Two years ago, I wrote a three-part series on the state of men’s basketball at Idaho State University in particular — and in the Big Sky Conference in general.

As I looked at the pathetic attendance figures for the first weekend of conference play this past Saturday, I was jolted into revisiting some of that same territory.

I understand that conference play began when school is out for likely all of the Big Sky schools, so attendance is not going to be great the first week of January. But the numbers for nonconference play, leading up to the holiday break were discouraging as well. While attendance typically picks up as conference play heats up, it looks like the downward trend in interest in Big Sky men’s basketball is going to continue.

“Basketball attendance has been in decline across the Big Sky Conference for several years now,” noted ISU Athletic Director Pauline Thiros. “We are working to hold steady and even increase here at ISU, and we are working to bolster season ticket and single-game sales.”

In fact, ticket sales for Saturday night’s contest with rival Weber State are going well, and there is a chance for a sellout at Reed Gym. The lower bowl at Reed is already sold out for both men and women through season tickets, and very few become available each year, Thiros said. Season tickets for adults sell for $160 apiece to the public, $110 for ISU faculty and staff.

“As for single-game conference matchups, those advance sales are trending up this year,” she said.

If Idaho State succeeds in reversing the negative attendance trends, it will be one of the few schools in the conference to do so — maybe the only one. Attendance numbers for the first weekend of conference play were troubling, even taking into account that students were on break around the league. For example:

• The largest turnout for any of the nine Big Sky games held last week was 1,816 in Moscow, for the Montana-Idaho game on Saturday. The Vandals also drew 1,666 for Montana State last Thursday night.
• The lowest attendance of the nine games came in Sacramento, where 397 hardy souls gathered to watch the Hornets host Portland State on Saturday.
• Northern Arizona, which continues to play basketball in its Walkup Skydome, which theoretically seats 11,230, drew 685 fans for its game with Idaho State last Thursday night and 561 for Weber State on Saturday.

The three programs that traditionally draw the best crowds in the Big Sky — Weber State, Montana and Montana State — were all on the road for the opening weekend. But if you look at their attendance numbers for nonconference games so far this season, all three are seeing continued slippage.

Weber State, which has what is generally considered the best basketball facility in the league, averaged 2,473 fans over their six nonconference home games in Dee Events Center, which has a capacity of 11,592.

Montana, meanwhile, drew an average of 2,358 fans for seven nonconference home games, and Montana State averaged 2,486 in its five nonleague contests.

Idaho State, meanwhile, has averaged 1,077 fans for its five home games so far, with the largest crowd being 1,159 for Southern Oregon.

Not to overkill the points from our series two years ago, but it is distressing when you compare the crowds the Bengals used to draw back in their halcyon days of the mid-1990s, when Herb Williams led ISU to a regular season conference co-championship, or in the late 1970s, when the Jim Killingsworth powerhouses were winning NCAA tournament games.

It was not uncommon for either of those teams to draw more than 5,000 fans for Big Sky games, and some of their marque matchups attracted well over 7,000 fans to the Minidome or Holt Arena — now the ICCU Dome. The rest of the Big Sky Conference, which included Boise State and Nevada back in those days, were all regularly attracting crowds in the 5,000 range.

Those days are long-gone, obviously. The ISU men's basketball team hasn’t won a Big Sky title since the 1993-94 season. The Bengals have vacated the ICCU Dome for Reed Gym, a 1950s-era gym. So it’s almost impossible to get Division I nonconference opponents to travel to Pocatello and just about every other program in the Big Sky is suffering from diminished attendance, as well.

I recently ran a very unscientific poll on my Facebook page, asking sports fans in the area if they attend ISU basketball games, if so, why, and if not, why not. I got the kind of responses, frankly, that I expected. Those who attend do so because of tradition, loyalty to the institution and the athletic program, the opportunity to see Division I basketball and the chance to share the experience with friends and family.

Those who don’t cited high ticket prices, the lack of parking, rest rooms and concessions at Reed Gym, uncomfortable bench seating in the upper deck, and distance from Pocatello for those who live outside the immediate area.

Factors that may be negatively impacting college basketball game attendance everywhere are the fact that so much basketball is available via streaming or linear television these days (including all Big Sky Conference games) as well as the impacts of the transfer portal. The ISU men this season, for example, have virtually an entirely new roster with 12 new players after losing nine to the portal in the offseason. Fans are feeling disconnected from the athletes, who leave institutions after only a season or two.

When I touched base with Thiros for this column, I have to say I was impressed with the multi-front effort ISU is making to try to recoup some of its fan base. Here are some examples:

• ISU is working with its corporate sponsors to offer promotions for specific games. This week, for example, the school is partnering with Molinelli’s Jewelers to give three lucky fans a one carat diamond and 500 cubic zirconia pieces at Saturday’s game.
• The school is offering three-game packages for $24, allowing fans to pick any three conference games of their choice for $8 a game. Regular season single-game ticket prices are $17 for adults and $12 for youths (ages 5-12).
• ISU is using email blasts to market upcoming games, and the school is employing students in its College of Business sales program and in the Sports Marketing program to do “cold calls” for group ticket sales.

“That is proving to be excellent ‘pitching’ experience for our students, and we have had luck with group sales to local organizations in football — and soon to see in basketball,” said Thiros.

• ISU reaches out to local K-12 schools and offers discounted tickets to entire teams, coaching staffs and their families to attend a game together.
• Improving ISU student participation is a priority and Idaho State has invested $5,000 in hiring student section coordinators to develop student-led promotions, buy swag and work with the spirit squads to energize the student section, which is known as “The Jungle.”

“The effort has slowly grown the student section, which we returned to the floor seats last season, but is a long-term, annual investment we will continue making to build that culture,” said Thiros. “We are also working to further develop the pep band and perhaps find a way to locate them on the floor so they can contribute even more to the game-day atmosphere.”

ISU has also installed new video boards and scoreboards in Reed, which have been well-received.

While some folks look back on the days when ISU was playing in the ICCU Dome with fondness, it is unlikely that the Bengal basketball teams will return to that venue.

“We are getting considerably more fans in Reed Gym than we were getting our last season in the ICCU Dome, and not preventing track, softball, football and soccer from practicing inside the dome,” noted Thiros. “We also save a considerable expense and a lot of man hours not flipping the venue every single weekend. There is a correlation to better performance in all of those sports who are now able to train in the dome as well.”

Of course, the biggest factor that contributes to attendance is one that only the Bengals themselves can control — consistent winning. This year’s Bengals are off to a nice 1-1 start in conference play on the road and they get three straight homes games to try to build on that — all against traditional rivals Weber State, Montana State and Montana. If the Bengals can sweep that homestand, I guarantee you Reed Gym will be a lively environment for the rest of the season.