Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Seeking an audience

About 15 minutes after Saturday's game against New Mexico in Albuquerque, UNLV's RanDee Henry, the leading scorer in the Mountain West Conference, stood atop the ramp that leads to the playing floor at the famous Pit, shaking her head.

Perhaps it was because the Lady Rebels had just given away a game they should have won. Or maybe it was because the roar created by a sellout crowd of 18,018 -- the largest crowd to see an NCAA women's basketball game this season until Tennessee and UConn surpassed it Thursday night -- was still ringing in her ears.

"Actually, I loved it," she said of the hostile environment.

"Playing in front of a big crowd is a great thing, whether they're for you or against you. Having this many people watch you play ... it doesn't get any better than that."

If Henry seemed a little envious, it was because the Lady Rebels, like virtually every other sports entity that calls or has called Las Vegas home, have grown accustomed to performing in front of empty seats. But don't blame the players.

With a record of 16-3 and an engaging style, both on and off the court, the Lady Rebels have been attracting attention wherever they go in the Mountain West Conference.

With the exception of their hometown.

The question is what -- if anything -- can be done about it.

No fan jam

At first glance, it would appear the Lady Rebels are doing just fine at the turnstiles, as their "official" average attendance of 2,572 ranks second in the eight-team Mountain West Conference behind only New Mexico (10,938). But UNLV's attendance is skewed by selected games it plays at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Nearly all of those are scheduled before a Rebels men's game, and the attendance for the men is counted toward both.

At stand-alone games at Cox Pavilion, which seats a modest 2,500 for basketball, the Lady Rebels have not done nearly as well.

Only one of the 10 games at Cox this season has attracted a crowd of more than 1,000. But at least that was an arena record, as 1,141 watched UNLV defeat Wyoming on Jan. 24.

While it's not the 18,000-plus New Mexico attracts on its special promotion nights, it's a start. And, says coach coach Regina Miller, it's a big step up from where the program was when she took over six years ago.

Back then, UNLV played its games at the tiny South Gym on campus, which consisted of a playing floor, two backboards and rims and about four rows of bleachers along each sideline.

"There's been a tremendous improvement since my first year," Miller said. "When I came here, we were playing in the South Gym. I said 'This can't be.'

"When I look at that, things have improved 100 percent."

And that's despite the fact that Cox Pavilion shrank to about 50 percent of its original planned size. When funding for the arena came up short, balcony and arena-type seating behind the baskets were eliminated. Still, it's a more-than-adequate facility, even with only 2,500 of its original 5,000 seats.

If only UNLV could find a way to fill them.

"You look at New Mexico, that gives them a major home-court advantage," Miller said. "Plus, it's like a reward for the players to have an opportunity to play in front of all those fans.

"When you come out and hear that roar, it certainly can't hurt. It certainly hasn't hurt New Mexico. That crowd was so loud it made me burn all my timeouts."

When Mike Hamrick, UNLV's new athletic director, was told that the only seats not occupied in the cavernous Pit Saturday night were in the visitors section on press row, he was momentarily stunned.

"Well, then, I'm just glad we got to participate in that game," he said. "But I'd love to envision one day where we could participate in that type of situation here."

Making the commitment

One of the first steps to improving Lady Rebels attendance is having an athletic department committed to the task. That's where UNLV seems to be lacking in comparison to a place such as New Mexico.

But at least Hamrick is talking about making the commitment. Unlike his predecessors, he has has become a fixture at Lady Rebels games, and he likes what he sees, at least between the lines.

"Women's basketball has come so far, and I really believe what has helped it is TV. I watched Tennessee and Duke play on TV and (the quality of play) was amazing," he said. "Ten or 15 years ago, you didn't see that. Women's basketball is evolving to where it is an exciting, fast-paced game.

"And if you want to see exciting, fast-paced women's basketball, this (UNLV) is the place."

But outside the lines, Hamrick doesn't profess to have the answers, at least not yet.

"In Las Vegas, I don't know what the answer is," he said. "But I know it (promoting women's basketball) is something we've got to try. I think the key is just getting people to the game for the first time. Then over a period of time, attendance will grow."

But as Bruce Springsteen said, you can't start a fire without a spark. That's where a strong marketing department might come in handy.

A couple of years ago, during the second half of Linda Frohlich's senior year and with a huge assist from then-athletic director John Robinson, fans began to come out for the Lady Rebels.

