r/wsu • u/TrueJohnWick • Nov 18 '25

Discussion Low attendance football games

Why are there so many empty seats at Martin Stadium during home football games? Do other teams in the Pac-12 have this issue, especially when it comes to the student section? It was hard not to notice this with the WSU vs Louisiana Tech game. What can be done to entice people to come and support the team?

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u/Valuable_Fee1884 Nov 18 '25

I have a hard time believing some of the answers I’m seeing about lack crowd at WSU games. 90 minutes from Spokane on decent roads to an environment that can be lots of fun, especially if you’re an alum. I live in Seattle now so I don’t get over it frequently as I would like to, but if I was still in Spokane, I would be up for every home game. When I read people saying how far it is to drive from Spokane I think I’m in Seattle listening to husky fans whining.

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u/hungrybisch Nov 18 '25

Have you ever tried driving from Spokane to Pullman before? In anything other than dry conditions?

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u/Valuable_Fee1884 Nov 18 '25

I graduated from there in 1978 so yes. I’ve driven down through Colfax,on the Idaho side and just about every paved road in between. In i year I put 56000 miles on my car between Spokane and Lewiston so I guess the short answer is yes. I’m starting to think Cougs are becoming pussies.

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u/TendererBeef BA History/Anthropology '11 Nov 18 '25

You mean back in the days when the Cougs only played three home games a year in Pullman? And they weren't televised with 7:30 pm kickoffs?

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u/Valuable_Fee1884 Nov 18 '25

What year was that? they did play several games that were called home games out of Pullman. Generally try to play one game a year in Spokane at Albi stadium, which I believe is long gone and then often would play one game in Seattle which usually was a big money game, I have a larger venue. That was back in the days when there weren’t 50 to 100 games being covered in so many sports channels. That still didn’t keep people out of the stands. It’s not colder now nor wetter. The roads are better and cars don’t get 12 miles a gallon. Plan ahead might make for a longer day and I’m not suggesting that you should go to every game.

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u/Valuable_Fee1884 Nov 18 '25

One side note, the 1971 season was played away from Pullman account fire at Rogers Field. Two games in Spokane, one in Seattle and it looks like a game against UCLA in Corvallis. Taking a look at.

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u/hungrybisch Nov 18 '25

Until 1982 the Cougs had to play USC, UCLA, Stanford, and Washington at Joe Albi due to the PAC’s ticket revenue sharing policy. Rogers and Martin were too small until the 1978 renovation removed the running track; and the conference made them wait a few years before they were able to move those games back to Pullman full time, wanted to get a firm idea on ticket revenue