Today’s column from CBS Chicago …
(CBS) With last-place finishes in the Big East piling up and attendance numbers at Allstate Arena plummeting, DePaul basketball is clearly in need of a fix.
But a new arena in Chicago isn’t going to fix it alone.
And the worry here is that the Blue Demons’ forthcoming $170-million home is going to end up bedeviling taxpayers for years to come.
On Monday, Danny Ecker of Crain’s Chicago Business reported that two and a half years ahead of the scheduled opening of a 10,000-seat DePaul basketball arena next to McCormick Place, the school’s already paltry attendance figures are heading in the wrong direction.
According to Allstate Arena ticket records obtained by Crain’s, DePaul’s men’s basketball attendance dropped 27 percent year over year this season to just more than 1,900 fans per game. The Blue Demons went 11-20 overall and 3-15 in the Big East, securing their sixth straight year of owning at least a share of last place in the conference.
Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …