About three weeks after its last spring practice, Arizona completed a somewhat irregular spring football season Saturday by staging Fan Appreciation Day at Arizona Stadium.
I walked into the stadium about 12:30, midway through the event, and there couldn’t have been more than 200 fans. Remember, this is a Power 5 Conference school in a metro area of more than 1 million people. Even notoriously fan-needy ASU drew 4,600 for its “Fan Fest” a week earlier.
A ticket bench set up by the entrance at Arizona Stadium, manned by three people Saturday, did virtually no business. Part of it is that Arizona’s home schedule doesn’t have a get-your-tickets-now appeal: NAU, Houston, Utah, Wazzu, Oregon State and UCLA.
Additionally, the UA football program has no real personality. There are no stars around which to build a marketing campaign, as UA basketball did last week when it sent an email blast about the return of Allonzo Trier.
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Across the five months since beating ASU in the Territorial Cup, the “biggest” news created by the Arizona football program was that it scheduled a home game against FCS powerhouse North Dakota State in 2022.
Pretty. Darn. Sad.