Quick poll: How many of you have been to a Northwestern field hockey game? Or a fencing match? Or even a baseball game?

Thought so.

Although the football and basketball teams can fill their stadiums (or at least their student sections), most NU varsity games are attended only by parents, roommates and close friends of the athletes on the field.

That’s why the NU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has developed the “Big Game,” an effort urging students to attend one game from each varsity sport to increase interest and attendance for NU teams.

Seniors from each team choose one event as their “Big Game,” and SAAC will promote it through advertisement and, later in the season, incentives.

“Our hopes are that people who have never been to those sports before will come out and enjoy them and maybe come back,” said Erin Mobley, SAAC’s vice president and a varsity softball player.

The first Big Game will be today, when the men’s soccer team takes on No. 3 Penn State at home. The game promises to be an exciting offensive dual, with the Wildcats leading the Big Ten in scoring and Penn State sitting right behind them.

SAAC, a group of student-athletes that works as a liason between the athletic department and the university, hopes to increase sports attendance among the general student population and among student-athletes. The goal is to build “camaraderie” among the two groups and expose the NU community to the smaller but successful teams.