A few weeks ago, thousands of Brunonians traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to watch what can only be described as a slaughter. Losing 7-41 doesn’t do justice to the depressing nature of Brown’s performance. It was a horrible game, at least an hour away, and yet, it still posted the best attendance of any Brown Athletics event this year. Although most people were going because “everyone else was going,” or because it’s a “rivalry” game (though not for Harvard fans), we showed impressive spirit. Let me be clear: There’s nothing wrong with supporting our team at an away game or in an embarrassing losing effort. Surely, though, we are bringing that same level of enthusiasm to other games that are a 15-minute walk from our dorms, right? Wrong.
Athletic attendance isn’t the end-all, be-all of school spirit. However, it’s still important. More Brown students should be attending athletic events. Coming from St. Louis, I know gameday is everything. It’s special to watch the whole state rally behind the same team. In my hometown, fervently supporting your high school team is expected, as good or bad as they may be. We should be able to summon a similar level of spirit as college students here on College Hill.
During the first two weeks of school, I asked other students if they were going to the upcoming football game. Surprisingly, it was rare to find a student who knew that I was talking about the home game against Georgetown, and not the game at Harvard. I was at both, and felt a very different atmosphere. Despite being the home opener, celebrating 100 years of Brown Stadium, the Georgetown game had 12,934 fewer attendees than Brown vs. Harvard.
The statistics support my experience: attendance at home athletics events is extremely low. Out of 128 FCS football programs, Brown ranks 106th in average attendance, and the lowest of all 8 Ivies, at only 3,349, out of Brown Stadium’s 20,000-seat capacity. Other Ivy League schools like Harvard, which has 16,283 average attendees, and Cornell, with 12,142 average attendees, far surpass our numbers.
Moreover, the week after Harvard, Brown battled against the University of Rhode Island in the Governor’s Cup — a real, local rivalry that actually goes both ways — in an extremely competitive (and winning) game at Pawtucket’s Centreville Bank Stadium. The reasons to attend this game were plentiful. It was a true competitive rivalry game, the beautiful stadium is nearby, and it was on a Friday night, when almost all students are free. Furthermore, students could receive free tickets by being one of the first 1,000 interested attendees to fill out a Google form. On top of these incentives, free Brown-branded scarves were given to the first 500 Brown students in attendance. Brown was hoping to pack the house, but the game’s attendance was only 5,047 — split between Brunonians, URI fans and other spectators.
The perceived lack of school spirit doesn’t stop at football. At a recent men’s water polo game, on a Sunday afternoon, it felt like my friends and I were the only Brown students in the stands. Brunonians seem disinterested in athletics more broadly. More than 20% of undergraduates have never been to a Brown Athletics event, according to The Herald’s Spring 2025 poll, and 29.8% reported only attending one game in the past year. In all, 80.7% of students surveyed reported attending one or fewer athletic events per semester.
Attending athletics events builds extra camaraderie among the Brown community and adds to the atmosphere of the event, for the betterment of both the spectator and athlete experience. At other schools, stadiums roar with Rocky Top, Mr. Brightside or Dixieland Delight. The Brown community should show the same love to our fight song, “Ever True to Brown.” The song can help bring us together as Brunonians and develop a newfound pride in our school. Please, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the lyrics.
Brown students already express school spirit in other ways, attending everything from student plays to a cappella arch sings. But we can’t let our school spirit be limited to the arts or club activities. We must support all of our classmates and friends — including our student athletes — just like students at other schools do.
It’s not like Brown doesn’t have winning teams. Our football team is currently 2-1, and across the board, our teams do not struggle to win. Last weekend, we earned a 7-3 record in traditional contests, with podium finishes for almost all sports in larger tournaments. Our men’s water polo team is nationally ranked, appearing last week at number 20. We have had notable recent national successes in men’s rugby and squash.
I’m not saying everyone needs to be painting their chests B-R-O-W-N at every game for every team. But more people should simply consider going to games when they have the time. After all, we have amazing student-athletes, coaches, programs and facilities to watch them at. Our community is extremely passionate about Brown, and we do “love our college dear” as the fight song suggests. We should all do our part to make sure we are supporting Bruno however we can, wherever we can.
Clay Edelson ’29 can be reached at clayton_edelson@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
