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Maryland
Analyzing Maryland women’s basketball’s attendance
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Maryland followers are lucky to have two basketball applications with a successful pedigree. Successful comes with expectations, although, and consequentially, criticism.
The ladies’s basketball group has been in and across the prime 10 in common attendance for the previous decade, however after the Terps’ large 72-64 win towards a prime 15 opponent in Michigan, the dearth of followers current for such a large matchup turned a subject of dialog.
After that recreation, head coach Brenda Frese mentioned, “Come out and assist this group. There’s not many video games left whenever you discuss having solely 5 video games remaining with a prime 10 group proper in your yard. So come out and see this nice group play since you don’t have many alternatives left.”
Within the days following the win, senior guard and group captain Brinae Alexander took to Twitter in a collection of posts to name out the disparity in attendance between the lads’s and ladies’s video games.
The lads’s group, whose attendance has greater than doubled the ladies’s over the previous 20 years, has averaged an introduced attendance of 13,218 followers per recreation this season, regardless of the ladies having extra sustained on-court success and being ranked No. 8 within the nation.
After all, this represents a systemic drawback amongst girls’s sports activities. South Carolina leads the nation with an introduced common of 12,473 followers per recreation, making it one in every of solely 4 girls’s basketball applications averaging at the least 10,000 followers per recreation this season, in keeping with the NCAA’s data. For comparability, 36 males’s applications at present sit above that threshold.
Alexander’s feedback introduced upon a social media storm amongst Terp followers, who shared ideas on the fan assist, or lack thereof, this season.
This prompted a deeper dive into the numbers, and to see if the eighth-ranked group within the nation’s followers are actually not displaying up. And if that was the case, who, or what, is responsible?
Effectively, let’s check out the place the Terps rank when it comes to introduced attendance throughout the Massive Ten.
Massive Ten girls’s basketball introduced attendance
Group | House ATT. | House AVG/G | Males:Ladies ATT. |
---|---|---|---|
Group | House ATT. | House AVG/G | Males:Ladies ATT. |
Iowa | 133,087 | 10,237 | 1.16 |
Maryland | 79,582 | 7,234 | 1.81 |
Indiana | 80,067 | 6,159 | 2.56 |
Ohio State | 68,735 | 5,727 | 2.06 |
Nebraska | 62,454 | 5,204 | 2.40 |
Michigan | 45,477 | 4,134 | 2.75 |
Purdue | 48,496 | 4,041 | 3.68 |
Michigan State | 51,563 | 3,683 | 3.68 |
Wisconsin | 38,988 | 3,544 | 3.74 |
Illinois | 42,449 | 3,265 | 4.58 |
Minnesota | 45,183 | 3,227 | 2.79 |
Penn State | 31,994 | 2,132 | 3.39 |
Rutgers | 25,338 | 1,809 | 4.36 |
Northwestern | 17,688 | 1,263 | 3.39 |
The info tells a transparent lower story: Maryland girls’s basketball doesn’t have a novel attendance difficulty, however it’s a acquainted product of a disappointing disparity within the girls’s recreation.
In truth, this system’s video games are better-attended than most faculties.
The No. 8 Terps have averaged the Twelfth-best attendance within the nation over the previous 5 seasons (2020-21 excluded), per official data from the NCAA, however a prolific program like Maryland would understandably be upset with over 10,000 empty seats most nights.
Austin Boroshok, who runs the favored TerpTalk Twitter account with over 1,250 followers, gave his ideas on girls’s basketball’s attendance dialog.
“It’s a systemic and sophisticated difficulty with no easy options. I believe lackluster attendance is rooted in an (un)wholesome mixture of issues associated to misogyny, advertising and marketing and market congestion,” he mentioned.
Maryland is definitely on tempo for its highest-attended season for the reason that 2008-2009 marketing campaign, when a median of 8,889 followers watched the Terps play on the then-named Comcast Heart.
The Terps have performed three prime 10 opponents this season: South Carolina, UConn and Ohio State. These video games had been by far the most important attended video games of the season, with an introduced common displaying of 10,995 followers.
With Sunday’s attendance, Maryland now has 4 crowds of greater than 8,000 this season and a pair of of greater than 10,000.
The final time Maryland had a number of house crowds of 10,000 or extra in the identical 12 months was in 2016-17 and the final time it hosted greater than 8,000 4 occasions was in 2011-12 https://t.co/GAGfauQqhF
— Jason Yellin (@JasonYellin) February 6, 2023
Their season common, although, is 7,235 introduced followers per recreation. That quantity drops barely for convention video games to six,467, which nonetheless ranks second within the Massive Ten.
