At Maryland Madness, Terrapin women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese emphasized to students that she wants to not only beat Duke on the court, but also in the crowd. Regardless of how many students decide to support the defending national champions during the upcoming season, there will be more fans in the Comcast Center stands.
As of yesterday afternoon, there have been 5,969 season tickets sold – almost a 300 percent increase from the roughly 2,100 sold for last season, according to Associate Athletics Director Brian Ullman. With the season yet to have started, Ullman expects the total to increase even more.
“Part of the increase is because during last year’s tournament, we were extremely aggressive selling tickets,” Ullman said. “Before people even knew the schedule, they were buying tickets.”
Ullman said swarms of people called after the Terps completed their Final Four run. Although the Athletics Department usually waits until the schedule is released to sell tickets, there were too many people clamoring for tickets to wait.
The Athletics Department sells two types of season tickets for the women’s basketball team. For $115, fans get a season-long reserved seat, but those have sold out, so now fans can only pay $85 for season-long general admission seating. The reserved seats were offered at a discounted price last year when the tickets first went on sale.
The increase in ticket sales is a testament to Frese, who brought in an exciting group of players and pushed her team to the campus and surrounding area. In her five years at this university, she helped make women’s basketball fans out of people who would have shunned the idea of attending a game in the past.
“It’s a combination of Brenda Frese and the team,” Ullman said. “There’s something about Brenda and something about this team. When you buy a ticket, you see the same players this year as last year. You know you’re getting 98 percent of the team back.”
“We take a tremendous amount of pride in seeing our attendance increase every year,” Frese said. “It’s a product of our talent on our roster, and you see a lot of their personality, unselfishness and skill on the court. That makes it fun for anybody to watch.”
With the whole starting lineup and many key reserve players returning to the Terps this season, students will be able to watch the same team they saw advance through the NCAA tournament all the way to Boston last April.
The diehard fans from the start of last season and the ones that hopped on the bandwagon last March are gladly welcomed by Frese to watch the team.
“The presence fans have at games creates a great home court advantage,” Frese said. “It’s great to come support the team and identify with some of your classmates. In spots where you might be tired or need a push, [the fans] are a great sixth man.”
Students can still enter games just by showing their student identification card. With more and more students expected to support the Terps this season, the team and the Athletics Department hope Comcast Center will be closer to full than ever before.
“There are 17,000 seats in the Comcast Center, so we’ve never been in the position where we have to open up seats for students,” Ullman said. “I hope we get to the point where that’s a problem.”
Contact reporter Mark Selig at mseligdbk@gmail.com.
