Women’s basketball in the United States is enjoying continued increases in popularity. From the first women’s professional basketball league game in 1978 to the gold medal teams of the summer Olympic games to the WNBA, fans are turning out in record numbers. The WNBA has seen more than 10 million fans in attendance (1997-2002). The number of spectators attending college women’s basketball has also been rising over a number of years. Each year the Division I championship tournament is a sell-out with record-breaking attendance figures. In fact, it has been sold out for 10 consecutive years (since 1993) and has had 11 recorded sellouts overall. Nonetheless, universities struggle to fund intercollegiate athletics in the face of dwindling budgets. Athletic administrators are under increasing pressure to increase non-university funding sources. Certainly, revenue from ticket sales to university sports events and tournaments are a target. Hence, sport administrators could benefit greatly from spectator information to better inform strategic competitive advantage decisions. Therefore, this study sought to examine women’s college basketball spectators. Through existing literature concerning attendance factors and economic spending in sports, a survey was constructed and administered to attendees at the 2003 NCAA Women’s Final Four basketball championship games. Results (282 usable surveys) revealed a 2 to 1 ratio of female to male attendees and that they average 45 years of age, are well educated, have a healthy income, and a majority, 62.8%, are married (44.3%) or live with a partner (18.5%). Factors with high influence for attendance included: entertainment value, chance to attend a championship game, to support the teams, and tournament location. Of note, subjects stated that ticket price was of little importance. In relation to spending, a majority (84.5%) noted that they stayed in a hotel, while 13.5% noted that they stayed with friends. While at the tournament, study participants noted that they spent between $890 and $1450 on food/beverage, admission, bars, shopping, souvenirs, hotel, auto, and transportation. Although economic impact is still not yet an exact science, this reported spending multiplied by the reported number of attendees to the 2003 event (28,210) would amount to a range of $25.1 million to $40.9 million in spending at the 2003 tournament. The findings support the reports on growing popularity of women’s basketball and imply that administrators could benefit greatly from consumer research.Keyword(s): athletics/sports, gender issues, sport management