Athletic Attendance on the Rise

The 3,252 fans that crammed into Roy L.

Patrick Gymnasium for the final mens basketball home game of the season put an exclamation point on a record-breaking season and established a new single-game attendance mark. Never before have so many people witnessed a game in the building that opened in 1963 and has played host to the likes of Bob Dylan, Gerald Ford, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Hope. The finale was the fourth sellout of the season and helped set a new single-season average of 2,660 fans per game. That number shattered last seasons per game average of 1,955, which led the America East Conference, and broke the all-time per game record of 2,354 set two seasons ago.

A total of 29,261 people watched mens basketball this season at Patrick Gym this season, which is 82 percent of capacity. Ticket manager Jesse Bridges predicted prior to the start of the season that mens basketball would attract more than 2,000 fans a game to the 3,228-seat venue for only the second time in school history. The first-year manager based his predictions on the universitys push to promote athletics through advertisements, give-a-ways, contests and new forms of entertainment at games. This is also the first season where students can attend athletic events for free as part of their student activity fee.

Previously, students paid about $5 per game. The fact that mens basketball is coming off its best season in school history, highlighted by a first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament last year, certainly didnt hurt attendance. But not winning a plethora of games didnt put a damper on the enthusiasm of mens hockey fans. Long the states biggest athletic draw, the Catamounts sold out 10 of 16 home games, averaged 3,868 per game and drew 61,829 total fans to Gutterson Fieldhouse.

Last season, mens hockey averaged 3,752 fans per game, placing the Catamounts 18th in the country and fifth in the Northeast behind New Hampshire (6,664), Boston College (6,236), Maine (4,898), and Cornell (3,836). Wisconsin led the nation with an average of 11,430. Women's basketball was second in America East in attendance last season and should crack the 1,000-per game mark after factoring in its March 3 season finale against University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Men's soccer, consistently ranked among national leaders in attendance (25th in 2001 and 36th in 2002), has also managed to increase its fan base, including a season high of 1,624 for its game against the University of North Carolina.

Bridges also expects strong crowds for baseball, which hosted the America East Baseball Championship in 2003 for the first time and set a conference record by drawing 1,128 to its game against Northeastern, and lacrosse in the spring.
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