If you promote it, they will come.

Division I institutions around the country found that to be true through a competition that urged fans to “Pack the House” for selected women’s basketball games from January 1 through February 17.

Almost two-thirds of the Division I membership – 198 institutions – participated in the effort that attracted more than 592,000 fans.

Events at Duke, Louisville, Marist, Navy, Oklahoma State and Presbyterian produced sell-out crowds. Seventy-eight other programs surpassed their single-game attendance highs from last year.

“We believe the effort motivated schools to attract new fans to our game,” said NCAA Vice President for Women’s Basketball Sue Donohoe. “Campuses devoted additional time and resources to the competition. We are already being asked for information about next year. New alliances were formed among conference offices, member institutions and the national office staff that will only strengthen efforts in the future.”

“Pack the House” is a first-time effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build attendance. The 32 winners (one from each of the 31 conferences and one from a group of independent institutions) will be announced next week. Selections are based on how well an institution met their marketing strategies and attendance criteria. The NCAA will donate $500 to the nonprofit organization of each winning institution’s choice.

The ideas to market the games were as diverse as the membership itself.

At Marist, for example, officials already rely on community support, but for Pack the House, officials targeted their own students. On January 25 against Siena, the Red Foxes played in front of their first sell-out audience (3,200) in the 30-plus year history of the program. About 900 of those fans were Marist students.

“Our women’s basketball team was ecstatic,” said Travis Tellitocci, Marist’s assistant athletics director for external affairs. “While you don’t want to just give away tickets, because it cheapens what you are trying to do, we were able to get people there without a giveaway approach.”

Tellitocci met with students enrolled in a sports public relations course to map out a plan to attract more students to the game.

The school ended up using a competition of its own as part of the promotion – the club or organization that brought the most students to the game received an institutional donation of $250 toward its operating budget. Officials also staged a half-court shot at halftime for tickets and lodging at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference postseason tournament.

Marist also conducted raffles for gift certificates to local businesses and boosted its “honorary coach” program by selecting a local FM disc-jockey for the Siena game who promoted Marist’s goal to fill the McCann Center for a couple of weeks on his radio program.

The first 1,000 fans also received commemorative Sweet 16 T-shirts to honor the Red Foxes’ run in the 2007 NCAA tournament.

“With the success of the women’s basketball team, we really tried to sell this event as a way of giving something back to them,” Tellitocci said. “We wanted them to know how much support is out there for them.”

A crowd of 19,123 filled Freedom Hall in Louisville as the Cardinals took on Connecticut on January 12. The attendance shattered Louisville’s previous high by more than 7,000 fans. (Photo courtesy of Howie Lindsey)

At Louisville, the Cardinals drew a record sell-out crowd of 19,123 for a January 12 game against Connecticut.

Louisville used a more widespread marketing plan to pack the house. Teresa Lowry, Louisville’s director of marketing, said the school collaborated with the institution’s corporate partners to promote the event. Fans went to businesses in the community to pick up vouchers for the event, and employees of those businesses received special ticket offers as well.

The Cardinals also used their “Courtsiders” program that features prominent civic-minded women who sit courtside at every game. They were able to drum up support through their business ties.

Attracting media was another part of the plan. Reporters covered a competition between current junior forward all-America candidate Angel McCoughtry and former men’s basketball all-American Darrell Griffith. The friendly shootout was billed, “The Battle of the No. 35s,” since McCoughtry currently wears the number and Griffith wore it during his storied career from 1976-80. That helped create a buzz about the “Pack the House” promotion.

The women’s basketball team also helped promote the event by attending a New Year’s Eve family-oriented celebration in downtown Louisville. The student-athletes signed autographs and took pictures with fans, which created a personal connection with those in the community.

“When we got to the day of the game, the atmosphere in the arena was electric,” Lowry said. “Our players were thrilled because the place was so loud. It was just a good night.”