Home attendance and environment

[OUHoops]

A renovation is coming to the LNC. Not sure the year yet, but I know they are going to remove a couple thousand seats. Widen the upper concourse to make it easier to move around in and for vendor stuff. Move the lower sections court side seats closer to the floor and other stuff like that. The seats behind the basketball goals won't be moved closer. It should be nice when it is finished. They already have the architecture modeling and stuff like that in place.

Sounds disappointing which means it's probably true. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[tsou89]

A friend that works at OU told me he thinks they are seriously considering a new arena near the LNC. Nothing more than his opinion but he does sit in on meetings including athletic dept employs. Surprising the attendance number mentioned was 6500-7000. Which I thought sounded a couple of thousand low.

Personally I believe if they renovate the LNC they're missing out on the buzz created when a new arena is opened. Which in turn might be what is needed to reacquaint our fan base with our new and improved sooner hoops team.

 

[BigTime]

A friend that works at OU told me he thinks they are seriously considering a new arena near the LNC. Nothing more than his opinion but he does sit in on meetings including athletic dept employs. Surprising the attendance number mentioned was 6500-7000. Which I thought sounded a couple of thousand low.

Personally I believe if they renovate the LNC they're missing out on the buzz created when a new arena is opened. Which in turn might be what is needed to reacquaint our fan base with our new and improved sooner hoops team.

Exactly. Build a new one. It's now or wait yet another 10-15 years. Build a BASKETBALL only arena - not some multipurpose oval.

 

[Ham]

So who do you think are the people that are going to buy tickets in the potential new arena?

Yep you guessed it corp donors and big money boosters. Those that want tickets for ku and osu. And don't come for lots of other games.


You build an 8k arena. You will just have less ticket for the average joe

That might be true but then they can charge more to those donors and boosters. They absolutely will not build a new arena bigger than 10K.

See: the football situation. Demand remains high for among other reasons because supply is perpetually low (relative).

_____________________________________________________________

On the larger subject: All that has to happen is the gameday experience for spectators needs to be enhanced. Going to see a top 25 team isn't enough of a motivator anymore. Allegiance to the university or the players isn't enough. There has to be a shift from relative apathy to caring...I'm not talking about caring about the result or the team, which is still a fairly strong concern even among primarily football-only bubbas but caring about actually attending rather than watching on TV. Every game is televised. People need reasons to go out of their way to attend the game.

I think the atmosphere should be the draw. Clearly top 25 basketball isn't enough and it wasn't really enough even when we were top 10 with Blake. It's a new era. We should just close it in. Put the fans right on top of everybody. Even if that means only 8K fans. The intimidation factor is what can draw many fans into the arena. The opportunity to have that EXPERIENCE.

That's what this is about - not just entertainment dollars - but investment of time and effort beyond the $$. People still spend money on movies - OnDemand, Red Box, etc. but getting people out to the theater is where people go for the experience. That's what OU basketball has become. We're OnDemand and Red Box. Why go out of my way when I can just access the game from the comfort of my home? We need to IMAX/3D it up. In other words, make the spectacle something needed to be seen in-person. I think a smaller more-bang-for-your-buck gameday experience is improved by having a smaller arena with a generally better crowd. Energy moves across people. Adrenaline can be generated.

Let's just do it. Just my stupid opinion.

 

[SoonerSpock]

Absolutely. Football priority points should never been part of basketball ticket sales, for reasons that ought to be obvious.

There are no football priority points for basketball season ticket sales. At least effectively none. You purchase two or four season basketball tickets for $460 each and you get a total of 1 football priority point for the year. Donate the same money to the Sooner Club and you get 15 football priority points for each $500 donated or a total of 60 football priority points (3 points for each $100 contribution) for basically the cost of 4 season tickets.

Plus the dollars donated in 2013 would also accrue an additional 20 priority points (20 points in 2014, 40 points in 2015) and every succeeding year for an additional 60 priority points over three years. Aggregate priority points for four years purchasing four season basketball tickets is 4 points. Aggregate priority points for donating the same dollars for four years is 120 priority points. You have to donate the money every year just as you have to purchase the basketball tickets every year so the net cost is virtually the same ($1,840 VS $2,000 annually) .

Now tell me would a corporation wanting football priority seating rather have 60 priority points or 1 priority point? I think even a fool can figure that one out.

It is most probable that corporations are being solicited by the university to purchase season basketball tickets and they accommodate the university's request. Then give them to their customers when asked for them. What the university needs to do is to further solicit the purchasers of those tickets hard to make certain those tickets are distributed to individuals and used.

Remember their is no reason to think that the 6,000 or so tickets presently sold to corporate like buyers would be in demand if they were available on game day. Yes some of the seats near the court would be acquired by present purchasers of lower priority season tickets or casual fans but not many.

Moreover the present policy allows anyone with a ticket anywhere the right to move to the lower bowl and occupy any available seat after the first media timeout.

