National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Mar 16, 2010 8:42:57 AM

The NCAA's "Pack the House Challenge" for Division I women's basketball was a success again this year, with 181 participating schools drawing more than 500,000 fans to designated games this season.

Virginia was the overall winner for drawing a crowd of 11,895 to its November 22 game against Tennessee. The turnout set a single-game attendance record.

The campaign continued the overall success of the attendance-based initiative that in three years has attracted more than 1.6 million fans.

"Pack the House demonstrates what can be accomplished when institutions dedicate time and effort into marketing women's basketball," said Sue Donohoe, NCAA vice president for Division I women's basketball. "Thanks to all of the schools that participated and fans across the country who supported the effort. We hope all will continue to support our game."

The initiative encourages institutions to target a select regular-season game to draw a large crowd. The competition-driven idea attracted 511,638 fans to those games this season. A challenge-record 11 schools – Army, Central Michigan, Duke, Houston Baptist, Jacksonville, Long Beach State, Marist, Middle Tennessee State, Niagara, Prairie View A&M and Xavier – enjoyed sellout crowds.

The NCAA selected a winner from each of the 31 conferences (as well as one from independent institutions) with the best marketing plan based on creativity and increased attendance from last year's top crowd.

Virginia's plan, which resulted in more than 9,500 pre-sold tickets, included outreach efforts to the YMCA, Girl Scouts and the Parent Teacher Association; raffle prizes for students; and a hotdog and beverage giveaway. The marketing department also attempted to contact all 57,000 people on the school's fan database.

"We tried to hit every angle we could," said Marty Northcroft, the assistant athletics director of marketing and promotions at Virginia. "We even reached out to our men's basketball and football season-ticket holders. We wanted to give them the opportunity to purchase tickets at a special price."

Virginia's marketing department also bought numerous radio advertisements and contacted the program's kid's club fan group.

At Middle Tennessee State, the winner in the Sun Belt Conference for the second time, the Blue Raiders drew the first sellout crowd for a women's basketball game when 11,802 fans attended a contest against Tennessee on November 25.

The Blue Raiders began their marketing efforts at the summer camps conducted by the women's basketball coaching staff. They also sent postcards on a bi-weekly basis to their season-ticket holders and booster clubs.

"We targeted youth across Tennessee, northern Alabama and southern Kentucky," said Brad Smith, the assistant athletics director for marketing and promotions at Middle Tennessee State. "Each postcard had a different saying on it. One said, ‘Save the date,' and another had our team slogan for the season, which was ‘Believe.' "

As the season approached, the "Pack the House" game was also prominently displayed on the season-ticket brochure. The marketing department also used its Twitter and Facebook feeds prominently.

"We knew the game could potentially sell out, and we had a limited amount of student tickets," Smith said. "We established a timeline for students to pick up their tickets in advance. That helped create a sense of urgency throughout the student community."

Smith also credited Blue Raiders coach Rick Insell for his willingness to speak to numerous groups to promote the program.

At Marist, the Red Foxes recorded a sellout of 3,200 for the third consecutive year. They were chosen as winners from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Marist's unique promotion involved the public relations majors on campus, who touted a 1980s theme for the "Pack the House" game against Iona on February 5.

"I am a graduate of the sports communication program and my boss is, too," said Frank Lombardy, the assistant athletics director of external affairs at Marist. "It was the students' job to market the game and generate publicity about it on campus and in the community. It gave them a taste of one potential aspect of the field they could be joining later in life."

The sellout crowd included about 800 students.

"We have a ton of season-ticket holders and this has become more than just another regular-season game," Lombardy said. "Pack the House is a brand around here, which is really great. People like to rally around this game."