How much do the students have to pay? And if they pay little or no money to get in why would it be better to put the paying fans at the top and let all of the students sit closer? And wouldn't putting the paying fans at the top make it less likely they would pay to sit there than the students who get in cheap or for free. In that case attendance may be a wash but revenue would go down substantially.
less students = less noise/home court adv. i think the biggest problem is that this is decreasing the interest of the students. that results in less ticket sales and boosters after they graduate. anyway, youre only a student for 4 years (ok, maybe 6), but you're an alum for 60.
I don't know for sure but I disagree with that analogy. If all of those guys who are alums for 60 years were locked up because they did get better seats while in the student section, than where are they now? Just off the top of my head I'd say that is over 30,000 people who would be buying tickets. And the essence of this thread was basiucally about raising money to put in the basketball program, so I still stand by my statement that the people who do pay may not want to pay for the worse seats, so maybe we netter give them the better ones.
I noticed the layout of the student section this season...They do have the "lowered" seats center but y'all are right about the rest of the seats...BUT...I sat in the rafters for two games this season and you can bet I had MY section up and hollering. I'm not saying you have to be a cheerleader but screaming at the top of your lungs even amoungst a passive group tends to get them going too. The sadest thing I ever saw was in the Arky game last season...4 Hog fans stoop up and started the "soooieee pig" crap...and the student section just sat there and watched...FOUR FREAKIN people could be heard ON THE COURT...The LEAST that should happen is a rounding rendition of TIGER BAIT!!! The students OWN the team...they OWN the arena...it is up to them to get the place jumping. The "old folk" are always just going to sit and clap.
Kind of off the subject, but it is really embarassing and ridiculous that we went to the Final Four this year, and did not sell out one game the entire year. The Georgia game was not a sell-out, and the Kentucky game was not a sell-out. There were plenty of empty seats at both of those games. We didn't even put 10,000 in for Kentucky.
Obviously, you make the point that the administration made. They need to increase revenue, not necessarily attendance, so convince more season ticket holders to sign up b/c there are better seats now available. However, I generally do think that's a short term view of the world, because we do seem to be an outlier in the student seating respect. Most schools put students at some level right down near the court. That's the way it is at Duke (I wonder, however, how much Duke really cares about ticket revenues when everything else they touch makes money), Vanderbilt, UCLA, Texas, etc. I think it's odd the shape of the student section and how it "Ls" the way up one side of the PMAC. While I think changing this may give up some revenue, the games would be more infectious, fun if there were more rowdy students close to the court and ultimately, these students leave the school with a feeling like the basketball games were fun... It seems like some spatial engineer could also figure out how to maximize both elements. Put some student sections lower, but perhaps spread them around. For example, maybe you can put two student sections behind the baskets. Thus, the more rowdy fans can disrupt the other players when they shoot. Put students on both sides of the court, but make sure high dollar season ticket holders have courtside access too. Make sure those really nice seats are priced accordingly. The cheap seats should be cheap, to encourage folks to fill the arena.
I agree about the Student section. I don't sit in the student section during the games. I choose to sit elsewhere, but the student section at LSU is weak and I think part of that has to do with the fact that the bulk of the students sit up in the nose bleed section. Skipper and company set up that little 300 person section in the lower bowl for the sake of making it look like LSU has a rocking student section. The people that sit down there obviously wait out there longer than others so they must be your core fans. But, they don't do anything special. I agree with the person who said start an organization that gets chants started and has a regular game time ritual. The scary part of this final four run is that it will give Skipper and co. the grounds to up the Ticket Prices. If LSU baseball keeps playing the way they are, it wouldn't be suprising to see a decrease in the baseball tix and an increase in the basketball tickets. LSU can raise football ticket prices all they want and people will still go. The people are loyal enough to football to snatch up every ticket availabe. Football will always make the money. If they raise ticket prices in basketball because of this run, then you may alienate some people. Basketball hasn't built up that same core fan base that will sit there through major ticket increases. They need to see 2 or 3 more years or consistent tournement success. I.E Winning a few games every year. The only grounds I can see for raising bball ticket prices is the fact that LSU has been virtually unstoppable at home in the conference games.
