Low Interest in School Sports at K College

Results from a study on interest in athletics and attendance at Kalamazoo College sporting events show that students at K College do not appear to be interested in their school's athletic teams. Although it's estimated that 1/2 to 3/4 of the students at the school have a general interest in sports (professional or collegiate), the average student at K attends a school sporting event once every two to six weeks. Some may believe that Kalamazoo College students would not attend games because they are too busy studying. However, the results collected from the study show that students' study hours do not have a significant impact on them attending games.

Even the students that do attend games are not always there for the sole purpose of cheering on their team and being interested in what is going on. It was found from the study that "enjoyment of the sport" as a reason for attending a game had approximately the same amount of importance as the reason "serves as a social event" for students.

The low attendance numbers are even more surprising when comparing it to the effect that the school's athletics had on students deciding to attend K College. Male students at Kalamazoo ranked the importance of the school's athletics for their college decision just as high as male students at University of Michigan did in a similar study. But when looking at the amount of time spent at school sporting events, K College males spend far less time at games than U of M males do (1 hour per week vs. 3 hours per week). The difference in time spent attending sports games is somewhat surprising considering the fact that males had similar levels of interest in their respective school's athletics when choosing where to attend college. Male students at K College are, however, more involved with the college's athletics than female students are. Whereas the average male student spends one hour per week at sporting events, the average female student only spends roughly 20 minutes per week at games.