.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Break Single-Season Attendance Mark, Continue To Raise Bar
4/30/2009 | Baseball
With the hiring of Mike Bianco as the head coach of the Ole Miss baseball program nine years ago, Ole Miss began the process of reinvigorating its baseball program with a young and energetic head coach committed to winning and bringing Rebel baseball to the national stage.
In the time since, Bianco has continued to raise the bar and expectations when it comes to Ole Miss baseball; repeatedly the players, administration and fan base have responded.
This time, the fan base did it again as Ole Miss broke its single-season attendance record against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday night. The previous mark of 184,331 set during the 2006 season now holds the second spot on the all-time list as 186,087 fans have come to Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field this season to watch Rebel baseball.
And that number will only continue to grow as Ole Miss hosts three more regular season contests against in-state rival Mississippi State next weekend.
Ole Miss baseball has been among one of the national leaders in attendance since Bianco took the reins of the program in 2001 as the Rebels have been ranked among the top 25 in national attendance every season under Bianco and have placed among the top 10 nationally the past four seasons.
The process of growing the fan base began with Bianco's first season and seemed to reach an unimaginable high as the season attendance grew from around 60,000 fans in his first season to 170,152 fans in the 2005 season. It marked the second straight season for the Rebels to host an NCAA Regional and the first time for Ole Miss to ever play host to an NCAA Super Regional as the eventual national champion Texas Longhorns met the Rebels in a showdown of powerhouse teams in Oxford. The Rebels saw more 26,075 fans flood into O-U Stadium for the three-game series to set the school record for attendance in a three-game series.
The number that seemed unbelievable just a year earlier was shattered the very next season when the Rebels again stormed through the regular season and claimed the SEC Tournament Championship on the way to hosting a third-straight NCAA Regional and second consecutive NCAA Super Regional. The bar for single-season attendance was set even higher as 184,311 fans filled the stadium that year and more than 26,000 fans again came to Oxford for a three-game Super Regional series against the Miami Hurricanes.
With the demand for tickets and the interest in Ole Miss baseball at an all-time high, the Rebel administration went to work and set the plans in motion for an expansion to O-U Stadium that would make it arguably the finest college baseball venues in America.
With the advent of the 2009 season, fans of Rebel baseball were welcomed back to Swayze Field with practically a new facility and the opportunity for more members of the Ole Miss family and Oxford community to enjoy the atmosphere surrounding college baseball in Oxford.
The fan base responded in kind as season ticket sales soared and set a new record with more than 5,000 season ticket packages purchased. Fans have turned out in record numbers to cheer the Rebels on to victory, including the second largest crowd in facility history with 9,478 fans who saw Ole Miss take down top-ranked Georgia just a week ago. In that weekend series, 26,929 fans packed Swayze Field to see the Rebels claim the weekend series and set a new attendance mark for a three-game series.
With the game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday night, the fan base set another standard for Rebel baseball and again took the bar and raised it higher. With three regular season games left at Oxford-University Stadium how high that bar will go remains to be seen.
