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Message: [QUOTE="KnightBridgeAZ, post: 4536550, member: 591"] I want to say this is a really great thread, because so many folks have hit on so many of the factors that long observation of 15 years at Rutgers and 10 years here in Arizona have shown. Among the many, many valid comments - - those that recognize success is a key metric for attendance. For all someone said (above) that Adia worked at developing a fan base, the truth of the matter is she won games. The lesser attendance before her was when the program was not successful at all. - at the same time, there is an element of a coach being personally charismatic (helps on the recruiting side, as well). Adia has that in spades. Grentz enjoyed a lot of popularity among RU fans from her day, as she was outgoing as opposed to the much more introverted Stringer. - many of the schools with successful attendance are located where there is less competition from professional sports or other major competition for the entertainment dollar. Ames, Iowa is a leading example. Also, factor in "college town" as a factor that can help. Tucson is both a basketball town and a UArizona town, so the women's team was ripe for becoming popular. - as noted, again, name recognition and fans identifying with the school is a factor. Excellent discussion by several posters. - marketing is fine, and important, but as someone above noted, it is not always a priority where WBB is concerned, and when it isn't, it shows. Schools that went out of their way to do the marketing (and that includes Arizona but not Rutgers) benefitted. - the science of pricing is important, as well. It isn't so much how much you charge (within reason), as accessibility of tickets at a fair price to grow the fan base. - I have to add that the more "attractive" a team seems (I don't mean appearance of the players, but rather appearance of the style of play, appearance of the team as a positive factor in the community, etc.) the more that can help. UConn runs a reasonably appealing style of play while Rutgers under CVS did not. Don't think for one second that this was not a turn on / turn off for fans on both sides. I'm not original in this post, just trying to capture in one place some of the excellent points made. Attendance is a tricky thing. One final thought (and the comments above about NAU made me think of it) - most non Power-5 (or 6 if you prefer to include the BE) have the additional burden that deep NCAA runs are not generally in the cards, as opposed to some so-called mid-major men's programs. I think this is a reality. As well as the fact that in many cases it just isn't great basketball. It can be, I've enjoyed some TV games you wouldn't expect to be good, but it often isn't. I remember a couple of RU fans back in the 1990's who were leaving after a hard fought RU game with some major team and they made the comment they wanted to see some "good basketball" so were going to watch Monmouth play St. Peter's. Most fans are just not that gullible. [/QUOTE]

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