Low Attendance at Women’s Basketball Games

By Debanny Cerda

Reporting Texas TV

AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Texas at Austin women’s basketball team has struggled with getting people to attend the games.

The Longhorns closed out the regular season at home against BYU on March 2. They finished with a record of 27-4 heading into the Big 12 Tournament. While the team is succeeding, Texas Athletics has struggled getting people to attend the games.

Fans watch the Longhorns game against Texas Tech at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 28, 2024. (Debanny Cerda/Reporting Texas TV)

Moody Center holds a little over 10,000 fans for a basketball game. At a men’s game it’s hard to spot empty chairs.  Students line up hours before big matchups to ensure a seat.

One of The Daily Texan’s student reporters, Isa Almeida said she loves covering the success of the team. Almeida expressed sadness due to the overwhelming amount of empty seats.

“It’s honestly a little disrespectful to the team,” Almeida said. “They’re here every day putting in hard work, they put on a show for everyone here. And you see so many empty seats.”

Paul Adeleke is a basketball fan who enjoys watching it at a high level. He brought two of his daughters to watch the Texas vs. Texas Tech game, as he attended the year prior. Adeleke prefers watching women’s basketball. His daughters want to play collegiate level someday. He believes not many people appreciate the women’s game for many reasons, one of those being genetics.

“They need to have a lot more skill because they aren’t as fast as the boys,” Adeleke said. “There’s a lot more skill, strategy. And it’s just really good basketball.”

The women’s team isn’t as aggressive or high-powered as the men’s game, it doesn’t mean it’s not good basketball, he explained.

Katy Chaffis, a UT student, loves attending the women’s game more because it’s more aggressive. Chaffis describes it as a different energy being presented.

“I think it’s a little bit more aggressive. In the sense of fouls and things like that,” Chaffis said.

Texas Athletics offered free food and t-shirts to get more students in the stands, but it’s still not enough.  For the final match up of the regular season against BYU general admission was $9. For the men’s final home game you could only find a ticket on a secondary market. While they still have a few years until they reach that level, they all hope the attendance issue gets better.

Since the start of the season, there has been an increase in attendance. The last home game of the regular season had an attendance of 10,364 fans. Meanwhile, against Southern University on Nov. 8 the attendance sat at 5,106.

“Attendance is getting better than it was, but it’s not where it should be,” Adeleke said.

Rows of seats were empty during the women’s basketball game against Texas Tech at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 28, 2024. (Debanny Cerda/Reporting Texas TV)