Attendance a Priority

By Tristan Hobbes

The Boston University athletics department has had a shadow cast over them for a long time. That shadow is the men’s hockey team. While the Terriers men’s icers have garnered the national spotlight and the fans, the rest of the winter sports at BU have succeeded without much fanfare.

Case in point came this past season. The men’s hockey team had an up and down season after winning the National Championship in 2009. Still, more than 5,000 fans came and watched a struggling team night after night. As the men’s team struggled, the women’s hockey team was putting together a record breaking season in just their fifth year as a program. The average attendance was 232 fans a game for a team that finished 17-9-12 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Even the men’s and women’s basketball teams couldn’t draw a strong fan base. BU men’s cagers average an America East low 1,122 fans this season and were helped enormously by four games at Agganis Arena that drew over 1,000 fans. Women’s basketball was second to last with an average of 395 fans in America East.

This is something that has caught the attention of the athletics department and led by Dan Satter, the Associate Athletic Director for Marketing Communications, are trying to change it.

“We are continuing to increase it [attendance],” Satter said. “It is a long term process. We are taking steps in the right direction.”

Those steps were evident at most every home game this year and even began in the offseason. Prior to the season fans had the chance to purchase a ticket package for $199 that offered tickets to men’s and women’s basketball games as well as t-shirts and apparel. The athletics department spent hours “smiling and dialing” anyone that had purchased a ticket to a BU athletic event.

“Our priority was attendance and to have people experience BU basketball,” Satter said.

With the cold calling also came incentives for students to attend games. This began last year with a Terrier rewards program that allows students to earn points when they attend home games. These points translate into free gifts and a grand prize for those in the top 40. Other promotions included apparel giveaways, free water bottles, autograph sessions and a chili-fest at a women’s hockey game.

The athletics department has always kept in mind the fact that they must serve various groups of people.

“The chili-fest captured more students,” Satter said. “We are trying to better focus our marketing.”

One of the main attractions this past winter was the addition of head men’s basketball coach Pat Chambers. Chambers brought new air into the program and also a high level of excitement. He was the perfect coach to usher in a new era of Terriers basketball that will look to fill Agganis Arena.

“It [Agganis] sells itself,” Satter said.

That it does, but the bigger venue still did not draw the crowds many hoped for. It is a long process and with the continued success of these winter sports and the continued efforts of the athletics department attendance will be sure to increase all around.