[81alum]

One factor affecting WBB attendance is probably the significant decrease in the past 15 years in number of girls playing competitive basketball locally. Fewer parents are bringing their girls to watch great play. W Soccer is a good comparison: it is very popular among girls locally, and they and their families are filling the stands at games (several conference games were sell-outs this year). This despite some games being played at night in cold weather, versus indoors for basketball.

That has the ring of truth to it.  But is this can't be true universally.  Oregon sold 7000 season tickets.  Is the Eugene weather so bad that girls stay indoors and play basketball rather than going outdoors to play soccer?  Or is it a class thing, that wealthy areas like the Bay Area are seeing parents turning their kids away from basketball to soccer?

The concussion stats I've seen have soccer being the worst offender after football and the very worst sport for girls, with basketball pretty far down the list.  I wonder if this will have a longer term (and positive) impact on girls basketball.  In fact, female soccer players suffer more concussions than male football players.
https://www.webmd.com/brain/news/2017031...oncussions
In any case, switching girls from basketball to soccer looks to me like a pretty dangerous decision.

[81alum]

One factor affecting WBB attendance is probably the significant decrease in the past 15 years in number of girls playing competitive basketball locally. Fewer parents are bringing their girls to watch great play. W Soccer is a good comparison: it is very popular among girls locally, and they and their families are filling the stands at games (several conference games were sell-outs this year). This despite some games being played at night in cold weather, versus indoors for basketball.

That has the ring of truth to it.  But is this can't be true universally.  Oregon sold 7000 season tickets.  Is the Eugene weather so bad that girls stay indoors and play basketball rather than going outdoors to play soccer?  Or is it a class thing, that wealthy areas like the Bay Area are seeing parents turning their kids away from basketball to soccer?

The concussion stats I've seen have soccer being the worst offender after football and the very worst sport for girls, with basketball pretty far down the list.  I wonder if this will have a longer term (and positive) impact on girls basketball.  In fact, female soccer players suffer more concussions than male football players.
https://www.webmd.com/brain/news/2017031...oncussions
In any case, switching girls from basketball to soccer looks to me like a pretty dangerous decision.