Stringer rightfully complains about Rutgers’ failure to market her program

Rutgers women’s basketball team have done it again – they’re on their fourth trip to the elite eight in five years. That’s pretty amazing.

But in an article released on NJ.com today, head women’s basketball coach Vivian Stringer was not happy.

In fact, she was just the opposite (and rightfully so). She was quoted as complaining about the athletics department’s inability to effectively market a program that has been incredibly successful in recent years.

I have to say, I agree with her.

And speaking out was a great way to put some pressure on their new athletic director, Tim Pernetti.

But the answer is more than just installing a  flashy scoreboard or having smoke come out when the girls run on the floor.

It has to do with engaging directly with your audience, creating fans.

For example, get your athletes online. Have them blog. Get them on Twitter, have them respond to their fans. Hold contests through Facebook. Partner with third party sites like womentalksports.com (disclosure, I am co-founder of this site) to get these ideas out there.

These ideas aren’t new.The fans will come if you earn their respect, I assure you. In fact, if you’re looking for a good role model, check out what women’s pro soccer is doing – they’re leading the way for other women’s sports teams to follow.

In the mean time, keep winning. Keep speaking out about what’s unfair. Your fans will come.

Check out the rest of this article (it’s an interesting one), here: NJ.com on Rutgers Women’s Basketball.

WNBA’s First Outdoor Game

This past Saturday, the Indiana Fever beat home team New York Liberty to make history – not as winners, but rather as participants in the WNBA’s first outdoor game.

According to WNBA.com, in addition to making professional basketball history, the Liberty Outdoor Classic was the first non-tennis sporting event to take place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, which is the largest public outdoor tennis facility in the world.

“Since opening in 1997, the world’s largest outdoor tennis-only venue has been the main stadium for the U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. It’s where Serena and Venus Williams have won two women’s titles each, and Roger Federer the last four men’s championships.

For one night, there was a different ball bouncing on the court in the first outdoor regular-season game in professional basketball history — men’s or women’s.

The game drew 19,393 to the 23,226-seat stadium. The attendance fell short of the team’s Garden record of 19,563, achieved three times — the last against Charlotte on Aug. 11, 2002.

Fireworks shot out from the sides outside the stadium before the Liberty’s starting lineup was announced, and on the court during the introductions as the players ran on the court”

Very, very cool. Check out the rest of the above article on ESPN.