The NCAA News - News and Features

June 16, 1997

COUNT IT: Women's basketball attendance continues record climb

BY RICHARD M. CAMPBELL
NCAA STATISTICS COORDINATOR

Women's basketball attendance has improved every year since 1982, when the NCAA began keeping track of the tabulations. And, with a new method of counting home attendance this season, NCAA women's national home attendance surpassed the six-million mark in 1997 for the first time in history.

The new method of counting home double-header games with men paved the way for women's attendance to continue its record-breaking ways. For the first time, NCAA institutions were permitted to count the women's attendance as part of a double-header with men as long as the fan count was taken by half time of the women's game.

Each institution had the option of reporting women's attendance at double-header games, as long as the institution had a way to single out the women's attendance from men's.

The NCAA Statistics Service determined that attendance counted by half time of the women's game could be added to the women's totals. The previous method of not counting double-header attendance was the other option.

As expected, the new method increased all divisions proportionately, with Division I and Division II registering the biggest jumps.

The total of 6,734,141 for all NCAA varsity teams, including the selected double-header games with men, was a net increase of 1,500,187 (or 28.7 percent) over the 1996 total. The figures include all 879 NCAA institutions with varsity teams -- 298 of them Division I members.

This is the16th consecutive season that national attendance has reached an all-time high.

Division II women's attendance had the biggest proportional leap, up 623,843 fans -- more than doubling last year's totals. Per-game attendance was up from 326 to 413. Division I home attendance also jumped 761,111 in total from last season, but was up only 32 (to 1,255) per game.

NCAA women's national attendance has more than tripled from just over 1.9 million in its first year to more than 6.7 million in 1997. Per-game attendance has also increased by almost 21/2 times, from 281 to 675 this year.

Big Ten again

For the fifth consecutive year, the Big Ten Conference captured the Division I conference attendance title and set records in both total and per-game attendance.

The Big Ten, with five teams in the top 10 in attendance, set a new attendance mark of 544,779, averaging a record 4,127 spectators per game. The per-game average eclipsed the record by 488 per outing.

Since 1982, only 18 leagues have averaged more than 2,000 per game, but in 1997, a record five conferences averaged at least that much per game. The Big Ten (4,127), Big Twelve Conference (3,272), Southeastern Conference (2,981), Pacific-10 Conference (2,278) and Atlantic Coast Conference (2,014) all joined the 2,000-plus club.

In all, 11 conferences averaged more than 1,000 per game and 12 Division I leagues set per-game records in 1997. The new methods for accounting for double-headers were certainly a factor, as 24 of 30 conferences set new total attendance marks.

In other divisions, the North Central Intercollegiate Conference led Division II for the seventh straight year, averaging 1,246 per game.

In Division III, the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (436) ranked No. 1 for the first time since 1988.

Tennessee tops

Tennessee, the 1997 Division I champion, also won the attendance title, averaging a record 10,500 spectators per game.

The Lady Vols also won the attendance prize in 1992 and 1995, but this year they barely outdistanced last year's winner, Connecticut, which averaged 10,474.

This is Tennessee's 16th straight year in the top five in attendance.

Forty-five Division I teams averaged more than 2,000 spectators per game. In all-games attendance (including home, road and neutral sites), Tennessee also topped all Division I teams with 329,548.

In Division II, North Dakota State captured its sixth straight crown, averaging 3,932 per game.

In Division III, Defiance repeated as champion, averaging 1,240 per game to outdistance second-place New York University at 987.