In a ploy to gain more of a local sports fan base, I was asked, as the exemplary leader of the Bayside Tigers, to write a blog to drum up some local fans. So here I am. I am going to jump on my soap box and discuss why crickets are louder than the fans at Carver Hawkeye Arena and how to fix the problem(s). I would like to thank Brent Balbinot at KXIC for sparking this debate on his show “Good Call”. It is one of the better run local sports talks shows I have heard, plus, Brent bleeds the Black & Gold more than most. (Ok Brent, some reciprocity here, give a shout out to the Bayside Tigers!)
Let’s make it rain!
Observation One: The product is not fun to watch
China Wall Solution: I see this on message boards a lot and I think this is a copout excuse. Lick is trying to build up a new system. How is he supposed to do this when the previous head coach brought in turd after turd after turd after turd? Let him continue to recruit to his system. If Lick can get one more kid with the heart and basketball IQ of Gatens and one big guy over 6’9”, the team will be much better. If you fail to realize this, you have no business watching any form of competitive sports ever again. Ever!
Observation Two: The product is not successful
China Wall Solution: See China Wall Solution #1. Fail.
Observation Three: The tickets are too pricey
China Wall Solution: Ok, now we are getting somewhere. As I do think the ticket prices are still somewhat fair, what the folks in the Athletic Department fail to realize is that most Hawkeye fans are fans of both the football and basketball teams. Because ticket prices have risen for both sports, the administration is strong-arming fans to pick and choose between sports. Do I drop $700 (for 2 tickets) on football (all day event, better atmosphere, tailgating, better weather, decent start times for games) or basketball (typically bad weather, no chance for drunken nudity, ridiculous start times and the atmosphere inside is not very entertaining outside the game itself). No brainer as far as I am concerned.
How about offering some sort of discount on tickets or a parking pass if you order season tickets for both sports, or for one of the non money making sports? If the University came to me and said China Wall, if you order season tickets for football and women’s XYZ sport, we will give you a parking pass for half price. Sold! And I might actually show up for a women’s game, or give the tickets to friends. Butts in seats!
Observation Four: The Black and Gold Blowout is boring, uneventful, and horribly timed. I understand the premise of having the Blowout after a football game (attendance and such), but the atmosphere is vanilla. I want Rocky Road. Half the people that show up are lay fans anyway, or folks trying to avoid traffic out of town.
China Wall Solution: Do the Black and Gold Blowout in the form of Midnight Madness. It works. Throw in a dunk contest, skills competition, 3-point contest (Raindance!). That’s what the students and fans want to see. No one wants to watch a pick up game after a full morning of drinking and sitting outside watching football. Hey everybody! Want to go sober up and sit in a gym watching pickup basketball?! Uh no I’ll head home if I want a nap.
Observation Five: In regards to the students (younger fans). Iowa City is a party town. The university has to live with the fact that unless something changes with the bars downtown, which the revenue the city gets, I don’t see it happening anytime soon. Why do you think football games are so jammed packed? It is a huge party every Saturday. Where else can 18-20 year olds walk around with open containers, wear jean skirts when its 35 degrees out, and get piss drunk without any real consequence?
As a college student, here are your two choices on a basketball game night:
One: Jump on a Cambus in the dead of winter and/or hike it across campus (and back) to watch a mediocre basketball game, sit in a section surrounded by 90 year olds yelling at you for jumping up and down or yelling at the refs, and sitting 20 to 40 rows up from the court (Holy crap! Is JR Angle in?).
Two: Walking 3 minutes downtown to watch the game on a big screen TV with friends, having beers, eating wings.
Tough decision, huh?
China Wall Solution: The student section should be spread along the court, not funneled up 2/3 sections. Look at the successful programs across America. They get their students involved. Michigan St., Duke, UConn, Kansas and hell, even Iowa State! (sorry, couldn’t help myself) This makes it louder on the court and harder for the opposing team to communicate. Look, I am a business man, I get the money and donations typically come from Grandma and Grandpa and your big business types, but there are plenty of good seats in Carver. We gotta think long term here. Today’s student is tomorrow’s G’ma & G’pa donor. Hell we live in Iowa, we should understand planting seeds.
If you put students in rows 1-4 in sections H through NN (opponents basket to midcourt opposite of opponents bench), I guarantee you would see an increase in student attendance. Is it really that bad to put 2-3 rows of dead seats behind the students? The place is dead as it is. If you want buy in from the students, you need to impress them and show them you mean it.
Observation Six: I know I will ruffle a bunch of feathers with this last one, but sometimes the truth hurts, and I am the man to deliver it. The Hawkeye fan base as a whole is aging. There is little new blood. Again, I will state I understand the need to pamper donors and season ticket holders, but there is too much pampering going on. Those old codgers will enjoy the games more if we win more.
China Wall Solution: In the end, the administration is too worried about having their cake and eating it to and/or too chicken shit to stand up to them and make a tough decision. You either continue down the path of catering to donors & old heads and alienating the rest of the fan base or you start making compromises. Common sense says if the donors are fans, they will stick around.
If you want to get a hold of me to discuss the topic further, take a piece of paper, write down any and everything you want to discuss, then crumple it up and throw it in the trash. Your thoughts are worthless to me.
Sincerely,
In hopes of extending an olive branch to the old heads that typically sit around me at Hawkeye sporting events, this video is for you. Enjoy!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment