Only 3,486 fans turned out for last night's NCAA women's basketball tournament second-round game between UConn and Rutgers, marking the "smallest UConn crowd" for a tourney game at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs since 2,585 attended a '90 game against Clemson, according to Jeff Jacobs of the HARTFORD COURANT. UConn "sold out every tournament game" from '94-'03. The team's first-round game against St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday drew 3,666 fans to the 10,167-seat venue. ESPN was "insisting" on 9:00pm ET start times for both games. Jacobs writes, "Maybe the fans have grown so spoiled that they no longer can get charged up enough to bother to fill the joint" (HARTFORD COURANT, 3/24). In Connecticut, Jim Fuller wrote Saturday's attendance was a "much lower turnout than most people expected." UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, "It is not indicative [of] who our program is and what we have done to get to this point. It is kind of embarrassing." Fuller noted some of the issues "are a result in the change in how the subregionals are awarded and marketed." The days of "being given a subregional and putting tickets on sale months in advance ended when the NCAA opted to have the top 16 seeds host the first and second rounds." The 9:00pm start times also were a "recipe for a low attendance number." Auriemma: "I don't know how all those things are done. I would assume the TV networks said, 'Hey, we want UConn on at 9pm.' We have the same deal with SNY. If SNY says Saturday's game is going to be at 2, we play at 2. If they say it is at 4, we play at 4" (NEW HAVEN REGISTER, 3/23).
NOTHING NEW HERE: In N.Y., Robert Harms writes there is a "larger trend of stagnant attendance" in D-I women's basketball, and attendance at the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament have "followed suit." Sunday's Duke-Mississippi State second-round game at Cameron Indoor Stadium drew 2,293 fans, including "swaths of empty blue seats." North Carolina-Liberty in Chapel Hill on Saturday drew "only 2,098 fans" to Carmichael Arena, "which holds 6,822" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/24). In Baltimore, Jeff Barker noted the women's tourney "has seen attendance stagnate for years in the early rounds." The NCAA has "tinkered with rules governing when games are held and who is permitted to host them to avoid the specter of two-thirds empty gyms." The idea of giving home games to the top 16 seeds is to "guarantee early homes games for teams that perform and draw the best." Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said, "There's some erosion here that people should be concerned about. The sport's not growing." Barker noted other changes "aimed at boosting tournament attendance are coming." The Women's Final Four and Championship Game beginning in '17 "will be shifted from Sunday and Tuesday to Friday and Sunday" (Baltimore SUN, 3/21).
