Tonight in Unpacks: The NCAA women's basketball tourney is bringing in record attendance, and SBJ's Michael Smith reports that a similar phenomenon is happening during the regular season, too.
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Final Four sellout a cap on big women’s hoops attendance numbers
The NCAA women’s basketball tournament has delivered record-setting attendance throughout the postseason, including an anticipated sold-out crowd in Dallas for tonight’s semifinals. But what about the regular season? The numbers are eye-popping there, too, reports SBJ’s Michael Smith.
Four schools registered average home attendance of 10,000 or more. That didn’t happen during the 2021-22 season, nor did it happen in 2018-19, the last season before the COVID pandemic interrupted play. In fact, the last time four schools or more averaged 10,000-plus was 2006-07.
This season, South Carolina led the nation in average home regular season attendance at 12,942, followed by Iowa at 11,143, Iowa State at 10,323 and UConn at 10,255. The Gamecocks were the only team to top 10,000 in 2022.
Of the top 10 schools in home attendance this season, each one registered increases over 2022, except for Arizona, which dipped slightly this season but still managed to place ninth.
The increases in attendance among the top schools in the regular season, plus the record increases in the NCAA tournament, could result in this being the most-attended women’s basketball season ever, or at least one of them.
| Top programs for 2022-23 NCAA women's basketball regular season attendance | ||
| RANK | SCHOOL | AVG. |
| 1 | South Carolina | 12,942 |
| 2 | Iowa | 11,143 |
| 3 | Iowa State | 10,323 |
| 4 | UConn | 10,255 |
| 5 | Louisville | 8,779 |
| 6 | LSU | 8,733 |
| 7 | Tennessee | 8,150 |
| 8 | Indiana | 8,104 |
| 9 | Arizona | 7,679 |
| 10 | Maryland | 7,132 |