2015 WCBB Attendance

[vtcwbuff]

NCAA Stats Click on the "full charts" link.

D1 attendance overall is down slightly. SC replaces UTenn at the top. UConn attendance dropped slightly (<1.2%) and they fell from 5th to 6th place overall.

 

[EricLA]

Good for SC. UCONN behind SC, Tenn, Iowa State, L'ville and ND.

 

[todbo]

Maybe UConn fans are just spoiled. Taking too much for granted? We were sad to see so few spectators at the NCAA early rounds in Bridgeport.

 

[malevocalist#]

I honestly feel this is one Uconn women won't win at all until Uconn gets into a better conference. Too many (NON COMPETITIVE) games within the AAC.

SEC is a very tough conference in general...That is until they meet Uconn.

However, like the ACC the SEC conference has better matchups. But within the AAC...Well I don't have to remind or tell you what you already know.

 

[Geno-ista]

I agree our attendance would be up with better match ups in a better conference.
It would be easy to track the difference in attendance between our last season in the Big East, and our initial season in the AAC.

 

[DogWarden]

This was the first time since 1994 that neither Tennessee nor UConn was No. 1 in attendance. Link follows:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/south-carolina-leads-ncaa-womens-hoops-attendance-213643595--ncaaw.html

 

[Harry Mangurian]

Can you say TV ?
Can you say, XL Center sucks ?
Can you say, Gampel is uncomfortable ?
Can you say, the league is too geographically dispersed for visiting team fans to attend (TX, FL, LA).
I can't say it for Iowas State, but the others probably have less ice & snow games.

TV is a big one. Does anyone else have the coverage that SNY gives the women (I don't know) plus all of the ESPN games.

 

[CL82]

I'd like to see this analysis with ticket prices factored in. I suspect we might be comfortably at the top.

 

[Harry Mangurian]

I'd like to see this analysis with ticket prices factored in. I suspect we might be comfortably at the top.

I went to a game at USP a years back. There were signs on campus.
Free admission for students and a free hot dog. UCONN fans still outnumbered USF fans.

Add snowbirds to my list above.

 

[alexrgct]

Being in the AAC definitely does not help attendance. An especially brutally cold winter probably didn't help attendance. A lack of quality home opponents doesn't help attendance. Duke was well-attended, better than South Carolina...because the latter game was in Gampel with much lower capacity than XL. More games against quality opponents in Hartford would help immensely, especially in poor weather.

 

[UcMiami]

For starters, Uconn will never top 12,000 per home game because their mixture of home venues does not lead to an average of available seating in that range with Gampel at around 10,000. Interesting to see Uconn rise in total attendance to #3 just ahead of ND (aided by 39 games - same as ND) - so ... Uconn's road attendance is on average better and 50% of that is based on conference play in the 'crappy' AAC. So don't knock our conference too hard.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I was surprised to see that it appears that UConn may be halting their attendance slide. Attendance has fallen nearly 40% since it peaked in 2003/4. The small decrease from last year may indicate that the trend is slowing.

UConn averaged well over 12,000 attendance between 2000 and 2005, maxed at roughly 13.5K in 2003/4. They typically finished 2nd to UTenn in attendance except for 2002/3 where they finished 1st.

 

[Rocket009]

I was surprised to see that it appears that UConn may be halting their attendance slide. Attendance has fallen nearly 40% since it peaked in 2003/4. The small decrease from last year may indicate that the trend is slowing.

UConn averaged well over 12,000 attendance between 2000 and 2005, maxed at roughly 13.5K in 2003/4. They typically finished 2nd to UTenn in attendance except for 2002/3 where they finished 1st.

It would be interesting to see how attendance over the years vs. ticket prices.

 

[AllAmerRedHeads]

Glad to see slide slowdown and hope for uptick. There are certainly various factors that play into it, but whatever they all are, I do not see us going back to the days of 2003/04 regardless of win streaks, players and ticket prices.

Are there any demographic charts on attendance? It seems like we have certainly lost a lot on the senior side in the last 20 years and wonder how much has been replaced with the younger generation.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Iowa State is a unique situation. There isn't anything else to do in Ames. They play an attractive style of play, have decent success and have had great attendance for a very long time.

Yes, I suspect UConn tops the price charts. I think demographics are a big issue, I think the inherent weather and travel issues regarding Storrs, parking issues at Hartford and Storrs, etc. may be factors, and yes, size of arena does figure into it. Also the TV coverage (no, no one else has quite the UConn level of coverage).

So, in spite of issues, still impressive I would say. I'm sure those of you who go enjoy it a lot more than you would with only 1000 - 1500 in the stands supporting your team.

 

[wes33]

Here is the complete scoop. http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/images/2015/07/06/womens-attendence.pdf

 

[triaddukefan]

Iowa State is a unique situation. There isn't anything else to do in Ames. They play an attractive style of play, have decent success and have had great attendance for a very long time.
m.

Most of the top schools in attendance are also in places that there isnt anything else to do. South Bend, Waco , West Lafayette, East Lansing among others...

