UTEP football attendance headed for a 12-year low

A beat-up UTEP finds itself just two wins from bowl eligibility with two games left, including Saturday’s home finale.

But looking at this year’s home attendance, one might think the hard-fighting Miners have already packed it in for the season. Even though a bowl is still possible, UTEP is on pace to finish with its lowest home attendance average in more than a decade.

ABC-7 asked UTEP head coach Sean Kugler how much a good crowd for the final home game against Louisiana Tech in the Sun Bowl would help in the team’s quest for an upset this weekend.

“Well, a good crowd always helps,” Kugler said. “But as I’ve always said, we haven’t had 52,000 at the games … “

UTEP hasn’t had even 30,000 at a game this season. But Kugler won’t say he’s disappointed.

“No, no,” he said emphatically. “I love the crowd that’s there. They’re energized, they’re focused, and again, I’m more worried about a banged-up team than I am about pom-poms in the stands.”

And there haven’t been many pom-poms in the stands this season. UTEP appears near-certain to finish with a 12-year low in average attendance, the fewest fans (23,443 per game with one game left) per home game since Gary Nord’s final season in 2003 (20,009 per game). This year’s attendance is down almost 5,000 per game over Kugler’s first two seasons (28,377 in 2014 and 28,375 in 2013).

“It was very difficult this year,” said UTEP Athletic Director Bob Stull, who took the blame for this year’s poor home attendance. “It was a horrible home schedule, because compared to the other years, we’ve always had Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas as one of the early games, which really boosts attendance. Plus, we usually have really strong attendance the first game, no matter what, because they’re excited about the season. We didn’t play until four weeks out and that’s very difficult.”

Added Kugler: “I know everybody looks at the end result and looks at the score and says, ‘Oh the Miners are disappointing. Not to me. Those guys are out there fighting.”

UTEP’s attendance still ranks 4th in Conference USA, which should tell you something about the league. Stull said next year’s schedule will be much better, with 7 home games including New Mexico State and Army.