So, Why Don't YOU Come to the Games?

Sooner04 said:
I hope they make it easier to come up day of the game and buy a cheap SRO ticket. Make it a buck, or even five, but sell the hell out of them. First TV timeout, any seat open is a seat for you....regardless of location.
Click to expand...

this is what they do right now and have for years ..
 
I know they do it, and I just wish they'd get the word out more.

So many people I know didn't want to make the drive for the Texas game because they kept hearing "sold out" from the ticket office. It may be a gimmick policy, sure, but anyone ought to be able to decide on the spur of the moment to zip over to Norman with five bucks in their pocket and go to a game.
 
I'm not sure they do this every game, as they made such a big deal about it being available for the UT game?

I agree though that it should be marketed, even repeated inside the arena so that during that first timeout people will make sure to leave a neighbor or someone to hold their seat if they have to get up.

Also, why restrict it to the upper level? I think if you have season tickets in the upper level you should be able to move down low in open seats, and then the people with standing room tickets can move into the upper bowl. Sure it's a mass movement, but the number of empty seats in the lower bowl that show up on TV and can be closer to the action providing noise drives me nuts
 
dahldennsull said:
Also, why restrict it to the upper level? I think if you have season tickets in the upper level you should be able to move down low in open seats, and then the people with standing room tickets can move into the upper bowl. Sure it's a mass movement, but the number of empty seats in the lower bowl that show up on TV and can be closer to the action providing noise drives me nuts
Click to expand...

all season long .. you can move to any open seat in the building (not counting the floor) after the under 16 timeout ..

in has been this was for years
 
Sooner04 said:
What do you suggest then, Max? Do you not think the opportunity to own a suite upstairs will prevent the purchase of seats down low? With the money made from suite sales, might there be a bone thrown to the fan and a reduction made in the price to be donated per seat purchased?

I hope they make it easier to come up day of the game and buy a cheap SRO ticket. Make it a buck, or even five, but sell the hell out of them. First TV timeout, any seat open is a seat for you....regardless of location.
Click to expand...

they already do this. People still dont care. As for how you make people care about OU basketball , If I had the answer my self, big time, kssooner, and a few others would have done it a long time ago.

As for suites, not sure how many if any will be built if they simply renovate the LNC from the inside. Plenty of corporations will still buy lower level seats and not show up except for Kansas and bedlam.
 
Sooner04 said:
I know they do it, and I just wish they'd get the word out more.

So many people I know didn't want to make the drive for the Texas game because they kept hearing "sold out" from the ticket office. It may be a gimmick policy, sure, but anyone ought to be able to decide on the spur of the moment to zip over to Norman with five bucks in their pocket and go to a game.
Click to expand...

I can remember some games vs KU (90s and early 00s) where the SRO was completely full and so was the arena. :(
 
BoulderSooner said:
all season long .. you can move to any open seat in the building (not counting the floor) after the under 16 timeout ..

in has been this was for years
Click to expand...
But it is not advertised. I'd love for them to use the PA and the yellow kings (True Detective reference) to get these people to move down.

Max Power, you defeatist, turn that frown upside down. Maybe they'll do a season ticket reboot once the arena is reconfigured. KU actually did that a few years ago and flushed out a bunch of the old guard.....but that was in search of the almighty dollar.
 
BoulderSooner said:
all season long .. you can move to any open seat in the building (not counting the floor) after the under 16 timeout ..

in has been this was for years
Click to expand...

You are absolutely correct. It has been that way for 10-15 years. Their is one caveat however. If the ticketholder for the seat you take arrives late they can require you to move to another seat.
 
Last edited:
BigTime said:
How many years?

Not advertised at all...
Click to expand...

Sometimes the ushers mention it. All you have to do is watch and you'll see people get up from seats in the upper bowl and move down to the lower bowl at the first media timeout. I moved down to mid-court, about 12 or 15 rows up on the west side at every game I attended this year.
 
MsProudSooner said:
Sometimes the ushers mention it. All you have to do is watch and you'll see people get up from seats in the upper bowl and move down to the lower bowl at the first media timeout. I moved down to mid-court, about 12 or 15 rows up on the west side at every game I attended this year.
Click to expand...

Please go to the Eastside so it looks full on TV!
 
Sooner04 said:
I know they do it, and I just wish they'd get the word out more.

So many people I know didn't want to make the drive for the Texas game because they kept hearing "sold out" from the ticket office. It may be a gimmick policy, sure, but anyone ought to be able to decide on the spur of the moment to zip over to Norman with five bucks in their pocket and go to a game.
Click to expand...

I really think there's this perception that it's hard to get into the LNC, even though there are obviously tickets available. You hear about high ticket sales, and no-shows, and the ambiguous policies regarding moving around the arena once you're inside...I have student tickets, and I know students who don't, but don't know where to get one if they want to go to a game. That has to change.

If no one cared about OU basketball, the LNC wouldn't have been completely full during Capel's awful final year on the "everyone gets in free because of the weather" night vs. Texas. I think a big part of the problem is this perception that 04 talked about, the "sold out" perception.
 
For the last five conference home games ticket sales averaged 11,933 with 12,000 listed as the official capacity for LNC. The all-time attendance record is 13,431 which would indicate to me that the administration will sell approximately 1,500 STO tickets immediately prior to game time.

