The University of Texas is my alma mater and I’ve always been a big supporter of UT athletics. During my years supporting the Longhorn sports, one of the on-going topics has been ‘how to improve attendance at UT basketball games’? Fans have debated it, journalists have written about it and coaches (particularly Rick Barnes) have fretted over it. My opinion is it will only take a few simple steps to fix attendance at the Erwin Center for UT basketball games. But the first thing we need to do is understand the goal. Are we just trying to get more revenue? Are we trying to get more butts in seats? Are we trying to create a more lively atmosphere? Or all of the above? My goal is to focus on getting new people to the games, which will ultimately help cure all three items mentioned above. Some great advice I once received was, “it’s not how big your piece of the pie is, it’s about making the whole pie bigger”. That applies here because we want to focus on making the games a great “experience” so more people will try them.
1) Give non-season ticketholders better options for tickets. Currently only upper-level seats are available to purchase for single games. All of the lower-level seats are owned by season ticket holders, or are assigned to students. For more than half of the games on the home schedule you could take away a large portion of the seats allotted to students, and sell those to regular fans. My suggestion would be to takeaway the top half of the lower-level student sections (sections 27/28 & 42/43, on each end of the court), and sell those to the general public. Charge an aggressive price, like $15 to $20, to entice more fans to try UT games. Those games would include all non-conference games and a few of the lesser conference games. I attend all of the home games and it is obvious that the students do not fill up their allotment of lower-level seats for most games. This would be the solution to get those seats filled, and at least give the lower portion of the FEC a full crowd. Plus, the new fans you’d expose the games (better seats at lower price point) will become regular patrons.
2) Increase student attendance at games, by engaging them better on campus. With more than 50K students at UT, it shouldn’t be a problem to get a fraction of them to games. The issue is how you target those students. First, get more signage on campus on gameday. Make sure students are aware of dates and times of the games. Also, make it possible for students to “draw” their tickets on-campus rather than just at the FEC. Also, try to engage student groups in order to get them to the games. Every single game should have 3-4 groups who are featured guests at the game. Block off an upper-level section for them, and find ways to engage them in the game. Let their leaders compete in the in-game entertainment games down on the court (half court shot, shoe race, etc). Rope off a special “concessions area” for them just outside their section on upper-level where they can buy unique, and possibly discounted, food & drinks. Really challenge the different student groups (Greeks especially) to get out to certain games. Provide a reward to the one’s who show best attendance, like use of a suite for the final game of the year.
3) Better distribution of concessions. I’m not going to suggest they change the concession provider, but that would help. Atleast hire more vendors to work the aisles selling food & refreshments. Currently they walk around with cotton candy or snow cones. That’s it. I’m attending a dozen plus games a year at the Erwin Center. Many of these games are after work. So make it easy for me to relax and get some decent food & beverages. Plus, selling more concessions raises revenue and it makes the whole “experience” better.
4) Engage the Austin business community. Develop programs to get different businesses and/or organizations to the game. Corporations aren’t going to buy & use the crappy upper-level seats. But involve them in a buy & donate program, where they purchase the tickets that are going to be donated to a worthy group. The tickets then would be provided to non-profits, schools, or other organizations who will attend and enjoy the free perk. Every game should have businesses and community groups in attendance, even if there seats are in the upper-level. Again, a solution to make the event seem more custom is to provide the group their “own” concessions area and/or private tent. A business might be willing to overlook the fact that their seats are upstairs, if they pick up some additional networking perks. I envision a tent for pregame, in-game and postgame that has ammentities similar to what you’d find in a suite (i.e.- better than concession stand food & alcohol). Companies can then turn it into an event. And if their people aren’t wowed by the seats, they’ve also got the option to retreat to their private tent a few steps away in the concourse. Yes, some of these folks will camp out in here watching the game on TV, but the first step to increasing attendance is making it an “experience” for more people to attend the games. Eventually you’ll convert those folks into regular, screaming fans if you get them to the games.
5) Get people into the building quicker at the beginning of games. Open a few more doors, make sure the electronic scanners are working and staff a few extra “purse checkers”. Train the staff on how to move quickly to get people inside. Also every good game, there are long lines of people waiting outside the FEC’s Will Call window to pick up their tickets. Many of them are students who are required to scan their ID’s at the stadium in order to get student tickets. This should not be allowed to go on because it’s a huge deterrent to fans. Who’s going to show up and wait 45 minutes in line, thereby missing the first 10 minutes of the game? More importantly, who’s going to ever return to see another UT game after going through that experience? Fix the problem. Provide separate, and easy to use, pick up options for students. Tie it into an online system where all students can quickly check availability of seats for the game.
6) Market them games better in Austin and Centex. Make the million plus people in Centex fans of the UT basketball team. UT has very marketable players, so make sure fans know these guys. Names like DJ Augustin, Damion James, AJ Abrams, Conner Atchley and Justin Mason should be on the tips of people’s tongues. And they should also know the younger generation of players, like Gary Johnson, Dexter Pittman and Clint Chapman. Get players pictures on posters and TV spots. Work with the media outlets to get more “human interest” stories for players on the team. Get the players out to more schools to try to develop rabid support from younger fans. If fans know the players, then they’ll want to show up to see them play.
7) Quit complaining about the attendance at UT home basketball games. I’ve heard it the names and excuses for years. The Erwin Center is ‘a morgue’ or a ‘vacuum’. The fans are all ‘blue hairs’ who don’t let you stand up at the games. The students should be closer to the court, to make more noise. The fact is that UT averages a decent crowd for every home game. People are complaining because they see open seats, or they want a more lively atmosphere. Well this ain’t Duke. Show up and support the team, and quit worrying about some things no one can change…like the fact that UT fans prefer football to basketball.
A funny thing happened on the way to this post, as I was writing the AAS came out with an article that details how attendance is up at the Erwin Center. So it sounds like things could already be headed in the right direction. Now we just need to get a few more of the things above going and the Erwin Center will be a better atmosphere for college basketball.
