While a new Syracuse Orange women’s basketball season begins soon, an old topic is once again making headlines: the program’s home attendance. Specifically, a lack of it.
According to Syracuse University Athletics, in an arena that boasts a seating capacity of just over 30,000, there were 3,197 fans per home game in the 2025-26 season. That’s over 14,500 fewer fans than the average home men’s basketball game last year (17,726).
We sent out the TNIAAM signal to get some thoughts on what some root causes
for the attendance issues are and possible fixes.
The biggest challenge to improving Syracuse women’s basketball attendance is ______?
Dom: In SUA’s control, more incentives to fans, like giveaways (maybe free tickets to MBB, a signed jersey, a free trip to the ACC Tournament, or literally anything in the ballpark) and more family-centric themes. There are a couple good ones, the School Day being the obvious one, but that’s a flash in the pan rather than something consistent. Not in SUA’s control, navigating games (especially the ACC ones) being on Thursday and Sunday, two pretty brutal days to work with.
Audrey: I think the biggest challenge to improving Syracuse women’s basketball attendance is the stigma that women’s sports (not just basketball) are inherently a worse product than their men’s counterparts. It’s not a malicious assumption, as it’s often a result of years of subconscious messaging in sports — colloquially there’s “sport” and then “women’s sport” for example, framing men’s sports as the default — but it’s not something that FLJ’s advocacy alone can solve. For students, the games are free. It costs students zero dollars to hang out with their buddies and watch their team play. As somebody who went to many ‘Cuse WBB games during the past few seasons, it is not an uncommon occurrence that the only students there are in the pep band. I don’t know what the solution is, but I think the root of the attendance struggles this squad is facing is beyond something that SUA can cook up a fix to.
Kevin: Perception. People think coming to the Dome means tickets and parking and concessions are going to add up. I don’t think the word is out that this isn’t like men’s basketball or football. I think you have to try more promotions. I think you have to target families on Sundays and I think for students you need to give them incentives to show up. If you gave students chances to win better MBB tickets or exclusive merch, I think you can get more to come to games. Once you get people in, then the team can convince them to come back.
How are you feeling about how FLJ is addressing the topic?
Dom: Honestly, conflicted. On the one hand, her remarks on multiple occasions have at least garnered headlines and put a bigger spotlight on the lack of attendance despite the success on the court. WBB has also performed pretty well at home during FLJ’s tenure. On the other hand, seeing lines like threatening to “schedule more games away” doesn’t necessarily encourage the average fan to pull up to the Dome.
Audrey: I understand her frustration. FLJ has been putting out a consistently pretty solid basketball team each night and isn’t reaping the support that on-court success is supposed to bring. If you’re FLJ, winning is supposed to solve all your problems. It seems like, however, WBB has to be extraordinary to get any meaningful attention from the Syracuse community while MBB seems to get away with being routinely below average. I think that the candidness of FLJ’s recent comments isn’t scaring potential game-goers — “I was going to go to a Syracuse WBB game, but the lack of diplomacy in the coach’s recent remarks have changed my mind,” isn’t something that I think anybody has thought to themselves. I’m not upset with FLJ because she laid all of her cards on the table; this is who we are, I (FLJ) earnestly believe this team will be competitive and compelling for the community, and you should come along for the ride this year.
Kevin: She has to be careful here. You run the risk of alienating some of your loyal fans if you do that. The program is in a tough spot as the Dome doesn’t give it a good atmosphere, but there is nowhere else to play. If you had an arena that sat under 5,000 and was loud and felt like a homecourt I think you could win over more people. The team and FLJ should focus on what they control and let the administration work on the attendance.
What is and isn’t working to address attendance?
Dom: the on-court product, which is a good floor. Some of the themes, like “Bring Your Dog To The Dome” and “School Day,” are must-keeps. Tickets are also relatively low. What isn’t working: not enough themes for the broader public or incentives to boost student turnout. As cheap individually as they are, $25 a pop for each person in a family of, say, four adds up very quickly. Also, charging a little more for a weekend game versus a weekday game feels weird, at least for the women’s basketball team’s situation specifically.
Audrey: I agree with Dom. I think theme days are fun and create cute shareable moments. Seeing a dog in the stands is undoubtedly awesome. I asked my friends why they don’t go to WBB games and a lot of them said, essentially, that they did not know the games were free for students and they had no clue when the games were. Athletics needs to find a way to promote these games to the student body, especially how accessible they are.
Kevin: “There’s money in the banana stand.” Look at what the Savannah Bananas have done and try to incorporate some of the elements- ramp up the entertainment, get some student creators to set up Tik Tok dance stations, or photo booths. You have a lot of available space, so go for some fun themes and in-game experiences. It’s ok if people show up for something other than the game, and then realize it’s a fun time.
One immediate change you would make?
Dom: family discounts (buy two, get two free or three, then one off) of some kind. Another: way more giveaways. SUA just hasn’t gone above and beyond, in my opinion.
Audrey: Lower the ticket prices or throw in a Dome Dog, a cool t-shirt, etc. and advertise the daylights out of it.
Kevin: Bundles. If you don’t want to give away tickets, do tickets with concessions, do tickets with a plush Otto, do tickets with a photo opp. Get more player stories out there. Fans like rooting for people they feel they know- as good as Uche Izoje is, do we know her story? Do we know about Angelica Velez or Liv Schmitt?
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What are some of your thoughts on this attendance issue?
