It is common for a college football team, or any team for that matter, to have a nickname for its stadium. What is less common is having one that is renowned across respective conferences, or even the entire country.
In college football, it is Florida’s “The Swamp,” Michigan’s “The Big House” and of course, LSU and Clemson’s argument over the rightful naming of “Death Valley” that ring a bell. The basketball side includes the likes of Gonzaga’s “The Kennel,” Minnesota’s “The Barn” and Kansas’ “The Phog.”
But the most interesting basketball court nickname is LSU’s “Deaf Dome.” While the aforementioned facility nicknames are based around the mascot or the setting of the stadium, the Deaf Dome is based around crowd noise.
LSU’s PMAC was originally coined the “Deaf Dome” by Dick Vitale.
“You don’t get the feel for college basketball at other places the way you do at the Deaf Dome,” Vitale said.
That is high praise coming from such a renowned name in college basketball, and for a time, it was true.
At the time of the coining, LSU was becoming a powerhouse. The program defeated No. 1 Kentucky in 1978 before winning three SEC titles in the next three seasons (two regular-season, one tournament). The Tigers were also given high seeds in the NCAA tournament, being named a third seed after their first SEC title before topping the Midwest Region for two straight years.
In the last year of that successful run, they would make their first Final Four appearance in almost 30 years.
With more success comes more fans, and with more fans comes more noise. LSU had gained a massive amount of recognition, and its attendance numbers showed it.
LSU went from not being in the top 25 in attendance to cracking the top 15 in four straight seasons, peaking at No. 9 in 1982 before its evident drop-off in success caused their attendance to slightly dwindle. LSU would only drop out of the top 25 in 1987 though, and its numbers would jump back with the emergence of Shaquille O’Neal.
With O’Neal drawing loads of attention, LSU had three seasons in which it averaged more than 15,000 attendees per game, taking the No. 9 spot two more times in 1990 and 1992. But 1992 would be the last year in which the Tigers finished in the top 25 in attendance.
Considering the fact that the usual range for the top 25 is between 12,000 and 25,000 and has not changed at all between now and then, it is clear that this occurred due to LSU’s failures after O’Neal left the team. Four straight losing seasons were enough to conclude the golden age of the Deaf Dome, and even with strong individual seasons in the mid-2000s, it was not enough to revive it. That is, until now.
Though it has not quite reached the levels of attendance they had in the 80s and 90s, if Will Wade’s team continues to improve, it will get there. The 2018-2019 season featured multiple home games with over 13,000 attendees, and this season has featured similar numbers despite COVID-19, with a current peak of 12,881 at their game against Tennessee.
Consistent numbers like that would allow LSU to crack the top 25 in average attendance for the first time in 30 years, but it is not just about attendance.
Another reason for obtaining the “Deaf Dome” nickname was a rowdy student section. In the early 1980s, a group known as the “Front Row Lunatics” led a disruptive student section.
Thunderous, excited student sections often motivate the rest of the crowd to get loud, leading to an overall jump in decibels. And LSU’s student section has revived due mostly to the unfolding of a new group of student section leaders, the Balcony Bengals.
The checklist for a Deaf Dome revival features on-the-court success, a rowdy student section and large attendance numbers, and with continued success and a slight jump in attendance, all the boxes will be checked. Fans online have already been preaching the reemergence of the Deaf Dome and if it is true, I wish LSU’s away opponents the best of luck.
