student section

[Phil Titola]

Less tickets is the obvious answer. That whole tarp / end needs fixed. Even full it looks like crap and the band setup makes it look empty. Pretty strange to look over there tonight and see 2 whole sections empty.

Do you have any idea how many arenas, even new arenas have tarps and what they are used for? It isn't getting "fixed" because it doesn't need to be.

I consider myself an arena tarp enthusiast. The tarp was a point of reference to the seats used by band, recruits, etc. Not that the tarp needed to be removed.

[Belvis Noland]

Here is how I see it. I am a student and was at the game last night. I own an ICat season ticket pass and have been to all of the home games excluding 1 of the Christmas break games. Last night there were classes that have many students enrolled(calculus, chemistry, bio etc) that had tests during the game. The ICat section was completely full for most of the game until students started leaving because it was a very boring game. I know atleast 3 people that had tests last night. I also have realized that most GA ticket pass holders only care about Football. They were not willing to pay an extra 70 dollars to get mid court seats in basketball. They also only care about showing up for the big games like KU. I think the solution is to do something about tickets for GA pass holders so that we can get more people to go to the game. Maybe just allow them to buy football passes then buy tickets for games that they would like to go to in basketball. Then sell the tickets that won't be used to the general public for a very discounted price.

This is it.  Many students simply don't care about basketball.  The same GA sections that were empty last night were also bare under Frank and Huggins.  Scale back the student section by 1,000 seats.   

The excuses about test weeks, or finals, are simply red herons. 
 

[420seriouscat69]

What an awesome thread. 'Grats, Beems: http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=172&f=2481&t=11300565&p=1

[Belvis Noland]

Do you have any idea how many arenas, even new arenas have tarps and what they are used for? It isn't getting "fixed" because it doesn't need to be.

No.  how many? 

[michigancat]

Oakland Coliseum uses tarps for A's games. They were going to remove them if they beat Detroit in the playoffs, but they didn't so they didn't.

[FuzzyWuzzy]

Maybe we should ask ourselves why the people go to basketball in the first place then we can examine our shortcomings.  They are giving up time and money so they must expect something in return.  The general answer is entertainment, but entertainment can be broken down further.

Reason #1)  Team Pride/Adrenaline/Winning
 People want to feel included in the thrill of victory and knowing they're better than other people.  EMAWers are a proud lot and we're winning, so we've got this one pretty well covered for now which is good, because its probably the biggest reason why people go to games.

Reason #2)  Personality.
People want a party, they want to cheer for an underdog, they want to be entertained by a lovable madman stomping around and screaming things.  People want players that tweet mean things about Western Virginia and interact with fans. We have a HBB coach who makes LHC Bill Snyder look like Charlie Sheen, with his late-night-eating of Taco Bell and other madness.  We also have JO(of all people) calling the student body out on twitter, wtf...

Reason #3) Celebrity.
People want to be part of what everyone is talking about.  They want see transcendent talent like Michael Beasley, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin.  They want to see Top 10 plays.  We have a bunch of get-the-job-done'ers efficiently score 60 a night.  We have one famous alum that tweets about us sometimes and the biggest celebs I've seen at basketball games are Tex Winter, LHC Bill Snyder, and Eric Kynard(they're awesome, but not celebs). The celebrity-fans side of things will have to wait until we graduate some more 1%ers and Hollywood stars.  Recruiting the biggest names in the country is also not easy.  So, lets ignore this one for now and focus on things that are more readily attainable.

Reason #4)  Facilities
Going to Lambeau, Cameron Indoor, Wriggly, Fenway, or other historic venues can be the experience of a life time.  Newly constructed arenas offer amenities that make you feel all special and stuff.  Point is, arenas are a part of celebrity, personality, and pride. We have a ugly, poorly lit, uncomfortable, bare-bones arena.  Going to Bramlage is nothing special.  This is a pretty big problem.

Reason #5) Enthusiasm for basketball
Not as important as you might think...if all you really wanted to do is dissect a basketball game, you can do that just fine drinking beer on your couch.  General public and student body would go crazy for any sporting event that satisfies the elements above, though.

Anyway, this is only my off-the-cuff list, I just wanted to frame the discussion in a more concrete way instead of rambling about damned kids these days.  Also, marketing is of course important, people need to be kept up to date on how awesome we are.

[Phil Titola]

The hyping of one game with awarding points etc should also be stopped. It basically tells the average pud tshirt fan, you only should care about one game.

[Rage Against the McKee]

The hyping of one game with awarding points etc should also be stopped. It basically tells the average pud tshirt fan, you only should care about one game.

I agree. I really think they should do rewards points to designate sections for the next season. That way we have students spread throughout and don't have completely empty sections. Those sections would be full of freshmen. It also gives a reward to people who actually attend games.

[Belvis Noland]

The problem is simply too many student tickets because AD doesn't want to have to sell more seats to non students.

