by By Jason Groves Sun-News reporter , Las Cruces Sun-News

While winning and losing often dictates attendance figures, how a sport or a game is marketed can also bring fans to the arena.

Last week, the WAC was awarded $85,000 as part of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Grant Program. The WAC was one of 18 Division I institutions and conferences to receive funds. The program, in the second of three years, was designed to increase awareness, exposure and attendance of women's basketball .

"I think it's a great benefit anytime you have money put toward marketing for any sport because it helps that sport generate interest and it will have a direct impact on women's basketball at New Mexico State," said NMSU assistant athletics director Maria Roth. "I'm sure the WAC is going to do the proper research and get the most bang for the buck so to speak, and do what is best for all nine institutions. I just hope that for selfish reasons, it benefits us at New Mexico State."

Roth said NMSU also applied for the grant as an individual institution as there were 14 schools and four conferences awarded funds.

Aggies women's basketball coach Darin Spence said coaches around the league hoped for increased television exposure in recent years.

"If we got it just for us we could spent it how we wanted, but the league will spend it how they see fit," Spence said. "I'm anxious to see how it goes from here but it should help us. It's like a shot in the arm for us."

The NCAA awarded approximately $750,000 this year. The WAC was one of 75 member schools and conferences to submit a proposal. Grant funds will be paid to the WAC in two installments, the first on Sept. 1 and the second on Jan. 1, 2010.

The WAC submitted a proposal last year as well, but did not receive funding. This year's proposal by the league was for $90,000.

"We asked for 90 and got 85 so we were pretty close," said WAC director of marketing Megan Allen.

Allen said the grant will be used to establish an incentive awards program for fans who support women's basketball across the WAC, as well as establishing an academic achievement component.

Aggies fans who attend multiple games or purchase season tickets will be rewarded after attending a certain number of games.

"The money will be used to purchase the equipment for each school," Allen said. "Fans will have cards that will be scanned and there is a computer program that determines how many times fans come to a game so that we can reward them. We are still determining how many times they need to come to earn rewards. The rest of the funds will be used to establish a reading program and essay contest because we want to make a connection between athletics and the classroom. The remainder will be divided up among the schools to help with advertising and additional equipment."

The marketing department at each school will receive $1,000 to help promote their women's basketball programs.

"We are always looking for ways to market better," Spence said. "We are trying to target younger families and letting fans know that it's a good atmosphere. Whatever they can do for us to market is huge going into this next year.

"I'm really pleased that the NCAA recognized that our conference needed some help."

Allen said the WAC will apply for funds in the last year of the program. The NCAA will evaluate the results over the course of the next two years to determine if it's feasible to continue. Only East Tennessee State, San Diego State and the Patriot League received grant money

According to the NCAA, there have been several positive success stories.

In the first year of the program, Texas Tech doubled its student attendance for women's basketball home games, Florida State increased its season ticket sales by 63 percent and several grant recipients set record single game attendance marks.

Grant recipient success stories from 2008-09 include Texas Tech, which doubled its student attendance for women's basketball home games. Florida State increased season ticket sales by 63 percent, with a 55 percent increase in overall attendance for women's basketball. Meanwhile, East Tennessee State increased its average attendance by 231 percent and several grant recipients set record single game attendance marks.

"Las Cruces is typically a basketball town," Roth said. "There is certainly room to grow and attendance should grow as our team improves."

The 2009-10 grant recipients are:

Auburn

Big South Conference

Cornell

East Tennessee State

Eastern Michigan

Iowa State

Patriot League

San Diego State

UCLA

UC Riverside

UC Santa Barbara

Hartford

Kansas

Miami (Fla.)

North Carolina

South Carolina

West Coast Conference

Western Athletic Conference

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