Over the course of the weekend, a rough total of 4,700 spectators attended the events, an average of 1,560 per night. Nittany Lion gymnast Brendon Stefaniak performs on the pommel horse at the NCAA Championships last weekend at the Bryce Jordan Center. Despite a number of Penn State competitors in the championships, the attendance at the three-day event was dismal. Saturday night's events, the men's individual championships, drew the largest crowd of the weekend with 1,808 tickets sold. Not coincidentally the Penn State men's team had several members competing that evening, as Nittany Lion gymnasts Ron Roeder and Brandon Stefaniak earned All-American honors.
Several factors seem to have contributed to the lack of attendance.
The Penn State men's team failing to qualify for the championships seems to have been the most prevalent reason for the poor turnout. Martin Salamone, assistant director of sports marketing and promotions at Penn State, said the effort was made to publicize the event but the lack of Penn State gymnasts may have been a deterrent. But without Penn State in the events as a team, well, that hurt us. Bud Meredith, ticket manager for the University, concurred and said the last time Penn State hosted the event, it was much more popular. We held the event at Rec Hall in '91, and we had an average draw of about 4,000.