I thought the story was that students were guaranteed 6,000 seats because of the $7mil student body contribution to the $17mil price tag.  Also, 6,000 is apparently the largest student section in the BigXII, by far. 

http://www.kstatesports.com/facilities/bramlage-coliseum.html

[EMAWmeister]

lil bro gon' lil bro

Uh oh, let's hope Beemsy doesn't see the new developments in that thread about how his scumbag coach knocked up a coed and is getting divorced. He'd be SO pissed.

[Phil Titola]

Didn't know that. Thanks BN. My reason was more AD rant than fact obv.

[Rage Against the McKee]

Really, when you look at the size of our student body, 6000 tickets is just an enormous amount. That's about 25% of the student body.

[420seriouscat69]

lil bro gon' lil bro

Uh oh, let's hope Beemsy doesn't see the new developments in that thread about how his scumbag coach knocked up a coed and is getting divorced. He'd be SO pissed.

Why do you think he's banging the attendance smack drum? This is the only talking point he has right now. He's trying to distract himself from bill banging every filly in Lawrence. It's about to blow up.

[Belvis Noland]

Really, when you look at the size of our student body, 6000 tickets is just an enormous amount. That's about 25% of the student body.

and it's 50% of the arena capacity. 

[Lucas Scoopsalot]

What an awesome thread. 'Grats, Beems: http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=172&f=2481&t=11300565&p=1

Southwell has been playing so far over his head. The reaching and grabbing that Rodriguez gets away with is ridiculous compared to the fouls that got called on West Virginia early.

How the hell can KSU get away with so many arm slaps. Its like they do it so much, they are hardly called for it.

Also seems like every team brings their D game to play Ksu while we get the A game from teams... Minus tejas

My favorite part of watching a grape home game is the constant booing. Do the Hayseeds even know what they are booing about? Is it instinct to disagree with things they don't understand?

I think its the fact that Ksucks fans dont think they ever get any calls. Ksucks hack attack defense gets the kindness whistle in the league by far. This is the only year you have been good enough to make it matter

I don't know what to think of their logic.

[MakeItRain]

Do you have any idea how many arenas, even new arenas have tarps and what they are used for? It isn't getting "fixed" because it doesn't need to be.

No.  how many?

a lot, pretty much every multi purpose building

[EMAWmeister]

The kindness whistle in the league!

[FuzzyWuzzy]

they're right about the booing.  its losery

[TheHamburglar]

Guys, the GA ticket idea for next year is pretty smart on the AD's part.  The only part that they probably messed up was the "Big Monday" thing.  Let that promotion run next year and see how it works out.  I'm sure they can go down a similar path with the SGA in the future if they need to start selling GA single games for $35 to conference, in-week games as student attendance dictates.  All they have to say is if the students start to show up again, we'll stop selling the extra tickets and there will be pleanty of room for the students. 

Also, why did they do away with the "download your own paper tickets with barcodes" idea.  Was there an actual issue with that or was that some eco-friendly for the sake of eco-friendly change?

[Belvis Noland]

a lot, pretty much every multi purpose building

pretty much every multi-purpose building has a tarp?  seriously? 

[Lucas Scoopsalot]

Guys, the GA ticket idea for next year is pretty smart on the AD's part.  The only part that they probably messed up was the "Big Monday" thing.  Let that promotion run next year and see how it works out.  I'm sure they can go down a similar path with the SGA in the future if they need to start selling GA single games for $35 to conference, in-week games as student attendance dictates.  All they have to say is if the students start to show up again, we'll stop selling the extra tickets and there will be pleanty of room for the students. 

Also, why did they do away with the "download your own paper tickets with barcodes" idea.  Was there an actual issue with that or was that some eco-friendly for the sake of eco-friendly change?

I heard students were printing off multiple of their tickets and selling them which results in some of the people who bought tickets not being able to get into the game.

[Dugout DickStone]

Has the AD considered jamming "Thunderstruck" at top volume a dozen times a game?

Seems like we could capitalize on a good tradition.

[Mr Bread]

What an awesome thread. 'Grats, Beems: http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=172&f=2481&t=11300565&p=1

Southwell has been playing so far over his head. The reaching and grabbing that Rodriguez gets away with is ridiculous compared to the fouls that got called on West Virginia early.

How the hell can KSU get away with so many arm slaps. Its like they do it so much, they are hardly called for it.

Also seems like every team brings their D game to play Ksu while we get the A game from teams... Minus tejas

My favorite part of watching a grape home game is the constant booing. Do the Hayseeds even know what they are booing about? Is it instinct to disagree with things they don't understand?

I think its the fact that Ksucks fans dont think they ever get any calls. Ksucks hack attack defense gets the kindness whistle in the league by far. This is the only year you have been good enough to make it matter

I don't know what to think of their logic.

They say a lot of mean things about GO CATS fans.  Kazzo, ksuck, grapes, farmer board, hayseeds, etc.  That DrJ character really dislikes EMAW.  What a cesspool that place is.  Buncha angry weirdos stewing in their own juices over there.  The stench of jealousy practically burnt out my nasal passages.  Confirms my long held suspicions of KU being jinky. 

[michigancat]

If anything, we don't boo enough.

[8manpick]

they're right about the booing.  its losery

You don't belong here if you believe that.