Congratulations Long Beach fans, you won something… kinda…
Long Beach State was one of 32 winners in the NCAA Division I “Pack the House” Challenge. “Pack the House” is a national effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build attendance.
NCAA Division I women’s basketball marketing staffs selected a home game and designated that date as a “Pack the House” game with the goal of setting an attendance record. One winner from each of the 31 conferences and one from a group of independent institutions were named. Selections were based on marketing plan creativity and attendance criteria. The NCAA will award prizes and donate 500 dollars to the nonprofit organization of each winning institution’s choice.
Almost two-thirds of the Division I membership (184 institutions) participated in the effort that attracted more than 559,000 fans. Long Beach State, the ninth winningest women’s program in NCAA history, hosted 2,656 fans at its women’s basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8 against Pacific. The attendance was the largest women’s basketball crowd in the program’s history.
“We believe this initiative has served as a catalyst to increase attendance, create excitement and enhance exposure for our women’s basketball programs,” said NCAA Vice President of Division I Women’s Basketball Sue Donohoe. “Institution personnel committed a great deal of time, effort and resources to this program and the results were extremely positive. This program provides great `best practices’ and examples of success for institutions that are seeking to `grow’ women’s basketball and these success stories will continue to strengthen efforts in the future.”
The ideas to market the games were as diverse as the membership itself. At Long Beach State the Athletics Department partnered with Long Beach Unified School District’s GEAR UP Program to expose children to the atmosphere of a college campus and athletics. More than 2,000 students from LBUSD visited the campus and the Walter Pyramid on Jan. 8, participating in campus tours, basketball 101 homework activities, on-court promotions and in-game activities.
Report By LBSU