Wildcat athletics programs perform better at home than on the road nearly every season. The football team just wrapped up its regular home season 5-0 with an average game attendance of 9,077 people, including a 12,000-fan sell-out crowd for the Homecoming game against Tarleton State University. 

The sold-out crowd against Tarleton played a huge factor in the last-second 31-28 victory over the Texans. Zack Lassiter, vice president for athletics, expressed his gratitude to the fans in an Instagram post on the ACU Football page.

“We’re talking about creating a shared experience that brings our entire community together,” Lassiter said. “It’s proof of the pride and purpose that define this university and the people who support it.”

College workloads can be both dull and exhausting. However, several remedies give respite from the mundanity of everyday college life. My personal favorite is going to athletic events on campus. 

Sure, we’re all busy as students, but a two- or three-hour-long break in studying or other activities is not a big deal in the long run.

If you have an important test the next day, please study if you feel like you haven’t fully grasped the material. But if you’re just lying in your bed in your dorm or at your apartment, then why not come support the Wildcat athletic programs?

The athletes on these teams love seeing their friends and classmates come out and support them. However, it goes beyond a simple smile put on someone’s face. 

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams started 3-0 this season, with all three wins coming in Moody Coliseum. The men had an average attendance of 1,067, and the women had an average of 885. 

Maximum capacity at Moody is 3,600, which brings both of the averages to under a third of the way full, although the men’s schedule has an outlier of a 3 p.m. start time on Nov. 11. 

Last season, the men’s basketball team had a 10-5 home record, and the women finished 10-6 on their home court. 

On the other hand, volleyball had an average attendance this year in the regular season at home of 390, which is one-tenth of full capacity. The team finished 5-6 at home, which is not inherently a bad record but could have likely been improved with higher attendance. 

However, in the team’s home conference tournament game against the University of Texas-Arlington on Nov. 20, there were 1,287 people in attendance, and the Wildcats ended up with a five-set victory. 

So why am I giving you all these numbers? It’s not to brag about how great ACU’s sports teams are, but the numbers just go to show how much playing on a familiar playing surface with familiar fans who cheer loudly matters.

I have talked to volleyball Head Coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup 11 times this semester, and in nearly every interview in which we talk about the team’s home games, she always mentions how much the team loves playing in Moody in front of a home crowd. 

If fans have the opportunity to sway the outcome of games, just as with the Homecoming game against Tarleton, why would we not help our athletics teams? After all, the athletes are students too, and you probably have class with several of them.