Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Are there women's basketball programs that outdraw men's programs? (2015 edition)



When I was writing for SA, I posted an article about women's basketball programs that had higher average attendance than men's programs.  Now, with new data from the NCAA, I have updated the data to the end of the 2014-15 season!

So which women's basketball programs over the past five years have been more popular than the men's basketball programs at the same school over the same five years?  As it turns out, there are six schools where the women outdraw the men.

Lowest Ratio of Men's Average Attendance to Women's Average Attendance, 2010-15


  Marist 0.73
  Delaware 0.88
  Tenn-Martin 0.90
  Baylor 0.90
  Notre Dame 0.93
  Maine 0.94
  Hartford 1.05
  Bowling Green 1.09
  McNeese St. 1.11
  North Dakota 1.12


Marist, Delaware, Tennessee-Martin, Baylor and Notre Dame all have programs where the women outdraw the men.  (Apologists arriving in three...two...one....).  However, there is greater variance in men's basketball attendance than women's basketball attendance and when men's schools have good years they can eclipse any women's basketball program out there. 

Of course, if there are programs where the women consistently outdraw the men, there must be programs at the bottom of the list where the women's program is eclipsed by the men's.  And as you can tell from the numbers posted, the scale is much greater.



Highest Ratio of Men's Average Attendance to Women's Average Attendance, 2010-15


  Saint Louis 12.17
  Georgetown 13.03
  UNLV 13.10
  Memphis 14.03
  Utah St. 14.82
  Creighton 15.59
  Providence 17.39
  San Diego St. 17.88
  Brigham Young 19.75
  Syracuse 28.51


Note that there are programs where the women's program is segregated to an older gymnasium with a reduced seating capacity.  Georgetown, Providence, and Creighton are all guilty of that.  But would those programs be any better off playing in the men's arenas?  Look at poor Syracuse at the bottom.  The men can fill their cavernous dome; the women are almost an afterthought.

Some other numbers of interest:

There is only one women's basketball school that has increased its attendance every year from 2009 to 2015.  That's Furman.  In 2009-10, they averaged 257 students per game, and have steadily increased to 312, 372, 422, 428, 461 and 561.  Furthermore, they are the only school that has increased its attendance from 2010 to 2015.

There are other schools, besides Furman that have increased their attendance over the last four seasons.  Long Beach State and Longwood have shown increases in attendance each season from 2011 to 2015.

But the big winner from 2011-2015 is South Carolina.  The numbers have ballooned under Dawn Staley's program, moving from 3139 per game to 3952, then 6171, then 12293 per game.  The numbers in 2014-15 were good enough to make South Carolina the #1 program in women's average attendance for 2014-15.

Of course, there are programs that moving in the other direction.  What follows are the schools where average attendance has decreased over each of the last four seasons.

Boston University
Connecticut
Georgetown
Loyola (Md.)
Murray State
New Mexico
Seattle
Texas Christian
Texas Tech
Texas-San Antonio
UC-Riverside
Vanderbilt

There are some big names on this list.  There's no name bigger than that of Connecticut.  It would take Connecticut fans to explain why the most successful women's basketball program in the United States has been decreasing in attendance since 2011.

For your amusement, the entire list follows.  We use a "sum of averages" method to derive the final ratio.




