainland (California) Hawaii football forever. 🏈🏈
Reality is that most folks find it very expensive to attend games and to fight the traffic, etc. Probably most of the season ticket holders are older where they are living mortgage free, etc. but for younger people of average income and growing families there probably are wise priorities in how they spend. So obviously, one way to put bodies in the seats is to lower ticket prices -supply/demand. If you get people in and they enjoy the experience, then you may create another generation of fans who want to attend live games. Another evidence of this is student attendance. They don’t get a rush of students even though they are paying an athletic fee.
Maybe save money and build a 25,000 seat stadium like Utah State. Fits the bill regarding local fan interest with UH Football.
Stadium should be in the quarry. Free parking all over campus.
I like Rolo’s attitude. The stadium is half full.
LIVE only happens ONE time. …
I grew up in Ewa Beach but now live in Oklahoma. Gaylord Memorial Stadium capacity is somewhere near 85,000. Parking is expensive. It sucks. Getting in and out of Norman stinks. Tickets are expensive. But every game is sold out. In fact to upgrade your season tickets you have to make somewhere close to $2,000 donation and then pay for the ticket. But year in year out it’s sold out. The only difference I see is winning. UH just need to keep winning and with that more people will show up.
#4 is a true fan. I’m on the Big Island so I can relate.
Too expensive? Check out the prices for parking and tickets for games on the mainland, we have a pretty good deal over here plus nice weather. If not filling the stadium is a concern and people saying PPV will continue to kill attendance then let’s go for a 30,000 seat stadium and stop complaining.
it’s a once (or maybe twice?) in a life time thing…this team is special, they seem to be focused and have a common goal…enjoy the ride…go bow!!!!
Reality is that Hawaii has the #1 or #2 highest cost of living in the nation. When mainlanders were paying $.11/kwh for electricity, Hawaii people were paying $.30/kwh or so. It takes 20 years to save up the downpayment to purchase a home. If you live in a condo, you know about the maintenance fees. There is no doubt we all support Rainbow Warrior football and appreciate the talent and heart of the players and coaches. On an island of maybe 1 million, maybe people are willing to splurge for a few games so the stadium will be more full as fans take turn filling it. And it will be worse if the recession hits.
Aloha Warrior Ohana just wanted to share my mana’o, All UH PPV games used to be free for outer islands. As for the cost to attend a game I gotta agree prices have changed from back in the day. Me and my Ohana are long time season ticket holders, we used to have 6 tickets but we sat in the North Endzone, We pay $13.14 per ticket per game, $92 each for the season, being a season ticket holder UH offers a 3 payment plan for season ticket holders which is a great deal. Like many programs across the country there is a premium fee added to each ticket in which Ahahui Koa Anuenue uses to support the sports programs and again our fees are a lot smaller than other schools, Yes parking is high but I am thankful to pay the $8 than the $16 at the Rams game. One area where we can voice our opinions is with our state leaders to lower the rental fee for UH, i find it ridiculous that UH (State operated college) has been renting the stadium for decades, one would think that the fees would be lower not really. I don’t support a smaller stadium for the fact that there are other ways the stadium can increase revenue with other events. One option is to close the upper sections. Just my mana’o #gowarriors
Rolo is right, he shouldn’t worry about attendance, that is the Athletic Director’s duty. All comments here are just cribbing from what I was talking about 5 years ago. You guys just missed the part about the hard core fans getting older.
The Rams game was a one-time thing, and had NFL-level talent playing full speed.
You can make people pay $16 for parking some of the time, but you can’t make people pay $16 for parking all of the time.
Casual Observer, the age demographic in my section runs from 2 years old to me (74) and every age in between. I’ve been in this section only a few years, but it’s the same people (loyal ones) year after year. My conclusion is there are fans of all age groups wanting the Warrior experience, live at the stadium. Really can’t beat the thrill with the 20K plus fans yelling and screaming and the Warriors win in stunning fashion.
Traffic and parking. One way to avoid it is to take the Leeward shuttle, $2 round-trip.
Cost of game ticket(s). Cheapest season tickets are north end zone – $99, all levels. Seniors $85. Drawback – can’t see jumbo screen.
UH Students. I guess around 3-400 showed up, but their section was almost empty midway through 4th quarter. I wonder why they left with an exciting game to the finish.
Hawaiian Sooner, but do the fans have a PPV option?
H-Man yes. I know this year its against South Dakota and it usually includes Kansas but with Les Miles back maybe not. The rest of the games are on ABC, FOX, FOX Sports 1 and Espn.
I am season ticket for past three seasons. This season I think will be my last because of the cost of food and beverage has gotten ridiculous. Beers are $8 for domestic, $10 premium domestic and $15 for import AND they have STOPPED SERVING DRAFT BEER. These prices are for 12 ounce aluminum bottles. The Heinken on draft was the best part of the game. Hot dogs cost $7.50 and sodas are $5.50 a hot dog and soda was $13. That sucks the big one and no draft beer.