Sport-by-game introduced attendance
Sport | Attendance |
---|---|
Sport | Attendance |
South Carolina | 9,244 |
Fordham | 4,052 |
Davidson | 8,454 |
Nebraska | 4,321 |
Uconn | 12,566 |
Minnesota | 6,006 |
Michigan St | 6,494 |
Rutgers | 6,591 |
Michigan | 5,602 |
Penn State | 5,085 |
Ohio State | 11,176 |
Having a quarter-full XFINITY Heart has admittedly affected a few of the gamers at occasions.
“As a participant, you may positively really feel the influence and form of the depth and power that the gang brings. So I imply, typically there’s a little distinction between crowd numbers and stuff like that. However for us, we form of attempt to create our personal power from our bench and from our locker room to feed that power to one another,” senior Religion Masonius mentioned.
“It’s positively an enormous factor when individuals come to assist, otherwise you see alumni come again, or, you recognize, previous coaches or relations,” she continued. “Individuals supporting us positively makes it that rather more enjoyable, but it surely positively is like our sixth man. And, you recognize, simply attempting to get these individuals to come back out to our video games as a result of each single recreation within the Massive Ten for us goes to be a fantastic recreation. So form of hoping that folks begin to understand that after you come to our video games, they’re enjoyable. We’re gonna work onerous, we’re gonna entertain you.”
A heavy critique with attendance this season has been a lackluster scholar part on many nights. Whereas the lads’s video games see “The Wall” packed to the brim once they carry out the signature “flag drop,” the big Maryland state flag is tied all the way down to the part behind the basket throughout girls’s video games, with no college students occupying the seats.
So, why don’t college students present up for each recreation?
“I personally don’t assume sufficient is being achieved from a advertising and marketing perspective, however I additionally don’t assume that the athletic division can resolve systemic, societal limitations limiting college students’ publicity to and pleasure about girls’s basketball”, Boroshok added.
Matthew Sherman, a current College of Maryland graduate, went to most males’s video games throughout his time in School Park, however not one girls’s recreation.
“I didn’t know when the video games had been,” he mentioned. “I believe they did it for the South Carolina recreation the place they despatched out an e-mail to all the scholars, however I didn’t get these for all the opposite video games, so I believe in the event that they despatched these out extra usually than extra college students will pay attention to the video games.”
Maryland at present sits in third place within the convention with a 10-3 mark in Massive Ten play.
Its most up-to-date highway recreation was Feb. 2 in a 92-80 loss to No. 6 Iowa. There have been 10,671 in attendance for that primetime recreation on ESPN, and the Hawkeyes have already bought out their matchup on Feb. 26 towards No. 4 Indiana, which ought to be celebrated throughout girls’s basketball.
Maryland final had a sellout on Dec. 29, 2016 towards UConn.
When that subsequent sellout ought to occur once more is but to be recognized, however Frese requested for a fantastic crowd towards No. 10 Ohio State on Feb. 5.
“One other top-10 opponent and you recognize, solely three video games left that had been assured at house,” she mentioned. “One of many final occasions to see the seniors and Diamond Miller of their careers. So if that doesn’t get you excited to come back out, I don’t know what does.”
The introduced attendance towards Ohio State was 11,176. Instantly after Maryland’s 90-56 win, sophomore Shyanne Sellers made certain to thank the gang.
“When we have now a whole lot of followers, you may really feel the power vibrating by means of the entire health club. We all the time say they’re our greatest sixth man, so it was actually essential to have them as we speak,” Sellers mentioned.
The reality is that Maryland girls’s basketball has a few of the finest attendance within the nation, but additionally possesses the power to vary the way in which we see total attendance within the sport.
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Maryland
Getting to know Michigan State football’s Week 2 opponent: Maryland
![Getting to know Michigan State football’s Week 2 opponent: Maryland Getting to know Michigan State football’s Week 2 opponent: Maryland](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4000,h_2250,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/137/01j714ppf1xrvce2agzn.jpg)
Game two is coming up for Michigan State football as the Spartans hit the road for an early season Big Ten matchup against Maryland. The Terps have had MSU’s number in recent years, but the Spartans’ new-look team is ready to change that narrative this weekend.
