# 5 Still Playing to Empty Seats — Women's Sports Attendance Remains a Challenge

REAL SPORTS Most Important Moments in Sports 2014 edition

REAL SPORTS’ No. 1 Most Important Moment in Sports in 2013 was that the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League drew more than 13,000 fans per home game. However, in 2014 women’s sports at the professional and collegiate levels continues to perform before nearly empty stands.

December 14, 2014, Stanford versus Santa Clara University.
While just 16 miles apart, empty seats were very prevalent.

The question of “why do women play before empty seats?” is raised every year, and the answer to the question depends upon your perspective and where you live.

Some will argue that there is simply a limited fan base. Others will argue that in larger cities where there is direct competition from male leagues and other entertainment choices that there are simply too many options for a limited pool of fans to gain a foothold.

In some cases, it’s the quality of play and competition that limits the fan base. We are after all a country that loves winners, and just because you have a college or pro team, regardless of gender, doesn’t mean a fan base will automatically materialize. In addition, smaller operating budgets for women’s athletic organizations and limited exposure from the media keep them from gaining notice from local fans.

And in some cases there remains bias about gender roles and sports, as well as a lack of familiarity about women athletes in some sports. Perhaps finding more suitable venues for smaller crowds that present the appearance of the event being well attended will help. Certainly it would look better than a crowd of 2,500 in an arena built for 15,000 being broadcast on TV.

However, there are some examples where the right location makes a difference.  The Pacific Northwest is a soccer haven, for both women’s and men’s professional soccer, and as a result, the Thorns have thrived.

Relocating the WNBA’s floundering Orlando, Fla., franchise to rural Connecticut in 2003 at first raised eyebrows, because the nearest large population center, in Hartford, was more than 40 miles away. Yet the renamed Connecticut Sun sold out its first game and has continued to draw crowds and make money. The absence of direct competition for local sports events was one factor in the franchise’s success, as was the proximity to the University of Connecticut’s rabid and loyal women’s basketball fans in Storrs, 30 miles away.

While not being very good usually leads to low attendance, being really good doesn’t necessarily guarantee good attendance. For example, Stanford has a long record of excellence in women’s basketball – it has appeared in six Final Fours in the last seven years, 12 times in total, and yet the team has had only six sold-out games since 2007, with none in 2014, including its meeting with then-No. 1 UConn.

Stanford University is surrounded by a multitude of professional and collegiate sports teams and entertainment options, and there are only so many events Bay Area fans can attend. Perhaps this is why Stanford went to flexible ticket prices for marquee games a few years ago, and dynamic pricing over the last two years.

What this means is, for a 2014 Stanford season-ticket holder for a lower reserved seat, the UConn ticket cost $47. For the Cardinal’s game against Texas and for Pac-12 Conference games, tickets cost $28, $12 for nonconference games, $10 for exhibition games.

Stanford’s flexible and dynamic ticketing generates more income for the program given the assumption of a limited fanbase while making non-marquee match-ups a real deal for the casual fan and families to attend. [RS]