Oklahoma State is averaging 6,362 fans at men’s basketball game this season. That’s the lowest in six seasons under coach Mike Boynton, aside from the 2020-21 season impacted by COVID restrictions. 

Steve and Brenda Sweeney have missed only two Oklahoma State basketball home games this season, both on account of bad weather. They live in Apache, two hours and 20 minutes southwest of Stillwater.

This is the couple’s fourth year as season-ticket holders. Their loyalty to being in their seats in section 318 on the west side of Gallagher-Iba Arena stands out more this season than in their previous three. 

Walk into Gallagher-Iba for a game, and it’s hard not to notice the empty seats and visiting fans outnumbering Cowboy fans. The majority of the orange comes from empty plastic seats, not the shirts of fans. Watch on TV and you’ll see the same sight. Average attendance at Oklahoma State basketball games is down this season compared to coach Mike Boynton’s previous five non-COVID seasons. 

“(I’m) kind of disappointed (with attendance this season),” Steve Sweeney said. “Not as many people here as I’d hoped there would be.”

Here is the average attendance at games in Gallagher-Iba Arena since Boynton took over in 2017-18. All data is from the official attendance published by OSU. 

2017-18: 7,011

2018-19: 7,292

2019-20: 7,609

2020-21: 3,500 (COVID-19 regulations in place)

2021-22: 8,437

2022-23: 7,661

2023-24: 6,362 (through 14 games)

This season has had the smallest average crowd in Boynton’s tenure as head coach. The Cowboys have remaining home games against BYU (Saturday), Oklahoma (Feb. 24), UCF (Feb. 28) and Texas Tech (March. 5). 

The Bedlam game will drive the average attendance up, considering Boynton has averaged 11,391 for those matchups and this is the last scheduled men’s basketball bedlam. If the Cowboys get an identical home crowd attendance at Bedlam as they did last season (10,789) and average Big 12 attendance remains consistent (7,122), the season average will finish at 6,735. That would still be the lowest number of Boynton’s tenure. 

Steve Sweeney’s guess for why not as many people are coming to games?

“They’re not winning, so it’s hard to keep the crowd,” Sweeney said.

Oklahoma State is 10-14 overall, and 9-5 in Gallagher-Iba. In a deep Big 12 controlled by seniors and upperclassmen, freshmen Brandon Garrison, Eric Dailey, Justin McBride, Jamyron Keller and Connor Dow have been major contributors in starts, minutes and points. The freshmen have shown upside, particularly Garrison who is averaging 8.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks a game, but Boynton admits playing the young guys doesn’t always make for the most enjoyable brand of basketball to watch.

“So having to get out there and learn, it’s no fun,” Boynton said. “And I get the fans’ frustrations, and I want to point to that because I get it. But we’re also really trying to… get better, that’s a big part of what we’re doing now. And it’s not going to look great all the time.”

Rick, a Cowboy fan from Tulsa who declined to give his last name, with season tickets in the 300 level on the west side, said something needs to transpire to get the “oomph back in the program.” 

He remembers the Eddie Sutton days, when Gallagher-Iba Arena was raucous and lived up to its nickname “The rowdiest arena in the country.” 

In 2000, average attendance in GIA doubled, going from 6,381 to 13,611 as renovations added an upper bowl of seats. In 2006-07, the first season Sean Sutton, Eddie’s son, coached the team, average attendance reached a record 13,008

“It was so loud,” Brenda Sweeney said of that era. “When you left here, you were deaf.”

The Cowboys have made one NCAA Tournament in the past six seasons and aren’t trending toward breaking that drought in 2024. Those Eddie Sutton days are gone — just look in the stands and listen. 

“We want to see this thing full and loud again,” Rick said. “It was really going well. Things change. Hope and pray for the best for this program. We love this school and all that it stands for.”