March 14, 2011
NORFOLK, Va. - The Old Dominion Lady Monarchs were one of 33 winners in the NCAA Division I "Pack the House" Challenge. "Pack the House" is a national effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build fan 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 awards prizes and donates $500 to the nonprofit organization of each winning institution's choice.
More than half of the Division I membership - 178 institutions - participated in the effort that attracted more than 554,000 fans. Old Dominion hosted 7,774 fans at its women's basketball game against Tennessee on December 5.
"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."
Winners of the 2010-11 NCAA "Pack the House" Challenge are:
CONFERENCE - WINNERSAmerica East - Binghamton UniversityAtlantic Coast - DukeAtlantic Sun - Florida Gulf CoastAtlantic 10 - Rhode IslandBig East - LouisvilleBig Sky -Sacramento StateBig South - Gardner-WebbBig Ten - Michigan StateBig 12 - Kansas StateBig West - PacificColonial - Old DominionConference USA - HoustonGreat West - Utah ValleyHorizon - Green BayIvy - PennsylvaniaMetro Atlantic - MaristMid-American - Central MichiganMid-Eastern - South Carolina StateMissouri Valley - Wichita StateMountain West - Air ForceNortheast - Central Connecticut StateOhio Valley - Eastern IllinoisPacific-10 - OregonPatriot - ArmySoutheastern - AuburnSouthern - SamfordSouthland - Texas StateSWAC - Jackson StateSummit - Oral RobertsSun Belt - Western KentuckyWest Coast - San FranciscoWAC - Louisiana TechIndependents - Longwood
OVERALL WINNERMarist - Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
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