On Feb. 20, 2000, 13,212 fans packed Assembly Hall to see the 18-9 Illinois women’s basketball team take on Ohio State. The second-largest crowd in the program’s history cheered Theresa Grentz’s Illini on to a 70-61 victory over the Buckeyes to clinch their fourth straight winning record in Big Ten play.

Twelve years after the victory over Ohio State, only 1,006 Illini fans dotted the A-section on Feb. 9, as the Illini upset the No. 10 Buckeyes in former head coach Jolette Law’s lone victory over a top-10 team during her time at Illinois. Only six members of the student cheering section were present despite free admission for all students.

Much has changed in the past 12 years for the Illinois women’s basketball team.

The Illini haven’t attracted a crowd of over 9,000 fans since the victory over Ohio State in 2000. The program hasn’t posted a Big Ten record over .500 since 2003. The 13,000-plus fans in attendance for the win in 2000 topped the overall attendance in each of the last two seasons.

Hall-of-famer Grentz no longer strolls the sideline for the Illini. Neither does Law. In their place is first-year head coach Matt Bollant, who was an assistant at Evansville in 2000.

Under Law, long gone were the days of 1998-99 and 1999-00, when Grentz’s Illini averaged crowds of 7,407 and 5,813, respectively, according to the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics. The once-strong women’s basketball attendance figures dipped to a 16-year low during the 2011-12 season.

“We have certain fans that are really loyal, but it would be so much nicer to have full community support,” junior Kersten Magrum said. “It is like a sixth man, and it’s tough sometimes, especially when you go see the boy’s arena is full. It’s like, ‘Oh man, I wish we just had that for us.’ It would just be so much nicer to feel like a part of it.”

While the men’s basketball team usually plays in front of 15,000 filled seats, 15,000 seats are regularly left empty during women’s basketball games.

“It’s just normal,” senior Karisma Penn said. “I’ve never really played in an Assembly Hall that is packed to capacity. It’s something that we just have to deal with.”

The Illini have not averaged over 2,000 fans since the 2005-06 season. The program has around 400 season ticket holders, and, last season, it averaged only 1,070 fans at its home games.

The team appreciates its regulars.

“Honestly, I’m just thankful for everyone that comes and supports,” point guard Alexis Smith said. “It feels great to have people there. Our fans are still always so up and alive.”

Calling all supporters

Some of those in attendance for 2000’s “Stuff the Hall Day” against Ohio State have been receiving phone calls from the Illinois women’s basketball team. Bollant decided that to increase season ticket holders, his squad would call season ticket holders from the 2000 season and ask them to renew their tickets at a new low price of $25.

“I told (the players) part of building a program is humbling yourself and doing whatever it takes,” Bollant said. “Right now, we only have 400 season ticket holders, and we’re trying to grow that to 800 or 1,000 in our first year. I don’t know if that’s possible, but we’re trying.”

Smith successfully sold three season ticket subscriptions.

“It’s actually a lot of fun!” she said. “It’s fun to know how many people come out to support, and how much it means that we’re calling and asking.”

In addition to calling former season ticket holders, Bollant has tried many new methods to increase attendance. The athletic department gives out free programs and offers autographs of the player featured on the program for 10 minutes following each home game. Season ticket prices have been lowered to $25 for 19 games. Fans who attended the football game against Minnesota were able to get into the season opener for free, and student-athletes are given an abundance of tickets to each game.

“I’m not even sure if I know this many people,” Magrum said after the athletic department gave her free tickets to give away.

Bollant has also spoken at 15-20 local rotaries, Lions Clubs and Kiwanis Clubs. At the organizations, Bollant explains why local residents should come out and support his program and why his squad will be different from last year’s team, which finished 11-19.

“(It is going to be different) because our coaching staff is here. Because we have the right plan for this team. Because we know what we’re doing. Because we are going to work extremely hard and because we have some talented players that want it to be different,” he tells them.

In addition to building a relationship with the community, Bollant hopes winning and his brand of up-tempo basketball will attract more fans.

“We love to do the community stuff,” he said, “but we have to put a good product on the floor.”

What attendance means

The women’s basketball team loses more money than any other program in Illinois’ athletic department. The program lost $1.67 million during the 2010-11 season, the last season for which a budget is available. Home games account for a significant portion of those losses.

The recent downfall in attendance has also led to a decline in ticket revenue for the women’s basketball team. During the 2010-11 season, Illinois averaged 1,416 tickets sold over 16 home games, totaling sales of $25,270. The team also made $29,661 with concessions and novelty sales.

The team’s game expenses for the season totaled $290,064. According to the Illinois’ 2011 financial report to the NCAA, game expenses “include game-day expenses other than travel that are necessary for intercollegiate athletics competition, including officials, security, event staff, ambulance and such.”

During that season, the women’s basketball team lost $235,133 because of home games.

The amount of money lost has increased with decreasing ticket sales.

In 2005-06, for example, the program averaged 2,734 tickets sold for each game, netting a total of $81,852. In addition, novelty sales, concessions and parking brought in $1,632. And gameday expenses totaled $247,416. The program lost $163,932 that year from home games, which was $71,201 less of loss than in 2010-11.