What could be done as a policy is after the 8:00 timeout have the public address announcer request that those seated in the upper bowl move to the lower bowl. This would leave the appearance of more fans at the game for the TV audience and most of the fans being closer to the floor would make it louder for the opponents.

Just as is the policy today if you occupy a seat and the ticketholder shows up late merely move to another vacant seat.

 

[DenverSooner]

This has been explained numerous times. For whatever reason some of our fans simply insist on making the priority point claim even when it has been discredited numerous times.

 

[BoulderSooner]

we are not going to build a new arena that is the smallest in the big 12 ... (and i don't think we would renovate the lnc to the smallest arena in the big 12 ..

current big 12 arenas

1 Texas Frank Erwin Center 16,734 Austin, TX Site, Schedule, School
2 Kansas Allen Fieldhouse 16,300 Lawrence, KS Site, Schedule, School
3 Texas Tech United Spirit Arena 15,098 Lubbock, TX Site, Schedule, School
4 Iowa State Hilton Coliseum 14,356 Ames, IA Site, Schedule, School
5 West Virginia WVU Coliseum 14,000 Morgantown, WV Site, Schedule, School
6 Oklahoma State Gallagher-Iba Arena 13,611 Stillwater, OK Site, Schedule, School
7 Kansas State Bramlage Coliseum 12,528 Manhattan, KS Site, Schedule, School
8 Oklahoma Lloyd Noble Center 12,000 Norman, OK Site, Schedule, School
9 Baylor Ferrell Center 10,284 Waco, TX Site, Schedule, School
10 Texas Christian Daniel-Meyer Coliseum 7,201 Fort Worth, TX Site, Schedule, School

we are 8th .. .

those that want a 8k arena .. be prepared for tickets prices to double or triple .. and the average fan will no longer be attending .. because the the base fans and the corp tickets holders won't go away ..

 

[garyeb2]

we are not going to build a new arena that is the smallest in the big 12 ... (and i don't think we would renovate the lnc to the smallest arena in the big 12 ..

current big 12 arenas

1 Texas Frank Erwin Center 16,734 Austin, TX Site, Schedule, School
2 Kansas Allen Fieldhouse 16,300 Lawrence, KS Site, Schedule, School
3 Texas Tech United Spirit Arena 15,098 Lubbock, TX Site, Schedule, School
4 Iowa State Hilton Coliseum 14,356 Ames, IA Site, Schedule, School
5 West Virginia WVU Coliseum 14,000 Morgantown, WV Site, Schedule, School
6 Oklahoma State Gallagher-Iba Arena 13,611 Stillwater, OK Site, Schedule, School
7 Kansas State Bramlage Coliseum 12,528 Manhattan, KS Site, Schedule, School
8 Oklahoma Lloyd Noble Center 12,000 Norman, OK Site, Schedule, School
9 Baylor Ferrell Center 10,284 Waco, TX Site, Schedule, School
10 Texas Christian Daniel-Meyer Coliseum 7,201 Fort Worth, TX Site, Schedule, School

we are 8th .. .

those that want a 8k arena .. be prepared for tickets prices to double or triple .. and the average fan will no longer be attending .. because the the base fans and the corp tickets holders won't go away ..

I think the plan is to move the donor and corporate class into suites that would be built higher up and just below the concourse level. Reserve seating would be brought down from there at a slightly steeper angle than the current one. That would result in seating being brought closer to courtside. Capacity would probably be brought down to about 10,000.

 

[mort6481]

- Get Kruger and the boys out to the Greek Houses - I would also visit the BYX guys (cape dudes at the football games)

I was a senior in BYX (and in soonermen) during Krugers first year at OU. We reached out to them about getting the soonermen involved someway (we have a special relationship for football games), but they gave us no response. Maybe things are different now.

 

[JBaker]

those that want a 8k arena .. be prepared for tickets prices to double or triple .. and the average fan will no longer be attending .. because the the base fans and the corp tickets holders won't go away ..

The average fan doesn't attend now...

 

[OUHoops]

From tonight's Box Score:

Attendance: 9854
Est. Attendance: 4684

 

[BigTime]

From tonight's Box Score:

Attendance: 9854
Est. Attendance: 4684

Need a new arena. This program needs to blow up its current seating set-up/cooperate seats/donor seats/student seating and marketing

AND

Start fresh! This team looks to be good under Lon for the foreseeable future - now is perfect.

It is now or in 15 years!!! Do it, Joe C.

A 9k brand new arena that is designed for basketball!

 

[StatGeek]

Create some course, call it Campus Activities Orientation (or whatever), it would be an easy elective where coursework is dependent upon basketball attendance & marketing activities, sit back and watch student attendance soar.

Oh and please save your academic integrity crap as there are already plenty of courses offered (on every campus across the country) with as little or less credibility than this course would have.

 

[DenverSooner]

I think that is a good idea. I would also give tickets to Norman High School and junior high school students. Get those kids when they are young and groom them to be life long OU fans. Just imagine if OU had only converted 200 fans a year over the last 20 years. That is 4,000 potential Norman residents that love OU basketball. Add that to the students and the 3-4K that currently attend and you have big crowd.

