Empty seats were a familiar sight at Maryland men’s and women’s basketball games this past season. Both teams struggled, particularly the men’s team, which notched a losing record for just the second time since 1993. Both squads regularly played in front of sparse crowds.
The Asbury Park Press, a New Jersey-based outlet, covered the men’s team’s game against Rutgers and noted “fewer than 8,000 fans showed up for this game and mostly sat there mostly muted … .a surprisingly anemic turnout.”
The Terps had only one sellout each this season: against Purdue for the men, and against Iowa for the women. These games brought high-profile players to College Park — both opponents finished in second place in the national championship.
At a glance, other stadiums may look more crowded. But Xfinity Center has more seats to sell than many other college teams. With a capacity of just under 18,000, the Terps have the 14th largest venue in the nation, per an email from Jason Yellin, Maryland’s Strategic Communications Officer and Associate Athletic Director.
“Maryland has one of the top atmospheres in all of college basketball,” Yellin wrote in the email. “We do need to sell significantly more tickets than most others across the country to completely fill the building, but when it is at capacity, XFINITY Center provides an unmatched homecourt advantage, one that Maryland takes great pride in.”
Maryland has the second largest arena in the Big Ten for both sports. Only the Schottenstein Center at Ohio State has more seats.
Maryland’s men’s team ranked 21st in total attendance nationally and 22nd for average attendance per game.
Maryland’s women’s team ranked 11th in total attendance and ninth in average attendance.
For most of the Big Ten, the number of seats in a school’s athletics center is roughly proportional to the total number of students enrolled.
Maryland has the fourth smallest number of undergraduate students in the conference, but its population at roughly 30,000 is closer to the larger schools than the smaller ones.
The exception to the general trend is Rutgers — despite boasting roughly 36,000 students as of fall 2022, numbers similar to Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, and Wisconsin, the Rutgers Athletic Center holds only 8,000 fans.
Only Northwestern has fewer seats at just over 7,000. But as the conference’s sole private school, the Wildcats have a much smaller student population of roughly 9,000, just a fraction of the size of other Big Ten Schools — Nebraska is next smallest with roughly 19,000 students.
The next smallest arena in the Big Ten is Michigan. The Wolverines, despite their athletic prowess in football, have only 12,707 seats for basketball fans at the Crisler Center.
Around the country, a few colleges have started to move to smaller arenas. When four-time basketball champion Baylor moved from its longtime home, the Ferrell Center, to its new arena, the Foster Pavilion, it reduced capacity from just over 10,000 to 7,500.
Texas used to have a capacity of 17,900 — roughly the same as Maryland. Its new home, the Moody Center, fits closer to 11,000.
Advantages to smaller arenas also include reducing the distance between the seats and the action.
Maryland does get a massive advantage when Xfinity Center is packed — there are few better atmospheres in college basketball — but those situations rarely occur. Maryland currently doesn’t plan to replace the arena, according to Yellin, although they do plan to have a “premier hospitality club” and a “state-of-the-art videoboard and high-tech sound system” ready ahead of next season.
“We are continually evaluating ways in which we can enhance the venue and the overall fan experience,” Yellin said in the email.
