Last week athletic director David Matlin sought to educate the University of Hawaii Board of Regents on the department’s fiscal plight with a colorful slide show of charts and graphs.

Turns out maybe all he needed to show them was the sobering image of the ghost town that the once-rollicking Aloha Stadium has become on a Saturday night.

For nothing spoke to UH’s current distressed straits like the sight of the smallest turnout for a UH game in the Rainbow Warriors’ 41 years of residence, 11,625, in a 42-23 loss to San Jose State.

Few things about this year of struggle have been as haunting or alarming as the vision of 38,375 empty seats in the 50,00-seat facility.

This just a night after the Hawaii High School Athletic Association championship doubleheader pulled in 19,699, the first time UH has been so badly outnumbered by a state championship or Prep Bowl turnout.

Fact is three of the five smallest crowds in UH history have come this season and there is little doubting that a new low likely awaits the season finale this week against Louisiana-Monroe. As of Friday a total of just 744 mini-pack and individual tickets beyond the 15,240 season tickets had been sold for the Nov. 28 meeting with the 1-10 Warhawks, officials said.

Never mind that it has been 53 games since UH last had a sellout at home, the scary part is that the number of no-shows, of which there were 8,695 for San Jose State, might come to match those who are in attendance.

In sliding to 2-10 for the season, UH has lost nine games in a row and finished last in the West Division of the Mountain West, the only team in the 12-member league without a conference victory (0-8).

All UH has to show for four seasons of membership in the MWC is a 4-28 record and a lot of frustration — like the fact the ‘Bows blanked the Spartans 13-0 just 53 weeks ago in San Jose.

Things were so bad in a morgue-like 35-0 first half that reluctant couples got booed on the stadium video board’s "Kiss Cam."

Once upon a time it was said that UH fans, the envy of whatever league the Rainbow Warriors were playing in, would come out whenever the lights went on at the corner of Kamehameha Highway and Salt Lake Boulevard, so strong an attraction was ‘Bows football.

But no longer, and the disconnect with the once faithful is increasingly reflected at the box office. It is where UH expects to bring in about $2.9 million in ticket revenue this year, about half of the $5.8 million it produced in 2007 and well below even modest, twice scaled-back projections.

Collaterally, it has hit vendors and Aloha Stadium itself. The fall-off in revenue is one reason cited for the Stadium Authority’s announcement that it will be raising parking and many rental fees at the facility as of Jan. 1.

UH no longer pays rent but does cover operating expenses, and the sale of 744 individual tickets won’t come close to paying for trash cleanup, electricity or security.

School officials say football, through its various revenue streams, still more than pays for itself. But no longer is it able to underwrite the handful of so-called non-income sports that have long ridden its coat tails.

Football has, since the Otto Klum "Wonder Team" days, been the engine that pulls the 21-team athletic department. Only now it has become painful to see just how much of a struggle it has become.

WHERE’S THE CROWD?
Smallest UH attendance at Aloha Stadium

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.