June 22, 2004

College Basketball Continues To Pack Them In

FROM THE ARENAS, COLISEUMS, FIELD HOUSES AND GYMNASIUMS OF COLLEGE AMERICA come solid attendance numbers for NCAA Men’s and Women’s basketball for the recently completed 2003-2004 season.

Men’s basketball drew an all-time record 30,757,000 spectators—up a healthy 2.1% from last year. Women’s basketball drew 10,016,000—down 1.4% from last year—but the second best in history.

Here’s how college basketball stacked up relative to other team sports (total teams combined; all games; in millions):

NCAA football: 45
NCAA Men’s basketball: 31
MLB: 28
NBA: 20
NHL: 20
NFL: 17
NCAA Women’s basketball: 10
WNBA: 2

Here’s how NCAA men’s basketball dialed down in 2003-2004:

Division I
# teams: 326
# games: 4604
attendance: 25,545,328
average / game: 5442

Division II
# teams: 271
# games: 3595
attendance: 3,107,628
average / game: 864

Division III
# teams: 384
# games: 4660
attendance: 1,944,957
average / game: 427

TOTAL DIVISIONS I-II-III*
# teams: 981
# games: 13,060
attendance: 30,757,370
average / game: 2355

* totals do not add up because neutral site tournament games have been added in

Leading Conferences and Teams-Men:

Division I: Drawing more fans than any other conference was the Southeastern Conference, with 2,342,022. The Big Ten Conference had the highest per game average with 12,779 per game.

Syracuse led all schools with 371,018 (plenty of room in the Carrier Dome). Kentucky had the best per game average with 22,170.

Division II: Soon-to-be Division I South Dakota State led all schools (for the ninth year) with 57,383 fans for an average of 3375 per game.

Division III: Hope College claimed the attendance title for the second consecutive year with 2491 fans per game.

Here’s how NCAA women’s basketball dialed down in 2003-2004:

Division I
# teams: 324
# games: 4435
attendance: 7,173,377
average / game: 1617

Division II
# teams: 269
# games: 3456
attendance: 1,631,098
average / game: 472

Division III
# teams: 415
# games: 4912
attendance: 1,039,547
average / game: 212

TOTAL DIVISIONS I-II-III
# teams: 1008
# games: 13,037
attendance: 10,016,106
average / game: 768

* totals do not add up because neutral site tournament games have been added in

Leading Conferences and Teams-Women:

Division I: The Big 12 Conference totaled 990,036 fans, and their 5381 per game figure is an all-time record.

Tennessee led all schools with 14,403 per game. This is the ninth time that Tennessee took top attendance honors.

Division II: South Dakota State led all schools with an average of 2484 per game.

Division III: Wisconsin-Eau Claire claimed the attendance title for the second straight year with 1105 fans per game.

SOURCES: NCAA News, 6-21-04, NFL Record Book, baseball-reference.com, rogers.com, Official NHL Guide and Record Book