It’s Friday night in Hyde Park. Those brave enough to fight the Chicago winter shuffle their way into the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center, eagerly awaiting the 5:30 p.m. tip-off of the upcoming UChicago vs. NYU basketball game. It’s a big conference matchup: the No. 22 Maroons taking on the No. 5 Violets. Besides fighting for the title of “Best Primary Color Shade” in Division III athletics, both teams have a lot to play for with playoffs on the horizon.

But the sight inside the Ratner Competition Gymnasium isn’t quite what you would expect from a prime time home game between two fierce UAA conference rivals.

The student section is scarce. Fellow student-athletes and fraternity brothers have come out to support their friends, but the support is tame. There aren’t any bleacher stomps, pre-planned chants or painted chests. A loud cheer after a big shot is the rowdiest it gets. It’s a far cry from the raucous collection of students you would find at even your average Friday night high school game.

Across from the student section, another group of students, less willing to exert any outward enthusiasm, populate the main bleachers. After halftime—when the students have the opportunity to grab a slice of free pizza from atop the student section bleachers—this group is all but gone.

Of the non-students filing their way into the gym, the majority can be easily placed into one of three categories: friends and family of the players, local families looking for a fun way to spend their Friday night, or UChicago alumni. Many are here for the “Coaches vs. Cancer” fundraiser. The basketball is just a bonus.

But the Maroons have proved worthy of being much more than just a bonus. The team finished the season with a strong 18–8 record, and for the first time since the 2007–08 season, they punched a ticket to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Adding on the team’s multiple All-UAA selections, there were plenty of reasons to be excited about UChicago Men’s Basketball in 2025.

Unfortunately for the Maroons, the excitement never quite materialized. In the 2024–25 season, UChicago Men’s Basketball ranked fifth out of eight UAA teams in average home attendance. Of the four UAA teams with a winning record, UChicago ranked last. Not quite the level of appreciation deserved for a team that earned its first playoff appearance in 17 years.

The lack of student support is not just a basketball issue either. UChicago football, the program that consistently yields the highest attendance at the university, ranked dead last in the Midwest Conference in average home attendance. Even Lawrence University, a tiny liberal arts school in Appleton, Wisconsin—you’re welcome for saving you a Google search—dwarfed UChicago in average home attendance despite finishing with an abysmal 1–8 conference record.

This is the same UChicago football program that has won multiple National Championships; the same program that once boasted a Heisman winner. There are few universities that belong in the same bracket of footballing excellence as UChicago, but if you glanced up at the Stagg Field bleachers during an average regular season game these days, you wouldn’t know it.

Then again, a lot can change in 100 years. And in the case of UChicago, a lot has.

The culture shift began when former University President Robert Maynard Hutchins outlawed varsity football in 1939, deeming it detrimental to the image of being a prestigious academic bastion he envisioned for the University. When the program returned in 1969—this time donning a relegated Division III status—athletic culture returned with a similar recession. In 2025, this culture has fallen even further. Ask the average UChicago student their favorite aspects of the University, and “athletics” would probably slot in just after “work-life balance.”

UChicago’s reputation as an “academics first, athletics last” institution is undeniable. It doesn’t have anything that even remotely resembles the tailgates, marching bands, or fight songs that you would find at a big Southeastern Conference school like the University of Alabama. The only thing Hyde Park has in common with Tuscaloosa is a Wingstop. Even then, Tuscaloosa has twice as many.

But for first-year Amelia Rybicka-Fijoł, a more sports-centric UChicago isn’t exactly an attractive image. “I really like UChicago the way it is. I’m a dancer here and I just kind of do that on my own,” Rybicka-Fijoł explained. “Overall, I’m more focused on the entire ‘life of the mind’ thing. I like that there’s no student-athlete cult here.”

Rybicka-Fijoł’s sentiment is not an uncommon one at UChicago. There’s a certain charm that comes with UChicago’s sports agnosticism, a charm that would struggle to persist in a big, sports town environment. The athletes exist as students first without the celebrity-like mystique that would follow them at a Division I school. There are no hushed whispers and wide-eyed stares as athletes find their seat for their 9:30 a.m. class. In fact, apart from a “UChicago Athletics” branded backpack and an electric scooter, there’s nothing that really differentiates the UChicago student from the UChicago student-athlete. Everyone is equal, a fact that is appreciated by all, athletes and non-athletes alike.

