The fans have given their nod to the pod.

In the first year of a new approach for assigning sites in the Division I Men's Basketball Championship, attendance for first- and second-round games soared to a record high. Paid attendance for first and second rounds this year was 460,852, eclipsing the previous mark of 428,373 set in 1999. The increase led to a record total tournament attendance of 748,722, which broke the previous standard of 720,685 set in 1999.

Attendance for the Division I Women's Basketball Championship also set a record with 326,767 fans, surpassing the previous mark of 320,062 set last year. The women also established a record for Women's Final Four attendance, with 29,619 viewing the semifinals and final at San Antonio's Alamodome.

The pod approach to first- and second-round contests was implemented this year to place more teams closer to home in first- and second-round games. The action came after the committee received numerous comments from student-athletes' parents and other fans who were unhappy with expenses they encountered to see their teams play during the 2001 championship. With the pod system in place this year, first- and second-round crowds increased by 143,025, a jump of 45 percent over 2001.

Not only did the pod system lead to higher overall attendance, it also elevated the percentage of capacity in the first and second rounds to the highest level in seven years. This year, 95.5 percent of seats at first- and second-round games were sold, which was the highest since 1995 when percent of capacity reached 96.9 percent.

At non-dome sites, where actual capacity is more easily measured, the arenas were filled to nearly 100 percent. All sessions were sold out except the afternoon first-round doubleheader at Albuquerque.

"The committee is pleased with the results," said Tom Jernstedt, NCAA senior vice-president. "This change provided more fans with an opportunity to see their favorite teams and also permitted the student-athletes to play before capacity or near-capacity crowds. The participants also were exposed to less long-distance travel than in previous years."

The travel reduction was best illustrated by how many time zones the participants had to cross to reach their first- and second-round sites this year compared to last:

*Includes opening-round game.

"The committee knew it would not be able to eliminate all travel because of the various principles it must follow while bracketing the teams," said Jim Marchiony, director of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship, media. "For example, the first priority is a balanced bracket, and many more teams are located east of the Mississippi.

"But travel had become an issue in recent years. The committee was receiving phone calls from people who were saying, 'I love this tournament, but I can't afford to follow my team across the country.' "

As this year's tournament evolved, the only major concern had to do with whether the pod system favored some lower-seeded teams against higher-seeded teams that came from far away. The top five teams in each region were protected from a first-round opponent that would have a home-crowd advantage. However, some coaches questioned a few second-round matchups this year.

Still, the aggregate results were not significantly different from the 2001.

Television ratings for the event were similar to last year. The championship game between the University of Maryland, College Park, and Indiana University, Bloomington, drew a rating of 15.0, which was 0.6 point lower than 2001. The game peaked at a 16.2 rating before Maryland took control in the second half.

The tournament, carried throughout by CBS Sports, earned a 6.5 rating, the same as last year.

Women's ratings increase

The women's championship game drew a rating of 4.1 on ESPN, making it the cable sports network's highest-rated college basketball game ever, either for men or women.

The championship game was viewed in 3.49 million households, surpassing the 3.44 million households that viewed a men's tournament game between the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and Princeton University in 1990. It also finished well ahead of the 3.24 million households that watched the 1999 women's final between Purdue University and Duke University.

Last year's championship game between the University of Notre Dame and Purdue earned a 3.3 rating.

Viewership for the overall tournament was up about 6 percent on ESPN and down about 4 percent on ESPN2.

As for attendance, the sellout for the Women's Final Four was the 10th in a row. The first and second rounds drew 212,175 for an average of 6,630 per session, which were the best numbers for the opening week of the tournament since it went to its current format in 1995.