Women's Basketball Team Receives Promotional Grant

The women's basketball team announced June 17 that it had been awarded

a grant of $26,400 to help promote increased attendance in its

upcoming season.

"The NCAA started this program two years ago," said Mike Hales, assistant

director of marketing. "They contacted all of the schools and

conferences to give the option to submit a proposal as a conference

and split the money or to submit an institution."

Auburn is one of 14 institutions and four conferences selected by the

NCAA to receive a grant as a part of the NCAA Division I Women's

Basketball Grant Program.

"I believe that after having such a successful season more interest

has been generated toward women's basketball," said Alli Smalley, a player

and junior in elementary education. "Having the label as

defending SEC Champions will be a great way to promote our team this

coming season."

The women's basketball coaching staff and team are looking forward to

the excitement of a larger crowd next year.

"We had a conference call with the SEC and decided to do it by

individual institution," Hales said. "I wrote and submitted the

proposal myself with approval from my marketing director."

"I am so excited about it, I think our marketing department is

extremely worthy of it," said Nell Fortner, women's basketball head coach.

"With how much we improved with our attendance this year, the

money will only help them in being more creative and giving a

tremendous game experience to our fans. This is a real credit to Mike

Hales for securing the grant for the program; he has done a really

good job of growing our marketing efforts for women's basketball, and I

am proud of that."

The marketing department's hard work is pumping up the women's

basketball team in part because of the team's success last season.

"I think it is great. The fact that we did so good last year helped us

out a lot," said Jordan Greenleaf, a senior in communications. "It is

easier to play in front of a bigger home crowd. It makes you feel like

you have a lot of support and it is not just playing a game, it makes

you feel like you are playing for a bigger reason."

Smalley also said she believes home crowds help spur on the team.

"A large, energetic crowd definitely gives us a huge home court

advantage," Smalley said. "Having those seats filled and the arena

loud gives our team confidence and energy to feed off of. Also, one of

the main benefits is that it creates a tough environment for our

opponents and gets them rattled more easily which greatly helps Auburn."

Greenleaf said a larger crowd could cause nerves, but only in a

positive way. It makes the team want to play to their best ability for

their supportive fans. She said it makes them feel good when they have

people come out that want to watch their team play.

After the great success from the women's basketball team last season,

Auburn decided it was time to make a move and create a proposal for

the grant.

As Auburn's marketing department receives $26,400, they continue to

find ways to market their ideas from the proposal.

"Our proposal included both community and campus involvement, such as

the Dean's challenge game and student spirit group as well as

philanthropic efforts, such as their Pink game," Hales said. "We

catered all of those promotions within the three areas. These are all

things we have been doing already, but we will use this grant to help

expand and promote."

Hales said the marketing department is focusing on primarily young

families with kids from kindergarten to eighth grade, but the older

populations as well.

"We will focus on community at large but we will

try to target those specific areas and who comes to our games."