In the first effort to "Pack the Mack," Robinson gave away tickets and submarine sandwiches, and the largest crowd in UNLV women's basketball history to that point was the result.

"Amazing," said Frohlich, the Lady Rebels' popular All-America forward, of the 4,626 spectators who watched UNLV beat Air Force 75-50 on Jan. 24, 2002. "To tell you the truth, I didn't expect it. I've been here four years and I'm used to playing in front of 900 people."

Two nights later, 4,713 returned to watch the Lady Rebels give New Mexico a little taste of its own medicine, 72-60.

Unfortunately, the season ended just as the buzz for women's basketball was getting louder. Frohlich moved on to the WNBA and the momentum was gone. Until recently, when the marketing department stepped up its effort, average attendance had dwindled to about 600.

The spike for the Wyoming game was largely a result of a kids basketball clinic held in conjuction with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, with kids who attended the clinic being admitted free.

The big marketing push comes Sunday, when fans will be admitted to the Thomas & Mack for the Lady Rebels' regionally televised game against Utah for $1. Kids 12-under, as usual, are free. As of Thursday, more than 1,000 tickets had been purchased, which is a huge presale for a Lady Rebels game.

UNLV has purchased advertising spots on radio and television and in both local newspapers. KLUC 98.5-FM will serve as the game's official sponsor, with Lady Rebels players promoting the game on air. In addition, UNLV has launched a marketing campaign in local elementary and middle schools and another one through unlvtickets.com on the Internet.

But according to Melissa Meacham, UNLV's director of marketing, it has been a hard sell.

"We're going after new fans who aren't from this market and trying to get them involved," she said. "We're hoping to get close to the (attendance) record but we're not assuming we're going to do it."

That unfamiliarity with the Lady Rebels, combined with the public's indifference for women's basketball and the marketing department's limited resources, have been difficult to overcome.

UNLV, for instance, does not have a person responsible for group sales for women's basketball. Only one staff member is allocated to the Lady Rebels, and the advertising budget for the entire women's sports program is a modest $20,000.

Contrast that to New Mexico, which has a five-person sales staff. The Lobos don't have a cash advertising budget per se, but have raised more than $900,000 in media trade-outs. Roughly $200,000 of that goes toward women's basketball.

At UNLV, the players basically market themselves. After games, senior guard InFini Robinson grabs a microphone at center court and thanks fans for coming. Her teammates hang out after the game to shake hands and sign autographs for every fan in attendance.

On some nights, that takes all of five minutes. So earlier this year, Miller took matters into her own hands. She encouraged every one of the Lady Rebels to invite five of their friends to a game and to make some noise, if for no other reason so the other team couldn't hear what she was saying during timeouts.

Educating the public

But even if UNLV were to allocate the proper money, manpower and resources to promote women's basketball, there are those who believe a skeptical Las Vegas public, with so many other entertainment options available, wouldn't take the bait.

If you don't think local sports are a hard sell, consider that the UNLV men's basketball program, still the standard bearer for Las Vegas live team sports, hasn't sold out the Thomas & Mack Center since Jerry Tarkanian's last game as coach in 1992.

Some say that it's not fair to consider a school such as New Mexico and the fervent manner in which it supports its teams in the same context as UNLV, given they don't have casinos and 99-cent shrimp cocktails in Albuquerque.

Well, with the advent of Indian gaming, they do now. But the Indian casinos that have sprung up on the outskirts of Albuquerque, unlike the ones in Las Vegas, don't have race and sports books.

Las Vegas is unique in that many sports fans here prefer betting on a game and watching it on TV with a cheap beer in hand to going to the arena.

Another factor working against the local teams is that most sports fans who make their home in Las Vegas came from somewhere else. The sense of community and continuity here isn't the same as it is in Albuquerque, where kids grow up Lobos fans.

"They've got some great fans," Hamrick said, "while most of our fans in Las Vegas are fans of other teams. We've had to ask them to adopt the Rebels"

While it's probably unrealistic to envision the Lady Rebels ever becoming as popular as the New Mexico's women basketball team given the different demographics influencing the two programs, it's a good blueprint off which to work.

"We definitely have a good relationship with New Mexico, and their ideas for women's basketball," Meacham said. "What we've tried to do is take all of their best ones and put them into our plan.

"It takes time, but we have to grow."

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