Jonathan Smith and his staff have a lot to work on this week after a lackluster 16-10 win over Florida Atlantic, but we’ve become more than used to slow starts for MSU in their first game so it’s not time to panic just yet.
While the team wraps up their preparations for Maryland, let’s take a quick look at the Terps and see what we can learn about them before the big game on Saturday.
Maryland is off and running in their 2024 campaign and had an absolutely dominant week one performance. The Terps took on UConn at home and came away with an impressive 50-7 win. Sure UConn is an awful football program, but we saw how poorly Michigan State just did against a similar opponent.
Not only was the final score lopsided, but ever major statistical category was as well. Maryland doubled UConn in first downs and rushing yards, threw for nearly 400 passing yards and even won the turnover battle 3-0. The Terps also only had five penalties for 45 yards which is significantly better than MSU’s 12 for 140 yards against FAU.
Sure all of this took place against UConn, but it appears that Maryland is in a very good spot heading into this big week two matchup.
One thing that I thought would be a positive for Michigan State in this game is that Maryland is breaking in a new quarterback as well. The Terps’ quarterback, Billy Edwards Jr., went off against UConn and completed 20-of-27 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns. He also is a capable runner and added 39 yards on the ground, so Michigan State will have its hands full on Saturday slowing him down.
The Terps don’t have one standout running back in the backfield, so that does benefit MSU. They do however have two solid backs in Roman Hemby and Nolan Ray who both ran for over 60 yards and one score each.
The one player however that Michigan State needs to pay the most attention to is wide receiver Tai Felton. He had one of the best Week 1 performances in the country as he recorded seven receptions for 178 yards and two touchdowns. Thankfully MSU’s defense and secondary looked much improved against FAU, so hopefully that carries over into this weekend’s matchup.
The opportunity in front of MSU on Saturday is massive. The Spartans are big underdogs in this matchup which they probably deserve, but a win would do wonders not just for the overall perception of the team but for their confidence moving forward.
I’ve got a strange feeling that we’re going to be very happy around 7 p.m. ET Saturday night.
Maryland
Maryland makes filing taxes online free for some
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More than 700,000 Marylanders should be able to file their state and federal income tax returns online for free next year, saving residents hours of work and hundreds of dollars on tax software and prep services.
Maryland joined dozens of states Wednesday in a voluntary federal program called Direct File after a test run received positive reviews and showed possible cost savings. Filing paper returns by mail will still be an option.
“It’s unacceptable that Marylanders should have to pay any portion whatsoever of their refund or paycheck to fulfill a mandatory requirement like filing tax returns,” Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman said at a news conference in Annapolis.
The first-term Democrat called the program a game changer for Maryland taxpayers that will modernize her agency. It targets low-to-moderate earners with relatively simple tax returns, and is expected to expand over time.
Lierman’s office will partner with the nonprofit Code for America to integrate the Maryland tax filing system into Direct File. Eligibility requirements will be announced in January, the comptroller’s office said.
Gov. Wes Moore, State Treasurer Dereck E. Davis, members of Maryland’s congressional delegation, U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo and nonprofit partners joined Lierman for the announcement.
Funds from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 helped build and test the system. The IRS and Treasury Department then invited states to participate.
The IRS has been considering a free e-filing option for low-income American taxpayers for decades, according to the Congressional Research Service. When tax prep companies pushed back, the federal government agreed not to compete with them if they provided free help and e-filing to low-earning taxpayers.
However, many qualified taxpayers were pushed toward paid services, according to an investigation by nonprofit news outlet ProPublica.
The IRS piloted Direct File in 12 states this year. Filers used a laptop, tablet, cellphone or other device to submit income returns and request certain tax credits offered to low-earning individuals and families.
In a survey, nine out of 10 Direct File users ranked their experience as “Excellent” or “Above Average.”
U.S. Rep Steny Hoyer, a Democrat representing Maryland’s 5th District, called paying taxes the “price of our democracy.”
“We ought to make it as easy as possible for people to comply with a legal obligation that they have to support their country, their state and their communities,” he said. “And this system of Direct File does that.”
Robin McKinney, CEO and co-founder of CASH Campaign of Maryland, said easy, free online filing makes the government work more efficiently for citizens and should deliver refunds and credits to taxpayers faster.
McKinney’s nonprofit promotes economic advancement for low- to moderate-income Marylanders and provides free tax help, among other services.