Shame on OU alumni, students and other fans for such a pathetic turn out. I just don't get it. OU has a top 25 team. In basketball that is like a top 10 football team. There are 3 times as many basketball teams as football teams.

Basketball games are a lot of fun. They are freaking great when you are a kid and can act like a maniac. I am too old for that stuff now but I was all over it when I was a student.

 

[SoMuchDramaInTheLNC]

For students: create a site to email your online-claimed ticket if you can't make it, and then at that site, students who want to go can claim it. Similarly, for paper tickets, create a place you can mail them, for people who want to claim them for a reduced charge. (These may already exist, but I've never heard of them).

Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again: stop with the damn "we don't sit down until the Sooners score!" thing. Last night was case-in-point: decent student turnout. Not great, not the worst. They were standing beginning with the starting lineups. Terrible Emcee No. 54332 tells everyone to sit down when OU scores. Guess what the students do.

I think what it comes down to is, I still feel like I'm going to Capel-era games, atmosphere-wise. Nothing has really changed in the way OU presents the game. Same derpy timeout games, same lighting, same Terrible Emcee gimmick. On top of all that, OU employs, what, 50 freaking CSC people, and not one of them could be bothered to go direct traffic after the game?

 

[BoulderSooner]

Need a new arena. This program needs to blow up its current seating set-up/cooperate seats/donor seats/student seating and marketing

AND

Start fresh! This team looks to be good under Lon for the foreseeable future - now is perfect.

It is now or in 15 years!!! Do it, Joe C.

A 9k brand new arena that is designed for basketball!

who do you think would be buying the seats in this new arena? ...

the same corps and donors ..


not to mention that with a couple more years of ncaa runs .. we will be back up over 10k season ticket holders ..

 

[MisterF]

Attendance has NOTHING to do with the areana. LNC if fine.

OU could build a new areana....crowds would be good early to see the new. Within a few years, attendance would be about the same as current.

It more about the attitude and non basketball culture of local alums, okc area fans and the students that don't care enough to support OU sports (except for the few hundred that showed up last night). That has got to change.

Not sure how it will, but a new aeana is not the answer long term.

 

[Chiefdaddy]

I got to make the game last night since it was a 8 p.m. tipoff. Drove down from Yukon after work. Bought 2 $10 tickets outside right before tip and sat first row behind the media by the OU bench. The atmosphere was better since the MC wasn't yelling every timeout. The band played a lot more it seemed and I liked it. I did notice that there are lots of old people there including my parents that drive from Ardmore for every game. I understand that those are the big donors but we really have to get the students and 25-45 crowd there. Students....I'm done with you guys. No excuses. Flat out embarrassing. Where is your OU pride? I can't believe that a ranked OU team can't get more than 50 students at a midweek game with school in session. Seriously, wtf are you guys doing? If you are not chasing girls/guys, drinking booze, and attending OU games you are not experiencing college. I hate to break it to you, but these are some of the best times of your life. Sitting in a doom room or an apt and studying all the time is not college. Do you know what happens when you graduate college? You have to wake up every morning and go to work. For the rest of your life!!!! Ugh. I wish I could go back to those college days. Maybe they need to have a twitter contest or something so these students will show up. I'm not sure what excites them these days.

 

[tycat947]

Attendance has NOTHING to do with the areana. LNC if fine.

OU could build a new areana....crowds would be good early to see the new. Within a few years, attendance would be about the same as current.

It more about the attitude and non basketball culture of local alums, okc area fans and the students that don't care enough to support OU sports (except for the few hundred that showed up last night). That has got to change.

Not sure how it will, but a new aeana is not the answer long term.

Very well said and very true!

IMO if fans don't go to the games because of LNC, then they aren't fans! Attendance is going down all across the country though! Very few exceptions. I think a lot of it is electronic overload. You can take your smart phone/tablet anywhere and watch any game (and almost all of ours are televised). Why do you think students don't show up at OMC for football game against Tulsa? And also, most of the older fans grew up begging to the the Sooners play on TV maybe 2 or 3 times a season in football and 4 or 5 times a year in basketball. Now the younger generation has so many other options that they never developed the strong bond to OU sports (or any college) in which the older generations have. Notice younger folks have already grown tired of Facebook, for example.

 

[Chiefdaddy]

I agree that TV and Technology have decreased attendance. I honestly think they should black the games out in the OKC/Norman area. If you want to watch the Sooners, you can pay a fee for each game you want to see. If you want to complain about the fee, get off your couch and go to the game for 2 hours. I would be willing to pay to watch my Sooners. The fee should be more than 2 tickets. The fees collected should go directly back to the bball program. I know that early starts, work, kids, etc. get in the way of going to games. I definitely don't go to as many games due to these factors but I ALWAYS watch the Sooners play. True Sooner fans will do what is needed to support their team.