Student attendance

While the Orange Krush consistently draws hundreds of students to men’s basketball games, the Blue Crew, the women’s student section, struggles to garner attention among its peers.

The Blue Crew averaged 23.5 students at home games last year, and the student section failed to reach double digits in attendance in three of eight home games last season.

“It didn’t seem like as low of attendance last year because it’s always been really low,” said Jamie Gross, who was Blue Crew chair last season.

Bollant has worked with the Blue Crew to increase student attendance, as well as the Courtsiders organization to put together a charity golf outing this past summer that raised $15,000, which will be spent on providing students with free food as an incentive.

“It’s going to make our job a lot easier,” Blue Crew co-chair Bridget Haley said. “And it’s just really cool that he has that much enthusiasm.”

Blue Crew student leaders said that, in the past, they have tried many things to increase attendance, including handing out gift cards, free food and Orange Krush line cards to guarantee students earlier entry to men’s games. Last season, the line cards were the most effective, drawing by far the most students at 63 and 52 in the two games in which they were handed out. Student leaders also have recommendations for increasing attendance.

“I told (Bollant): free food and getting the (players) involved,” Gross said.

Illinois isn’t the only school struggling with student turnout at women’s games. Even schools with above-average attendance numbers, such as Purdue, don’t draw many students.

“I don’t think anywhere in the country there is a major, major student section,” Purdue head coach Sharon Versyp said at Big Ten Media Day in October. “But you have to find the niche of who loves the women’s style and who loves the game.

“Our clientele is different: senior citizens, families, and we’re trying to get some students.”

Versyp said around 50 of the 7,958 average fans are members of the Gold Mine, Purdue’s student section. She has tried many things to excite the campus.

“I’ve gone to every dorm. I’ve flipped pancakes in the morning. I’ve done everything,” she said. “But it’s hard because we’re competing with men’s basketball.”

National trends

While Illinois’ attendance has dipped to a 16-year low, the NCAA figure for women’s basketball is at an all-time high. Over 11 million tickets were sold last season for just the second time in history.

In 2011-12, 14,414 fans bustled through the gates at Tennessee to watch Pat Summit’s final slate of home games. The KFC Yum! Center welcomed an average crowd of 10,670 to watch Louisville. And Notre Dame’s women’s basketball team outsold the men’s basketball team by an average margin of 572 fans, with the women at 8,571 and men at 7,999.

Notre Dame, though, is the exception. Although women’s basketball attendance is higher than it has ever been, it hasn’t approached the level of its counterpart. NCAA men’s basketball programs sold over 32.7 million tickets last season, 21.5 million more than women’s basketball programs. The NCAA men’s tournament attracted 717,185 fans, while the women’s tournament only netted 112,532 fans.

Six members of the Big Ten are in the top 20 in attendance nationally in women’s basketball. Purdue, the conference’s leader, averaged 7,958 fans in its 17 home games last season, attracting 135,285 over the course of the season.

“It’s great (playing at Purdue),” Magrum said. “I mean, honestly, even being the visiting team. You can just feel the atmosphere. It’s electrifying, and it does affect the game. It is much more intense. I would love to have that here.”

Illinois ranked last in attendance in the Big Ten and 135th nationally last season, behind schools such as Canisius College and Stephen F. Austin University. Bollant’s former school, Green Bay, which has 6,000 students enrolled, had more than twice the attendance of Illinois at 2,712 per game.

Exploring all options

With over 15,000 empty seats at each home game, fans have suggested moving the team back to Huff Hall, where it played from 1993-94 to 1997-98. Huff Hall is home to the volleyball team, which drew almost 3,000 fans per contest this season. For basketball, the hall’s capacity is around 4,000.

Bollant said he has considered the move, but there are many obstacles standing in the way.

“Huff is not made for basketball right now, so they’d have to renovate Huff,” Bollant said. “We’re hoping to grow our program. In 2000 and 2001, they averaged over 4,000 fans a game. That’s bigger than Huff already. Hopefully, we’re going to grow this to where we’re averaging four, five or 6,000 fans a game. And certainly having games where there are more than that.

“With the renovation to Assembly Hall, that’s going to have a wow factor for recruiting where Huff Hall will not have that wow factor. That’s a big deal in recruiting. You walk a kid into Huff compared to walking them into the new $160 million renovation for Assembly Hall, that’s going to be a big difference.”

Attendance update

Through three games this season, Illinois has averaged more fans than last year, but not by much. The Illini have attracted crowds of 1,625, 1,422 and 1,612, respectively. After the season opener, Bollant sent his team into the stands to thank the fans for coming.

“I think it would be great if we could help fill up Assembly Hall, but we’re not going to go to 15,000, 16,000 this year,” Bollant said. “But maybe we can get a couple thousand fans. Maybe we can fill up ‘A’ first, and then start working on ‘B’ and go from there.”

The 2,260 tickets in A-section have been the only seats available for women’s basketball games so far. The 14,558 seats in B- and C-sections have been roped off.

The Illini usually average more fans in Big Ten play, but there is one crucial component that persuades fans to come.

“Performance has a lot to do with energy and excitement around the team and getting people to come,” assistant athletic director Jennifer Larson said. “And the team hasn’t been very successful lately, as it has been in the past.

“We’re hoping that the wins will come, and then the people will come.”

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.