Northwestern Earns Big Ten's Fifth Annual SuperFan Cup

Wildcats Recognized for Marketing and Promotion of Women's Basketball

Dubbed the 'Purple Hair Dare,' Northwestern head coach Beth Combs agreed to dye her hair purple since the Wildcats had sold 3,000 tickets prior to the game

Dubbed the 'Purple Hair Dare,' Northwestern head coach Beth Combs agreed to dye her hair purple since the Wildcats had sold 3,000 tickets prior to the game

Feb. 26, 2007

BIG TEN SUPERFAN PAGE

PARK RIDGE, Ill. - In recognition of its marketing and promotional campaign that helped boost attendance at women's basketball games this season, Northwestern University has been named the recipient of the fifth annual Big Ten SuperFan Cup, the conference office announced today.

The Wildcats increased attendance at their eight conference home games by over 43 percent this season compared to last year's figures.  The SuperFan Cup is designed to reward the Big Ten school that has the most significant increase in attendance over the eight-game conference homestand from the previous year.  Northwestern welcomed 7,460 fans (933 average) to Welsh-Ryan Arena in those eight contests this season, compared to 5,212 patrons a year ago.   The Wildcats also recorded attendance figures in four of their eight games this year that were well above their average of 652 fans per game last season. 

Highlighting those four notable games was the Iowa matchup on Jan. 7 when Northwestern welcomed 3,121 fans to the game.  Dubbed the "Purple Hair Dare," NU head coach Beth Combs agreed to dye her hair purple since the Wildcats had sold 3,000 tickets prior to the game, and the first 500 fans were given purple wigs to take part in the celebration as well.

At Northwestern's "Purple Hair Dare" on Jan. 7, the first 500 fans were given purple wigs to take part in the celebration.

 

In addition, Northwestern promoted the conference's SuperFan campaign with public address announcements at each game, encouraging fans to share their gameday experiences with the Big Ten office through its special e-mail address superfan@bigten.org.  Wildcat fan Joyce Stutz wrote, "My daughter Jenna is a loyal Northwestern fan and her cousin happens to be No. 14 Julie Bielawski.  We have been at every home game and some away games.  My daughter is 13 years old and she wrote a SuperFan poem for her Language Arts class." 

In the fall of 2002, the Big Ten launched the SuperFan campaign, a promotion designed to boost attendance for women's basketball regular-season games.  This season's promotion allowed each institution within the league to publicize its women's home basketball games using additional marketing tools provided by the Big Ten.  The conference distributed both marketing and financial support to all 11 universities and encouraged league schools to use the customized materials from the SuperFan kit.  Michigan State was the first university to be awarded the SuperFan Cup as the Spartans generated an astounding 77 percent attendance increase for home games during the 2002-03 season.  In 2003-04, Purdue earned the annual traveling trophy after it ranked second in the nation for increased attendance and fifth in average attendance at 10,105 fans per game.  Two years ago, Ohio State increased its attendance by 82 percent with a mark of 7,259 fans per contest and shattered the Ohio State (13,320) and Big Ten (17,142) single-game attendance mark with a record high of 17,525 fans.  Last year, Illinois became the fourth different school in as many years to win the trophy, increasing its attendance 71 percent from the 2004-05 season.

The Big Ten currently boasts seven teams in the top 30 among national attendance leaders.  Purdue, Michigan State and Wisconsin rank Nos. 8-10, respectively, followed closely by Minnesota and Penn State in the top 15.  Ohio State and Iowa are also among the nation's top-30 attendance leaders.  This season the Big Ten has seen three schools welcome more than 13,000 patrons to a game.  Wisconsin boasted a conference-high of 15,269 against Minnesota on Jan. 28 and saw 13,178 fans come through the turnstile for the Purdue matchup on Feb. 18.  That same night, Iowa played in front of 13,688 patrons against Illinois in Iowa City.

The Big Ten has also led the nation in attendance seven of the last 14 years, most recently in 1999.

The 2007 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament presented by Xbox 360 will take place March 1-5 - an event that saw record-breaking attendance figures last year.   The 2006 tournament attendance of 38,638 and session average of 7,728 were both event records in the 12-year history of the tournament. The previous marks of 37,635 and 7,527 were set in 2004.  The five most recent editions of the women's tournament have posted the highest attendance in the event's history, surpassing the 30,000-patron mark each year.