MBB WBB



2010-15 2010-15







  Marist
7111 9742
0.73
  Delaware
12473 14102
0.88
  Tenn-Martin
8894 9905
0.90
  Baylor
35069 38878
0.90
  Notre Dame
40107 43341
0.93
  Maine
6680 7115
0.94
  Hartford
7977 7630
1.05
  Bowling Green
9510 8736
1.09
  McNeese St.
5417 4892
1.11
  North Dakota
8929 7988
1.12
  Middle Tenn. St. 22881 20386
1.12
  Stanford
24606 21213
1.16
  Gonzaga
30537 25973
1.18
  Texas A&M
34857 28762
1.21
  Toledo
22378 18406
1.22
  AR Little Rock
14542 11696
1.24
  Connecticut
55758 44462
1.25
  Dartmouth
4487 3502
1.28
  Tennessee Tech 8999 7013
1.28
  Central Arkansas 6387 4946
1.29
  Montana
19856 14985
1.33
  James Madison
17535 13066
1.34
  South Dakota
8542 6334
1.35
  Miss. Valley St.
11590 8492
1.36
  Lehigh
6228 4548
1.37
  Army
6292 4590
1.37
  Abilene Christian 1241 905
1.37
  Tennessee
82669 59816
1.38
  Hampton
16647 12028
1.38
  Canisius
7406 5350
1.38
  Iowa St.
67005 48350
1.39
  Umass Lowell
933 661
1.41
  Texas Tech
39310 27843
1.41
  Wisc. Green Bay 16715 11833
1.41
  Alcorn St.
5210 3640
1.43
  SE Louisiana
3434 2390
1.44
  South Dakota St 15102 10441
1.45
  Fla Gulf Coast
14346 9900
1.45
  Grambling St.
6632 4543
1.46
  Cent. Michigan
10217 6921
1.48
  Texas St.
9687 6561
1.48
  Louisiana Tech
17293 11706
1.48
  Penn St.
36367 24454
1.49
  South Alabama
11040 7410
1.49
  Chattanooga
16253 10740
1.51
  Portland St.
4305 2839
1.52
  Navy
10950 7059
1.55
  Wyoming
26377 16996
1.55
  Stetson
5459 3517
1.55
  Sam Houston St. 5649 3636
1.55
  Binghamton
14210 9120
1.56
  MD Eastern Shore 10948 7011
1.56
  N.J.I.T.
3009 1914
1.57
  New Orleans
2914 1842
1.58
  Eastern Illinois
6031 3802
1.59
  SIU-Edwardsville 8178 5103
1.60
  Texas A&M C.C. 6897 4302
1.60
  Prairie View A&M 9931 6153
1.61
  St. Francis (PA)
5018 3093
1.62
  Colgate
3243 1969
1.65
  Drake
19270 11586
1.66
  Oklahoma
49066 29350
1.67
  Nicholls St.
3551 2114
1.68
  Purdue
63358 37615
1.68
  E. Tennessee St. 14425 8523
1.69
  Sacred Heart
3202 1883
1.70
  Florida A&M
5612 3292
1.70
  Georgia Southern 8320 4873
1.71
  South Carolina
49492 28751
1.72
  LA Monroe
7670 4410
1.74
  Texas Pan Amer. 4261 2433
1.75
  Idaho St.
9383 5332
1.76
  New Hampshire 3685 2086
1.77
  Montana St.
12597 7128
1.77
  Houston Baptist 3370 1898
1.78
  MD Baltimore Cty. 6609 3685
1.79
  TX San Antonio
6321 3517
1.80
  Jackson St.
6574 3635
1.81
  Youngstown St.
11562 6348
1.82
  Bethune-Cookman 4823 2616
1.84
  Arkansas St.
13894 7499
1.85
  Southern U.
6361 3413
1.86
  Duke
46570 24939
1.87
  Campbell
8277 4432
1.87
  Alabama A&M
7471 3981
1.88
  East. Michigan
4913 2611
1.88
  Presbyterian
4339 2301
1.89
  Indiana St.
27125 14271
1.90
  Tulane
9475 4895
1.94
  Sacramento St.
3619 1866
1.94
  South Carolina-Upstate 3434 1766
1.94
  North Florida
8746 4453
1.96
  TCU
22798 11599
1.97
  Central Conn. St. 8499 4209
2.02
  Holy Cross
7944 3898
2.04
  Drexel
9468 4638
2.04
  S. Carolina St.
3802 1858
2.05
  Fairleigh Dickinson 3681 1784
2.06
  N.C. Central
8461 4081
2.07
  Georgia
35184 16942
2.08
  Samford
5599 2690
2.08
  Howard
5578 2671
2.09
  Texas Southern
9717 4645
2.09
  Alabama St.
9510 4546
2.09
  Stephen F. Austin 13221 6308
2.10
  North Kentucky
10681 5086
2.10
  Lipscomb
9720 4568
2.13
  Michigan St.
73529 34509
2.13
  Missouri State
31242 14588
2.14
  Louisville
107574 49871
2.16
  Northwestern St. 7984 3698
2.16
  Delaware St.
5594 2576
2.17
  Charleston S.
4277 1935
2.21
  Liberty
10756 4819
2.23
