NCAA WCBB Attendance

[DefenseBB]

In watching some of the various non-UConn games, I am struck by the paltry crowds in attendance-the Maui classic over the weekend with OSU/Texas A&M, the UCLA game yesterday (as examples) and it got me thinking about how each of the various leagues do and what the history of attendance within WCBB can tell us how the game is doing.

For a brief level set: WCBB set an all time attendance record last year for it's 1,092 programs across all divisions with 11.5 million or 774 per game. I did comparison to 5 years ago. 1,055 programs, 11.3 million or 779 per game.

D1- 1,569 per game: 15 programs that averaged more than 5,000 per home game. In 2013, 17 programs>5,000
D2- 418 per game: 2 programs that averaged more than 2,000 per game. In 2013, there were 3>2,000
D3- 218 per game: 2 programs that averaged more than 1,000 per game. In 2013 there was 1 (fyi-Tufts has 262 per game)

From a league perspective, I took the P5 Conferences plus the AAC and Big East. In 2013 AAC did not exist. The NCAA now list the attendance at the Conference Tournaments (kudos to the NCAA!) so I listed that for last year as well.

Last, as we all know, or should know, South Carolina has been leading ALL attendance the last 4 years (FYI UConn is second), but I did some digging into the Home vs. Road/Neutral averages to see how well both teams perform. While the Home is 13,239 to 10,026, UConn travels very well and is really impressive averaging 8,143. So the circus really does come to town! Add in the fact the SEC leads all conferences in attendance (has many teams with strong home attendance) while the AAC does not, UConn is truly in a league of their own.

Here's the NCAA link for those who care: Women's Basketball Attendance

 

[DefenseBB]

A few points on Conference attendance:
While UConn IS THE AAC, which is stating the obvious, the AAC averaged 2,028 with two other teams averaging more: UCF 3,117 and USF 2,682 than this average AND BOTH have been increasing their attendance! This is great news, especially if UCF can get strong enough to be ranked.
The other good news is the AAC tournament has the 3rd highest attendance average behind the SEC and ACC (lower by only 2 people!).

The positives are UCF and USF are both increasing their attendance and hopefully they can build rivalries with some other schools to generate interest-Tulane, Houston, Witchita St and SMU seem to be schools with a commitment to WCBB. Temple has shown signs but not sustained. Both Houston and Tulane have room to improve attendance (851/865) if they can continue to win.

Maybe it’s not as bleak as we thought!

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

A few points on Conference attendance:
While UConn IS THE AAC, which is stating the obvious, the AAC averaged 2,028 with two other teams averaging more: UCF 3,117 and USF 2,682 than this average AND BOTH have been increasing their attendance! This is great news, especially if UCF can get strong enough to be ranked.
The other good news is the AAC tournament has the 3rd highest attendance average behind the SEC and ACC (lower by only 2 people!).

The positives are UCF and USF are both increasing their attendance and hopefully they can build rivalries with some other schools to generate interest-Tulane, Houston, Witchita St and SMU seem to be schools with a commitment to WCBB. Temple has shown signs but not sustained. Both Houston and Tulane have room to improve attendance (851/865) if they can continue to win.

Maybe it’s not as bleak as we thought!

USF has always drawn relatively well to what some might expect and UCF has a history of promotion of their sports programs. In general, AAC figures are skewed by UConn's presence. The vast majority of attendees at the AAC tournament are UConn fans from (nearby) UConn. The ACC in particular has a tournament that is not well located to its best drawing team (Notre Dame) and traditionally, I think, tournaments can be a tough sell. Look at the size of contingents from everyone but UConn in the oBE, and I was there at the tourneys. Heck, there were more UConn folks than RU folks back when the tourney was held at Rutgers. Rutgers and Notre Dame has small contingents, everyone else was few and far between.

Absent marked success - and I mean truly marked success - don't expect much improvement at any of the schools you site. If nothing else, the OP showed that attendance is (in general) fairly static.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Just want to add, the rest of your analysis is very good. It is only your AAC conclusion I don't particularly agree with. And thanks for doing it.

 

[triaddukefan]

USF has always drawn relatively well to what some might expect and UCF has a history of promotion of their sports programs. In general, AAC figures are skewed by UConn's presence. The vast majority of attendees at the AAC tournament are UConn fans from (nearby) UConn. The ACC in particular has a tournament that is not well located to its best drawing team (Notre Dame) and traditionally, I think, tournaments can be a tough sell. Look at the size of contingents from everyone but UConn in the oBE, and I was there at the tourneys. Heck, there were more UConn folks than RU folks back when the tourney was held at Rutgers. Rutgers and Notre Dame has small contingents, everyone else was few and far between.

Absent marked success - and I mean truly marked success - don't expect much improvement at any of the schools you site. If nothing else, the OP showed that attendance is (in general) fairly static.

Before the latest round of expansion.. ..9 of the 12 ACC schools were located within a 4.5 hour drive of Greensboro...... and actually attendance was better before expansion. The key for the ACC was deciding on a location and keeping it there.. not moving it around year to year.

 

[DefenseBB]

USF has always drawn relatively well to what some might expect and UCF has a his

In general, AAC figures are skewed by UConn's presence.

The ACC in particular has a tournament that is not well located to its best drawing team (Notre Dame) and traditionally, I think, tournaments can be a tough sell

Absent marked success -schools you site. If nothing else, the OP showed that attendance is (in general) fairly static.

Here is my comments back on your observations for some more perspective:
"USF has always drawn relatively well"- see the trend- which is up and fairly well up (no data for USF before 2010 was found).

"In general, AAC figures are skewed by UConn's presence"-ABSOLUTELY! And it is smart to hold it at Mohegan Sun to generate the support for the tournament.

"If nothing else, the OP showed that attendance is (in general) fairly static"- Absolute numbers would agree, there have been some big programs who were strong in attendance in 2008 but have suffered 30% or more droppage by (2018)-Tenn 15,796 (8,778-44%), Oklahoma 9,963 (3,825-61%); Purdue 8,870 (6,036-32%), Duke 6,749 (4,058-40%); NC 5,142 (2,625-51%); Stanford 4,139 (2,865-31%) that have taken significant hits.

This shows other schools have picked up the slack. Also, there are more "entertainment options now" as evidenced by many sports suffering attendance lag. Also, with streaming of games on FB and such, fans don't have to go to the games so to even be slightly up is still pretty impressive.

I have snap shot of USF attendance and the ACC to give @KnightBridgeAZ and @triaddukefan some data for their perspective. This was the first year the NCAA listed the conference tournament attendance as a line item so no conclusion can be ascribed to the success of how those are faring.

On the ACC attendance-this years NCAA stats list conference attendance history and the ACC peaked in 2007 at 3,357 per game (12 teams), then bottomed out in 2013 at 2,597 per game (12 teams), they added two powers in attendance-ND and Louisville and the trend is up to 2,900 the past two years (15 teams)

Enjoy

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I credited USF with decent attendance more on what I had heard than any proof - although I attended a Rutgers game there in 2010 and the crowd was decent - probably north of 1000.

The 2012 record - by the way - is an anomaly - their arena was closed for renovations that year.