INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Western Athletic Conference has been awarded $85,000 as part of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Grant Program, it was announced today.

The WAC is one of 18 Division I institutions and conferences to receive funds as part of the second-year program, which is designed to increase awareness, exposure and attendance of women’s basketball.

“We are pleased with the success of many of last year’s grant recipients and are excited to see what these new recipients are able to achieve with this assistance,” said NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Vice President Sue Donohoe. “When resources are allocated and efforts are focused to promote women’s basketball, it can provide a meaningful return on the investment.”

A total of 75 member schools and conferences submitted proposals in the second year of the pilot program. National office staff and representatives from the NCAA women’s basketball marketing consultant firm, Hawkeye Sports and Entertainment, evaluated the proposals.

“We are thrilled the NCAA awarded the WAC one of these prestigious grants,” said Darlene Bailey, Associate Commissioner. “The grant, along with additional funding support from the conference, will allow us to do some specific programming on our nine member campuses to attract fans to be a part in the women’s basketball experience.”

Megan Allen, Director of Marketing for the WAC, was responsible for developing the grant proposal, which contains three parts – an incentivized rewards program, an academic achievement component and a game day enhancement element. Allen will work with each of the member institutions to execute the program.

The 2009-10 grant recipients are:
Auburn
Big South Conference
Cornell
East Tennessee State
Eastern Michigan
Iowa State
Patriot League
San Diego State
UCLA
UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara
Hartford
Kansas
Miami (Fla.)
North Carolina
South Carolina
West Coast Conference
Western Athletic Conference

“The first year of the grant program went very well and we are anticipating more success in year two,” Donohoe said. “The membership has had a tremendous interest in securing grant resources to advance women’s basketball. It is important that we continue to work to grow women’s basketball from the inside out and at the grass roots level.”

Grant recipient success stories from 2008-09 include Texas Tech, which doubled its student attendance for women’s basketball home games. Florida State increased season ticket sales by 63 percent, with a 55 percent increase in overall attendance for women’s basketball. Meanwhile, East Tennessee State increased its average attendance by 231 percent and several grant recipients set record single game attendance marks.

The program will be evaluated following its second year to determine if the objectives are being met. Grants are awarded on a one-year basis and are not automatically renewed. East Tennessee State, Patriot League and San Diego State received grants for the second straight year.

This marketing initiative concept was generated from the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Discussion Group, chaired by NCAA President Myles Brand. The group consisted of head coaches, media representatives, former student-athletes and conference, institutional and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) administrators. This initiative has been strongly supported by the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee, and the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Issues Committee.