Student Attendance

jsb

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THE PUBLIC FILLS UP THOSE SEATS ON THE OPPOSITE END OF HILTON. One side behind the basket in front he balcony is public and one is students. The public side is almost always full. The student side is not.

Larson, what’s dumb about this. Do you disagree with my statement that the public shows up better than the students in the same exact seats?
 

8bitnes

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You'd probably get better attendance if you opened up the upper level student seats to the public. Upper level student section was pretty empty even on Saturday.
Top 6 rows out of 17 on Saturday
 

twojman

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And the weather, I begged my son to not go out hours early to get in line. He got there just as the line was starting to move and was sitting in the 3rd row. I can't throw shade at the students, I didn't go last night because I didn't want to hobble from C5 to Hilton on crutches.
Ha, my son was in the 4th row behind ISUs 2nd half basket. He got his mug on tv quite a bit last night.
 
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awd4cy

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And the weather, I begged my son to not go out hours early to get in line. He got there just as the line was starting to move and was sitting in the 3rd row. I can't throw shade at the students, I didn't go last night because I didn't want to hobble from C5 to Hilton on crutches.
The temp dipping below zero for an Iowa State basketball game is a pretty regular phenomenon over the years.
 

Clonehomer

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Do you realize what students have to do to go? They oversell the section so students are not guaranteed seats. This causes several problems. For big games you need to stand outside for hours and still risk being turned away. After that happens a couple times and you realize certain groups have the system rigged, it isn't worth the time and effort to try and stand in line. It is not like it was "back in your day" where you had a guaranteed seat. It is a ******** system that really drives students away.

So maybe it’s time to go back to assigned seats? We had assigned seats for the big games only when I was there. Outside of the KU and UI games I think were all GA.

Have assigned seats and track attendance. Freshmen sit in back and you can work your way forward with consistent attendance. If you don’t go to games, you don’t get tickets the following year. It could be similar to season ticket holders where you get a time that you can pick up tickets based on where you were in the pecking order. Pick up your tickets with friends or dorm floors to get tickets together.

It could be done if it is a problem. It seems a bit of effort is better than eliminating this experience for students.
 
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8bitnes

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are students still charged an "athletics fee" like we were in the early 2000's which got you into game for "free" to all events? or has that long since passed.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a higher athletics fee and then they charge the students for tickets now because, you know, capitalism.
The activity, service, building, and recreation fee is $421.45 or full-time undergrads and grad students. Even vet med students have to pay it.

It's not specifically an athletics fee but it pays for things like access to beyer pool and lied rec as well as intramural offerings. Athletics certainly receives some benefit.

You have to separately purchase an all sports pass ($299) or football only ($175) to get tickets. Olympic sports and women's basketball are open to all students without needing passes
 

cytor

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If Jamie can pull off CYTOWN, then he can fix this, too.
 
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jsb

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Here’s what I’d do, Jamie can feel free to steal this idea.

I’d offer at least half the upper level student seats to new grads for half price.

When I graduated you could get half price season tickets with a $50 donation level.

Get them in and a big number will probably become regular season ticket holders.
 
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KennyPratt42

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What was the excuse on Saturday?

This is where I like to brag about my friend, who during our freshman year, had a Chemistry test the night of a basketball game. I think the test was scheduled for 6:30-8:30 and the game was at 7. She took the test in 15 or 20 minutes, handed it to the TA who asked her if she was sure she was finished. She was and made it to Hilton right after tip off. She has a successful career despite this ;)
There were two times during undergrad where I had an exam/mbb game time conflict and the class was set up that you could drop your lowest exam score for the semester. So I skipped the exam for the game, the second time I emailed the TA/Prof beforehand because I found out some get nervous when students don't show up for an exam. Cyclones won both times and I got an A in one course and a B in the other so all is well that ends well.
 
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theshadow

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It's long past time to move to a combination merit/claim system for students.


Anyone who buys FB season gets a defined number of points.
Earn additional points for going to other sports (VB, SOC, GYM, WBB, WR, etc.).
More points = earlier chance to claim MBB tickets.
All MBB tickets distributed on a game-by-game basis, 3-7 days ahead of each game.

Ticket cost goes onto the U-Bill when claimed.
Any tickets left unclaimed by a certain time (48 hours prior, for example) go on the market to the general public.

Result:
Build attendance at other sports.
Reward that support by having a better chance to get in to premier MBB games.
Not ending up with hundreds of empty seats for the non-KU/Iowa games.
 

Clonehomer

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Transferring digital tickets is ridiculously easy and doesn't require any sort of meet up. I think you're dead wrong about physical tickets having an advantage here. They just don't care that their tickets get used.

Transferring tickets is easy if you know who wants it. I guess when I was there we just dropped our ticket on a table in our dorm hall for anyone who wanted it. They almost always got picked up. The key was to make it simple enough that the ticket holder doesn’t have to do any work.

Is there a ticket waiting list pool that you could just donate your electronic ticket to with one click and not have to find a recipient yourself?
 
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dahliaclone

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The student turnout has been disappointing at times. When I was there in the 80s with Johhny Orr... getting a ticket was near impossible.
I don't disagree at all. But we are vastly different times than when Orr was here. Students (or any fan) can watch literally every game on some streaming platform. It wasn't that easy 30+ years ago.
 

alarson

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Larson, what’s dumb about this. Do you disagree with my statement that the public shows up better than the students in the same exact seats?

They don't. There are plenty of empty seats up there and in the lower bowl they just don't compress.

Honestly this debate has come up again and again over the nearly 2 decades i've been on this site and its always a dumb one. Right up there with people who hate on the band, i consider people who want to cut the students' seating allotment to be ****** college sports fans.
 

8bitnes

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I don't disagree at all. But we are vastly different times than when Orr was here. Students (or any fan) can watch literally every game on some streaming platform. It wasn't that easy 30+ years ago.
Weren't the games on CBS (or similar) every night 30 years ago?

Edit to clarify - this is in regards to students at the time. The games were televised locally in central Iowa. Watching games then was free on TV.
 
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Al_4_State

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The biggest problem with students tickets is they can't be transferred to the general public.

If you could figure that part of it out, there would be no reason to change the amount of available seating. But I guarantee that the general public would buy (and use) a lot of the student seats that don't get used.