Spencer, Ia (Northwest Iowa Now) – Something that has been on my mind lately and in my conversations with folks who are associated with the same high school sports spaces as myself has been declining attendance at high school sporting events. It has especially come to mind after seeing the attendance continually declining at the Boys State Wrestling tournament, the state’s most popular sporting event at the high school level. What are the reasons? Will we see a bounce back? That’s what I speculate about today in Steven’s Take.

The decline isn’t everywhere and with every sport. There are still communities that show out in droves for their local High School sports teams, some with more specific sports than others. Of course, it helps if a team is good, or if it is in the postseason. The State Track and Field meet, what has been the State’s second biggest spectacle to the wrestling championships, continues to draw record crowds seemingly every year. Baseball and Softball attendance is typically really good most places I go, and Football still reigns supreme as it is hard to find a spot to sit most Friday nights at any facility.

The main areas where attendance seems to be declining the most, is the winter sports, each giants in this State, Basketball and Wrestling.

With wrestling, you wouldn’t notice it at the local level. Good luck going to most local Tournaments and finding a seat if you show up on time or late. The District Tournament in Emmetsburg was jam-packed this year. But as I alluded to earlier, where you notice the drop in attendance, is the State Wrestling Tournament, specifically Finals night. I have attended three years in a row now for coverage of our local area and have seen a consistent and noticeable decline in both the daily attendance and Finals night. What I know from the past is, that Arena was full for finals night, and tickets weren’t easy to get. Now, the lower bowl will fill, the suites and clubs will fill, but the upper deck is getting closer and closer to empty. It is still a fantastic and charged atmosphere, because that’s how great Wrestling fans and athletes especially are. But it’s not as big.

Basketball is very noticeable at the local level. It’s not something you would notice at the State level because two team’s fanbases for a single game will never fill that arena and never have. Postseason games at some levels and at specific schools will have strong attendance, but at the big schools, almost across the board, it’s not what it used to be. What’s the biggest gym by capacity in your area? If you are listening to this, it is probably the Fieldhouse in Spencer. As someone who really loves competition facilities, especially when it comes to the high school level, the Fieldhouse is top tier. The old Air Hanger structure with balcony seating on either side. There are so many unique features that make it a facility to love and preserve. It is huge when it comes to compacity, which when it was built, was for a reason. The only time I have seen that place close to full though, was a Girls Basketball Regional Championship game between Sioux Central and Pocahontas Area. From what I understand, the crowd was also close to capacity for North Union and South O’Brien’s substate game last season as well. It has been nowhere close to full for any Spencer event I have attended.

The Fieldhouse isn’t the only high compacity gymnasium to deal with this. In fact, I don’t know if there is a facility across the State built in the same era with similar capacity that does draw anywhere near full gyms. None of the Sioux City schools, not Mason City, and not Fort Dodge. It’s not just northwest Iowa. The two legendary roundhouse style gyms in Marshalltown and Des Moines’ Lincoln High School don’t see near the capacity they were built for and even have downsized in recent remodels. I remember going to the old Ames high school gym which held about 1500. They since built a new gym with their new high school and downsized significantly by capacity.

Why the decline? The sports aren’t less entertaining than they were when these massive gyms were built, or when people were swinging from the rafters of Vetrans Memorial auditorium for State Wrestling. I think it is the lack of the casual fan. There aren’t many who will attend their local high school basketball game or the State Wrestling Championships that don’t have either a kid or relative competing or coaching. The local high school team isn’t the priority it used to be. For many, in Iowa, that used to be treated as the second most important team to your favorite college. That used to be a big topic of conversation around the morning coffee tables and really isn’t anymore. It is a little more individual driven, rather than community driven.

What I have come to believe, and accept, is that it won’t ever go back to the way it was. When it comes to high school sports, they aren’t the priority anymore to either the regular community member, or even the athlete.

Most athletes today are members of several other teams outside of their high school team. I am not saying it’s wrong, I enjoy seeing the commitment from both the parents and the athletes to getting better at their sport. But it makes it an individual thing, and most parents won’t attend a high school competition after their child moves on.

For the regular community member, schools seem to become farther and farther away from their connection to communities. Consolidation in the rural areas lead to much less schools and representation of the smaller communities has created disconnect. Going to the local high school game isn’t just in town anymore, it could be 30 minutes away now for a home game. The opposite extreme doesn’t help either. Consolidation happens partly because of dwindling population. Where is the population going? To the booming urban areas. This leads to communities opening the doors of more high schools, creating a natural divide amongst people with the same zip-code. With both the Consolidation of Rural, and division of urban, open enrollment plays a big part in both. In rural communities, open enrolling for whatever reason leads to a disconnection from the school within the community you live in. In urban areas, open enrollment drains the large City public schools as people flock to the wealthier suburbs with their open enrollment.

Prime high school sports attendance was something I am to young to have experienced. And although I accept it won’t ever be that way again, I still lament the fact that the decline will likely only continue. This has been Steven’s Take.