 

[Orangutan]

For starters, Uconn will never top 12,000 per home game because their mixture of home venues does not lead to an average of available seating in that range with Gampel at around 10,000. Interesting to see Uconn rise in total attendance to #3 just ahead of ND (aided by 39 games - same as ND) - so ... Uconn's road attendance is on average better and 50% of that is based on conference play in the 'crappy' AAC. So don't knock our conference too hard.

Similar for ND - listed capacity at Purcell Pavilion is 9,149. 8,544 thus represents 93.4% of capacity, not bad when you consider that several of those home gamess are walkovers against creampuffs.

Good catch regarding the road attendance - that's very interesting.

 

[DobbsRover2]

As far as the AAC goes there is certainly some numbers for the half-empty viewers, since the departure of Louisville and Rutgers and their combined 11,000+ average attendance was no way going to be made up by even a third by Tulane, ECU, and Tulsa. In addition the TX schools crashed by about 30%, Memphis did even worse, and Cinci was down a little.

On the half-full side, newcomers Tulane at up almost 200% and ECU at over 100% along with Tulsa' 40% rise showed what can happen when you play games with UConn. Temple and UCF were up more than 80% and USF about 50%. So more than half the conference teams had huge gains, and UConn and Cinci's declines were fairly minimal. In a lot of cases I'm sure a few weather or day-of-the-week issues could have been major factors in either losses or gains.

The real problem for UConn though is that SNY just makes it too cushy to crash in your man-cave or woman-cave and drink in all the action and pithy commentary. They definitely should get rid of Kara and Gary and Meghan and Eric and Kerith and bring in that guy who always used to butcher every player's name (Caroline Hayes and Renee Dixon, anyone?}. Then we'd see everyone running back to Gampel and the other Husky homes to pack in for the live action.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Most of the top schools in attendance are also in places that there isnt anything else to do. South Bend, Waco , West Lafayette, East Lansing among others...

Well thankfully Storrs is not in that dismal category. It does have the Dairy Bar after all.

 

[~*Jen*~]

Can you say TV ?
Can you say, XL Center sucks ?
Can you say, Gampel is uncomfortable ?
Can you say, the league is too geographically dispersed for visiting team fans to attend (TX, FL, LA).
I can't say it for Iowas State, but the others probably have less ice & snow games.

TV is a big one. Does anyone else have the coverage that SNY gives the women (I don't know) plus all of the ESPN games.

Iowa State won't have a lot of ice and snow. We get bone-chilling cold but not a whole lot of snow out here. Too cold for it. :-/ I had to laugh because I was in CT about 18 months ago and everyone was panicked about it going under 10 degrees. Yet no one seems to notice 6-10" of snow. Then again, it's normal for our temperatures (not wind chill) to be -20 but everyone panics if we get 1-2" of snow. True story.

 

[mainejeff]

Maine at #2 in New England averaging 1,872 and Rizzotti's Hawks at #3 averaging 1,519.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Maine at #2 in New England averaging 1,872 and Rizzotti's Hawks at #3 averaging 1,519.

Hey, you left out the big shout out to BC, which did the ACC real proud by coming in a huge #6 in New England at 813, with Holy Cross and Fairfield ahead of them in the #4 and #5 spots. Of course there were a few NE border schools like Marist and Stony Brook also ahead of the Eagles, but BC held their decline to only 4%, which is not far off UConn's 1% drop. Sure the Eagles will fall below 800 by next year at that rate, and only two of the eleven schools in the Husky's AAC have smaller numbers, but someday that ND-Louisville-UNC-Duke pull from the ACC has got to get the Eagles going in a big turnaround.

 

[Bestiarius]

It would be interesting to see how attendance over the years vs. ticket prices.

Parking costs need to be factored in. $12 at UConn.

I think TV is the biggest threat to attendance. I wonder how important TV viewership is to the teams vs. people attending the games? It must be important because teams are trying to improve their TV coverage. Of course then there are local blackouts to consider. Any stats available on TV audience?

It will be interesting to see how Tennessee's attendance will be affected with the new SEC Network now up and running. They have a significant older fanbase who are more likely to abandon attendance in favor of the easy chair and HD.

Also, in Connecticut, a significant population commutes to NY City. These people are less likely to attend games when facing their commute on top of an hour plus drive from Storrs. It's much easier to attract attendance when a school is in a city, particularly one that has few options in entertainment. Knoxville would qualify.

Surely getting into a better conference would help. The B1G for instance, most all the schools are large with on campus populations. It really should be the students attending these games. It's part of creating a memorable college experience that can't be obtained on TV.

The women's game is improving, and this bodes well for the future. There's never been so much talent and that bodes well for the future health of the game.

 

[baylorprof]

Most of the top schools in attendance are also in places that there isnt anything else to do. South Bend, Waco , West Lafayette, East Lansing among others...

"Hey, we Wacoans resemble that remark!" (Rodney Daingerfield style)