Iowa WBB’s Popularity Surge Causes School to Make Tough Decision on Ticket Sales

After a historic run to the women’s national championship game, the University of Iowa’s athletic department has paused ticket sales for next season after soaring demand, according to a report from Chad Leistikow of the Des Moines Register.

Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark captivated the sport with her elite scoring ability, and she will be back in the fold next season to put the school in position to be contenders once again.

The program set a Big Ten conference record for home attendance this season, averaging just over 11,100 fans per game.

The early demand for season tickets was reportedly so strong that it would smash the attendance record just set this season.

“We’re going to do our best so that those fans who want to support women’s basketball at Iowa get that opportunity,” deputy director of athletics Matt Henderson told The Register.

The season-ticket base last season was 6,500 tickets. Most years, renewals for season tickets are around 90% for all sports, and the expectation is that it will be right around 100% for women’s basketball heading into next season.

On top of the existing season-ticket holders, Iowa already received new season ticket requests for an additional 6,700 seats as of Tuesday. If all new season ticket requests were fulfilled, there would be 13,200 season tickets accounted for next season in an arena that sits 15,056.

Since the potential was there for fans to continue buying season tickets at a level approaching the full capacity of Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the athletic department was left with no choice but to pause season ticket sales to allow seats for general admission for next year.

It’s a good problem to have for the school, and it can all be attributed to the team’s fantastic play under coach Lisa Bluder, led by a superstar in Clark.