NCAA Tournament game boosts Wisconsin women's hockey 2023-24 crowd size average (2024)

The scanner count was the highest of the season but lowest in the last five Badgers NCAA Tournament games at the venue, which opened in the 2012-13 season. National playoff games in 2014 and 2015 did not have scanner counts included in records released but their crowd sizes probably were smaller because the number of tickets distributed were 2,077 and 1,888, respectively.

Ticket scans provide a more accurate representation of how many spectators were in the building than the announced attendance, which typically is closer to the number of tickets distributed.

Wisconsin announced a sellout of 2,273 for 20 of 21 games in the 2023-24 season; the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff opener against St. Thomas on March 1 was the exception at 2,192. But the Badgers regularly distribute more than 2,273 tickets for general admission seating at LaBahn because only one game has ever drawn more than 2,100 scans — a January 2016 game against North Dakota (2,241).

The average number of tickets distributed in 2023-24 was 2,320, according to Wisconsin's records. The 33% unused rate, comparing tickets scanned to tickets distributed, matched that of the first 10 seasons of games at LaBahn.

The Badgers were 19-2 at home en route to a NCAA runner-up finish at 35-6.

The 1,545 scanner average for 2023-24 ranked fifth of 11 seasons at LaBahn and the highest since 2019-20 when counting only home games at that venue. The Badgers occasionally play at the Kohl Center, which holds 15,359 for hockey.

A game at the larger venue next door in the 2022-23 campaign had 9,070 scans, bringing that season's average up to 1,895.

Ticket scans showed 4% growth over the 2022-23 LaBahn-only figures.

Wisconsin led the nation in announced attendance for women's hockey at an average of 2,269. Minnesota (1,942) and Minnesota Duluth (1,137) were the only other schools out of 44 playing at the top NCAA level to average more than 1,000.