Determinants of Attendance at Division I Women’s College Basketball Games: The Superstar Effect

This paper provides the first comprehensive empirical analysis of the determinants of attendance in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. We use a national game-level dataset from the 2023–2024 season and a separate longitudinal panel covering 2015–2016 through 2023–2024. Using OLS, Tobit, and GLM, we show that attendance — measured as a fraction of arena capacity — is strongly associated with team success, recent postseason performance, and overall program quality. Game timing and local sports co