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BYU is almost doubling every Division I-II men’s volleyball team in the nation in home attendance average one-third of the way through the regular season.
The Cougars through the first six weeks of the regular season are averaging a nation-best 4,595 people per home match — more than 1,500 people higher than any other team.
BYU had at least 4,000 people attend each of its four home matches so far this season, including a sold-out 5,124 people in attendance for its home opener against USC. That home opener also remains the highest attended NCAA men’s volleyball match this season.
Hawai’i finished second with a 2,869 home attendance average — an 1,726 attendance average less than BYU.
BYU and Hawai’i are two of the four teams averaging at least 1,000 fans per match. UC Irvine is third in the nation with an 1,509 home attendance average, while Penn State leads all non-West Coast teams with an 1,052 attendance average.
Penn State was also the only EIVA school to be in the top 10 for home attendance average.
Seven MPSF teams are among the top 10 for the highest home attendance averages. In addition, the two MIVA teams are in the top 10 — Loyola in seventh place with a 706 average and Lewis in ninth place with a 634 average.
NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball teams home attendance averages through the first-third of the season also fared well compared to women’s volleyball teams’ final home attendance figures from the 2011 season.
Women’s volleyball has a higher overall home attendance average among Division I-II schools with both a men’s and women’s volleyball team. However, a slight majority of schools — 17 of 33 schools — have a higher home attendance average for men’s volleyball than women’s volleyball during this school year.
The NCAA men’s volleyball season started in early January and will conclude with the Final Four in May at USC.
NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball home attendnace averages — Feb. 13
1. BYU — 4,595
2. Hawai’i — 2,869
3. UC Irvine — 1,509
4. Penn State — 1,052
5. USC — 950
6. Long Beach State — 752
7. Loyola — 706
8. UCLA — 686
9. Lewis — 634
10. Pepperdine — 601
11. IPFW — 562
12. Lees-McRae — 548
13. Ohio State — 522
14. Cal State Northridge — 511
15. Ball State — 423
16. Stanford — 391
17. UC San Diego — 373
18. UC Santa Barbara — 324
19. Cal Baptist — 274
20. Mount Olive — 263
21. Limestone — 246
22. Pacific — 226
23. Lindenwood — 219
24. Barton — 199
25. George Mason — 168
26. Pfeiffer — 164
27. Harvard — 155
28. Grand Canyon — 148
29. St. Francis — 144
30. NJIT — 142
31. Quincy — 106
32. Sacred Heart — 105
33. Rutgers-Newark — 102
T-34. Princeton — N/A*
T-34. King — N/A*
*Have yet to play a home match
Heard they ran out of tickets to sell at the OSU-IPFW game Friday Night in The Wayner. ‘Official’ Attendance nearly 1,100.
I’d love to see some more focus (not necessarily dollars) put into the marketing. Right now, most schools hype certain match-ups or special occasions, like Scates’ last visit to Galen or a HOF inductee night, but there’s more to be done. Do schools offer vball season tickets? SC women’s basketball does a great Daddy/Daughter night. Why not for vball as well? The programs are adopting social media departments to varying degrees but they need to amp these up. It’s not enough to have a Facebook page or Twitter account & let people know about upcoming matches. They need to run socially-focused promotions, do product giveaways and—okay, this is some $—advertise on Facebook. People are listing volleyball in their interests, volunteering their alumni/school info and are entirely geo-targetable. Super targeted means super efficient use of dollars. Volleyball (mens especially) has a long way to go in terms of cultural acceptance, but grassroots social campaigns can make it happen A LOT faster. In a tough economy, people are looking for less expensive entertainment/sports options. Volleyball can fill that need if schools get properly organized.