  Coppin St.
4970 2223
2.24
  Rutgers
26081 11657
2.24
  High Point
7003 3125
2.24
  Boston U.
4212 1877
2.24
  Northern Illinois 5511 2452
2.25
  Incarnate Word
966 428
2.26
  Georgia St.
7796 3432
2.27
  Nebraska
60754 26551
2.29
  Loyola (MD)
5299 2313
2.29
  New Mexico
73829 31972
2.31
  UC Davis
9727 4166
2.33
  Kennesaw St.
6500 2736
2.38
  Oregon St.
24651 10372
2.38
  LSU
41274 17354
2.38
  AR Pine Bluff
16388 6857
2.39
  Mercer
12820 5364
2.39
  Princeton
12480 5205
2.40
  Eastern Wash.
7661 3176
2.41
  Norfolk St.
10542 4365
2.42
  TX Arlington
8833 3647
2.42
  Morehead St.
12885 5305
2.43
  Northern Colorado 7816 3203
2.44
  Harvard
9151 3750
2.44
  Fresno St.
33861 13658
2.48
  Brown
5024 2016
2.49
  Old Dominion
34277 13651
2.51
  CSU Northridge
5088 2025
2.51
  N.C. A&T
10112 4003
2.53
  DePaul
35698 14110
2.53
  Western Ill.
7207 2834
2.54
  Radford
6629 2599
2.55
  UC Riverside
4278 1674
2.56
  Maryland
65833 25748
2.56
  Arizona St.
30998 11983
2.59
  St. Peter's
4375 1686
2.59
  IUPUI
5330 2040
2.61
  Gardner-Webb
7468 2829
2.64
  Albany
13613 5154
2.64
  Tennessee St.
9959 3768
2.64
  Savannah St.
8110 3065
2.65
  San Jose St.
8342 3149
2.65
  Iowa
66206 24932
2.66
  Lamar
13017 4842
2.69
  Bryant
5339 1961
2.72
  Northern Iowa
23285 8490
2.74
  Auburn
32731 11910
2.75
  Chicago St.
3833 1392
2.75
  Longwood
5791 2100
2.76
  Idaho
6560 2375
2.76
  Iona
11646 4189
2.78
  Vanderbilt
56533 20178
2.80
  Miami (OH)
7732 2752
2.81
  N.C. Asheville
8308 2944
2.82
  Buffalo
15139 5362
2.82
  Columbia
7414 2610
2.84
  Mizzou KC
7144 2492
2.87
  Wagner
7892 2738
2.88
  Elon
6579 2272
2.90
  Rider
7568 2601
2.91
  South Florida
21275 7258
2.93
  Florida St.
38393 13006
2.95
  Nebraska Omaha 5283 1770
2.98
  Texas
57999 19353
3.00
  IPFW
7157 2376
3.01
  West. Kentucky
21868 7223
3.03
  Jacksonville St.
7552 2461
3.07
  East Carolina
23156 7522
3.08
  Florida Intl.
6259 2033
3.08
  Southern Miss
19800 6350
3.12
  Monmouth
8647 2770
3.12
  Lafayette
8673 2762
3.14
  Kansas St.
62637 19944
3.14
  SE Missouri St.
11147 3542
3.15
  West. Michigan
13623 4297
3.17
  Jacksonville
7025 2193
3.20
  Florida Atlantic
7657 2388
3.21
  Northern Arizona 5675 1767
3.21
  Furman
7243 2244
3.23
  Quinnipiac
9346 2894
3.23
  Pacific
11677 3598
3.25
  Virginia
55421 17052
3.25
  Troy
8821 2709
3.26
  Duquesne
15673 4783
3.28
  Morgan St.
9875 3008
3.28
  Appalachian St.
7787 2343
3.32
  Robert Morris
6381 1919
3.33
  Vermont
11981 3591
3.34
  Mississippi St.
33616 10024
3.35
  UTEP
41336 12268
3.37
  Oral Roberts
19988 5929
3.37
  Towson
9098 2693
3.38
  Yale
6780 2006
3.38
  Southern Utah
10485 3099
3.38
  North Dakota St 15187 4464
3.40
  Murray St.
23714 6947
3.41
  Stony Brook
9024 2640
3.42
  Cal Poly
11063 3230
3.43
  Ball St.
15999 4624
3.46
  Virginia Tech
34085 9835
3.47
  Colorado
43980 12465
3.53
  American U.
7644 2166
3.53
  California
40575 11417
3.55
  CSU Bakersfield
7004 1969
3.56
  Coastal Carolina 9157 2560
3.58
  Charlotte
27650 7711
3.59
  N.C. Wilmington 17564 4875
3.60
  Fordham
10710 2967
3.61
  Illinois St.
26285 7269
3.62
  Austin Peay
13399 3702
3.62
  Long Island
8066 2225
3.63
  North Texas
16135 4410
3.66
  Kentucky
116959 31896
3.67
  St. Joseph's
20730 5646
3.67
  Boise St.
27932 7518
3.72
  Minnesota
61058 16422
3.72
  Ohio St.
79282 21302
3.72
  Winthrop
8148 2183
3.73
  Colorado St.
23552 6265
3.76
  West Virginia
48994 13012
3.77
  Oklahoma St.
47794 12641
3.78
  Hofstra
