Tuesday, March 22, 2011

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Florida Gulf Coast University was one of 33 winners in the NCAA Division I "Pack the House" Challenge. FGCU hosted a program regular season record 2,921 fans at its women's basketball game versus ETSU on Feb. 7 at Alico Arena in the A-Sun/CSS Game of the Week.

The NCAA awards a $500 donation prize to the nonprofit organization of each winning institution's choice. FGCU will donate its prize to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southwest Florida, which is also the FGCU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee’s (S.A.A.C.) charity for the year.

"Pack the House" is national effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build attendance. NCAA Division I women's basketball marketing staffs selected a home game and designated that date as a "Pack the House" game with the goal of setting an attendance record. One winner from each of the 32 conferences and one from a group of independent institutions were named. Selections were based on marketing plan creativity and attendance criteria. More than half of the Division I membership – 178 institutions – participated in the effort that attracted more than 554,000 fans.

Events at Army, Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville, Marist, Michigan State, Navy, Oregon and Pacific produced sell-out crowds. Sixty-nine programs surpassed their single-game attendance highs from last year.