Economic Security Project, a nonprofit that advocates for guaranteed income and economic equity for working families, found that adopting Direct File could mean $355 million in costs and time saved for Maryland’s low- to moderate-earners.
Maryland recently has expanded tax credits for working families, but about $152 million goes unclaimed each year, according to the Security Project’s analysis.
They also estimated that about $148 million could be saved in filing fees and $56 million could be saved in time spent filing taxes.
That money could have gone into Marylanders’ pockets, CASH Campaign’s McKinney said, and it could have gone back into the state’s economy.
Maryland
Maryland joins IRS Direct File program, offering free tax filing for up to 700,000 taxpayers – Maryland Matters
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Some Maryland taxpayers will be able to use a free electronic filing tool for their federal taxes rather than having to pay a tax preparer or buy tax-filing software next year, when Maryland will offer the IRS’s new Direct File service.
The service was tested in 12 states this year, where 140,803 people filed with Direct File, saving an estimated $5.6 million in tax preparation fees. Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D) estimated Wednesday that as many as 700,000 Maryland taxpayers could be eligible for the program when it debuts in the state next year.
“While we value our relationship with tax preparers and CPAs (certified public accountants), it’s unacceptable that Marylanders should have to pay any portion whatsoever of their refund or paycheck to fulfill a mandatory requirement like filing tax returns,” Lierman said at a news conference announcing the program.
The IRS and the U.S. Treasury still have to finalize eligibility rules for the program this fall, but Lierman said it will be a “game changer” for those families who do qualify, which could be as much as 20% of individual taxpayers in the state.
“Taxes are a part of the glue that keeps our state and our nation together, functioning, producing, protecting and thriving,” Lierman said. “Yet in America, we make it uniquely challenging to pay those taxes and file a return — until now.”
According to the Treasury, taxpayers spend “approximately 13 hours and $270 preparing their taxes each year.” Many Americans use tax filing services or software, such as TurboTax and H&R Block, to ensure that their taxes are filed correctly, despite most of the information being readily available state and federal tax collection agencies.
It’s unacceptable that Marylanders should have to pay any portion whatsoever of their refund or paycheck to fulfill a mandatory requirement like filing tax returns.
– Comptroller Brooke Lierman
Direct File launched this year in 12 states for people to file their 2023 federal returns — Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the program is aimed at helping middle-income tax filers with “relatively simple” filings.
“What I can tell you is our goal for us is to build a system that’s going to work for working class and middle class Americans. So you get a W-2, and you’re somebody who’s a teacher, you’re a fireman, you’re a doctor who’s earning most of your money from a W-2, we want to make sure we’re building a system that potentially works for you,” said Adeyemo, who was in Annapolis for the announcement.
“The thing we’re not going to do is build a system that works for big corporations or wealthy individuals. Next year we’re going to expand the system so that more Americans are able to participate in it,” Adeyemo said.
The Biden administration invited all 50 states and the District of Columbia to join the program next year, when people will be filing their 2024 taxes. The Treasury said that Maryland joins Oregon, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Connecticut, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Maine in taking up Direct File.
“I know to some, this announcement may seem inconsequential — and I know how exciting tax announcements are,” Gov. Wes Moore (D) joked at the announcement. “But the details matter. They matter to the families who are impacted by this work. They’re going to matter to the families, who … dread tax season because it feels complicated. Who dread tax season because it seems expensive, or oftentimes have to deal with the consequences of getting something wrong.”
The Direct File program came out of the Inflation Reduction Act signed in 2022, which also secured additional funding to help the IRS modernize and provide better services to Americans.
But Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who chairs a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, said Direct File program and other services under the Inflation Reduction Act could be “under threat.” While his subcommittee wants to fully fund the IRS and keep Direct File going, House leaders want to cut funding for both.
He also said that the industry is lobbying against the free tax filing system.
“There are people who didn’t want us to do this, including a lot of the middlemen” who currently profit from tax preparation, Van Hollen said. “They’re lobbying against this kind of thing.”
In addition to Van Hollen, Moore, Lierman and Adeyemo, Wednesday’s event drew a number of Maryland Democratic heavyweights: U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer John Sarbanes and State Treasurer Dereck Davis.
Hoyer put it simply: “Nobody likes taxes.”
“We don’t really get excited about paying our taxes. But we know that it is the price of our democracy,” Hoyer said. “We ought to make it as easy as possible for people to comply with a legal obligation that they have to support their country, their state and their communities.”
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