10714 2824
3.79
  Hawaii
31344 8246
3.80
  Fairfield
11076 2913
3.80
  San Francisco
10000 2625
3.81
  Washington
39352 10302
3.82
  Belmont
11252 2930
3.84
  Temple
31739 8251
3.85
  Mount St. Mary's 6204 1596
3.89
  UCSB
13733 3514
3.91
  Wisconsin
85637 21887
3.91
  South. Methodist 20023 5110
3.92
  Rice
8457 2140
3.95
  Santa Clara
9755 2468
3.95
  Geo. Washington 13570 3399
3.99
  St. Francis (NY)
4033 975
4.14
  Oregon
37242 9003
4.14
  Niagara
7252 1743
4.16
  Western Carolina 9036 2163
4.18
  Pepperdine
6241 1478
4.22
  USC
20826 4923
4.23
  Miami (FL)
25401 5977
4.25
  San Diego
10949 2553
4.29
  UCLA
39508 9011
4.38
  Wichita St.
52669 11410
4.62
  Georgia Tech
31174 6697
4.65
  Long Beach St.
17152 3672
4.67
  Oakland
14369 3050
4.71
  UC Irvine
9385 1989
4.72
  Boston College
22760 4739
4.80
  Wisc. Milwaukee 16555 3417
4.84
  Washington St.
22783 4681
4.87
  Cornell
10430 2139
4.88
  CSU Fullerton
6130 1245
4.92
  Portland
10966 2222
4.94
  Wofford
7687 1533
5.01
  Manhattan
8059 1594
5.06
  Loyola Marymnt 11059 2177
5.08
  Illinois-Chicago
14843 2893
5.13
  Northwestern
31285 6089
5.14
  William & Mary
13106 2532
5.18
  Northeastern
8056 1547
5.21
  Akron
16866 3220
5.24
  Air Force
11066 2079
5.32
  Nevada
28462 5340
5.33
  Pittsburgh
50887 9488
5.36
  Rhode Island
22502 4194
5.37
  Dayton
62193 11560
5.38
  St. John's
38688 7079
5.47
  St. Bonaventure 19377 3529
5.49
  Pennsylvania
19831 3569
5.56
  Loyola (IL)
10656 1904
5.60
  Kent St.
15679 2765
5.67
  Michigan
59228 10424
5.68
  New Mexico St.
29743 5145
5.78
  Houston
17194 2880
5.97
  Mississippi
32725 5461
5.99
  George Mason
24617 4057
6.07
  Seattle
14536 2386
6.09
  Alabama
55557 9071
6.12
  Detroit
11991 1917
6.26
  Evansville
23278 3705
6.28
  Denver
17242 2711
6.36
  St. Mary's
14432 2247
6.42
  Missouri
51858 8051
6.44
  Valparaiso
15817 2422
6.53
  Eastern Kentucky 12478 1906
6.55
  La Salle
12478 1904
6.55
  Bucknell
15292 2320
6.59
  Kansas
82139 12356
6.65
  North Carolina
96260 14458
6.66
  Xavier
49922 7458
6.69
  N.C. St.
71715 10657
6.73
  Tulsa
23972 3503
6.84
  Arkansas
68272 9895
6.90
  Utah Valley
11551 1651
7.00
  Indiana
82780 11732
7.06
  UCF
26001 3535
7.36
  Florida
53338 7141
7.47
  Bradley
34978 4682
7.47
  LA Lafayette
17052 2273
7.50
  Ohio
31513 4072
7.74
  Weber St.
32584 4146
7.86
  UAB
21411 2679
7.99
  Richmond
29280 3621
8.09
  Marshall
27092 3313
8.18
  Arizona
70405 8496
8.29
  Grand Canyon
5413 644
8.41
  N.C. Greensboro 15728 1871
8.41
  Southern Ill.
22614 2690
8.41
  Cleveland St.
12771 1493
8.55
  Davidson
19819 2273
8.72
  Wright St.
21108 2400
8.80
  Charleston
18373 2071
8.87
  Clemson
38981 4317
9.03
  Illinois
75748 8190
9.25
  Siena
32445 3502
9.26
  Marquette
74741 7603
9.83
  Cincinnati
42567 4270
9.97
  Massachusetts
23931 2373
10.08
  Utah
47839 4321
11.07
  Wake Forest
46173 4157
11.11
  Seton Hall
35836 3192
11.23
  Villanova
46038 4054
11.36
  VA Commonwealth 37339 3223
11.59
  Butler
36837 3080
11.96
  Saint Louis
37189 3055
12.17
  Georgetown
53169 4082
13.03
  UNLV
67356 5143
13.10
  Memphis
79374 5658
14.03
  Utah St.
44062 2974
14.82
  Creighton
82271 5276
15.59
  Providence
39659 2281
17.39
  San Diego St.
61006 3412
17.88
  Brigham Young
82124 4159
19.75
  Syracuse
118476 4155
28.51






Abilene Christian, Grand Canyon, Incarnate Word and 
Umass Lowell only have one year of data, the 2014-15 year.

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