Pepperdine students have become used to three things while studying in Malibu: Gorgeous year-round weather, a million-dollar view and empty bleachers at Pepperdine’s athletic events.
It’s a problem that has been staring at Pepperdine for years. Why is attendance at Pepperdine’s sporting events so low?
Men’s basketball this year is averaging just over 1,100 fans over their first five home games, with an undergraduate student body of 3,451, according to Pepperdine’s season box scores. Meanwhile rival Gonzaga, a school with a student body size of 4,837 undergraduate students, is averaging 6,000 fans a game through four home games, according to Gonzaga’s website.
For Pepperdine it only goes down from there, with women’s soccer this season averaging 444 people in attendance, women’s volleyball averaging 412, and women’s basketball averaging 262, barely a dent in Firestone Fieldhouse’s 3,104 seating capacity, according to Pepperdine’s athletics website.
“In my humble opinion, the sports culture here at Pepperdine is somewhat non-existent,” said Sam Ravech, a senior journalism major and men’s basketball and baseball broadcaster. “I think this could be due to a multitude of factors but for one, college students that go to Pepperdine aren’t really all that interested in sports, they would rather go surfing, hang out on the beach, or do other outdoor activities.”
A Pepp Post poll of 57 Pepperdine undergraduates found that 87 percent of students agreed with Ravech that Pepperdine athletics have a weak fan base. Some areas where students placed blame were the absence of a football team, Pepperdine’s strict social policies, a lack of continued success among the athletic programs, and students being overcommitted. Around 82 percent thought a strong fan base would enhance their experience at Pepperdine.
A Pepp Post poll found that a majority of students are critical of Pepperdine’s fan base for sports.
Sophomore sports administration major Jacob Fields is one of those 82 percent.
“It would be awesome if Pepperdine students cared enough about our sports teams to go to the games,” Fields said. “We would be able to get a taste of the atmosphere that kids at UCLA and USC get every weekend.”
Undeclared freshman Ryan Caulfield agreed.
“I’ve only been here for a couple months but I can already tell that their isn’t a lot of school spirit on campus when it comes to rallying behind our teams,” Caulfield said.
But not everyone believes that there is a problem, including the student government.
“Student government listens to the voice of the people, and we make change according to what others want, but no one sees sports culture as a problem,” said Toby Mak, sophomore class senator and psychology major. “I listen to a lot of things that people want, ranging from housing, to events and food, but I have never have come across someone who thinks the sports culture needs to be changed.”
Giorgio Catania, a sophomore computer science major, also doesn’t find it a problem.
“I’m here to get my degree,” Catania said. “I didn’t come to Pepperdine because of the sports culture.”
What do those within the athletic programs think?
Senior economics major Nick Schifano, who has been the basketball team manager for four years, said it will take the student body actively engaging with athletics to build a strong fan base.
“It’s got to come from the student body,” Schifano said. “It’s not something the administration can really fix.”
He has heard a lot of students complain, but thinks that a failure to act is the true culprit.
“I think it’s so crazy because everybody in the school you talk to … says ‘yeah, we need a better sports culture’ … well that starts by coming to the games,” Schifano said. “If everybody that wants a better sports culture goes to the games, we would have a good sports culture.”
Schifano also said the lack of support from Pepperdine students does not fly over the head of Pepperdine’s athletes.
“The guys notice when the stands are empty and they notice when the stands are full,” Schifano said. “It’s hard not to.”
He recalled a specific Waves home basketball game that had so few fans that the opposition talked trash.
“One of the more embarrassing times was my freshman year, it was a Saturday game against St. Mary’s,” Schifano said. “In warmups there’s two kids in the entire bleachers, and the St. Mary’s team is making jokes saying ‘Where’s everybody?’”
Pepperdine pitcher Christian Stoutland, a senior business major, said the fan support plays a large role for baseball too.
“Yes, I would say that our attendance is not great and absolutely we notice,” Stoutland said. “I remember last year when we played Texas A&M at home, their fans outnumbered ours drastically and all the players were very aware. Having a loyal fan base that makes their presence known is huge.”
Pepperdine’s nine NCAA championships displayed at Firestone Fieldhouse (Photo by Jack McGrath).
