Despite the women’s basketball team coming off of a 23-12 (11-7 American Athletic Conference) 2015-16 season compared to the men’s 12-22 (3-15 AAC) record, the men’s season tickets cost four to six times more than the women’s.

The athletics department looks at how much other teams within the AAC are charging for their tickets to determine pricing. It also considers other factors like attendance.

The AAC average minimum price last season for men’s season basketball tickets was $190, with individual schools ranging from $99 to $480. The maximum average price was $549, with teams charging anywhere from $250 to $1,100.

Tulane men’s basketball season tickets range from $200 minimum to around $300 maximum, placing them right around the minimum average and several hundred dollars more affordable than the maximum average.

Last season, the women’s team’s season tickets cost $55. Tickets for the women’s basketball team’s season are less than the price of the men’s team’s season tickets not only at Tulane but around the country, according to Deputy Athletic Director Monica Lebron.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a time where the women’s tickets were more than the men’s tickets at any school either that I’ve worked at or within our own conference … or anywhere in the country that I’ve seen,” Lebron said.

Finding a school where the men’s and women’s basketball season ticket prices are the same is difficult.

“The closest you would potentially come for something like that would be [University of Connecticut],” Kyle Osgood, assistant athletic director of ticket sales and service, said. “So even at UConn, where it’s probably the best women’s team in the country over the last ten years, they’re not even the same [as the men’s team] pricewise.”

UConn women’s basketball season tickets are $320, while the men’s basketball season tickets are $480.

“Our main goal is we want to get as many people in the building as possible make it the best atmosphere for the girls that are playing,” Osgood said.

According to Osgood, attendance is a big factor that pushes the cost of tickets across the conference. Last year, the average attendance at men’s basketball games was 1,799, while the average at women’s games was 1,177.

“In women’s basketball, we actually went down in pricing from last year to this year,” Osgood said. “The main reason for that being with [new athletic director] Troy [Dannen] coming in … he said ‘Look, let’s lower the price, let’s try to sell as many season tickets as possible and get as many people in the building as possible.'”

The athletics department engages in grassroots initiatives to increase attendance at games, such as handing out tickets the day before games on the Lavin-Bernick Center Quadrangle and providing free shuttle services to this week’s men’s basketball game at the Smoothie King Center.

“There is no reason why we shouldn’t have students there,” Lebron said. “We’re trying to make it as easy as possible—a free ticket, [free] transportation—so we’re hoping that the students will come out and support.”