Texas Tech University Athletics
Lady Raider Basketball Attendance Third in the Country
July 08, 2004 | Women's Basketball
July 8, 2004
DALLAS - Big 12 women's basketball captured the conference attendance crown for the fifth consecutive year by totaling 990,036 fans in 2003-04, announced the NCAA. Texas Tech was third in the nation in attendance with 12,577 fans a game.
The league's 5,381 per-game average set an NCAA record and marked the fourth straight year that the Big 12 has averaged over 5,000 fans per game. Prior to 2003-04, the Big 12 was the only conference to surpass the 5,000 mark. This past season the Big Ten also hit the 5,000 plateau with 5,085 fans per game.
The Big 12's cumulative total last season is second only to the 1,002,651 NCAA record attendance that it set in 2001-02 during the Million Fan March promotion. The Big 12 outdistanced the second-place Big Ten Conference by 211,911 total fans. The Big Ten numbered 778,125 followed by the SEC in third place with 619,321.
Individually, six Big 12 schools finished in the top 18 of national attendance. Texas Tech placed third with an average of 12,577 fans per contest. Kansas State was eighth with a 9,365 average, Iowa State was ninth with 8,021 and Texas was 10th with 7,191. Oklahoma claimed 15th place with a 5,691 average and Baylor was 18th with 4,666.
Kansas State (9,365) and Texas A&M (2,403) both recorded their highest home attendance averages in the eight years since the inception of the Big 12. Texas Tech kept its streak alive of averaging in the top four nationally in home attendance every year in Big 12 play. Texas had the seventh-largest increase nationally in attendance average from 2002-03 to last season with an increase of 1,793 per game.
Leading the nation was Tennessee at 14,403 followed by Connecticut at 13,435, and then Texas Tech, New Mexico at 11,865 and Purdue at 10,105 to round out the top five spots.
