Louisville basketball drew one of nation’s largest home crowds in Year 1 under Pat Kelsey
Pat Kelsey met Jeff Capel at midcourt after Louisville basketball's 79-68 win over Pittsburgh on March 1, in front of a stripe-out crowd at the KFC Yum! Center.
After the Panthers coach complimented the Cardinals coach on the raucous atmosphere, Kelsey ran into the student section to thank fans for, yet again, helping push his team across the finish line.
"It's nothing short of amazing," Capel told reporters, "to get this environment back to how it was when I first became a head coach in this league."
"The town's buzzing about Louisville basketball," Kelsey added, "and it's really, really cool."
Coming off Kenny Payne's disastrous 12-52 tenure, during which the 22,090-seat Yum! Center hosted only three crowds of 10,000 or more scanned tickets, the bar couldn't have been lower. Just how much of a bounce-back season was Year 1 of the Kelsey era attendance-wise for U of L? Here's a look:
Louisville basketball 2024-25 attendance at KFC Yum! Center
Here's a game-by-game breakdown of Louisville's announced attendance, which the athletics department says reflects the total number of tickets sold, and its scanned ticket numbers:
| Date | Opponent | Announced | Scanned |
| Nov. 4 | Morehead State | 12,490 | 8,548 |
| Nov. 9 | Tennessee | 16,976 | 13,948 |
| Nov. 19 | Bellarmine | 12,220 | 8,160 |
| Nov. 22 | Winthrop | 12,462 | 7,876 |
| Dec. 3 | Ole Miss | 12,729 | 7,816 |
| Dec. 8 | Duke | 15,312 | 12,527 |
| Dec. 11 | UTEP | 11,668 | 6,427 |
| Dec. 28 | Eastern Kentucky | 13,150 | 9,384 |
| Jan. 1 | North Carolina | 14,248 | 11,264 |
| Jan. 7 | Clemson | 14,991 | 9,614 |
| Jan. 18 | Virginia | 18,233 | 14,208 |
| Jan. 28 | Wake Forest | 14,533 | 11,677 |
| Feb. 8 | Miami | 15,588 | 12,512 |
| Feb. 22 | Florida State | 16,473 | 12,688 |
| March 1 | Pittsburgh | 18,459 | 15,531 |
| March 5 | California | 14,442 | 9,934 |
| March 8 | Stanford | 18,707 | 15,350 |
| Average | 14,864 | 11,027 |
Not every ticket is scanned at the Yum! Center, but most are at this point of the digital age.
In 2023, while The Courier Journal was diving into the attendance numbers under former coach Kenny Payne, a spokesperson for U of L Athletics said both the announced and scanned ticket numbers are "vital data points for us financially and as a gauge of the current fan experience."
The Cards averaged an announced attendance of 11,986 during their 35 home games under Payne. Average scanned ticket attendance was 6,504 — and fell as low as 4,302.
Where does Louisville basketball attendance rank in ACC?
Here's a look at where Louisville's average announced attendance stacks up against the rest of the ACC:
- North Carolina (20,521)
- Syracuse (18,888)
- Louisville (14,864)
- Virginia (13,478)
- N.C. State (12,213)
- Wake Forest (9,545)
- Duke (9,314)
- Clemson (8,247)
- Pittsburgh (8,004)
- Virginia Tech (7,032)
- SMU (5,714)
- Florida State (5,545)
- Miami (5,297)
- Notre Dame (5,261)
- Boston College (4,604)
- Georgia Tech (4,490)
- California (3,888)
- Stanford (3,130)
The Cards finished both seasons of Payne's tenure ranked fifth in the conference attendance-wise.
Where does Louisville basketball attendance rank nationally?
Going off average announced attendance numbers from the five high-major basketball conferences — the ACC, the Big East, the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the SEC — here's a look at where Louisville stands in the top 20:
- North Carolina (20,521)
- Kentucky (20,333)
- Tennessee (20,025)
- Arkansas (18,996)
- Syracuse (18,888)
- Creighton (17,589)
- BYU (17,054)
- Indiana (16,447)
- Marquette (15,570)
- Kansas (15,300)
- Illinois (15,091)
- Wisconsin (15,006)
- Nebraska (14,964)
- Purdue (14,876)
- Louisville (14,864)
- Michigan State (14,797)
- St. John's (14,151)
- Iowa State (14,061)
- Arizona (14,057)
- Virginia (13,478)
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball attendance at KFC Yum! Center: Pat Kelsey Year 1
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