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It was a bounce-back year for attendance at the NCAA semifinals.
The 2,224 people in attendance for the NCAA Tournament semifinals on Thursday at Penn State was more than a 500-person increase from last year, which almost set an all-time low for attendance.
Despite the attendance growth, this year was the eighth lowest attendance for the NCAA Tournament semifinals in the last 10 years. There also were about 1,500 fewer people at this year’s NCAA Tournament semifinals compared to 2011 when the event was last played at University Park, Pennsylvania.
Penn State, unlike in 2011 though, lost in the EIVA Tournament semifinals and did not advance to the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Along with the increase in the semifinal attendance, the NCAA Tournament play-in matches on Tuesday with 550 people in attendance had an 11-person increase from last year.
This was the second consecutive year and third time in the last seven years that the NCAA Tournament semifinals did not include a school located within 250 miles of the tournament site. Stanford last year had 1,685 people for the lowest semifinal attendance since 1985, while BYU had 2,564 people in attendance when it hosted the semifinals in 2009.
BYU and Ohio State won their semifinal matches and advanced to play each other in the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Year-by-year NCAA Tournament semifinals attendance
2016 semifinals — 2,224
2015 semifinals — 1,685
2014 semifinals — 4,435
2013 semifinals — 4,891
2012 semifinals — 4,375
2011 semifinals — 3,761
2010 semifinals — 3,865
2009 semifinals — 2,564
2008 semifinals — 4,472
2007 semifinals — 2,129
2006 semifinals — 3,463
2005 semifinals — 2,947
2004 semifinals — 3,707
2003 semifinals — 3,840
2002 semifinals — 5,257
2001 semifinals — 4,202
2000 semifinals — 2,293
1999 semifinals — 5,487
1998 semifinals — 9,079
1997 semifinals — 2,439
1996 semifinals — 3,708
1995 semifinals — 3,549
1994 semifinals — 7,587
1993 semifinals — 2,536
1992 semifinals — 5,711
1991 semifinals — 5,184
1990 semifinals — 2,836
1989 semifinals — 2,192
1988 semifinals — 6,600
1987 semifinals — 2,737
1986 semifinals — 3,315
1985 semifinals — 1,530
1984 semifinals — 3,089
1983 semifinals — 2,942
1982 semifinals — 1,835
1981 semifinals — 3,946
1980 semifinals — 2,242
1979 semifinals — 770
1978 semifinals — 2,659
1977 semifinals — 652
1976 semifinals — 1,374
1975 semifinals — 3,500
1974 semifinals — 1,842
1973 semifinals — 5,650