To all student fans, community supporters of Humboldt State athletics and student athletes:
On March 6, the Humboldt State woman’s basketball team played in The California Collegiate Athletic Association’s finals. We, as a school, were lucky enough to host this tournament and be able to watch our two great teams compete for the championship at home. The men’s team, unfortunately, lost in the semifinals on Friday night. But, that night and throughout the season the men quite often had an advantage that the women did not—a packed gym.
Now, I am a huge sports fan and a believer that having our support does a lot for the players. I imagine it must be disheartening to be a woman student athlete and, game after game, see barely a crowd for your game, only to watch the gym fill up later that night for the men’s game. An example is the nationally televised men’s game that happened last month. I had never seen that many fans in the Lumberjack Arena. But, the crowd dwindled before the ladies game afterwards, leaving a very stark contrast. Startlingly enough, according to the statistics listed on the athletic program’s website, at home, the men’s games have about *800 more spectators in attendance than the women’s games.
I have heard some reasons for why there is lower attendance at the women’s games. One is that women’s basketball is slower paced and less exciting than men’s basketball. To me, that is dead wrong. We have a very exciting and talented team of women, whose average points per game is only two fewer than their male counterparts'. Another reason why attendance may be lower is the fact that the women’s games always take place earlier in the evening at maybe a more inconvenient time. This makes me wonder why the athletic program doesn’t switch the game times around periodically to give each team an equal chance of high attendance.
To those of you who missed it, our ladies won their first ever CCAA championship that Saturday night, securing a berth in the West regional finals. Congratulations ladies, good luck at regionals, and I hope next year there is a larger crowd to greet you at home.
-JanaLee Janzen
HSU sophomore, social work major
*Editor's Note: Average attendance for men's home games: 1,359
Average attendance for women's home games: 548
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