Women's D1 Attendance

[D2D]

Once again schools in the WCHA held the top four spots in terms of average attendance for D1 women's hockey in 2015-16. But somewhat disappointing is the fact that there is no discernable upward trend in the numbers that the sport is attracting. Except for Cornell - back in 2013-14 only - no other school, other than the four below, cracked the 1,000 barrier in any year. Here are the average attendance numbers for the Top 4:

.................Minnesota.....Wisconsin......MN-Duluth.....North Dakota.....Totals by Year
2015-16..... 2,125 ........... 2,019 .......... 1,331 .......... 1,009 ............... 6,484
2014-15..... 2,037 ........... 1,922 .......... 1,130 .......... 1,150 ............... 6,239
2013-14..... 2,394 ........... 2,329 .......... 1,150 .......... 1,263 ............... 7,136
Totals: ...... 6,556 ........... 6,270 .......... 3,611 .......... 3,422 .............. 19,859

[Eeyore]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

There is an upwards trend at Minnesota, but it's masked by the fact that a single game in 2013-14 pulled its average home attendance up by several hundred per game, mostly through people who didn't arrive until the third period in anticipation of the second half of the double header.

[D2D]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

There is an upwards trend at Minnesota, but it's masked by the fact that a single game in 2013-14 pulled its average home attendance up by several hundred per game, mostly through people who didn't arrive until the third period in anticipation of the second half of the double header.

If there is an upward trend it's a very slight one. And on average there was still over a thousand seats that went unsold, which is surprising to me because that didn't seem to be the case with many of the games I attended.

I was wondering too if Wisconsin's number in 2013-14 might have been a little inflated by a "fill the bowl" game played at the Kohl Center.

[KTDC]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

2011-12 when the Natty's started again we were at 1300.

I think the nattys in 2011-12 and 2012-13 gave attendance an upwards trend, but I think the streak (as well as the TCF game) gave attendance a bulge. Last year we had 2 sellouts for the frozen four that gave a boost. This year I think we got a Kessel boost. But the general trend has definitely been upward

I don't know the Boston market, but I would think if they would have won the game last week, things like a 41-0 season with a national championship can give a team a boost. They did 434 this year. I tried to see if they've gone up at all the last couple years with all the success but I can't find the stats page for previous years.

[KTDC]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

I was wondering too if Wisconsin's number in 2013-14 might have been a little inflated by a "fill the bowl" game played at the Kohl Center.

I would say yes on Wisconsin's 13-14 Fill The Bowl.

Wisconsin's attendance numbers this year looked very real to me. They sold out (or came close) almost everything starting with us in December, even Mankato regular season and WCHA first round. It looked like Madison really caught on to that team.

[Badger Booster]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

I was wondering too if Wisconsin's number in 2013-14 might have been a little inflated by a "fill the bowl" game played at the Kohl Center.

I'm almost positive that the number includes Fill the Bowl. There's no way that there were more people at LaBahn per game in 13-14 vs. this year. This season's average was limited by capacity. Twelve games were sellouts so I don't see that average of 2,000 changing much (I don't see weekday afternoon games ever selling out). However, I would definitely say that overall interest in the community with the women's program is still trending upwards.

[Eeyore]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

If there is an upward trend it's a very slight one.

About 5% per year, more if you go back a few years farther. That's not bad.

[Badger Booster]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

About 5% per year, more if you go back a few years farther. That's not bad.

I still can't figure out why the WCHA Frozen Four doesn't do better. I expected something near a sellout for the title game and it wasn't close. The regular season Badger/Gopher games at Ridder were both over 3,000, but a title game can't crack 2,000. That's odd.

[KTDC]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

I still can't figure out why the WCHA Frozen Four doesn't do better. I expected something near a sellout for the title game and it wasn't close. The regular season Badger/Gopher games at Ridder were both over 3,000, but a title game can't crack 2,000. That's odd.

I know what you mean, but the tickets are a little more expensive than regular season, they don't come with people's season tickets, the little kids have to pay more to get in than a regular season game, and you don't know who's playing until one day ahead of time. And while it is the conference tourney it's not the national tourney. I would have liked to have seen it do better but I thought it was respectable.

I think I would say this season's Badger fans probably would have done more than 2,000 for this game in Madison if you put a gun to my head.

[Badger Booster]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

I know what you mean, but the tickets are a little more expensive than regular season, they don't come with people's season tickets, the little kids have to pay more to get in than a regular season game, and you don't know who's playing until one day ahead of time. And while it is the conference tourney it's not the national tourney. I would have liked to have seen it do better but I thought it was respectable.

Assuming the WCHA sets the prices, I don't think they are doing themselves any favors with the pricing. Add in relatively expensive ramp parking (I don't know the free spots and don't want to risk getting towed) and it's more costly than it should be.

[EastFan1]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

I don't know the Boston market, but I would think if they would have won the game last week, things like a 41-0 season with a national championship can give a team a boost. They did 434 this year. I tried to see if they've gone up at all the last couple years with all the success but I can't find the stats page for previous years.

You do realize how many division 1 men's and women's teams in the Boston area right? Imagine adding 11 or so D1 men's and women's programs to the Twin Cities.

[KTDC]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

You do realize how many division 1 men's and women's teams in the Boston area right? Imagine adding 11 or so D1 men's and women's programs to the Twin Cities.

Did BC get any more press in Boston last weekend than they do for a normal game? Was there any BC fans among the 3200 that were at the championship game?

[ARM]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

I still can't figure out why the WCHA Frozen Four doesn't do better.

Some of the difference is marketing. There are usually some sort of incentives to get a bigger crowd for the regular season Wisconsin series: University student promotions, youth groups, other giveaways. For the WCHA Final Face-Off, they had some ads on TV, but I'm not sure that men's hockey fans in general are the best target audience for women's hockey. IMO, the prime audience is families with kids, because women's hockey is very family friendly and if you can hook young fans, you may have created fans that will follow the sport for many years.

[ne7minder]

There is an upwards trend at Minnesota, but it's masked by the fact that a single game in 2013-14 pulled its average home attendance up by several hundred per game, mostly through people who didn't arrive until the third period in anticipation of the second half of the double header.

OTOH last year's numbers were off due to a game Halloween night and a couple other factors.

The trene is up but not as steep as it should be

[Rockytop]

Re: Women's D1 Attendance

There's been a good trend at Quinnipiac:

Season avg/game

2012-13: 310
2013-14: 367
2014-15: 465
2015-16: 494