Marist Chosen As MAAC Winner Of NCAA Pack The House Challenge
MAAC Sports
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Marist College was one of 33 winners in the NCAA Division I “Pack the House” Challenge. “Pack the House” is 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 32 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 to the nonprofit organization of each winning institution’s choice.
And pack the house, they did. More than half of the Division I membership – 181 institutions – participated in the effort that attracted more than 511,000 fans.
Marist hosted a sell-out 3,200 fans at its women’s basketball game on Feb. 5 vs. Iona.
Events at Army, Central Michigan, Duke, Houston Baptist, Jacksonville, Long Beach State, Marist, Middle Tennessee State, Niagara, Prairie View A&M and Xavier produced sell-out crowds. Sixty programs surpassed their single-game attendance highs from last year.
“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.
The Marist Athletics Department used a wide range marketing strategies to ensure their 3rd straight Pack the House sell-out, including an ‘80s themed student promotion and mini youth basketball game at half-time. The Red Foxes reached a new milestone this season as the women’s basketball program recorded their first ever pre-sale sell-out, as the box office ran out of tickets at 11 a.m on the day of the game.
Assistant Athletics Director for External Affairs Frank Lombardy is honored that the NCAA has recognized Marist for their Pack the House marketing efforts, and he believes that all Red Fox fans deserve the majority of the credit.
“It’s a great honor to be chosen as this year’s MAAC Pack the House Challenge winner,” Lombardy said. “I think this award belongs to our great community following and student fan base; without their great enthusiasm, this award would have never been possible.”
Winners of the 209-10 NCAA “Pack the House” Challenge are:
CONFERENCE WINNERSAmerica East – Hartford
Atlantic Coast – Virginia
Atlantic Sun – Jacksonville
Atlantic 10 – Xavier
Big East – West Virginia
Big Sky – Weber State
Big South – Winthrop
Big Ten – Ohio State
Big 12 – Nebraska
Big West – Long Beach State
Colonial – Delaware
Conference USA – Tulsa
Great West – North Dakota
Horizon – Youngstown State
Ivy – Dartmouth
Metro Atlantic – Marist
Mid-American – Central Michigan
Mid-Eastern – Maryland-Eastern Shore
Missouri Valley – Illinois State
Mountain West – TCU
Northeast – Bryant
Ohio Valley – Eastern Illinois
Pacific-10 – UCLA
Patriot – Army
Southeastern – Kentucky
Southern – Appalachian State
Southland – Sam Houston State
SWAC – Prairie View A&M
Summit – Oral Roberts
Sun Belt – Middle Tennessee State
West Coast – San Francisco
WAC – Louisiana Tech
Independents – Longwood
OVERALL WINNERVirginia – Atlantic Coast Conference