Gopher women's basketball attendance over the years

fanfromthevalley

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I thought it might be interesting to take a quick look at attendance numbers over the last few years. Here are numbers for the four years of Stollings and last three years of Borton. I'll let others draw conclusions about what this might all mean for the future. These numbers are taken from the overall stats section on gophersports.com.

Stollings era:
2017-18 - overall home 3,130 Big Ten only 3,598
2016-17- overall home 3,210 Big Ten only 3,759
2015-16 - overall home 3,528 Big Ten only 3,982
2014-15 - overall home 3,846 Big Ten only 4,460

Last three Borton years:
2013-14 - overall home 2,924 Big Ten only 3,352
2012-13 - overall home 3,277 Big Ten only 3,822
2011-12 - overall home 2,835 Big Ten only 3,715

For prior years, the way they have posted the numbers with the yearly stats would take some work to get those totals, as they are not broken down in the same way.

Of interest - overall numbers at home around the Final Four run:

2002-03 - overall home 7,800
2003-04 - overall home 9,703 (Final Four year)
2004-05 - overall home 9,020
2005-06 - overall home 8,329

Whalen's hire will certainly increase visibility and interest in the program again.

The times have changed a lot over the years. The fan base that has hung on as season ticket holders trends old (I'm in my mid-60's). It will be interesting to see how the numbers jump. So many more activities available for young women and families in sports than there were in the Final Four years. We're all hoping for a rockin' Barn again!
 


Thanks for the post. It's worth noting that in addition to great teams from 2002-2006, ticket prices were lower and there were more giveaways to high school and youth basketball teams.
 

Thanks for the post. It's worth noting that in addition to great teams from 2002-2006, ticket prices were lower and there were more giveaways to high school and youth basketball teams.

I wonder if there were more giveaways or just more teams taking advantage of them.
 

Attendance is still very good by Div I WBB standards especially when you compare reported attendance to actual fans in the stands. I think the 3 to 4 thousand reported for the Gophers is a lot closer to the actual fans in the stands than at a lot of schools. Look at the crowds when the Gophers are on the road and see how few fans are actually there compared to what the schools claim as attendance (tickets sold). My alma mater, ISU, claims 9,000 a game but that sold number is twice as high as actual cheeks in the seats, something that bugs me.

Would certainly expect some bump in attendance. I only went to the Gopher/Hawkeye game this year but might pop over more often under a Whalen regime. BTW, the Gopher/Hawk game was pretty good game with a good crowd and terrific atmosphere and got me to thinking again about what a great WBB town this can be. Maybe the "sleeping giant" Stallings mentioned in her Tech presser is here and not Tech. :)
 


Attendance is still very good by Div I WBB standards especially when you compare reported attendance to actual fans in the stands. I think the 3 to 4 thousand reported for the Gophers is a lot closer to the actual fans in the stands than at a lot of schools. Look at the crowds when the Gophers are on the road and see how few fans are actually there compared to what the schools claim as attendance (tickets sold). My alma mater, ISU, claims 9,000 a game but that sold number is twice as high as actual cheeks in the seats, something that bugs me.

Would certainly expect some bump in attendance. I only went to the Gopher/Hawkeye game this year but might pop over more often under a Whalen regime. BTW, the Gopher/Hawk game was pretty good game with a good crowd and terrific atmosphere and got me to thinking again about what a great WBB town this can be. Maybe the "sleeping giant" Stallings mentioned in her Tech presser is here and not Tech. :)

Yes, it's nearly impossible to truly sort out WBB attendance. Purdue has been the poster program for attendance inflation. Like most teams, the Gophers have those afternoon, camp day games boosting averages. Echoing Fanfromthevalley's point, the 2002-2006 numbers were pretty damn honest fans in the stands number. And a large number of those were actually season ticket holders not bused in kids (not that there's anything wrong with bused in kids).
 

The final four year was actually 2003-2004, not 2004-2005. Thanks for putting these numbers together.
 


Great post, thx. We would all love to go back to the full Barn days. Love this hire and I am optimistic about our future.
 






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