Oregon women’s basketball became more than just headline news. They became must-watch TV.
Traveling to Eugene to see a title-contending team appealed to people who wanted a good show, and the Ducks gave their fans that.
“Sabrina” became a household name nationwide, No. 20 Nike jerseys were sold out in hours and, as the team’s popularity grew, so did the number of viewers.
The Ducks’ one-two-three punch of Ionescu, Satou Sabally and Ruthy Hebard has garnered the attention of NBA athletes, little girls who look up to the players and the hearts of dedicated Ducks fans.
Before the “Big Three” started their journey in Eugene, the team averaged 1,629 fans per game, almost enough to fill three sections in the lower bowl of Matthew Knight Arena.
Ionescu’s freshman year? They averaged 2,595.
The year before that, when Oti Gildon and WNBA player Maite Cazorla started out as freshmen, sounds in the arena were almost nothing.
Fans could hear head coach Kelly Graves’ yelling from across the arena years ago, but now his voice is drowned out by thousands of fans who’ve piled into the arena.
The Ducks currently hold the second-highest attendance mark in the nation for home games. Now in the trio’s senior season, the average number of fans heaping in to see the star-studded team was 10,852 this year. That is over quadruple the number since their freshman season.
Four years ago, the arena seemed like general admission. Students could sit wherever they wanted and now they’re fighting for seats and tickets the second they come out.
Matthew Knight Arena has become a marquee attraction for loyal Duck fans where if students aren’t entering the arena an hour before the game, they’ll be sitting in the nosebleeds.
“Coming in my freshman year and seeing all these empty seats and having my friends be able to sit wherever they want, and now they’re all fighting over who texts me first for tickets,” Ionescu said. “So this is awesome.”
The attendance numbers have nearly doubled every year since Ionescu and Hebard’s freshman year — 4,255 their sophomore campaign and 7,148 their junior year.
Home game attendance the past few years since the rise of Graves’ program started in 2014 have grown exponentially.
In the 2018-19 season, Oregon ranked No. 8 in the nation in average home attendance with 7,148 and 121,511 total for the year. They also ranked first in the largest average attendance increase between seasons in the NCAA from the 2017-18 season to 2018-19 with close to a 3,000-person increase.
Attendance in other visiting arenas and neutral sites have also exponentially risen. When Oregon played at Long Beach State for a nonconference game, there were more fans for the Ducks, particularly Ionescu, then there were Long Beach State fans.
Fan attendance at visiting Pac-12 venues has shot up 75% when the Ducks roll into town, Graves said in a postgame press conference.
Oregon’s highlight reel season seems to be never-ending and fans in Eugene are glued to the must-see basketball team that has taken the nation by storm.
“Wow. The house that we built. This is crazy,” Ionescu said after senior night on their home floor.
Even before the season began, Matthew Knight Arena hosted 11,530 fans for an exhibition game against Team USA, where Oregon was the first college team to defeat the nation’s best since 1999. That game didn’t even count toward their record, yet more than 11,000 fans itched to get a sneak peek of the success.
“I’ve just been very impressed about the outpouring of support we’ve got from our fans. I give them a lot of credit,” Graves said postgame after the win over Team USA. “The season tickets are way up and hopefully they continue to come out to watch and support this team because they are fun to watch and they play really hard.”
