At a school with over 6,000 students, both under-graduate or post-graduate, and 31 Division I sport teams, one would imagine students and the community would flock to all of the major athletic events hosted by the school. 

This is not the case with Sacred Heart University. 

Despite playing outdoor home games at a relatively new Campus Field (opened in 1997) and indoor home games at the William H. Pitt Center (also opened in 1997), the Pioneers rank at the very bottom in attendance for the major sports in the Northeast Conference.

One of the major reasons for this is the lack of attendance among students. Especially considering the two freshman dorms (Seton and Merton) are at the bottom of the hill leading to the William H. Pitt Center and Campus Field.

"I don't see why you wouldn't walk up the hill," said Larry Wielk, Dean of Students. "I don't think there is a huge interest. There are 800 student-athletes and over 500 students that play club sports. 

"That is a significant amount of people on campus that are into sports. We have close to 1,700 students who live on the main campus. They can't say it's too far to walk up the hill."

The athletics staff and administration realizes that there is an issue and have made it a priority to try and increase the student attendance at all Sacred Heart athletic events.

FOOTBALL

There are nine schools in the Northeast Conference that have football programs. Of those nine schools Sacred Heart ranks sixth in attendance at their games, despite having the fifth largest student-enrollment ofundergrads in the conference according to College Board.

Sacred Heart averaged 2,230 fans at their home games this past fall. SUNY Albany averaged 3,928 and Central Connecticut State averaged 3,169 to lead the conference.

"It definitely has an effect on all the players to have Campus Field sold out," said red-shirt junior wide receiver JoJo Jamiel. "The Homecoming game this fall against Monmouth was one of the best crowds I've ever played in front of."

While Jamiel is right, the Homecoming attendance was 3,101 and Family Weekend brought in 3,468 fans, the thing is these games only helped bring Sacred Heart's average attendance up. It was not an indication of the actual attendance for a normal weekend game.

Without these games coinciding with University weekend events, the Pioneers would have likely slipped to the bottom two in the conference in terms of attendance. 

Wagner averaged 1,892 fans to rank eighth, and St. Francis (PA) averaged 1,410 to rank ninth.

"From students and professors, all the way to the community, it's just not important to a large number of people here," Jamiel said. "As soon as football becomes a priority like at other big schools, I really don't see Sacred Heart football attracting huge crowds. 

"Even my freshman year when we were an undefeated 6-0 to start the season, the crowds weren't any bigger than our games this past season."

MEN'S BASKETBALL

The Northeast Conference has 12 schools with men's basketball programs, and Sacred Heart ranks last in average home attendance. 

The Pioneers have averaged only 550 fans (all numbers as of Jan. 14) at their home games.