Oklahoma softball announces record attendance for 2024 regular season at new Love's Field
The first season at Love's Field will go down as a successful one for Oklahoma softball.
On Monday, the Sooners' softball account on X (formerly Twitter) announced attendance of 86,581 fans for the regular season in the first year at the new venue. It opened on March 1 and holds a capacity crowd of 4,200 fans. The $48 million stadium had been under construction since September 2022.
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Sooner Nation 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈𝐭 this season.
𝟖𝟔,𝟓𝟖𝟏 fans joined us at Love’s Field during the regular season! ☝️ pic.twitter.com/6IG68JcoeB— Oklahoma Softball (@OU_Softball) May 6, 2024
The Sooners' former home ― Marita Hynes Field ― held a capacity of 1,378 fans, though temporary seating and standing room helped made crowds of 2,000 possible, as well. The new stadium came at a time when Oklahoma has dominated on the softball field: The Sooners have won three national championships in a row and are in strong contention to four-peat.
Oklahoma Sooners record at Love's Field
While no Sooners fan will complain about Oklahoma's success at Marita Hynes Field — where it won seven national championships, 548 games, nine Super Regionals and 17 regionals, all led by OU coach Patty Gasso — a new venue was needed due to the sport's growth and constant sellouts.
The new stadium edged out Alabama's Rhoads Stadium (capacity: 3,940) as the largest on-campus stadium in college softball. Arkansas' Bogle Park (3,200) is the only stadium with a capacity of over 3,000.
Oklahoma finished the season 46-6, going 19-4 at its new home. One of the losses was a major upset victory by Louisiana on March 3, snapping the Sooners' NCAA-record 71-game winning streak, which dated back to early in the 2023 college softball season. Two other losses came to rival Oklahoma State in the Bedlam finale over the weekend.
The Sooners entered last week ranked as the No. 2 overall team in the country in the ESPN.com/USA Today poll. As the No. 2 overall seed in the Big 12 Tournament, they are scheduled to play the winner of No. 10 Houston- No. 7 Kansas at 1:30 p.m. CT on Thursday.
The Sooners are heavy favorites to host in both the regionals and super regionals if they continue winning, meaning Love's Field can continue to add its already historic attendance marks.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma softball announces record attendance in 2024 at Love's Field
