As I sat on press row to cover the Lady Dogs basketball game Sunday — just like I have for every Georgia home game this season — I look across the court toward the student section and noticed something missing.

BEN BUSSARD

Students were missing.

The silent stare from hundreds of empty red seatbacks is almost criminal and downright depressing.

So much so, in fact, that I decided to take a look at the attendance numbers, and it wasn’t pretty.

In the Lady Dogs’ 14 home games this season, the average attendance has been a relatively meager 4,259.

Compare that to an average attendance of 6,121 fans that have filled the stands for the 12 Georgia men’s team home games and you’ve got a 30 percent drop off in fan support.

So why aren’t students coming out to support one of the University’s most competitive sports teams?

People will argue the men’s game is simply more entertaining, and the women’s games aren’t as much fun to watch.

While that is a valid point, the statistics of other schools’ attendance numbers beg to differ.

The Tennessee Lady Volunteers boast the highest attendance among women’s teams in the country as they average 12,873 fans for each of their home games.

In addition to Tennessee, schools like Connecticut, Iowa State, Purdue and Notre Dame have already crossed the 100,000 attendance plateau for the 2009-10 season while Georgia still sits below the 60,000 mark with only 59,632 people walking through the turnstiles of Stegeman Coliseum.

Maybe that’s the problem: Stegeman simply doesn’t attract a lot of fans because it’s so old.

The student section at a woman's basketball game sits empty. Photo by ASHLEY STRICKLAND

Not true.

The Georgia gymnastics team averages 10,224 patrons to every home meet they’ve hosted this season inside the now 46-year-old monstrosity we call Stegeman.

It can’t be the team’s performance that scares students away. The No. 19 Lady Dogs got off to their best start in program history this season and are primed to contend for their sixth Final Four appearance under head coach Andy Landers.

There hasn’t been a lack of exposure, that’s for sure.

The Georgia women’s basketball team has had four of its 10 road games regionally televised, making it easy for students to follow the Lady Dogs even when they’re away from home.

It definitely isn’t the price of admission.

All Georgia students get into the women’s games for free. That’s right. Free.

Whatever the case may be, the student support for the Lady Dogs is pathetic, and it seems to be having an effect on the girls who suit up, as

Georgia has lost four of its last five games.

In fact, it’s no coincidence that Georgia’s most significant victory of the season came in front of its largest home crowd.

The Jan. 21 matchup against the No. 3 Lady Vols brought 7,728 screaming Bulldog fans to Stegeman, as they watched one of the best performances in Lady Dogs history — a 53-50 win over their biggest rival.

Now that football season is officially over, it’s time for students to embrace the other, less-heralded sports here on campus.

A top-25 women’s basketball team, a defending National Champion equestrian team and a defending national runners-up softball team are a good start.

If Georgia ever wants to be regarded as one the best athletic programs in the country — or the SEC for that matter — students need to branch out and help support the other 15 sports programs.

Just remember that the world doesn’t revolve around Sanford Stadium, and while football remains the University’s main bread-winner, having a successful athletic program as a whole is something we can all hang our hats on.

— Ben Bussard is a
sportswriter for The Red & Black

MAKE SOME NOISE?

Attendance at Georgia women’s basketball games proves to be thousands behind that of the Lady Dogs’ foe Tennessee.

Average attendance at Lady Dogs home games: 4,259

Average attendance at Lady Vols home games: 12,873

Difference in venue size of Georgia’s Stegeman Coliseum and Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena: 14,012, Tennessee having the larger venue

Capacity percentage at Lady Dogs games: .404

Capacity percentage at Lady Vols games: .524

But with a season-high crowd of 7,728 for the matchup between Georgia and Tennessee Jan. 21, the Lady Dogs pulled down their first win at home over the Lady Vols in ten years.