Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Thursday, January 19, 2006

The Virginian Pilot looks at attendance at Old Dominion.

Up until recently, the Lady Monarchs had been a perennial top 25 team but last appeared in polls in the 2001-02 season. While they are not as successful nationally, the Lady Monarchs have won 14 consecutive CAA titles. Yet, this has not been enough to attract additional fans.

Old Dominion still is in the top 25 nationally for attendance, but crowds of more than 5,000 have been rare. The drop is attributed to a loss of season ticket holders over the last few years. When the Constant Center opened in 2002, the Lady Monarchs sold more than 4,000 season tickets, about twice what was sold for this season.

ODU Associate Athletic Director Debbie Byrne and Head Coach Wendy Larry are concerned but not alarmed about the decline. “I know we have a really good product to offer,” Larry said.

As people in Minnesota learned a few years ago, winning helps. “Winning is the big factor in anybody’s attendance, men or women, for attracting the new fan ,” Byrne said. “We have very loyal fans that have been very supportive, win or lose. But to attract new fans, they need a reason, or to be attracted to a particular player, to come watch.”

The article also looks briefly at the success at New Mexico over the last decade since the hiring of Don Flanagan and mentions the large number of fans who turned out for the ODU hosted NCAA regional in 2004.

Byrne claims the big turnout was not just Minnesota fans. “Most people think all the fans were from Minnesota,” Byrne said. “But the majority of people were from Hampton Roads, and they were there because of Wendy.” (Note: as someone from MN who attended this regional, I remember there being about 800 Gopher fans for the first games -MN vs. BC and LA Tech vs. Duke. An additional 250 or so came down for the Blue Devil-Gopher game).

Both Byrne and Larry believe the ODU program has a bright future. The Lady Monarchs nearly beat North Carolina and Vanderbilt this season with a injury depleted line up. Plus, Friday night games have been re-established and student attendance has increased by an average of 300 per game.