What are the biggest schools in college athletics?
The ones that come to mind probably include Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana State, Georgia, Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina, or UConn. What unites those schools isn’t necessarily athletic performance — it’s the culture created by their students on game days.
In 2024, despite a middling season from LSU football — which finished seventh in the SEC — game days in Louisiana still brought in an average of 17,952 attendees. With over 32,000 full-time students at the school, nearly 55% of the student population attended these events. At Penn, however, the Quakers averaged nearly 6,100 fans per game in 2024, which accounts for just 11.5% of the full-time student population.
And herein lies the issue. The current sporting culture at Penn is composed of indifference from the top down. It starts with the school’s marketing: Penn as an institution is more focused on academics than athletics, which is evidenced by its lack of athletic scholarships. It continues with students choosing to wait in long lines to be let into a frat party over cheering on the Red and Blue at Franklin Field.
I came into college as a huge sports fan, and I’ve stayed a huge sports fan. I’ve witnessed records broken, titles clinched, rivals defeated, and even a few heartbreaks during my time as an avid supporter of the Red and Blue. While there are some students who I consistently see at these events, the stands of Franklin Field and the Palestra are often half empty, with a good portion of the spectators being athletes’ family and friends.
The problem isn’t the talent. We have a men’s soccer team that won three straight Ivy League regular season titles, a men’s swimmer and women’s track and field athlete who competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a gymnastics team that has now won four straight GEC conference titles, and a women’s lacrosse team that advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year.
Neither is it the facilities. Our teams play at Franklin Field — the oldest football stadium in the entire nation, and the former home of the Philadelphia Eagles. There’s also the Palestra — nicknamed the Cathedral of College Basketball — which has hosted more games than any other arena in the country and is steeped in Big 5 history.
It’s us. A culture of school spirit isn’t something the athletics department can manufacture overnight. It’s built by students showing up, game after game, until the expectation is that the stands are always packed — and not just for the Homecoming or Penn versus Princeton games.
So, here’s my challenge for you: if you’ve never been to a game, go to one. Tickets are free for all students, and all of the stadiums are within walking distance of the heart of campus. If you’ve been to a few, start going more often. Bring your friends. Throw on some red and blue. Make it a habit.
Penn’s never going to have Alabama’s football budget or Duke’s five-star basketball recruits, but we can have a student section that makes every opponent dread coming here.
VIVIAN YAO is an Engineering senior from Clarksville, Md. studying bioengineering. She formerly served as the DP’s sports editor. All comments should be directed to dpsports@thedp.com.
