March 6, 2008

The NCAA announced Thursday that Marist College has been selected as the 2007-08 NCAA "Pack the House Challenge" winner for the Metro Atlantic Athletic conference.

Schools urged fans to "Pack the House" for selected women's basketball games from January 1 through February 17. Almost two-thirds of the Division I membership - 198 institutions - participated in the effort that attracted more than 592,000 fans.

Marist hosted 3,200 fans at its women's basketball game on January 25 against Siena and recorded the first sell out in the history of the program. Events at Duke, Louisville, Marist, Navy, Oklahoma State and Presbyterian produced sell-out crowds. Seventy other programs surpassed their single-game attendance highs from last year.

"Pack the House" is a first-year national effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build attendance. One winner from each of the 31 conferences and one from a group of independent institutions were named. Selections were based on marketing plan creativity and attendance criteria. The NCAA will award prizes and donate $500 to the nonprofit organization of each winning institution's choice.

"We believe the effort motivated schools to attract new fans to our game," said NCAA Vice President for Women's Basketball Sue Donohoe. "Campuses devoted additional time and resources to the competition. We are already being asked for information about next year. New alliances were formed among conference offices, member institutions and (NCAA) national office staff that will only strengthen efforts in the future."

The Marist Athletics Department promoted "Pack the House" for over a month. A Sweet 16 commemorative T-shirt was given to the first 1,000 fans courtesy of Verizon Wireless. 92.1 Lite FM's Joe Daily served as the guest coach for the game, and helped get fans to the McCann Center throughout the week on his morning show. Youth basketball players from the Lagrange Women's Basketball League also participated in the festivities by playing and exhibition game at half-time.

"I'm glad that the fans and students came through for the women's basketball team," said Marist Assistant Athletics Director for External Affairs Travis Tellitocci. "We wanted everyone to be part of history that night and also give back to the team for the success that they've had."

In order to get more students out to the game, the Marist Athletics Department enlisted the help of its Sports Public Relations Class on campus. The class' goal was to fill the student section. The class promoted the game using You Tube and Facebook. They also created promotions that would encourage student support at the game.

A $250 donation was given to the student organization that brought the most members to the game. Students had a chance to make a half-court shot for tickets and hotel accommodations to the MAAC Tournament. Other prizes included gift certificates to local restaurants and a pizza party for the floor that brought the most students in the freshman dorms. Over 900 Marist students attended the game.