By Zach Baru
The attendance at the 2012 MAAC Basketball Championships in Springfield was not quite what the city had hoped. The final day drew 2,250 for the women's championship game, and only 1,821 for the men's. To make this sting for Springfield even more, these two games were televised on national TV, ESPNU and ESPN2 respectively.
This was not the turnout the MAAC, or Springfield was expecting. With many schools needing to travel far distances, local support was very much needed to make this tournament a success. Unfortunately, this was not the story at the MassMutual Center.
While the hotels and restaurants were packed, full of teams, league and school officials, and families, the arena simply was not. This tournament proved to be greatly beneficial for the city, but the gate did not help the MAAC. Here is a list of attendance of the five-day tournament, grouped by session:
Session 1: Thursday, March 1, 2012 - Women's First Round (12:00 PM and 2:00 PM)
590
Session 2: Friday, March 2, 2012 - Women's Quarterfinals (9:30 AM, 11:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM)
1,400
Session 3: Friday, March 2, 2012 - Men's First Round (7:30 PM and 9:30 PM)
1,613
Session 4: Saturday, March 3, 2012 - Women's Semifinals (9:30 AM and11:30 AM)
1,295
Session 5: Saturday, March 3, 2012 - Men's Quarterfinals (2:30 PM and 4:30 PM)
2,256
Session 6: Saturday, March 3, 2012 - Men's Quarterfinals (7:30 PM and 9:30 PM)
2,124
Session 7: Sunday, March 4, 2012 - Men's Semifinals (2:00 PM and 4:30 PM)
2,278
Session 8: Monday, March 5, 2012 - Women's Championship (12:00 PM)
2,250
Session 9: Monday, March 5, 2012 - Men's Championship (7:00 PM)
1,821
Zach Baru can be followed on Twitter @zbaru and reached at zachbaru@gmail.com.
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