One such athlete is second-year basketball player Luke Smith. For Smith, UChicago’s general disinterest in sports isn’t a concern. “It doesn’t really affect me too much. I’m not a person who needs to be touted like a celebrity or anything,” Smith explained.

However, the modern day UChicago experience leans so far into sports apathy that even historic athletic achievements are often disregarded. Despite UChicago Athletics capping off a wildly successful winter season with numerous broken records and National Championships, these achievements have earned little attention from the University outside the UChicago Athletics website and socials.

“There’s just not really enough awareness,” fellow second-year Matthew Wren expressed. “For example, house activities don’t ever mention going to University games. Oftentimes the only way I know there’s a basketball game is if I’m walking into Ratner when I want to practice basketball and the gym is full.”

Simply put, the University does not do enough to promote its athletics to the student body. Students are often oblivious to upcoming games and even more oblivious to athletic achievements. On the rare occasion that students are made aware of athletic events, they are disregarded as (what students assume to be) low-quality athletics.

“It does bother us in the general sense that we might deserve a little more recognition,” Smith admitted. “I don’t think any of us are like ‘wow, you guys need to come to our games,’ but it’s a really fun experience and it helps us out a lot. It makes the game a lot more fun so I think we would definitely benefit from more advertising.”

Athletic success builds excitement and intrigue. Generating this success is the hard part and UChicago has already done it. What’s missing is the University’s effort to capitalize on this success. Without promotion, athletic achievements are buried in oblivion alongside the opportunity to develop a loyal fandom.

But even then, promoting athletic achievement is only the start. People will be more willing to watch successful teams, there is no doubt about that, but the universities with a strong athletic culture draw fans regardless of results—just ask our friends over at Lawrence University.

The real beating heart of sports culture at any university, regardless of the division and regardless of the results, is the spectacle of game day. Game day culture wraps athletics in celebration, tradition, and passion. It unites the fanatics with the casual supporters and transcends wins and losses. True sports culture is molded from the spectacle of game day.

Unsurprisingly, it is game day culture where UChicago finds itself so far behind the others.

At the University of Chicago, game days are bleak, unceremonious affairs. The turnout is poor and the energy nonexistent. “There’s not a lot of passion behind the sports. Sometimes I go to the football games because I have friends on the team, but other than that… nothing,” fourth-year Artemis Xenopoulos explained.

Even the grandest of sporting events at the University do little to draw student excitement. Take the “Coaches vs. Cancer” fundraiser for instance. The event is more tailored to the Hyde Park community and UChicago alumni than anything, leaving students with no real incentive to attend.

For the average UChicago student, free time is hard to come by as is. Convincing students to buy into UChicago athletics means convincing them to budget their coveted free time toward attending games. Regardless of how good the players are, pure athletics is hardly enough to draw a crowd of students, especially in Division III. If even the best NBA teams need to trot out elaborate halftime shows, community events, and promotions in order to attract fans, UChicago needs to do a bit better than free pizza.

When asked what the University could do to make sports games more appealing to UChicago students, Xenopolous suggested making events around the games, focusing on facilitating energy and camaraderie rather than just the athletics.

Emory University, a school not too different from UChicago, dominated the UAA in average home attendance this past basketball season doing just that—something that did not go unnoticed by the UChicago players. “We went to Emory once, and they were doing jersey giveaways, raffles, and stuff like that to get people to come,” Smith recalled. “That could be a big improvement [for UChicago].”

Both UChicago and Emory are high-achieving academic institutions that compete at the Division III level. Despite Hutchins’s apprehensions, sports culture and athletic excellence do not need to be mutually exclusive.

In fact, game days embellished by a vibrant social atmosphere create a sports culture that appeals to all types of students, not just the die-hards. First-year Alexander LaMonica, despite not being overly enthused by the prospect of a sports-centric UChicago, sees potential for excitement in game days. “[I would go to games] if they make it a more social opportunity versus just about the sport itself,” LaMonica told the Maroon.

UChicago Athletics is the best it has been in nearly a century, and if current trends persist, it will only get better in the coming years. For the first time since the days of Amos Stagg, UChicago has the opportunity to capitalize on this athletic success and institute a new sports culture, one driven by community and social engagement.

That does not mean turning UChicago into the University of Alabama, or even Emory for that matter, but there is a middle ground to be found. It is possible for athletics and academics to culturally coexist here, perhaps with UChicago’s own “life of the mind” edge. What that may entail is yet to be determined, but it starts with game days. Or maybe another campus Wingstop.