Iowa Women's Basketball has sold 52,000 seats for an upcoming game with DePaul in the school's football stadium. Hope that our own attendance numbers will be able to rise again at some point in the future.

Charmin is tirelessly working on it.

She got up in front of the student section at last week's football game vs Oregon State and encouraged them to support Cal WBB.

When school started, she and Mark Madsen were in Sproul Plaza giving out doughnuts to students and encouraging them to support Cal men's and women's basketball.

Charmin is constantly telling people to come to a game and "bring a freakin' friend."

Maybe it's time for us to do our part.

Iowa has superstar Caitlin Clarke. Increased Attendance will only happen once the team shows improvement and a winning record. There is enthusiasm, hope, and positivity among the team and staff and us remaining Bear loyalists but it needs to be backed up with results.

3Cats4CAL said:

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Iowa has superstar Caitlin Clarke. Increased Attendance will only happen once the team shows improvement and a winning record. There is enthusiasm, hope, and positivity among the team and staff and us remaining Bear loyalists but it needs to be backed up with results.

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Yeah, Clarke is a huge draw....BUT--Iowa has also had a long and strong tradition of supporting girl's basketball in the state.
When Iowa Girls Basketball Ruled the Courts (National Endowment for the Humanities article)

"In 1970, 20 percent of all girls participating in high school sports across the country were in Iowa ,quite remarkable, considering Iowa was only 1 percent of the entire U.S. population. By 1976, a few years after the passage of Title IX, that eye-popping 20 percent fell to 5.8 percent....Since the early 1900s, girls' basketball has been played in Iowa. The first official state tournament was held in 1920, made up of teams of rural players whose families and small towns supported their athletic achievements with enthusiasm and pride. The idea that girlswho worked hard daily on their family farmswere too delicate to play sports wasn't considered. "I thoroughly believed whatever sport it was, if you surrounded the Iowa girl with respect and prestige, she will in turn give to the viewing audience the very best and finest performance her ability will allow," said E. Wayne Cooley, the head of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union from 1954 to 2002, in an interview for More Than a Game: 6 on 6 Basketball in Iowa, which aired on Iowa Public Television in 2008.

"

A friend of mine went University of Iowa. He told me Girl's basketball state tournament sold out every year. It has a tradition of supporting girl's basketball.

He went to school there in the 1960's. So way before Title IX.

Exactly. Iowa girls basketball has long tradition.

On the national scene, Iowa girls' BB is pretty much irrelevant, in part due to arcane rules that restrict travel and number of games.

And as far as I know, the days of drawing big crowds to Iowa girls' BB are way in the rear view mirror. It's pretty much like any other state now, I believe.

But as mentioned, winning makes a difference, and so do superstars. At the moment, Cal athletics is starved for all three, so fan enthusiasm is hard to come by.

It's in the state's DNA but of course Clay, you're the expert so I stand corrected for having pointed out the fertile ground for girl's bball in Iowa. Jeeze…of course having stars helps. Duh.

I am showing my support by once again paying for season tickets this year. But I hope we can all agree that we shouldn't be settling for anything less than an NCAA tournament appearance as a basic performance standard. Iowa is drawing fans because they have a commitment to winning. So should we.

CalWSportsFan said:

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It's in the state's DNA but of course Clay, you're the expert so I stand corrected for having pointed out the fertile ground for girl's bball in Iowa. Jeeze…of course having stars helps. Duh.

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You could be right. That's why I put in the qualifiers about attendance.

I do know about the relative quality of play of Iowa girls' high school basketball.

I looked for some attendance numbers but couldn't find any.

ClayK said:

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CalWSportsFan said:

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It's in the state's DNA but of course Clay, you're the expert so I stand corrected for having pointed out the fertile ground for girl's bball in Iowa. Jeeze…of course having stars helps. Duh.

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You could be right. That's why I put in the qualifiers about attendance.

I do know about the relative quality of play of Iowa girls' high school basketball.

I looked for some attendance numbers but couldn't find any.

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https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2023-10-12/history-kinnick-iowas-sets-womens-basketball-attendance-record-55646

According to an article I read, the quality of play doesn't matter. The small rural schools draw better than the larger schools.

I was looking for attendance at the high school championships. The Iowa college team has the most dynamic player in the sport.