That being said I had acquaintances that attempted to buy STO tickets to the Texas game and were told that they were sold out of STO tickets. If the allotment of STO tickets approaches 1,500 as our attendance record indicates we had to have approximately 4,300 no shows from our season ticketholders.

Having a third of your season ticketholders as "no shows" for the Texas game against one of our major rivals at 3:00 PM on a Saturday afternoon to take sole possession of second place in the conference is a major problem. Finding a solution to this problem will not be easy for the administration.

Part of the problem is corporate tickets that has no true college basketball fan owning that seat in LNC. Hence each game requires the corporate owners to look for customers or employees to fill those seats. Taking the action to do so 17 times in 17 weeks becomes a burdensome task for the corporations. Early in the season the games are against weaker nonconference opponents are in lower demand by the casual fan. Conference games tickets are often forgotten about because so few wanted nonconference tickets. Having the tickets used becomes low priority for the corporation as the season progresses. They are focused on running their business instead.

We had this same difficulty at my company during the height of the Billy Tubbs era. I am sure it is worse today than it was then. Corporate ticket sales are never conducive to butt in the seats. Nor will they ever be.
 
The "corporate ticket theory" does NOT explain the empty seats in the upper bowl. Scanning the arena while I was at the Texas game, it looked like those 4,000-plus empty seats were scattered equally throughout the upper and lower seating areas; midcourt and end-zone. There were empty seats everywhere, and this was the TEXAS GAME.

Besides, how many "corporate seats" are there. I sit 4 rows up from the court, just behind the scorers table at mid-court. I am NOT a corporate ticket buyer, nor are the folks that sit to my left or right, or below or above me. We are just OU fans that love OU basketball, and we donate the amount to get these seats.

My main point is that there are empty seats everywhere ... lower bowl, upper bowl, donor section, student section, ... everywhere. There are No-Shows, everywhere.

As others have pointed out, anyone can "come on down" to the lower bowl after the first media timeout. I wish more people would do so.
 
Last edited:
SoonerTraveler said:
The "corporate ticket theory" does NOT explain the empty seats in the upper bowl. Scanning the arena while I was at the Texas game, it looked like those 4,000-plus empty seats were scattered equally throughout the upper and lower seating areas; midcourt and end-zone. There were empty seats everywhere, and this was the TEXAS GAME.

Besides, how many "corporate seats" are there. I sit 4 rows up from the court, just behind the scorers table at mid-court. I am NOT a corporate ticket buyer, nor are the folks that sit to my left or right, or below or above me. We are just OU fans that love OU basketball, and we donate the amount to get these seats.

My main point is that there are empty seats everywhere ... lower bowl, upper bowl, donor section, student section, ... everywhere. There are No-Shows, everywhere.

As others have pointed out, anyone can "come on down" to the lower bowl after the first media timeout. I wish more people would do so.
Click to expand...

great point ... i sit 3 rows up opposite the OU bench and have the same thoughts ..
 
SoonerTraveler said:
The "corporate ticket theory" does NOT explain the empty seats in the upper bowl. Scanning the arena while I was at the Texas game, it looked like those 4,000-plus empty seats were scattered equally throughout the upper and lower seating areas; midcourt and end-zone. There were empty seats everywhere, and this was the TEXAS GAME.

Besides, how many "corporate seats" are there. I sit 4 rows up from the court, just behind the scorers table at mid-court. I am NOT a corporate ticket buyer, nor are the folks that sit to my left or right, or below or above me. We are just OU fans that love OU basketball, and we donate the amount to get these seats.

My main point is that there are empty seats everywhere ... lower bowl, upper bowl, donor section, student section, ... everywhere. There are No-Shows, everywhere.

As others have pointed out, anyone can "come on down" to the lower bowl after the first media timeout. I wish more people would do so.
Click to expand...

I agree that corporate seats are only part of the problem and will be much less of a problem at the big games like OSU, Kansas and Texas because more casual fan customers and employees will request them. But they do account for many of the vacant seats at the less demanded WVU, Tech, etc. games. Corporate seat probably account for 20% of the season tickets but may approach 30% of the vacancy at the less popular conference games.

I too have had season tickets in the lower bowl for 25+ years and I have concluded OU never going to be a school that has attendance similar to Kansas, KSU, and ISU where basketball is a bigger sport than football with the casual fan and at the high school level. Oklahoma is a football state.

That does not mean we cannot continue to grow attendance at a rate similar to this year (15%) and have attendance for the Tech and WVU type games averaging 7-8,000 and the games against the big 3 averaging 10-11,000 or better. Provided a remodeled LNC will accommodate 11,000.
 
Last edited:
My Uncle Mike and Aunt Celeste were so embarrassed when they were told by security to leave the empty seats below and go back to theirs above that they have swore never to go to another game. Sad really as they had been going for many years.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
Official Practice Starts Today
5 6 7
Replies
127
Views
6K
WichitaSooner
W
C
What would convince you we’re trending forward this offseason?
2 3 4
Replies
76
Views
3K
Soonerinkc
Soonerinkc
ousooners1baby
Am I a bad fan?
Replies
16
Views
454
SoonerDutch
SoonerDutch
C
Play at the Rim
Replies
2
Views
517
BoulderSooner
BoulderSooner
W
Uzan's struggles
Replies
19
Views
941
CMSOONER
CMSOONER
Back
Top