It’s not like Pepperdine’s quality of play is far off from the big schools. The Waves have won nine NCAA championships and 111 West Coast Conference Championships, most recently with the women’s beach volleyball team winning last semester, according to Pepperdine’s athletics website.
Sahith Theegala, a sophomore sports administration major and current member of the golf team, is doing his best to get the team to the championships again, given the team last won in 1997. He won West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year in spring 2016. However, a lot of students might be unaware of that given the attendance at the Pepperdine’s golf tournaments held at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village.
“Hardly anyone comes to our home tournament, which is deflating,” Theegala said. “We don’t get that aura that perhaps a student athlete at USC would get, regardless if we are better than them or not.”
Who’s to blame?
The same Pepperdine Post poll found mixed results on why Pepperdine’s students don’t show much support for Pepperdine’s teams.
One of the more popular scapegoats is the absence of a football team. Some 35 percent of students surveyed attributed weak sports attendance to this disadvantage.
Pepperdine’s Athletics Director Steve Potts disagrees.
“I don’t think whether or not we have a football team has anything to do with it,” Potts said. “I think that students have more entertainment opportunities today than they did 10, 15, 20 years ago, or when I was in school.”
He cited the rise of the digital era as being one of the main causes.
“When I was in school everyone came to the game because that is where everyone saw everybody, social media was the game, that was your social event,” Potts said. “I mean it’s just different these days obviously.”
Stoutland believes that having a football team would have a drastic, positive effect on the sports culture at Pepperdine. However, he also credits the university for doing well with what it has.
“We lack a football program which immediately knocks us down a level in comparison to other larger schools in the area like USC and UCLA,” Stoutland said. “But with that being said, for what sports we do have here, I think our culture is pretty good. We just don’t have a revenue producing powerhouse that a football program would.”
He said Pepperdine’s building site hinders any potential developments.
“I don’t think the blame can be put on anyone or anything specifically,” Stoutland said. “Our school has its limitations because of its location. We obviously don’t have the necessary space to build a football stadium or anything of that sort.”
Marko Asic, sophomore sports administration major, is another Pepperdine athlete succeeding at a high level, winning WCC player of the year in men’s water polo this year. He also thinks Pepperdine does well for its size.
“I mean I think for as small as our school is, it’s (the attendance) pretty good,” Asic said. “I know for our water polo games there was always a great crowd, which we’re very grateful for.”
Ravech said Pepperdine’s strict no alcohol policy puts the school at a disadvantage when trying to recruit athletes. Around 44 percent of students in the same Pepperdine Post poll agreed with him.
“I think the school’s policies have something to do with it for sure,”
Ravech said. “There’s no doubt that big time SEC schools don’t put as much emphasis toward academics when it comes to recruiting players, they could care less.”
Senior business major and basketball fan Chase Patton echoed his sentiments.
“I do think tailgating would be a huge draw for students to be able to get together before a game,” Patton said. “It doesn’t even need to include alcohol. College kids just want to go have fun.”
Schifano agreed, but he doesn’t think that lack of alcohol should play too large of a role evidencing games where the Fieldhouse is rocking.
“You can see at the Gonzaga and BYU games we have that people can have a blast without drinking at the games and being sober, no matter the alcohol policy at Pepperdine,” Schifano said. “It doesn’t play into affect for those games.”
What is being done to change the culture? Potts said he is doing his best.
“We try to run contests, we try to feed students as much as we can, we try to give away as much as we can,” Potts said. “We get criticized for bribing students to be here then we get criticized if we don’t make it entertaining, so it does get a little frustrating.”
However, Schifano sees it coming down to one thing: Success.
“Winning is going to get people to games, period,” Schifano said. “If we made a run to the tournament, if we made a run to the WCC (West Coast Conference) championship, that’s what’s going to get people to games.”
Somewhat filled student section cheers on the Pepperdine Men’s basketball team in a game against Belmont on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2016 (Photo by Jack McGrath).
Pepperdine students are still optimistic for the future as 78 percent of students surveyed thought the school’s attendance could change over time.
“Since my freshman year we are definitely trending upward as far as attendance goes,” Schifano said. “There’s definitely a lot to look forward to.”
Jack McGrath completed this story in Dr. Christina Littlefield’s fall 2016 Jour 241 class.
