ITA Attendance Race

photo courtesy Univ. of Illinois athletic media relations

Virginia, Illinois and Texas A&M jump out to early leads
The race is on and the Virginia and Illinois men and Texas A&M women are the early leaders in the inaugural ITA Attendance Race. The Virginia men are tops in the total attendance with 4,208 fans through their first eight matches this season, all played indoors at the Boyd Tinsley Tennis Courts at Boars Head Tennis Center. Illinois leads the nation in average attendance with 635 fans per match at the Atkins Tennis Center. Fittingly, the Illinois-Virginia match at Atkins drew a season-high 1,231 spectators (pictured, above). Texas A&M leads the way in all the women's categories with 1,777 total fans through three home matches this season, good for a 592 per match average, both lead the nation. The first standings reflect matches through January and February.

Highlighting the ITA Attendance Race thus far are the nearly 25,000 fans taking in the first stretch of home matches for the  top 14 men's race leaders (mainly at indoor facilities with limited capacity).

Some of the behind the scenes people instrumental in driving up attendance for this month's leaders were: Devin Crosby, Asst. Athletic Director for Marketing and Promotions at Virginia; Kristi Bhrlik and Tony Ghinelli, student marketing staff at Texas A&M; and Elizabeth Klatt, Asst. Director of Sports Marketing at Illinois.

The bar has been set. What will the leader lists look like for March? It's not too late to jump in.

photo courtesy Univ. of Arkansas athletic media relations

photo courtesy Univ. of UVA athletic media relations

Note: All divisions are eligible for the race. More submissions are needed at non-Division I level however to build standings. Women's lists will expand next month, with more submissions. March 1 date was allowed in first women's report date.